Public Institutions: How Transportation, Education, Healthcare, and Public Services Are Building Cleaning Robot Fleets
This article is part of the results of The Biggest Fleet 2025. Click here for all results
The Biggest Fleet 2025 ranking shows that the public sector is carving out its own space in cleaning robotics. It remains far smaller than retail, but its growth is unmistakable. Public-sector fleets now reach a combined Radar Score of 1,831, up 145 percent from 747 in 2024.
In other words, the sector operates at almost 2.5 times last year’s scale. While still mid-sized operators, these fleets are unusually visible and help shape how the broader public encounters cleaning robots.
Public institutions do not rely on robots designed specifically for schools, hospitals, airports, or community portfolios. Instead, they draw from machines originally developed for retail or general-purpose cleaning. This results in a diverse landscape across suppliers and platforms. Unlike retail, where a few OEM partnerships dominate, public-sector fleets remain widely distributed across multiple brands.
Public Services: A Newly Emerging Pillar
A fourth pillar enters the ranking in 2025 under the broader term Public Services, representing municipalities, public-service operators, and community-focused organisations. This category brings together varied but structurally similar portfolios.
The largest operator is Faxe Kommune (Score: 370). Additional fleets appear at Stadtforum Dresden (Score: 25), Gemeente Enschede (Score: 22), and several Swedish municipal operators with mid-sized microbot deployments.
Public-service portfolios are typically fragmented across administrative buildings, community facilities, and local venues. This structure makes microbots particularly suitable. Although still early, the segment indicates that robotics is beginning to take hold across a wider set of everyday public operations.
Transportation: High Visibility Across Airports and Transit Operators
Transportation remains the most publicly visible strand of adoption. The largest operators in 2025 are Dubai Airports (Score: 150) and Zurich Airport (Score: 130). Transit operators follow with fleets at Shenzhen Metro Line (Score: 75), Incheon Airport (Score: 60), Chongqing East Railway (Score: 35), and Da Nang Airport (Score: 25). Additional fleets appear at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Score: 20), Pittsburgh International Airport (Score: 20), and Queen Alia International Airport (Score: 20). Smaller but notable fleets are found at Kelowna Airport (Score: 15), Thiruvananthapuram Airport (Score: 15), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Score: 10), and Salzburg Airport (Score: 10). The spread across regions is wide with Europe, Asia, and North America all represented. Airports continue to use robots both as signals of modernisation and as tools for operational efficiency. The entrance of metro and rail operators suggests movement beyond aviation toward a broader transit segment. Much of the large-scale potential in concourse and high-traffic areas remains only partially automated.
Healthcare and Senior Care: A Cautious Expansion
Healthcare entered the ranking cautiously in 2024 and continues to grow at a measured pace. The largest operator is Summerset Retirement Villages (Score: 460), followed by a U.S. healthcare network (Score: 147). Other operators include a healthcare provider in Switzerland (Score: 45), Alvaro Cunqueiros Hospital (Score: 10), and a few more in German-speaking countries. Robots are used primarily in entrance halls, corridors, and waiting areas. These spaces allow automation to visibly reinforce hygiene standards while clinical zones remain off-limits. Current devices are still not suitable for intensive care, treatment rooms, or surgical environments. As a result, fleets remain focused on front-of-house operations. The year-over-year growth is clear but still conservative compared to other sectors.
Education: From Showcase to Operation
Education expanded from a marginal category in 2024 into a broader, operationally relevant segment in 2025. The institutions appear with clearly measurable fleets. The largest operator is Denver Public Schools (Score: 115). They are followed by Bowling Green State University (Score: 45), the University of British Columbia (Score: 35), Toronto University (Score: 30), Inholland University (Score: 25), and the Rochester Institute of Technology (Score: 15). Additional institutions include Dalhousie University (Score: 19) and Penn State University (Score: 10). The distribution remains heavily North American with only a small share of Radar Scores originating in Europe. Each institution has selected a different supplier ranging from Tennant and ICE Cobotics to A&K Robotics, Gausium, Avidbots, and CenoBots. Deployments continue to focus on hallways, atriums, and similar public areas. Classroom and dormitory automation remains unresolved and explains why fleets are expanding but still moderate in absolute size.
The Shape of Public-Sector Adoption
Education, healthcare, transportation, and public services together form a four-pillar landscape within the public sector. Their combined Radar Score reaches 1,831 in 2025 compared to 747 in 2024, an increase of 145 percent and almost 2.5 times last year’s level. Transportation contributes the most visible fleets, education continues to diversify, healthcare expands cautiously, and public-service operators appear in the ranking for the first time. Although smaller than retail in absolute numbers, the public sector remains disproportionately visible. Robots in airports, schools, hospitals, and local public buildings shape how millions encounter cleaning robotics in everyday life even as the total scale still trails behind retail deployments.
This article is part of the results of The Biggest Fleet 2025. Click here for all results