Cleaning robot field service & repair in North America (2026)

Short answer: Commercial cleaning robots in North America mostly fail on the small, wearable parts: squeegee blades, brushes, filters, solution lines, charging contacts and maps that no longer match the building. KeepRobots is a robot field service company based in Greater Vancouver, serving Canada and the United States. We can deploy your cleaning robots, repair them on site by the hour, run preventive maintenance to your manual and keep spare parts on a shelf in Vancouver, so your customers have a local technician without you hiring one.

Common field problems with cleaning robots

Most service calls for a floor-scrubbing or vacuuming robot are not about the autonomy stack. They are about water, dirt and wear. These are the faults a technician should expect, and what usually fixes them on site.

Symptom on site	Why it happens	What fixes it
Streaks or water left behind	Worn or nicked squeegee blade, wrong blade angle, clogged recovery hose	Flip or replace the blade, reset the squeegee height, flush the recovery line
Poor scrubbing, noisy brush deck	Brushes or pads worn down, hair and string wrapped on the brush hub	Replace brushes or pads, clear the hub, check brush motor current
Weak suction, vacuum motor running hot	Clogged filter or float shut-off stuck	Clean or replace the filter, free the float, inspect the vacuum motor
No solution flow or uneven dosing	Clogged strainer, scale or dried chemical in solution lines, failed valve or pump	Clean the strainer, flush the lines, test the valve and pump
Robot won't dock or charge reliably	Dirty or bent charging contacts, dock moved, poor outlet	Clean and realign contacts, re-register the dock position, check the circuit
Short run time	Aged battery pack, cells out of balance, charging cut short	Read battery health from the service tool, compare to spec, replace or rebalance
Robot gets lost or skips areas	Furniture, racks or displays moved; new walls; seasonal layouts	Rebuild or edit the map, update cleaning zones and no-go zones, re-test routes
False stops, phantom obstacles	LiDAR window or cameras fouled by dust, spray or dried chemical	Clean sensor windows with the right materials, check for scratches, recalibrate if needed
Slipping, poor results on certain floors	Wrong pad or brush for the floor type (sealed concrete, VCT, tile and grout, epoxy)	Match pad, brush pressure and water flow to the floor, per the maker's settings
Rubber parts swelling or cracking early	Site uses a cleaning chemical the robot isn't rated for	Check the chemical against the maker's compatibility list; switch chemical or seal material

Two things make these faults worse in North America. The customer's facility team often has no spare parts on site, so an inexpensive squeegee blade can idle a robot for days while it ships. And the maker's engineers may be 12 to 16 hours ahead, so a fault reported at 9 a.m. in Vancouver arrives in the middle of their night.

What KeepRobots can do for cleaning robot makers

Deployment and commissioning: site survey, floor-type check, mapping, cleaning zones and schedules, dock placement, Wi-Fi check, and training the night crew or facility staff. Site report back to you.
On-site repair, billed by the hour: we go when your customer has a fault. Squeegees, brushes, filters, pumps, valves, contacts, batteries, sensors, and board or module swaps under your guidance.
Preventive maintenance: scheduled visits to your maintenance manual: consumables replaced before they cause bigger failures, battery health readings, firmware version checks, and a parts log per machine sent to you.
Pre-sales demos: we can bring a demo unit to a prospect's site with your salesperson, or run the demo ourselves, after checking the floor and route so the demo doesn't fail on a doorway or ramp.
Spare parts and idle-unit storage: consumables, wear parts and spare robots held in Vancouver, including consignment stock you own. See what to stock for a ten-robot cleaning fleet.

If we haven't worked on your model before, we say so. We train on your service manual (English or Chinese) and a sample unit first, and follow your procedures and report templates.

