A cleaning robot system that can interface with elevators has been put into operation at the Sumitomo Building, an office block located in Kitahama 4-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka City. The system was jointly developed by Sumitomo Corporation (President and CEO: Susumu Kato; hereinafter "Sumitomo") and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (President and CEO: Ikuo Mori; hereinafter "FHI") and will be operated by Reibi Co., Ltd. (based in Kitahama 4-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka City), a cleaning company in which Sumitomo has invested.

The autonomous cleaning robot can move without human assistance between building floors using the elevator system to clean common spaces such as corridors. Although this is the first time such a system has been used in Osaka, the robot's design is based on that of an earlier model that was introduced to Harumi Island Triton Square (Harumi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo) in 2001. The motor, durability of the power circuit and the lifting mechanism of the dust suction component have been improved in the new model, which also has an enhanced laser range sensor for detecting obstacles.

 Elevator-Riding Cleaning Robot

The cleaning robot operates as follows and has the following features:
- Without human assistance or supervision, the cleaning robot opens the elevator door and

  gives the elevator directions about which floor to stop on by interfacing with it via the optical

  transmission devices installed in both the robot and the elevator. When the elevator arrives

  at the correct floor, the robot disembarks. The process is thus very similar to the way people

  ride elevators.
- The laser range sensor has an improved signal processing program that allows the robot to

  detect obstacles and thus ensures greater safety.
- The lifting mechanism of the dust suction component, which in the earlier model was

  powered by electricity, is now operated manually with wires, making it simpler and more

  reliable and leading to cost savings and a lighter body weight.
- An optional feature is a small camera that can be attached to the robot to record its

  movements on hard disk, allowing users to observe how the robot was working and the

  surrounding environment.

Owners and facility managers of office buildings who introduce this system will be able to save on labor costs and provide uniform cleaning services for the buildings' common spaces, adding value to the buildings by providing tenants with a clean and comfortable environment.

Reibi Co., Ltd. is engaged in the cleaning and facility management of office buildings and condominiums mainly located in the city of Osaka. The introduction of the robot system will allow the company to expand its range of services on offer and the number of buildings for which it has service contracts is expected to increase.

Subsidized under the Service Robot Market Development Project by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), FHI has improved the performance of the robot system as compared with conventional cleaning robots in terms of safety, reliability and maintainability using the company's long accumulated expertise in robot technologies and by incorporating information gained from its outdoor cleaning robots, which were demonstrated at Expo 2005 Aichi Japan. FHI developed and practically utilized these earlier robots under the Project for the Practical Application of Next-Generation Robots implemented by METI and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Sumitomo and FHI have an agreement to commercialize service robots. Since receiving the grand prize from METI at the 2006 Robot of the Year awards, robots jointly developed by the two companies have been introduced to the rental apartment building Royal Parks Shinden (Shinden 3-chome, Adachi-ku, Tokyo), Sumitomo Shoji Kanda Izumicho Building (Kanda-izumi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), where the new robot system was trialed, and now to the Sumitomo Building in Osaka.

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