Eldon Square is a shopping and leisure destination in the heart of Newcastle. Its large floor areas and high visitor numbers mean cleaning never stops, and the environmental services team needed a smarter, more sustainable way to keep the centre looking its best.
Keeping a busy shopping centre clean puts constant pressure on the team, especially at peak times. The centre needed to:
SPARK introduced the SPARK L50, an AI-powered autonomous floor scrubber. Using 3D LiDAR sensors and an NVIDIA Xavier AI chip, it maps its surroundings, avoids obstacles and cleans up to 2,570 m² per hour, running for up to six hours per charge before returning to its workstation to recharge or refill.
The team schedules routines, targets high-traffic areas and responds to unplanned messes from a mobile app, and the robot adapts to layout changes without manual reprogramming. It is designed to use up to 69% less water and 55% less electricity than conventional machines.
The L50 became part of the centre’s cleaning operation after a short training period.
Mapping the centre’s concourses and walkways so the robot could clean them autonomously
Training the environmental services team to run and look after the robot
Setting cleaning routines and priority high-traffic areas in the app
Adapting routes as layouts change, with ongoing SPARK support
Operational Improvements
Sustainability
Visitor Experience
The environmental services team says the L50 has taken pressure off the team and given them time for other important work.
“It’s taken a lot of pressure off our team, especially during peak times.”
“The SPARK L50 saves so much time and lets us focus on other important tasks—it’s absolutely brilliant!”
Environmental Services Team Leader,
Eldon Square Newcastle
Shopping centres across the UK are turning to autonomous cleaning to cope with large floor areas, long opening hours and staffing pressure, while meeting sustainability targets. Robots such as the L50 take on the repetitive floor cleaning, so teams can focus on detail work, washrooms and responding to visitors.
Eldon Square shows how a robot can join a working cleaning team in a busy public space and deliver measurable results within months.
Discover how SPARK Robotics cleaning robots can reduce pressure on your team, save water and energy, and keep large spaces consistently clean.
Tell us about your operation and we’ll help you find a sensible next step.
