ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The winner of the 2018 Amsterdam Innovation Award - announced this morning on the opening day of Interclean Amsterdam - is the KIRA B50 autonomous floor cleaning machine from Kärcher.

The jury said this first robotic machine from Kärcher represents a significant step forward in the technology for the cleaning sector and overcomes some of the difficulties and limitations associated with similar machines already available on the market.

Size and design is what make this machine much more attractive to a wider range of applications. So far, robotic scrubber dryers have been most suitable for extremely large areas - the KIRA B50 is suitable for areas under 1,000 square metres.

Also the fact that KIRA B50 can take itself to a docking station to charge the battery as well as fill and empty tanks, means that the level of human intervention is minimal - and that is what true autonomous cleaning is.

Michelle Marshall, chairman of the jury and editor of ECJ said: "The jury was extremely impressed with this, Kärcher's first autonomous cleaning machine. We feel the company is making real progress in bringing robotics to the professional cleaning sector in a more realistic and viable way.

"We look forward to seeing how Kärcher now takes this technology forward in other machines and applications."

The KIRA B50 was the winner in the Machines, Accessories and Components category. Other category winners were: Powr-Mop Lite from SYR in Equipment/Tools for Cleaning, Care and Safety; Vermop's SystemONE in E-Cleaning; and the Tork Paper Circle from Essity in Management, Training Solutions and Related Products.

The winner of the Visitor's Choice Award 2018, which was voted for online by Interclean Amsterdam visitors, was Tork Paper Circle from Essity.

The jury was made up of ECJ's Michelle Marshall, Pierre Deschamps of Batiment Entretien, Dick van Zomeren of Service Management, Sanitary Maintenance's Rob Geissler, industry expert Ton van der Riet, Reinhard Knittler from ReinigungsMarkt, industry expert Cor van der Velden, and Antonio Borreda from Revista Limpiezas.