Robot vacuum cleaner giant Ecovacs (科沃斯, 603486.SH) introduced on March 28 its new products Deebot Pro K1 and M1 at the 2023 China Clean Expo in Shanghai.
At the expo, which runs from March 28 to 31, the Suzhou-based market leader showcased how M1 and K1 can satisfy the needs of property manager, cleaning service provider, shopping mall, office building and hotel operators.
Ecovacs has installed AIVI 3D, its proprietary obstacle detection and avoidance technologies, and high-precision self-developed Kruisee lidars on K1 and M1, so as to lift their performance in carrying out cleaning tasks.
K1 is a four-in-one robot capable of vacuuming, mopping, sweeping and removing dust. Its side brushes are meant for use on hard or carpeted floors in small and medium-sized business scenarios.
Meanwhile, M1, with a strong motor drive, is able to mop, sweep and vacuum the work areas, making it an ideal fit in environments such as medium and large-sized commercial spaces.
At its booths, Ecovacs also deployed K1 and M1 models to major real-life scenarios, including shopping mall, office building and hotel.
It showcased how K1 could vacuum carpets and clean edges of rooms in hotels or how it can navigate office aisles and move past turnstiles.
M1 was put to work in a mock shopping mall at the fair, which viewers can use to gain a glimpse into its real-world application.
At the fair, Ecovacs also exhibited its HIVE system that can control a robot fleet, share information, schedule shifts, enable collaboration among robots and even coordinate elevator rides for them.
High upfront costs are often considered a major hurdle to higher penetration of commercial-grade vacuum robot cleaners, Ecovacs included.
To tackle this issue, Ecovacs has come up with a rental program whereby it can lease robots to clients under a robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model championed by investors like SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.
According to the program, interested users who sign up on Ecovacs’s platform can choose their purchases, place orders and sign the lease contracts. The modes of payment are also flexible, depending on the number of installments. Customized rental is also available.
Notably, registered users who meet certain requirements are also eligible for a free mop, as part of Ecovacs’s ploy to attract customers.
At the 2023 CCE, Ecovacs also displayed a suite of service robots including its smart robotic mower Goat G1, all-in-one sweeper/mopper Deebot X1 OMNI and window-cleaning robot Winbot W1 Pro. They span business and home-use segments and meet needs for indoor and outdoor cleaning.
