Since Thursday, December 14, 2023, two robots have been in use at Zurich-Kloten Airport to support passengers. Their main purpose is to clean large areas, but they can also be used by passengers. 

“Zulu” and “Charlie” can now be found regularly in the check-in areas and in the shopping area of ​​Switzerland’s largest airport. Most of the time they are supposed to be busy cleaning floors. The airport also wants to gain insights into how the cleaning staff can be relieved. 

Cleanliness is a very high priority at Zurich Airport. He has already received several awards for this. Flughafen Zürich AG is now adding two robots to its approximately 300-strong building cleaning team for test purposes. By using them, employees are relieved of the burden of cleaning large areas and are thus freed up for tasks that require more manual skills. This could also increase the attractiveness of the job profile.   

In addition, Flughafen Zürich AG wants to test how the interaction between robot technology and employees works and enable them to use this technology. However, these are not just cleaning machines, as passengers can interact with the robots. Zulu and Charlie have various sensors. These can recognize outlines, but do not create video material. The testing phase of the devices will run until mid-February. The robots operate autonomously and, after a short initial phase, will clean the surfaces on their own. 

“Our goal is to gain experience and understand how the robots work in crowds. How they move, how they interact with passengers and employees and vice versa,” says Daniel Ammann, Head of Building Cleaning at Flughafen Zürich AG.