Buying an autonomous cleaning robot is rarely a decision made from a product specification sheet alone. For facility managers, operations leaders, procurement teams, and executives, the bigger question is usually: Does cleaning automation make financial and operational sense for our facility? That requires looking beyond the purchase price. A useful business case should evaluate the cleaning work being performed today, determine how much of that work can realistically be automated, calculate the cost of the current process, and compare those numbers with the total cost and expected utilization of the robotic solution. Here’s how to approach that analysis. Start With the Cleaning Task, Not the Robot Before comparing robots, document your current cleaning operation. For each repetitive floor-cleaning task, identify: Question What to Measure How much floor is cleaned? Actual cleanable square footage How often? Cleans per day/week How long does it take? Labor hours Who performs it? Number of employees What equipment is used? Sweeper, scrubber, mop, vacuum When is it performed? Day, night, between shifts What does it cost? Labor + equipment + maintenance This creates a baseline. Without that baseline, it’s difficult to know whether automation actually improves the operation. Calculate Your Current Labor Cost Suppose a