Tech Tidings: Mitie’s Carolling Cobots Serenade Commuters

Mitie’s cleaning robots ‘cobots’ spread Christmas cheer at London Bridge station performing carols to the thousands of commuters travelling home for Christmas The cobots raised money to donate to Crisis at Christmas, helping the charity provide essential support services to the homeless, The sustainable cleaning robots are fully electric, recycle water as they clean, and can clean an area of 6,763,237m every day, around the size of 948 football pitches.

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  • Technology
AI Summary
  • Mitie's cobots performed carols at London Bridge, raising money for Crisis at Christmas.
  • The cobots are part of the UK's second largest autonomous cleaning robot fleet.
  • They clean efficiently, using only 15 litres of water daily for large areas.
  • Cobots can map routes, avoid obstacles, and resume tasks post-recharge.
  • Sites maintained by cobots include The Shard, Heathrow, and major shopping centres.

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It’s not often that you see a group of singing robots on your commute but passengers at London Bridge station were treated to a one-off performance by Mitie’s “carolling cobots”, as thousands travelled home for Christmas.

Mitie’s Carolling Cobots at London Bridge station

The sustainable cleaning cobots, which are part of the second largest fleet of autonomous cleaning robots in the UK, took a break from their cleaning duties to surprise and delight passers-by.

Thanks to the generous donations from commuters, the robot carollers raised money for Crisis at Christmas, which provides support to those experiencing homelessness.

The cobots, which range in size from smaller bots resembling Disney’s Wall-E through to larger outdoor sweepers, help Mitie colleagues keep busy sites in pristine conditions as they independently carry out tasks such as mopping, vacuuming, and dusting. The fully electric cobots provide three hours of cleaning for every charge and recycle water as they clean, requiring just 15 litres of water a day to clean an area of 6,763,237m or around the size of 948 football pitches. The autonomous cobots can map out routes to avoid obstacles and passers-by, even remembering to return to an unfinished task once re-charged.

We are always looking for creative ways to use technology to benefit the communities we serve. Transforming our cleaning robots into carolling cobots, was a unique way of bringing a little extra joy to commuters travelling home for Christmas.

Our cobots provide essential cleaning support at some of the busiest sites across the UK. They not only help us to continue to deliver sustainable cleaning, but this festive period they helped raise money for Crisis at Christmas. A wonderful example of how technology, sustainability, and community spirit can come together to make a difference.

Heather Downes, Head of Innovation and Product Design, Mitie

The carolling cobots are part of a UK wide cleaning taskforce who support Mitie’s cleaning and hygiene specialists taking care of sites up and down the country. These include The Shard, Heathrow Airport, Liverpool One Shopping Centre, Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre, Bluewater Shopping Centre, Euston Station and St Pancras Station.

The 6,763,237m figure shows the size of the area Mitie’s entire fleet can cover over a two-month period.