I wake to the sound of footsteps. They grow closer.
Suddenly, I feel myself being lifted from where I’ve been resting between my buddies Balthazar and Barnaby. I know what this means. Time for work.
From inside my case, I can feel myself being carried to the van. Those are the doors slamming. And that’s the engine starting.
My name is Betty, and I’m an underfloor insulation robot at Q-Bot.
I wonder where we’re going today. I enjoy the movement in the car. It gently wakens my muscles and loosens me up for the day. Sort of like what morning yoga is to humans.
After about 40 minutes of movement, we stop. The engine turns off. We’re here.
The doors to the back of the van open. I get lifted up again and brought closer to the house. Finally, the case opens. The bright sunlight almost blinds me, but I readjust quickly. A pair of hands wrap themselves around my waist and hoist me out from my orange Peli case, which is a mission in itself: I weigh over 25kg (I know, I hide it well). But I’m in good hands; it’s Dayna, the robot manager. She knows what she is doing.
We all know the drill. Dayna and her colleagues connect me up to the control unit, a bespoke computer and power supply designed specifically to communicate with me and control me. I’m all set for my first assignment of the day. Dayna uses an Xbox controller to steer me into the void, the gap underneath the floorboards, the crawl space between where the floor of the house ends and the earth begins. She and her team of humans have already made a small opening on the side of the house for my access point by removing the air vent. Sometimes this is done by creating a small opening in the floorboards in the house, but that’s not always necessary.
Today, this is my entrance into the void. I go in and have a look around. It’s dark and dusty inside, and I can imagine this would be quite scary for humans. But not for me. I’m a robot. I don’t get scared. I enjoy exploring new terrain and get excited about new discoveries. One time, one of my robot buddies bumped into an old bottle with a secret message inside. The humans told us it was some sort of spooky spell. Another time, we discovered an undertaker’s pricing list from the 1920s. Apparently, the house had been an undertaker’s home. This underfloor is easy to navigate. There are no awkward rubble to manoeuvre around; the pipes are where they should be, and there are no large obstacles. No surprises here. I scope out all the space around me using my camera and sensors so I can create a detailed 3D map of the underfloor for Dayna and her human friends. With this map, Dayna and her team of humans can assess whether the property is suitable for insulation and identify any risks. Luckily, this property is suitable. It has a high enough gap between the floor and the earth, which means there is enough space for me to spray-apply my insulation. We can continue with our work. Step one complete.
This next step is my favourite. The insulation hose is attached to my back, and I wait at the entrance of the void until Dayna is ready to steer me in. Here we go. I re-enter the void armed with my spray equipment. I begin applying it upwards, spraying its mist at the underfloor of the house above. I move quickly. Once I apply the spray to an area, it expands to fit the shape of the floor and ensures that no gaps are left for draughts to enter. I have to make sure the entire underfloor is covered before Dayna collects me from the entrance. I enjoy myself meanwhile. Spraying the underfloor is very satisfying. I’m very thorough, but it doesn’t take me that long to finish the job. I’m done within a few hours. The fastest pace for spraying insulation is 20m² per hour. I’m trying to keep fit to compete with that one day. I’m also striving to beat Balthazar’s record; he managed to spray 87m² in a day!
I re-emerge from the gap. I always enjoy seeing the look of surprise on the homeowners’ faces when I come out. They always say something like, “That’s it?!” or “Done already?!” I love impressing people with the work we do. It seems so simple and straightforward, but it’s hard work for us at Q-Bot. The work is worth it to see the look of delight on people’s faces when they realise we’ve just insulated their floor without lifting a single floorboard and that we’ll have their house back in their hands by the end of the day. On top of that, their floor will feel warmer immediately, and their draughts will be gone.
It’s not long before I’m back in the void, double-checking my work, the final step of the day. You can’t be too careful in this line of work. We want to make sure everything is sound and as it should be, but most importantly, we want to make sure our customers are happy. I monitor the thickness of the insulation I applied, creating a detailed record and video of my installation work. This will help the team verify that the job has been carried out successfully and accurately calculate energy savings.
These energy savings are important; they help save the planet. If my 14 (soon to be 19) robot buddies and I manage to insulate the 8 million UK homes that have suspended timber floors, it would be the equivalent CO2 savings of planting 30 million trees or of taking one million passenger cars off the road! I feel proud of the work I do, and I’m constantly learning and improving my capabilities. I’m even training to be able to recognise objects and, hopefully, one day, be able to perform the installs myself with limited human intervention. I’m proud of Dayna and her human friends as well. I know we’ve done a good job and that the occupants of the house will feel the positive effects of insulation immediately. They will be warmer and more comfortable in their home, and I was a part of creating that!
A job well done. For now, I’m exhausted after a long day out and about. Dayna tucks me back into my case. Time for a bit of rest on the way back to the office. Once we’re back, Dayna lifts me out of my case once more and sits me in the maintenance area. I get a nice warm shower to clean off after my day’s work. Then Dayna checks whether I’m still physically okay. Apart from fatigue, I perform well.
Now it’s time for bed. Balthazar and Barnaby are already back from their day’s escapades. We begin to tell each other what we saw and who we met today but fall asleep before we can finish catching up. That’s alright; I need my rest. Tomorrow’s a new day, filled with new adventures. I can’t wait to hit the road again and help the Q-Bot team provide warmer homes for people all over the UK and beyond.