The future of cleaning industry is closer than you may think

One may think that cleaning industry is generally a stranger to innovation. After all, many people still clean their houses the way it was done in for centuries. While time-tested methods have many benefits, some of which we promote on this very blog (e.g. natural cleaning methods), they will not disrupt or revolutionize the way we clean our homes and offices. The future would not look too promising if in 20-25 years we would still have to do the cleaning in the same way. Just picture this – by 2040 you will be routinely using autonomous transportation and your post will be delivered by drones. You will wear 3d-printed clothes, talk to your family overseas via holographic video calls and still use a mop and a microfiber cloth to clean your house?

Something here doesn’t sound right. Luckily, contrary to the popular opinion, there is a lot of innovation going on in the cleaning business. Let’s take a look at the most important trends that will shape the future of cleaning and housekeeping.

Robotic vacuum cleaners

Robotic vacuum cleaners (also called robovacs) have been around since the late 1990s, but only in the recent years they are gaining much more popularity - in 2016, 20% of the world’s vacuum cleaners were robots (you can read about it here).

The first robovac was invented in 1990 by Isaac M. Dizon and the first model available on the Market was Electrolux Trilobite manufactured by the Swedish company Electrolux. Currently, the market leader in the ‘robotic vacuum cleaner’ category is iRobot, a company producing Roomba, a vacuum cleaner making up 70% of the market.

Robotic vacuum cleaners can save you a lot of time doing the maintenance cleaning. They autonomously roam your apartment or office, while you can simply relax. To make things even better, thanks to machine learning algorithms implemented in such devices, they are becoming smarter with time. Just take a look at this video, showing Roomba 980 (currently priced at €999 at Saturn in Germany).

Robotic lawnmower

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a long hike through some villages near Oranienburg. I was quite surprised to see how popular the robotic lawnmowers already were. To be honest, it was the first time I saw them ‘in the wild’ and counted at least 5 of them on the very first day – they seemed to be everywhere (a typical example of a probability bias called Frequency illusion)! When I got back home from the walk I started doing my research online and found out that the first robotic lawn mower was patented almost 50 years ago! I have no idea how couldn’t I notice them before.

Robotic lawn mowers are easy to buy online and they can cost anywhere between €500 and a couple thousand euro. But think about all the time that you can save and the stunning quality of your lawn every single day.

The video below shows one Gardena R70li, currently the second most-popular model on Amazon (priced at €883.50).

Robot window cleaners

While not so popular as robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers, robotic window cleaners are one of the devices which I am most excited about. Why? One reason is that in Berlin, and other big German cities such a Hamburg, Cologne or Frankfurt maintaining clean windows requires cleaning them on the at least monthly basis. The biggest culprit here is the amount dirt and dust on the streets.

But that’s not the most important reason. Window cleaning is one of the most dangerous elements of the cleaner’s job. Especially in Berlin, with all those beautiful high-ceilinged ‘Altbau’ apartments, very often a window cleaner must climb the ladder. A person on the ladder, next to an open window = not a very good combination. I really hope that in a couple of years your house cleaner will be able to just bring a robotic window cleaner with them, turn it on and focus on cleaning other parts of your house while the windows simply ‘clean themselves’.

The video below shows a review of robotic window cleaners from Wall Street Journal.

Water leak sensors

I hope that you never had to clean after water leaks. A leaking pipe in your apartment may result in the need of renovating the entire place. Quite often, not only your place but also your neighbors` place. In 2015 in Germany alone, leaking pipes caused the damages amounting to €2.3 billion.

Luckily, with the growing popularity of the Internet Of Things (IoT), water leak sensors are becoming increasingly popular. Such sensors are very easy to install (often even without plumber’s help) and you can get them in Germany for less than 50 euro (e.g at Conrad store).

Online cleaning platforms

It would be unfair not to mention the online platforms, which let you book your cleaning with a mouse click. In many places worldwide, such platforms give you virtually ‘on demand’ access to the best cleaning professionals in your area. Examples of such companies include Handy in the U.S., TidyMe in Australia, Mopify in Canada, and SPIC AND SPAN. in Germany.

Taste the future today!

If you don’t want to wait for the future of cleaning any longer, try booking your cleaning online today. SPIC ANC SPAN. is present in Germany since August 2016, offering the impeccable quality of cleaning services at reasonable prices. Cleaning can be scheduled any time of the week at any time (even 4 hours in advance). You can book your cleaning appointment using our interactive online form here or by calling us directly at +49 30 588 494 40. Our amazing customer service is available 24/7. We will make sure that you get the best cleaning experience right when you need it, without having to wait weeks for your cleaning appointment.

Grete Kuusk

Acknowledgements

• "Featured photo": for source click here