Robot deployment cost and timeline in Canada and the US: an hourly estimate by robot type
Short answer: For one robot at one customer site in Canada or the US, the robot-side work on site usually takes half a day to three days: about 4–8 hours for a single-floor restaurant or cleaning job, about 1.5–3 days for a multi-floor building with elevators. A warehouse zone of AMRs or a robot arm cell is planned in weeks and several visits. At KeepRobots' current published rates (C$150/hour in Canada, US$150/hour in the US, C$100 call-out in the Greater Vancouver core zone, before tax), that puts a simple single-floor deployment near C$1,000 and a two-robot hotel with elevators near C$4,000 plus elevator-side costs. What blows up a deployment budget is rarely the hourly rate. It is wasted visits, waiting on elevator contractors and IT, and travel on US projects.
All hours on this page are estimates, built by breaking a deployment into its work items (survey, network, mapping, integration, training, acceptance). They are not industry statistics and not records from a specific project. For the deployment process itself, see robot deployment services in Canada and the USA; for what the site must have ready, the commissioning checklist for Canadian sites; for everything to settle before the first unit ships, the 30-item deployment checklist. This note is only about hours and money.
Two clocks: calendar time and on-site hours
The most common budgeting mistake we see in deployment plans is mixing up "how long the project takes" with "how long an engineer is in the building".
- Calendar time runs from signed order to go-live: shipping and customs, the customer's IT security review, the elevator contractor's schedule, building approvals, staff rosters. It is counted in weeks.
- On-site hours are the hours an engineer spends at the site. This is what you pay for by the hour, and it is usually a small share of the calendar time.
One public reference point: Relay Robotics, a US maker of hospital delivery robots, said in a June 2026 Q&A that a hospital deployment takes approximately 12 weeks, of which on-site installation is 1–2 weeks. That is one vendor's figure for hospitals, covering integration hardware work, floor mapping and staff training; it does not apply to every robot type. The lesson still holds: most of the time is spent waiting and coordinating. So build two plans, a cost plan driven by on-site hours and number of visits, and a schedule driven by third parties.
On-site hours by robot type (estimates)
Assumptions: the site was surveyed and is ready (Wi‑Fi credentials issued, an outlet at the charging spot, staff available for training). Hours cover the robot side only. They exclude the elevator contractor, electrician and access-control integrator, and travel time.
| Robot type | Assumed scope | First unit on site (estimate) | Each extra unit, same site | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial floor-cleaning robot | One floor, one cleaning area, water fill/drain and charging ready | About 4–8 h | About 1–2 h | Floor area and zones; mapping moved to night shift if the site is busy; how many cleaning crews need training |
| Cleaning robot, large multi-zone site | Mall, airport or large warehouse floor, multiple tasks and schedules | About 8–16 h (1–2 days) | About 2–4 h | Number of zones and routes, floor surface changes, multi-shift schedules |
| Delivery / serving robot, one floor | Single-floor restaurant, 1 unit | About 4–8 h | About 1–2 h | Number of stops, front-of-house to kitchen paths, evening staff training |
| Delivery robot, multi-floor with elevator | Hotel, hospital or office, 1–2 units | About 12–24 h (1.5–3 days), excluding elevator contractor scheduling | About 2–4 h | Elevator method (OEM API, elevator interface module or button pressing), doors and turnstiles, number of floors |
| Warehouse AMR | One warehouse zone, 10–30 units, WMS/WES integration | About 40–120 h, usually over 2–4 visits | Unboxing, power-up and calibration about 0.5–1 h per unit (included in the range) | Whether the interface was proven in a test environment first, area of floor markers or fiducials, how many days of supervised running |
| Robot arm / cobot | One cell, end effector and safety functions configured | About 16–40 h | Next identical cell about 8–16 h | Process programming, safety configuration and risk assessment support, customer EHS sign-off; electrical hook-up by a licensed electrician |
| Humanoid / quadruped | Pilot or demo, 1 unit in a defined area | About 8–24 h | About 4–8 h | Defining the operating area and safety drills, task setup, questions from the customer's safety and insurance teams |
How we got these: wheeled service robots use the same work items as our commissioning checklist (a 2-hour survey visit, then mapping and tuning, training and acceptance, about 6 hours for one robot on one ready floor); multi-floor and elevator work follows elevator integration for service robots in BC; AMRs, arms and humanoids/quadrupeds use the same work items plus software integration, process tuning and safety drills. What each robot type needs in North America is covered on the cleaning, delivery, warehouse AMR, robot arm, humanoid and quadruped pages.