Typical process

First email to partners@keeprobots.com: robot model, where your customers are, how many units, and what you need (deployment, repair, maintenance, demos, storage).
Short call with your service lead to agree scope, escalation path, working hours overlap and who talks to the end customer.
Documents and training: you share manuals, service tools, parts lists and fault codes; we train on a sample unit or join a remote session with your engineers.
Parts on the shelf: agree a starter stock of consumables and wear parts in Vancouver, bought by us or held on consignment.
First job: a deployment, a demo or a repair. We report back with photos, readings, parts used and time on site.
Ongoing service: hourly call-outs as needed, plus a preventive maintenance schedule if your customers want one. Review the fault log together each quarter.

Published rates

Item	Canada	United States
Diagnostic fee, per visit (credited if the repair is approved)	$200 CAD	$200 USD
Call-out fee, Greater Vancouver core area	$100 CAD per visit	Travel quoted per project
On-site labour	$150 CAD per hour	$150 USD per hour

Taxes extra. Parts extra. Travel outside the core area and US jobs are quoted per project. Deployments, preventive maintenance programs and demo support are quoted per project from the same hourly rates. No onboarding or annual fees.

Example only: a scrubber robot in the Greater Vancouver core area leaves water on the floor. The visit is a $200 CAD diagnostic plus a $100 CAD call-out. If you approve the repair and it takes two hours of labour ($300 CAD), the $200 diagnostic is credited against the repair, so the visit comes to $400 CAD ($100 call-out + $300 labour) plus parts and tax. Real jobs vary with the fault and travel.

Compliance points for cleaning robots in Canada and the US

This is a checklist of questions to raise with your certification body and lawyer, not legal advice.

Electrical safety: Canada typically expects a Canadian-accepted mark such as CSA or cUL on the robot and its charger. In the US, OSHA's workplace electrical rules (29 CFR 1910.303) generally expect equipment listed by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL), and buyers commonly ask for it. Ask your lab which product standard fits your machine.
Radio: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE modules need ISED certification in Canada and FCC authorization in the US. They are separate systems.
FCC Covered List: on July 28, 2026 the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List (DA 26-786). Mobile floor-cleaning robots with sensors, a network connection and navigation software generally fall within the definition. New models can't get FCC equipment authorization unless the maker receives a Conditional Approval; one has already been granted for a ground cleaning robot and charging station platform (DA 26-1063). Models authorized before July 28 can still be imported, sold and used, and repairs with identical parts are not prohibited. Details in FCC Covered List and robots: Canada vs the US.
Batteries: lithium-ion packs ship as dangerous goods (Class 9: UN3480 for batteries alone, UN3481 for batteries packed with or in equipment). Plan spare battery shipments with a forwarder who handles them.
Cleaning chemicals: the site's chemicals come with safety data sheets under WHMIS in Canada and OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard in the US. Keep your chemical compatibility list in English so site staff can check it.

For the full partnership model, see North America field service for robot makers and third-party robot service for robot manufacturers. Useful reading: spares for a cleaning robot fleet, robot spare parts in Canada: consignment stock, and robot field service in North America without your own team. Other robot types are on the solutions index.

FAQ

Can you repair a cleaning robot model you haven't worked on before?

Yes, after training on it. We ask for the service manual, parts list and service tools, and train on a sample unit or with your engineers remotely before the first customer job. Manuals in Chinese are fine.

Do we need to pay a monthly retainer?

No. Repairs are billed per visit and per hour when your customer has a fault. Preventive maintenance can be scheduled separately if your customers want it.

Can you keep consumables like squeegee blades and brushes in Vancouver?

Yes. We can store consumables, wear parts and spare robots in Vancouver, either bought by us or held as consignment stock that stays yours.

Do you work in the United States?

Yes. We are based in Greater Vancouver and serve Canada and the US. US labour is $150 USD per hour and travel for US jobs is quoted per project.

Does the FCC Covered List stop us servicing cleaning robots already sold in the US?

Based on the FCC's public documents, no. Models authorized before July 28, 2026 can still be imported, sold and used, and repairs with identical parts are not prohibited. Check hardware changes with your lab.

Other robot types

Write to partners@keeprobots.com with your robot model, where your customers are and what you need. We reply within one business day, in English or Chinese.

Cleaning robot field service in North America (2026)