by Xiong Weisheng

 

 

BEIJING, Nov 14 (China Economic Net) – The robot glides quietly down the street, its side brushes spinning as they sweep up leaves and wrappers. A soft hiss breaks the stillness as it sprays a fine mist over stubborn stains, its vacuum arm following close behind to suck up the debris. It navigates effortlessly around obstacles, leaving behind a trail of spotless, refreshed pavement, as if the city itself is breathing a little easier.

 

This autonomous street sweeper is one of the new-energy sanitation robots and vehicles presented at the recent annual environmental sanitation expo (CAUES Expo 2024) held in Beijing, where a total of more than 150 environmental sanitation firms showcased their latest municipal sanitation equipment, technologies, and solutions.

 

The street sweeper relies on high-precision sensors and cameras to “see” road conditions, and it 

plans routes and avoids obstacles through AI systems and algorithms. With sweeping and water-spraying functions, it automatically cleans roads.

 

Street cleaning robots can reduce operational risks for sanitation workers, and a small-sized autonomous street sweeper can match the workload of six to ten sanitation workers, cutting operation costs by about 40%, according to an estimate by tech-focused consultancy EO Intelligence.

 

 

“Our crewless sanitation vehicles have been operating in 28 cities across China,” Luo Wu, co-founder of New Energy Group, told China Economic Net (CEN). The manufacturer’s small- and medium-sized driverless street sweepers can operate in narrow lanes with a body frame as narrow as less than one metre, and they can work for up to eight hours on a single charge, Luo revealed. 

 

These automated helpers are only part of a broader ecosystem in cleaning and waste management. Citibot cleaning robots, by sanitation solution provider Fulongma Group, can wake up at scheduled times, clean along preset routes, recharge wirelessly, refill water, and empty trash as needed, a company representative explained to CEN. He added that the robots can be managed through a cloud platform for real-time monitoring and task updates.

 

 

Some street cleaning vehicles are fueled by hydrogen. A staff member from Yutong Environment Sanitation, a key business branch of Yutong Group, told CEN at the expo, “Over 100 hydrogen-powered cleaning vehicles have been deployed in the factories at our headquarters in Zhengzhou,” adding that a pilot project of about 100 hydrogen-fueled sweepers will be conducted in Baoding. 

 

Industry forecasts suggest that China's autonomous sanitation vehicle market is projected to reach 270 billion yuan by 2025, with an anticipated penetration rate of 5% and a fleet size of 300,000 vehicles.