Where the hours go: a multi-floor delivery deployment
Take a hotel or hospital with one or two delivery robots that ride the elevator. The 12–24 hours break down roughly like this (estimates):
| Work item | On-site hours (estimate) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Site survey | About 2 h | Best as a separate visit before the robot ships, ending in a written readiness report |
| Network and IT setup | About 1–2 h | Only if the customer's IT security review is already done; if not, the engineer waits on site |
| Mapping, stops, no-go zones, charging | About 3–6 h | One map per floor; busy sites push mapping to night hours |
| Elevator and door integration, floor-by-floor tests | About 3–8 h | Robot side only; elevator-side work is done and billed by a licensed elevator contractor |
| Training | About 2–4 h | Front desk, housekeeping, food service and engineering staff are often on different shifts |
| Acceptance and handover | About 1–2 h | Signed acceptance checklist, map and parameter backup, open-issues list |
| Total | About 12–24 h | Excludes follow-up visits after go-live |
Mapping and elevator testing are the big items, but the biggest swing is whether the prerequisites were ready. If IT approval, the elevator interface or the charging outlet is missing when the engineer arrives, hours do not grow a little. You pay for another visit.
Budget template: each line, who usually pays, how to estimate
| Line item | Usually paid by | How to estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Site survey | Maker or customer (agree in the contract) | 1 visit × 2–4 h; for remote sites, start with a video walk-through and floor plans and decide if a trip is needed |
| Deployment labour | Maker (often bundled into the robot price or a deployment fee) | Range from the table above × number of units |
| Call-out or travel | Same as above | Number of visits × cost per visit; US and long-distance projects quoted separately |
| Elevator and access-control side | Negotiate early: building owner, customer or maker | Quotes from the elevator maintenance company or a licensed elevator contractor and the access-control integrator; ask separately how the elevator maker charges for its interface |
| Small building changes | Usually the customer | Outlet at the charging spot, Wi‑Fi coverage, thresholds and ramps |
| Training | Maker | Number of shifts × 1–2 h; schedule night and weekend shifts separately |
| Post-go-live support | Maker | 1–2 follow-up visits in the first week, 2–4 h each |
| Factory remote support | Maker's own engineers | Second-line help on parameters, firmware and maps; Vancouver is 15 hours behind Beijing year-round (BC moved to permanent daylight time in 2026), so agree online hours in advance |
| Contingency | — | For a first North American project we suggest 20–30% on top of on-site hours (our recommendation, not a statistic); reduce it once you have one or two projects of actual data |
Three worked examples at KeepRobots rates (before tax)
Rates: on-site labour C$150/hour in Canada and US$150/hour in the US; C$100 call-out per visit in the Greater Vancouver core zone, one charge per visit however many robots we look at; travel outside the core zone and for US projects quoted per project; all before tax. The diagnostic fee (C$200 in Canada, US$200 in the US, per robot, per visit) applies to repair visits, not to deployments. Hours below are assumptions to show the arithmetic.
| Scenario | Assumption | Calculation | Example total |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Greater Vancouver, single-floor restaurant, 1 serving robot | Survey, deployment, training and acceptance in one visit, 6 h | $100 + 6 × $150 | About C$1,000 |
| B. Greater Vancouver, multi-floor hotel, 2 delivery robots with elevator | Separate survey visit (2 h); deployment and elevator testing over 2 visits (20 h); one evening training visit (2 h) | 4 × $100 + 24 × $150 | About C$4,000, plus elevator-side and building costs |
| C. United States, one warehouse zone, 15 AMRs | 3 visits, 80 h in total | 80 × $150 | About US$12,000 labour, travel quoted per project |
In A and B, labour is about 90% of the bill, so the saving comes from fewer visits. If B's survey had confirmed the outlets, the IT review and the elevator interface, the deployment could have been done in one visit, saving a call-out and half a day. In cross-border projects like C, travel takes a bigger share the further away the site is and the more trips it takes, so combine everything except the survey into one or two trips. For your own travel budget, the US federal travel rates are a public order-of-magnitude reference: for fiscal year 2027 the standard rate is US$113 per night for lodging and US$68 per day for meals and incidentals, higher in many cities, before flights and a rental car. That is a reference for budgeting, not our quote.
