FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
It’s not often that you see a group of singing robots on your commute but passengers at London Bridge station were treated to a one-off performance by Mitie’s “carolling cobots”, as thousands travelled home for Christmas.
The sustainable cleaning cobots, which are part of the second largest fleet of autonomous cleaning robots in the UK, took a break from their cleaning duties to surprise and delight passers-by.
Thanks to the generous donations from commuters, the robot carollers raised money for Crisis at Christmas, which provides support to those experiencing homelessness.
The cobots, which range in size from smaller bots resembling Disney’s Wall-E through to larger outdoor sweepers, help Mitie colleagues keep busy sites in pristine conditions as they independently carry out tasks such as mopping, vacuuming, and dusting. The fully electric cobots provide three hours of cleaning for every charge and recycle water as they clean, requiring just 15 litres of water a day to clean an area of 6,763,237m or around the size of 948 football pitches. The autonomous cobots can map out routes to avoid obstacles and passers-by, even remembering to return to an unfinished task once re-charged.
Heather Downes, Head of Innovation and Product Design, Mitie, said: “We are always looking for creative ways to use technology to benefit the communities we serve. Transforming our cleaning robots into carolling cobots, was a unique way of bringing a little extra joy to commuters travelling home for Christmas.
“Our cobots provide essential cleaning support at some of the busiest sites across the UK. They not only help us to continue to deliver sustainable cleaning, but this festive period they helped raise money for Crisis at Christmas. A wonderful example of how technology, sustainability, and community spirit can come together to make a difference.”
The carolling cobots are part of a UK wide cleaning taskforce who support Mitie’s cleaning and hygiene specialists taking care of sites up and down the country. These include The Shard, Heathrow Airport, Liverpool One Shopping Centre, Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre, Bluewater Shopping Centre, Euston Station and St Pancras Station.
Wednesday 14 January at 11:00am
Building Management Systems (BMS) have long been used to control the heart of a building – monitoring and controlling its essential systems such as lighting, ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Facilities Managers want the best visibility to help detect and deal with concerns before they become issues.
This webinar brings together the experts from energy network provider, E.ON along with FM thought leaders to discuss moving from a reactive service to a proactive service. By identifying energy issues early and automatically, instead of occupants reporting issues, then potential faults can be identified early and remedied. The BMS does this before the problem occurs by using smart alerting and EMC support services.
Panel:
- Sara Bean: Editor FMJ (Facilities Management Journal)
- Nick Westlake: Energy and Service Delivery Manager at E.ON Control Solutions
- Sunil Shah, the author of IWFM’s Energy Management Good Practice Guide and MD of Acclaro Advisory
- David Cermak, Regional Facilities Manager for David Lloyd Clubs
To register for the webinar which will be taking place on 14 January 2026 at 11:00am click here.
