Q-Bot to expand robotics offer

Q-Bot’s fleet of robotic insulators is set to grow by the end of this year, which comes immediately after news of their adoption by Warmer Homes Scotland, the Scottish Government’s national scheme for improving energy efficient homes which are at risk of fuel poverty.

Kevin Stewart, Scottish minister for local government, housing and planning, said that Q-Bot’s current offer is “fundamental” in helping Scotland “to eradicate fuel poverty” and that “innovative approaches will only make it easier for us to continue to help keep people warmer and healthier in homes.”

Q-Bot’s current offering includes four robots:

Q-Bot’s current family of robots

A customer who uses the current four will pay between £2,000 and £4,000, dependent on size and complexity of the job, for the service. They will see an average reduction in heat loss through the floor of 80% and an improvement in air permeability by one third across the whole house. This results in annual bill savings of as much as £150 and lifetime carbon savings of 20 tonnes of CO2.

The company is set to grow its offering by a further two robots in upcoming months. This includes a smaller robot which will be able to access even more difficult to reach properties like older apartment buildings.

The other robot aims to fix the problem of scaling walls as part of a “number of new approaches for the insulation of hard to treat walls without the need for scaffolding and which will improve the quality of the work” according to Q-Bot’s website.

Q-Bot’s current ‘spraybot’ in action under the floorboards

Q-Bot’s growth in robotics is also matched by its growth into an international marketplace. It is currently piloting a service in France to perform the same home insulation and hopes to grow further into the country according to a representative of Q-Bot.

The representative went on to say however that the UK isn’t still a focus. “We want to see more projects in the UK as there are more houses to be made efficient.”

These various expansions are funded, in large part, by Q-Bot’s recent Series A investment round of £3m. It was led by investors Wealth Club, EMV Capital, and VC firm Foundamental. It also received funding from its existing investors.

According to the CEO of Wealth Club, Alex Davies, “the addressable market is huge, and there are 43 million houses in the US and Europe could potentially benefit.”

The funds also went to expand Q-Bot’s team in the UK in order to keep up with its growing market. There were five additional team members in the engineering and commercial sales side. This brings the total staff to 40.