What doubles deployment hours
- Prerequisites missing on arrival. No Wi‑Fi credentials, no outlet at the charger, no staff free for training. The visit is wasted and has to be booked again.
- Elevator and doors started late. Elevator contractors schedule in weeks. The engineer commissions one floor and comes back for integration.
- Customer IT review not finished. Hotel groups, hospitals and universities in North America often ask for a network diagram, a port list and the remote-access method. Waiting for approval on site is the most expensive way to spend hours.
- Mapping only allowed at night. The site is too busy during business hours, so mapping is split across several nights.
- Parameter or firmware changes need factory approval. With a 15-hour time difference, anything the field engineer cannot change waits for the factory's next working day, often one more night. Agree before deployment what can be changed on site and who opens remote access.
- Shipping damage or flat batteries. After a long ocean shipment, unbox, power up and self-test before deployment day, not on it.
- No written acceptance criteria. The customer keeps "observing for a few more days", and follow-up visits have no end.
- Robot arm without a North American mark. Electrical equipment without an accepted mark (CSA, cUL, cETL in Canada; an NRTL listing in the US) may need a field evaluation before it can be connected, which can add weeks of calendar time. See the deployment checklist.
How to price deployment to your North American customers
Makers usually choose between three models: bundle deployment into the robot price, charge a fixed deployment fee, or bill time and materials. Customers prefer a fixed price. If you quote one:
- Price a "standard scenario". For example: one floor, one unit, Wi‑Fi and outlet ready, done in one visit. List the extras (more floors, elevators, night work, extra training shifts, repeat visits) as hourly add-ons on the quote.
- Write the customer's obligations into the contract. Network credentials and IT approval, charging outlet, elevator and building coordination, staff at training. State who pays for a repeat visit when the site was not ready.
- Survey before you quote. Charge a survey fee or make the survey phase one. A fixed all-in price for a site nobody has seen puts all the risk on you.
- Don't fix travel on the first project. US and long-distance travel varies a lot. Bill it at cost or with a cap until one or two projects give you real numbers.
- Put numbers in the acceptance criteria. Days of continuous running, tasks completed, maximum faults. When they are met, the customer signs.
If you are comparing sending your own engineers with using a local partner, see what a robotic field service engineer costs in North America and should a robot startup outsource field service? For what goes into the service contract after go-live, see robot service SLAs in North America.
Ten questions to ask a service provider before you accept a deployment quote
- When does billing start: at departure, on arrival, or when work begins? How are travel time, mileage and parking charged?
- Is there a minimum billable time? Are night, weekend and holiday rates different?
- For several robots at one site, is the call-out charged per visit or per robot?
- Which deliverables are included: survey report, map and parameter backup, how many training sessions, acceptance checklist, handover report?
- What do you charge when the site is not ready and the visit is wasted?
- Is travel (flights, hotel, meals, car) billed at cost, fixed, or capped? Is it confirmed in writing before departure?
- Who supplies tools, consumables and small hardware?
- Can you provide a certificate of insurance, with what limits, and can you add the customer as additional insured? Background: what insurance a robot company needs in North America.
- In what language are reports written, and how fast? Can they go straight to the factory team?
- How are post-go-live support and remote help charged? Is response time in the contract?
What KeepRobots can do
KeepRobots is a robot field service company based in Vancouver, serving Canada and the United States in English and Mandarin. We don't make or sell robots. For robot makers, we can deploy and commission robots at customer sites: pre-shipment survey and readiness report, network and mapping, robot-side elevator and door integration, training by shift, acceptance and handover, then hourly repair and preventive maintenance afterwards.
