SoftBank Robotics

SoftBank Robotics is the robotics company of the Japanese SoftBank group, based in Tokyo. The manufacturer does not state a founding year or a detailed corporate history, so we do not reconstruct one from guesswork. What is certain is what the company shows today: its commercial offer centers on Whiz, an autonomous vacuum cleaner for offices, shops and hotels, built together with the American Brain on the BrainOS navigation platform. That split of roles is typical of this corner of the market: brand and sales sit with a large group, while the autonomy layer — mapping, route planning, obstacle avoidance — comes from a specialist software supplier. In practice, SoftBank Robotics' story in cleaning is largely a story of partnership rather than of an in-house technology stack. For a buyer sizing up the company, that is a useful clue: the quality of Whiz depends on the maturity of BrainOS and on the service network, not only on the company itself. We describe the wider background of this segment in our piece on “Commercial Cleaning Robots in Practice”, and the vocabulary is explained in the “Robotics Glossary: 65 Terms with Polish Equivalents”.

In our catalog SoftBank Robotics is represented by a single model: SoftBank Robotics Whiz, a commercial autonomous vacuum cleaner in the service robots category. The robot is meant for offices, shops and hotels, that is, spaces where cleaning must be repeated daily over a large, fairly flat surface. According to the available data, throughput reaches up to 500 m² per hour and the battery lasts about 3 hours. The purchase price is 25,000 USD (about 96,900 PLN (≈ EUR 22,200) at 3.8762), and the alternative is a robot-as-a-service subscription at roughly 1,042 USD a month, offered by the distributor RobotLAB. The manufacturer does not make a full datasheet publicly available, so we do not state some parameters — weight, dimensions, tank capacity. How to read such summaries, and what to watch for when figures are missing, is explained in “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”. For judging profitability, the total-cost-of-ownership approach in “Humanoid Robot TCO: How to Calculate Total Cost” helps; the principles are similar even though it concerns a different class of machine. The SoftBank Robotics offer is therefore narrow, but complete as far as price goes.

Whiz competes in commercial autonomous cleaning, where players such as Gausium and Pudu Robotics operate. The difference is structural: Chinese players usually build everything themselves, from hardware to software, whereas SoftBank Robotics bases Whiz on the Brain platform, an American solution. For the customer this brings advantages (proven navigation, a recognizable group brand) and limits (less influence of the hardware maker on software development). The manufacturer does not publish financial data for its service-robotics segment, so we do not assess the scale of the business or its market share. Next to cheaper Asian designs, a 25,000 USD price puts Whiz in the upper part of the range; only a comparison with a concrete local integrator's offer shows whether the brand justifies the difference. An overview of the whole category is given under “Service robots”. It is also worth remembering that in this class the choice is often decided not by the machine itself but by the service contract and parts availability, and the manufacturer does not disclose those details.

The manufacturer gives no information on a commercial presence in Poland, and our catalog holds no confirmed Polish distributor or Whiz deployment. The subscription offer we found comes from RobotLAB, a company operating outside our market. A Polish buyer would therefore have to ask about import and service case by case. Those interested in cleaning hotels or retail sites will find context in the use-case pages “Hotel Robots: Cleaning, Delivery and Reception” and retail, and domestic robotics suppliers are mapped in “Polish Robotics Companies”. In practical terms that means several questions to ask before any talk of price: who is responsible for service in Poland, how long parts take to arrive, and whether updates to the BrainOS platform are available to customers in our region.

Whiz is a reasonable option for operators of large commercial areas who value the SoftBank brand and the proven BrainOS platform. The obstacles for a Polish customer are the lack of confirmed distribution and service in the country and incomplete technical documentation. Before buying, compare it with the rivals described in “Commercial Cleaning Robots in Practice” and demand written specifications. Until those matters are settled, we treat Whiz as an interesting reference point rather than a ready-made purchase recommendation.