Summary Draft 1: Cleaning Robot

The article, "How tech can ease the cleaning industry's manpower crunch" by Germi (2021) discusses how the integration of technology can solve the manpower shortage in the cleaning industry.

With an increase in the demand for cleanliness in the past 3 years due to covid-19, everyone has become much more wary and concerned about hygiene and cleanliness. This begs the question, are we doing enough to keep our spaces clean, and do we get the assistance we need?

This article summary shares how we can incorporate robots and the existing workforce to create a more efficient and cleaner space for everyone. The article puts forward 3 main ideas which I will attempt to summarise for this assignment.

Firstly, the article speaks about the aim of implementing robots (Design focus 1). Most people would assume that these robots would replace humans in the workforce as they may be more efficient by not having to pay them a salary, not having to worry about working hours, and not worrying about overworking the robots. However, it states that rather than replacing, these robots can complement the cleaning staff in a positive way. While the robots are doing more menial tasks such as mopping, sweeping, picking up, and getting rid of thrash, cleaning staff can dedicate their time to disinfecting services which are highly sought after during the pandemic.

 

Next, let's focus on how companies can embrace the transformation with the integration of man and machine in the workforce (Design focus 2). To ensure that both robots and humans can coexist harmoniously in the workforce, companies are spending money to upskill their workers by sending them to courses to teach them how to operate and deploy the robots safely and efficiently. Apart from learning how to automate these robots, they can also attend lessons and be deployed to more customer-centric jobs within the organization.

 

Lastly, the article discusses the downsides and alternatives to using technology in the cleaning industry (Design focus 3). One potential downside of cleaning is the usage of chemicals and ‘over cleaning’. People could face health problems by the usage or mixing of different cleaning agents and chemicals, which may lead to unexpected side effects and respiratory effects. A solution to this problem is to introduce the usage of UV lights to kill bacteria so that the cleaning staff who work closely with the robots are not affected.

To summarise, the article deliberates on how companies can implement the use of robots safely, while not replacing human workers.