- Price: on-site labour C$150/hour in Canada and US$150/hour in the US, from arrival on site; C$100 call-out per visit in the Greater Vancouver core zone; travel outside the core zone and for US projects quoted before we book; all before tax. Full deployment projects are quoted per project after the survey, with scope and cost in writing before anyone travels. See robot deployment in Canada and the USA, or by country, Canada and USA.
- Our engineers read Chinese deployment manuals and parameter notes and can write reports in Chinese for your factory team. We can work under your brand and templates.
To get a first estimate for your first North American project, email partners@keeprobots.com with the robot model, number of units, city and site type (floors, elevators). We will reply with an hours range using the method on this page.
Full roadmap: How to expand a robot company into North America puts certification, demo units, deployment, after-sales, parts and insurance in order.
FAQ
How much does it cost to deploy a robot in Canada or the US?
It depends on robot type and site. At KeepRobots' current rates, before tax: one serving robot in a single-floor restaurant in Greater Vancouver, about 6 hours on site, is about C$100 call-out + 6 × C$150 ≈ C$1,000. Two delivery robots in a multi-floor hotel with elevators, about 24 hours over 4 visits, is about C$4,000, plus elevator-side and building costs. Hours are estimates; the final price is a written quote after a site survey.
How long does a robot deployment take?
Two different numbers. On-site hours (estimates): about 4–8 hours for one robot on one floor, about 1.5–3 days for multi-floor with elevators, about 40–120 hours over several visits for a warehouse zone of 10–30 AMRs, about 16–40 hours for one robot arm cell. Calendar time is much longer because IT reviews, elevator contractor scheduling and building approvals take weeks. Relay Robotics, a US maker, has publicly said a hospital deployment takes about 12 weeks with 1–2 weeks of on-site installation.
Is there a diagnostic fee for a deployment?
Usually not. KeepRobots' diagnostic fee (C$200 in Canada, US$200 in the US, per robot, per visit, credited if you approve the repair) applies to repair visits. Deployments are billed as on-site labour (C$150/hour in Canada, US$150/hour in the US) plus call-out or travel, before tax, and quoted per project after the survey.
How is travel charged on US projects?
For US projects and projects outside the Greater Vancouver core zone, KeepRobots quotes travel per project and confirms it in writing before departure. For your own budget, the US federal travel rates give an order of magnitude: for fiscal year 2027 the standard rate is US$113 per night for lodging and US$68 per day for meals and incidentals, higher in many cities, plus flights and a car. Combining work into one or two trips saves the most.
How much do you save by deploying several robots at once?
At the same site, maps and stops can mostly be shared, so each additional wheeled service robot typically adds 1–4 hours (estimate). The call-out is charged per visit, not per robot. Several sites in the same region can be combined into one trip to save travel.
How do I keep deployment hours from overrunning?
Get the prerequisites done before the engineer arrives: Wi‑Fi credentials and IT security approval, the charging outlet, elevator and door interfaces, and staff scheduled for training. Write acceptance criteria as numbers, and agree which parameters can be changed on site and who opens remote access. For a first North American project, keep 20–30% contingency on on-site hours.
Sources (checked 2026-10-25)
- Robotics Tomorrow, BayCare expands autonomous hospital delivery with new Relay robots (June 3, 2026; Q&A with "approximately 12 weeks" and "onsite install time is 1-2 weeks"): roboticstomorrow.com
- US GSA, FY 2027 CONUS per diem notice (Federal Register 2026-18439; standard lodging $113, standard M&IE $68): federalregister.gov
- US GSA, per diem rates lookup by city: gsa.gov
- BC Government, permanent daylight saving time (March 2, 2026): news.gov.bc.ca
- KeepRobots, robot deployment in Canada and the USA (current rates and process): keeprobots.com
- KeepRobots, commissioning checklist for Canadian sites (basis for the hour breakdown): keeprobots.com
Hours are estimates built from a breakdown of work items, not industry statistics or project records. KeepRobots rates are the current published rates as of 2026-10-25, before tax, and may change; the final price is a written quote after a site survey. Federal travel rates are a budgeting reference only.
Chinese version: 北美机器人部署调试要多少钱、多久？