Kärcher’s Autonomous Scrubber Driers Neatly Networked

At night in the museum the Kira B 50 wakes up at 4 a.m. precisely and sets out on its tour of the foyer. Autonomously, unsupervised, it cleans the floor and the corridors thoroughly and accurate, then returns to its docking station to await the next deployment.

That is more or less the daily work routine of a Kira B 50, Kärcher’s new autonomous scrubber drier. The leading cleaning technology provider rents, leases or sells its cleaning robots to building service providers or corporate facility managers. They put Kira & Co. to work in production and logistics halls, supermarkets and shopping centers, hospitals and airports – or in this case museums.

On its cleaning jobs the autonomous robot’s sensors (see Infobox) generate a large amount of information and data that Kärcher now collects via the Internet of Things (IoT). “The feedback from our customers was clear and unequivocal,” says Alina Seitter, Product Manager Robotics at Kärcher. “They wanted to access machines remotely and see their status. They also wanted to be notified of error reports immediately and to download digital cleaning reports. Telekom’s IoT networking enables us to do all of that.”

The Kira’s built-in wireless module incorporates a robust industry-grade Telekom SIM that connects the machine with the Kärcher Cloud via the LTE cellular network. The fleet management can access at all times reports on the progress of cleaning and operating data such as fresh water levels and battery status. Customers can be notified of malfunctions by email or text messages. Software updates or bug fixes can be downloaded to the machine quickly over-the-air.

Kärcher has a further requirement from Telekom. It wants to market its new autonomous scrubber drier all over the world without having to find local cellular network providers in every country. The family firm operates over 150 companies in 80 countries and provides customer service at more than 50,000 service centers around the world. In addition, Product Manager Seitter says, “Our key account customers often demand extensive device tests in different countries so as to be able to market products worldwide. Thanks to Telekom’s global network coverage we can fulfill this requirement at any time.”

That is ensured by Telekom’s own cellular networks and by cooperation and roaming agreements with over 600 selected network operators around the world. The flexible IoT tariff model can not only be used everywhere; it can also be adjusted to suit the specific requirements of different Kärcher device families. So the Kira has reception everywhere, be it at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn or at the Met in New York.

By networking its Kira scrubber drier, Kärcher is banking on a new trend in business models. More and more manufacturers are upgrading their products by providing digital services to improve the customer experience and at the same time optimizing product development with the aid of usage data for which Telekom’s IoT network provides the basis.