Heathrow Airport now has a fleet of robot cleaners dubbed cobots, and you have just a few days to suggest, well, a much better name than that.
The 20-plus-strong team of cleaning robots was announced in partnership with Mitie back in August, and last week the Heathrow team asked the public to come up with a name for them. You can submit your own suggestions until December 15th.
Much as it may be tempting to pick Cleany McCleanface, Sweepy McSweepface or Sucky McSuckface, we doubt they will make it though the marketing department’s filtering system.
The suggestions that do, though, will then be put in front of the public again. We’ll be asked to vote for a favourite pick from a shortlist of names, from December 16th.
And the final winners will then be emblazoned on the robots themselves.
Not seen them yet? We first encountered robots like this in Singapore airport years ago.
They’re big R2-D2 style things that use technologies like LIDAR and machine vision to work their way around public spaces without bumping into people or running over small children.
The key stat is each one can clean an area the equivalent of eight football pitches in a day, or 4800 square metres.
“More than 20” of these robo cleaners currently operate within Heathrow Airport, making it the largest fleet currently running in the UK. And it sounds like each one is going to get its own name, the idea being they’ll have “the perfect names to match their personalities.”
The robots don't have personalities, of course, but they do effectively mop and polish the floor as they move around, and operate for up to three hours before returning to their home base for a recharge.
Heathrow partner Mitie has also rolled-out cleaning robots in key London train stations including King’s Cross, London Bridge, Waterloo and Liverpool Street.
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