Plug in, charge and clean

Whether warehouse, production facility or industrial plant - the K900 cleans without chemicals or water and leaves behind a dry, clean floor. Thanks to its low height, the robot also cleans in hard-to-reach areas and places that are potentially dangerous for people. Commissioning is quick and easy and requires no preparation time or programming. The robot is placed in the desired location, plugged in, charged and autonomous cleaning can begin. "By purchasing a K900, companies make massive savings on cleaning costs. On the other hand, they protect the health of their employees by reducing fine dust pollution and eliminating the need for chemical cleaning agents. The workforce can concentrate fully on their value-adding activities again," says Gadient. The sweeping robot is designed for cleaning areas of up to 10,000^m2. It has a battery runtime of up to five hours, an integrated dust extraction system, a cleaning width of 90 cm and a dirt container with a capacity of 35 liters. "Our robot creates its own cleaning map as it moves, identifies and drives around fixed and mobile objects and cleans its surroundings completely autonomously. As far as industrial cleaning robots are concerned, we are currently the only ones on the market that can simply place the robot in a room and start it at the touch of a button. There is no need to measure the room or teach it in beforehand," continues the co-founder. To make the robot mobile, it has a trolley handle that is guided cleanly, stably and safely with a Drylin-T linear guide from Igus.

Lubrication- and maintenance-free linear guides made to measure

"I was already familiar with Igus products from my work as a development engineer and had always had good experiences with them. For our size and the limited space available, we needed a stable and robust linear guide made to measure. So we contacted Igus, and a short time later we ordered a sample of the desired linear guide from their website for testing," says Gadient. Axel Ebert, Key Account Manager Bearing Technology at Igus Switzerland, adds: "You can easily order a sample via our website - even made to measure and according to customer drawings. Due to the necessary stability, we decided on a Drylin T linear guideway in HD (heavy duty) in consultation with Kemaro." Drylin T profile guides have the same dimensions as the usual lubricated ball guides. In contrast, Drylin T guides reduce noise emissions and surface pressure due to the larger contact surface between the guide and profile rail. In the heavy-duty version, the sliders have a particularly firm hold in the carriage body. The carriage guides can withstand loads of up to 14 kN, are extremely resistant to dirt and have a long service life. "This is another advantage of Igus products - they are all lubricant-free and therefore ideal for our application. The customer never has to lubricate, which means that no dust sticks to the guides and no abrasive paste can form," says Gadient.

Aluminum is used as the shaft material. "At first we had a shaft made of chrome steel, which we kept having problems with. Axel Ebert then suggested an aluminum shaft from the Igus portfolio. I was very skeptical at first, but after the first test I was completely impressed. It is not only lighter, but also easier to install and works perfectly," says Gadient. In addition to the carriage guide, flange bearings, plain bearings and thrust washers from Igus are also used in the sweeping robot. "Our Igubal spherical plain bearings, which are used in the roller brush bearing, are maintenance-free, self-aligning bearing elements made entirely of plastic. In addition, the entire Igubal spherical plain bearing system is insensitive to dust and dirt, resistant to corrosion and 80% lighter than metal bearings," emphasizes Daniel Henlin, Sales Manager at Igus Switzerland.

By using lubricant-free bearing technology, those responsible at Kemaro were able to make their autonomous sweeping robot quiet, robust, low-maintenance, lightweight and also durable. "The collaboration with Igus is everything you could wish for. The advice is excellent and the price-performance ratio is right. But above all, the quality of the products used is impressive, and this in turn increases the quality of our product," concludes Martin Gadient.