In spring a two-year test starts in the central station in Ulm • Support for cleaning teams of Deutsche Bahn
The six-member jury of Deutsche Bahn has decided: Adlatus Robotics and DB enter into a 2-year contract for the delivery and further development of cleaning robots. The start-up founded in Ulm in 2015 won the first cleaning robot contest in Germany organised by DB in the central station in Berlin on 30 January. On a 200 m² large course the automatic cleaning robots of four international suppliers had to remove, for example, ketchup and milk stains.
The demonstrations that took about 15 minutes each were evaluated by experts of Deutsche Bahn in the last three weeks. Main criteria were the cleaning result, the safety of travellers and of the railway operation as well as the handling of the robot. The manufacturer Adlatus achieved the best overall result with their cleaning robot CR700.
All contestants performed well
The technology of the professional cleaning robots for use in public space is still at an early stage of development. So other participants of the “AutomatedCleaning:Challenge” of 30 January can also qualify for tests in railway stations at a later time. Cleanfix, HEFTER cleantech and TASKI Diversey also convinced the jury with good results.

The O3D from ifm in use in the cleaning robot from Adlatus Robotics
Field test starts in Ulm
Starting this spring travellers can see the CR700 in operation. The test with Adlatus Robotics first starts in Ulm because of the vicinity to the manufacturer. More stations will follow, among them Berlin. After a successful two-year test phase with Adlatus Robotics stations all over Germany are to be perfectly cleaned using robots. They are to support cleaning teams in the future. The goal is to improve cleanliness for customers. Every year DB spends millions for cleaning the stations.
Together with DB Services the digital innovation lab DBmindbox organised the “Automated Cleaning:Challenge”. With the two-year test Deutsche Bahn wants to get an overview of digitalisation perspectives for cleaning stations.
Author & Source
Steffen Rutsch – Digital communication – Deutsche Bahn AG
steffen.rutsch@deutschebahn.com
+49 (0) 30 297-61939
The CR700 cleaning robot from Adlatus Robotics uses ifm’s innovative O3D sensor.
With the O3D sensor from ifm, it is possible to record and evaluate scenes in real time in three dimensions. ifm is a manufacturer of sensors, communication and control systems. After many years of intensive cooperation with customers, ifm has established itself on the market as a service-oriented sensor specialist and has today more than 6,700 employees in over 70 countries around the world.
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