Nassco Dissects Adoption of Floor Care Robotics

NEW BERLIN, WI -- Nassco, Inc., a janitorial solutions and floor-care equipment supplier, is highlighting new cleaning-industry data showing that planned adoption of robotic floor equipment has roughly doubled from 2025.

The company reviewed current and historical industry research to put the shift in practical facility-management context.

The 2026 Building Service Contractor Market Study reports that around 32 percent of BSCs plan to adopt robotic floor equipment within the next 12 months, roughly double the share reported in 2025.

The study also found that 38.3% expect demand for automation or technology in cleaning contracts to increase, while 44.6% expect labor challenges and 72.5% expect wage or salary demands to increase.

Nassco compared those current findings with the 2019 AACEM/ISSA Autonomous Cleaning Survey, which documented how cleaning contractors, in-house service providers and facility managers evaluated autonomous equipment earlier in the technology's adoption cycle.

Among respondents who had not yet adopted autonomous cleaning equipment and were evaluating it, labor savings was cited by 77% as a purchase influence, while roughly 70% expected payback within two years.

Nassco also publishes guidance on robotic floor-cleaning equipment, covering autonomous scrubber use, repeatable routes and staffing considerations.

Because the surveys used different samples and questions, Nassco treats the older data as historical context rather than a direct trend line.

The broader technology picture points in the same direction. The study found that 38.3% of respondents expect demand for automation or technology in contracts to increase, while 37.4% expect adoption of technologies such as IoT or robotics to increase as cleaning expectations evolve.

Those figures don't establish how many facilities currently use autonomous scrubbers, nor do they show that every contractor intends to automate floor care. They do indicate that robotics has become a more prominent part of near-term planning.

For facilities deciding whether to invest, growing industry interest isn't enough on its own. The financial case still depends on repeatable floor work, equipment utilization and whether staff time freed by automation can be redirected productively.

Labor and wage pressures keep automation relevant
The current study also gives context for why robotic equipment is drawing attention. Among respondents, 44.6% expect labor challenges to increase in 2026, and 72.5% expect wage or salary demands to rise. At the same time, 38.3% expect customer demand for automation and technology in contracts to increase.

For facilities, the potential benefit doesn't necessarily come from eliminating cleaning jobs. Autonomous floor equipment can take on repeatable routes while employees handle restrooms, detailed cleaning, inspections, and other tasks that require direct attention. A useful evaluation starts with the workload: how many labor hours go to repetitive floor routes, and how much of that work could realistically be automated?

Scrubbers were an early focus of autonomous cleaning
Among organizations that had adopted autonomous cleaning technology, 89% reported using scrubbers. Vacuums were reported by 46%, while 32% used large-area sweepers. Nassco's current autonomous floor scrubber resources provide current product and application context for facilities evaluating that equipment category.

Nassco's robotic-floor-cleaning guidance focuses on practical facility fit. The company advises facilities to consider where autonomous equipment can operate consistently, how often it will be used and whether time freed from repetitive floor work can be redirected to other cleaning priorities.

Facilities can then estimate the workload that could realistically move to robotic equipment and consider the resulting labor or productivity value alongside equipment cost, maintenance, training, service, consumables and downtime. Higher industry adoption alone doesn't establish a positive return.

Nassco, Inc. provides cleaning equipment and related solutions for commercial and institutional facilities, including automatic and robotic floor scrubbers, along with equipment service and support. Nassco also publishes robotic floor-cleaning resources for facility managers evaluating automation.

For more, go to nasscoinc.com.