How does an autonomous scrubber save labor hours compared to manual scrubbing?

The robot cleans at 15,000 square feet per hour while manual scrubbing averages 2,500 square feet per hour. For a 30,000 square foot shift, manual labor requires 12 hours but the robot completes it in 2 hours, saving 10 hours of labor per shift.

Why is only 70 percent of the labor hours counted as savings?

The calculation applies a 70 percent labor capture rate to account for real-world factors like supervision time, edge work the robot cannot reach, and tasks that still require a human operator to manage the machine or handle areas outside its operating envelope.

What ongoing costs are included in the payback calculation?

The calculator deducts 15 percent of the robot purchase price annually to cover maintenance, consumables, battery replacement, and repair costs. This operating expense is subtracted from gross labor savings to determine the net annual benefit used in the payback period.

Robot ROI Matcher

Robots remove open-floor hours — not supervision.

Inputs

Robot model

Robot purchase price ($)

Cleanable sqft per shift

Loaded labor rate ($/hr)

Shifts per week

Manual scrub rate (sqft/hr)

Effective utilization (%)

Share of scheduled shifts the robot actually runs (downtime, charging, blocked floors).

Working weeks per year

Compares the payback period of an autonomous floor scrubber against manual labor costs. Enter the robot purchase price, cleanable square footage per shift, loaded labor rate, and shifts per week to determine how many years it takes for labor savings to recover the capital investment.

Instruction

Enter the robot purchase price and cleanable square footage per shift.
Set your loaded labor rate per hour and number of shifts per week.
Read the payback period in years and the net annual benefit after operating costs.

Worked example

An 82,500 dollar autonomous scrubber cleaning 30,000 square feet per shift at a loaded labor rate of 22 dollars per hour, running 5 shifts per week.

The calculator shows hours saved per shift by comparing robot productivity (15,000 sqft/hr) to manual scrubbing (2,500 sqft/hr), then applies 70 percent labor capture and 15 percent annual robot operating cost to determine payback.

Questions operators ask

How does an autonomous scrubber save labor hours compared to manual scrubbing?: The robot cleans at 15,000 square feet per hour while manual scrubbing averages 2,500 square feet per hour. For a 30,000 square foot shift, manual labor requires 12 hours but the robot completes it in 2 hours, saving 10 hours of labor per shift.
Why is only 70 percent of the labor hours counted as savings?: The calculation applies a 70 percent labor capture rate to account for real-world factors like supervision time, edge work the robot cannot reach, and tasks that still require a human operator to manage the machine or handle areas outside its operating envelope.
What ongoing costs are included in the payback calculation?: The calculator deducts 15 percent of the robot purchase price annually to cover maintenance, consumables, battery replacement, and repair costs. This operating expense is subtracted from gross labor savings to determine the net annual benefit used in the payback period.