Abluo Autonomous Restroom Cleaning Robot

Hivebotics is a Singapore robotics company founded in 2021 out of the National University of Singapore by Rishab Patwari and Nguyen Tuan Dung, with a US entity in Delaware. It addresses the shortage and ageing of cleaning staff for facilities, where restroom cleaning is among the least wanted and most repetitive tasks.

Abluo is a mobile robot with an articulated arm that cleans toilets, urinals, sinks and floors without contact, using high-pressure steam, a targeted chemical jet, hot and cold water, vacuum extraction and blow-drying. Onboard vision identifies each fixture, and every job ends with a scored before-and-after photo check placed on a floor map. HiveIntelligence plans and validates each cleaning job, while Hivebotics OS handles fleet monitoring, remote recovery, scheduling and a customer portal. Customers are facility managers of hospitals, airports, malls, offices and industrial sites.

• Articulated cleaning arm: Reaches under rims and around toilets, urinals and sinks.
• Contactless cleaning: Combines steam, chemical jet, water, vacuum extraction and blow-drying.
• Fixture vision: Identifies each fixture and adapts the cleaning plan.
• Photo verification: Scores before-and-after images and maps them on a floor plan.
• Hivebotics OS: Provides fleet monitoring, remote recovery, scheduling and a customer portal.
• HiveIntelligence: Plans, monitors and validates every cleaning job with physical AI.

An airport terminal operator in Vietnam can automate restroom cleaning during peak hours with photo-verified records. A shopping mall or Grade A office building can reduce night-shift cleaning labour. A hospital can standardize disinfection of patient and visitor restrooms.

Abluo replaces about 30 minutes of manual restroom cleaning with a five-minute human inspection, according to Hivebotics. Photo-verified records give facility managers proof of service, with 86% of runs finished without human help. The company cites 99.99% lab-validated surface disinfection and a 14 to 18 month payback, with outright purchase plus software subscription or equipment leasing.

Facility management firms across Asia face an ageing cleaning workforce and rising minimum wages, while clients demand verifiable hygiene in hospitals, airports and malls. Robotics is moving beyond floor scrubbing into complex tasks such as restroom cleaning, combined with digital proof of service.

Hivebotics Pte. Ltd., spun out of NUS in 2021; US entity Hivebotics Inc. Reports US$9 million raised, including a US$6 million Series A in September 2026, 20 robots deployed in the US, Singapore and Hong Kong, a Florida airport pilot and Nexus as US distribution partner. Named Most Promising Start-up at the Emerging Enterprise Awards 2025; member of NVIDIA Inception.