Trombia Technologies, a Finnish street maintenance technology developer, recently launched the world's first full-power autonomous street sweeper. The company's Trombia Free electric sweeper uses less than 15% of the power required by other heavy suction sweeping technologies currently available, without compromising the machine's power and performance capabilities. Trombia Free is also the first street cleaning device built to be operated autonomously in all weather conditions.
“We think about the over 3 million metric tons of carbon emissions that high power diesel-fueled suction street sweepers around the world produce annually. The current vehicle technology relies on suction performance that was invented in the 1950s. We simply cannot enter 2020's green and sustainable era with such an outdated solution. With the globally patented Trombia technology we are able to take down the power requirement dramatically, so turning it into a beautiful, powerful, electrified autonomous device has been an exciting journey,” says Antti Nikkanen, CEO, Trombia Technologies.
Trombia Technologies has been developing its patented Trombia sweeping technology since 2013 and entered the market with sweeper attachments in 2017. Trombia sweeper attachments are currently being sold in seven countries, including North America and Northern and Central Europe. The carbon-free and autonomous Trombia Free is expected to roll-out through a pilot program in 2021, with mass-deliveries in early 2022.
“Starting in January 2021, we'll start a 12-month commercial pilot program for different applications. This is mainly to develop a product and model range for different applications. Trombia Free was developed below-the-radar in pilots with the Nordic European parking lot operator Aimo Park and for harder conditions with piling machinery manufacturer Junttan’s industrial plants. Now we move forward with an increased focus on the smart city sector,” says Jaakko Happonen, Founder, Trombia Technologies.
Trombia Free units are equipped with an all-weather autonomous, lidar-based, machine vision technology that filters out the noise coming from the environment in rainy and snowy conditions. The advanced algorithm was developed to take in object data from various sources and generate millions of models of the object at once. This enables accurate and safe localization in all-weather conditions.
Trombia Free also highlights the importance of rapid replacement of diesel-fueled street sweepers. Trombia Free units are being brought to the market with a pay-per-square meter business model that will allow contractors and operators to adopt Trombia Free quickly. Final product pricing will be available when pre-sales start in the summer of 2021.
Source: Trombia Technologies
