Recently, the commercial cleaning robot company 'SPARKOZ Technology' received tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing. Jiayu Capital and Gaohe Capital jointly invested, and Gengxin Capital China served as the exclusive strategic financial advisor.
At the beginning of 2022, Sparkoz Technology also received tens of millions of angel rounds and Pre-A rounds of financing from Country Garden Venture Capital and WaveFront Ventures.
The application of Sparkoz's robot in Shenzhen Raffles
01
Commercial Cleaning Robots Market
Entering the 2.0 stage
With the continuous development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous navigation, and multi-sensor fusion, cleaning robots have become more advanced and intelligent in recent years. Under the global background of labor shortages and high labor costs, commercial cleaning robots have gradually become the most frequent and rigidly needed existence in the service robot track, and their applications are becoming more and more extensive, including commercial complexes, office buildings, and office buildings, hospitals , Schools, factories, supermarkets and dozens of scenes of cleaning. According to the data disclosed by the China Research Industry Research Institute, it is expected that the market size of China's commercial cleaning robots will grow to approximately 74.9 billion yuan by 2025. Such a blue ocean has attracted dozens of companies to enter the commercial cleaning robot track in the past two years, but the ideal effect of large-scale applications has not yet been achieved in use.
Cui Yuwei, the founder of Sparkoz Technology, said that this is mainly because commercial cleaning robots are driven by underlying needs in the final analysis. Behind the cool appearance and intelligent experience, robots need to return to the essence of cleaning products.
He divided commercial cleaning robots into 1.0 and 2.0 stages. Commercial cleaning robots are relatively expensive in the 1.0 stage in the past few years, as a new species. Usually, only a small amount of pilot purchases are made in scenarios with sufficient budgets. Meet the display needs of top customers. With the rising cost of labor in recent years and the shortage of labor in high-tier cities, the demand side of commercial cleaning has reached the 2.0 stage. Robots should not only stay on the 'face', but also need 'inside'. 'Through the large-scale application of robots, it can help the scene party to effectively improve cleaning efficiency, save manpower, and control costs. After years of market education, the demand for commercial cleaning 2.0 mainly comes from front-line managers in the scene, and it is affordable. , good use and long-term use have become the key factors that can impress the scene party. ”When strong, bottom-up real demand drives industry change, it will inevitably lead to the rapid improvement of technology and the continuous reduction of cost, and it also gives people the ability to truly understand the scene, design-forward from the demand, and achieve large-scale mass production and implementation. Applied technology companies open market opportunities. Therefore, in the 2.0 stage of the commercial cleaning track, it is the general trend to produce economical, practical, and high-performance robots.
02
Sparkoz Technology
Large-scale application of Commerical Cleaning Robots
What is a truly qualified cleaning robot? Cui Yuwei said that commercial cleaning robots should be truly integrated into the cleaning staff's workflow, and the hardware structure and software algorithms should be redesigned to meet the needs of cleaning companies, so that the robot can become a real cleaning helper, not just limited to the previous display needs. This tests the robot's cleaning performance, machine stability, and ease of maintenance. It is reported that Sparkoz has launched two main products, TN70 (flagship version) and TN35/10 (small version), which can meet more than 90% of various ground cleaning scenarios through the combination of large and small machines. The TN70 carries a 70L clean water tank with a cleaning efficiency of up to 2040㎡/h, which can meet the continuous operation of 4-5 hours. If equipped with an automatic workstation, it can also change the water and recharge, realizing 7*24 hours of year-round continuous operation.
Sparkoz robot TN70 and TN35/10 exhibited at 2023CCE
In terms of robot positioning perception, Sparkoz Technology has pioneered the chassis system of visual and laser fusion navigation in the world. It has self-developed 9 types and more than 40 sensors to help robots realize vision, touch, depth perception, distance perception, and other perception capabilities. Ensure the stability and safety of the robot during operation. In addition, the company has conducted in-depth cooperation with the global cleaning giant 'Kacher' in supply chain and product design, making the cleaning performance of its robots reach the standard of high-end cleaning equipment, in-depth cleaning business scenarios, Sparkoz Technology cleaning robot body It adopts a fully open water tank design and a quick-release cleaning structure. Compared with other robots, it is very simple to maintain, and cleaning workers can easily use it.
Easy-to-maintain Sparkoz robot design
In addition to innovative design on the product side, Sparkoz Technology also reduces manufacturing costs and creates competitive advantages through self-built production bases and self-developed core components. On the one hand, Sparkoz Technology has built its own manufacturing base, which has a scientific production process with high requirements, high standards, and high efficiency. It has multiple test verifications and quality inspections for products, and the vehicle-level test standards ensure that products meet ISO, IEC, etc. International standards provide a strong guarantee for product performance stability, process consistency, safety and reliability. On the other hand, the core components of Sparkoz Technology Commercial Cleaning Robot are all self-developed. By establishing a stable supply chain, the manufacturing cost and maintenance of the robot are greatly reduced.In terms of the market, up to now, Sparkoz Technology has formed three major regional development layouts in Asia, Europe and North America. According to the team, Sparkoz Technology is sold in the European and North American markets through the leasing model and has successfully settled in 99 Ranch Market (the leading supermarket chain in North America). 'For first-line supermarket store managers and factory owners, the cost can be recovered in a quarter, instead of a year or even two years for the ROI of traditional robots.' Cui Yuwei said.
The application of Sparkoz Technology robot in North American supermarkets
Different from general cleaning robot companies, Sparkoz Technology is the first to focus on the landing application in the supermarket scene because the scene has a high degree of standardization, strong reproducibility, high requirements for machine passability, and overcomes the cleaning pain points of this scene. It is more conducive to the large-scale application of commercial cleaning robots in the later stage. Regarding the team, Cui Yuwei, the founder of Sparkoz Technology, graduated from the Junior Class of the University of Science and Technology of China with a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in the United States. He studied under Jeff Hawkins, a legend in the field of artificial intelligence research in the United States. After graduation, he studied and worked at Numenta, a well-known artificial intelligence company in Silicon Valley. In 2020, Sparkoz Technology was established, applying computational neural algorithms to visual navigation technology, using low-calculation, high-performance human brain simulation algorithms, and taking the lead in opening up the market in the field of AI+ intelligent sweeping robots. The company's headquarters and R&D base are located in Shanghai. It has established an R&D team by taking advantage of the talent highland and insists on independent research and development of software (intelligent algorithms, drive control, etc.) and hard (control platform, core sensors, etc.).
'Enabling better public services with robot technology' is the mission of Sparkoz Technology. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, especially ChatGPT as the top model in the field of AIGC, it is expected to accelerate the penetration of artificial intelligence in various industries and subvert the existing form of productivity. The AI-assisted 'robot +' era is coming, and the industrial chain of commercial cleaning robots is about to usher in a period of prosperity and development. Sparkoz Technology welcomes people with lofty ideals from all over the world to start the era of 'really useful' robots!
