Flagship Uses BrainOS-Powered Cobots to Improve Airport Sanitation

Flagship Aviation Services is proud to provide facilities management solutions to some of the largest travel centers in the U.S. – including airports in Tampa Bay, Salt Lake City, and Orlando. Major airlines, airports, and aircraft depend on Flagship to maintain a clean, comfortable, and safe environment for passengers and employees.

The Challenge

As passenger counts returned to and even exceeded pre-pandemic levels, maintaining advanced health and safety measures became increasingly important to Flagship’s aviation clients. Not only did they need a way to monitor and regulate sanitation initiatives, but they required additional resources to fill gaps created by the ongoing labor shortage. These clients turned to Flagship develop a solution that would allow them to do more with less.

The Solution

Flagship recently partnered with Brain Corp – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software company that powers collaborative robotic (cobot) applications – to introduce autonomous floor cleaners at several client facilities. Brain Corp’s cobots work by learning from user demonstration and processing sensor data to avoid obstacles, adapt to changing environments, and seamlessly interact with end-users. Deployment took only a couple of days and required no custom infrastructure or specialized training.

In addition to usability, the cobots deliver real-time, cloud-based metrics to improve operational efficiency and verify task completion. This helps reduce the number of human errors and enables employees to focus on other mission-critical tasks.

Simply by implementing Brain Corp’s technology, Flagship significantly expanded its workforce capacity and unlocked new insights into cleaning performance.

The Outcome

Flagship’s robotics investment has helped improve cleaning consistency across airports, while giving valuable time back to workers to carry out other critical tasks, such as sanitizing high-contact surfaces and assisting travelers in need. Flagship estimates that it gained 15k+ hours of productivity through its use of robotics in 2021.

The robotic cleaners have had other benefits, such as improving social distancing so that both passengers and employees feel safer; delivering up-to-the-minute reporting on cleaning performance; and providing a visual representation of the airport’s commitment to sanitation.

In 2022, Flagship’s commitment paid off: Both Tampa International Airport (TPA) and Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) were among the winners of ACI World’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards. TPA took the award in the Best Hygiene Measures by Region category for providing a safe and hygienic airport environment during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The autonomous floor scrubbers allow cleaning staff to be more focused on high-touch points, deep sanitizing, and traveler experiences. This technology has been particularly helpful during the pandemic, when cleaning has never been more important. It allows us to balance costs with enhanced cleaning performance for our clients.”

-Don Toole, SVP, Sales & Marketing, Flagship Facility Services