A proper skylight robot handover takes one to two days and covers suction testing, route mapping, operator sign-off and an on-site spare kit. Skipping it is the main reason new machines sit idle in month one.
Delivery is not commissioning. The crate arrives, someone signs, and the robot gets pushed into a store room until a technician is free. Two weeks later the first run fails on a frame the route map never learned. Handover done right prevents almost all of that.
What must be tested on day one?
Suction first. Measure vacuum at the cups against spec – on the Lingfeng S1 that is 2,800 Pa. A 10 percent shortfall usually means a seal or hose issue that gets worse over time. Then test the boundary logic on a real edge, and confirm the emergency stop and the recovery procedure if power drops mid-panel.
- Suction reading against spec at the cups
- Boundary and edge-stop behaviour on the real frame
- Drop-recovery drill demonstrated, not just described
- Charge time and real runtime measured, not quoted
- Emergency stop and manual retrieval walked through
How should routes be mapped?
Have the operator map each zone while a trainer watches. Mark refill points, charging spots and the water source. Record panel sizes and note any raised seal or channel the robot must slow for. Keep a printed route card at roof access – the person running the machine next month will not be the person trained today.
Map the awkward zones first, not the easy ones. Atrium edges, gap plates and drain covers are where jobs stall. Test the Lingyun Y3 through those before signing off, and see how to handle atrium edges and panel gaps.
What spares belong on site?
Cups fail first, so keep a set. Then roller brushes, filter cartridges and a spare battery. A month-one stoppage caused by a 40 USD part costs a lost cleaning window, which dwarfs the part price. Sites that keep a modest spares box report far fewer idle days.
| Spare | Quantity | Typical life |
|---|---|---|
| Suction cup set | 1 | 6-12 months |
| Roller brushes | 2 | 3-6 months |
| Filter cartridge | 2 | 2-4 months |
| Battery pack | 1 | 500-1,200 cycles |
Who should delay the handover?
If the roof still needs retrofit work, or if no operator is assigned yet, wait. Commissioning a machine with no named owner guarantees the knowledge leaks away. Also postpone if the water source at roof level is not connected – mapping routes without real refill points is guesswork.
Build the handover into the purchase contract: one to two days, a named operator, and a signed checklist. Owners who buy on price alone often pay again in support hours. Read our pre-purchase questions to get the contract right.
What does a good first month look like?
Two full cleans completed, no recovery calls, and a route card that has been updated once with corrections from the real roof. If the first month runs without a single emergency stop, the route and the boundary logic are sound. If it stalls more than twice, the retrofit or the mapping needs attention before the warranty period slips away.
Log everything in month one: runtime, area covered, water used, any stall and its cause. That log is your baseline. From month two you can spot a slow decline in suction or a rise in runtime and fix it before it becomes a failure mid-panel. Commissioning is not the end of the process – it is the start of the data.
Key Takeaways
- Handover needs one to two days, not a crate drop.
- Measure suction against spec (e.g. 2,800 Pa) on day one.
- Map awkward zones – edges, gaps, drains – first.
- Keep cups, brushes, filters and a battery on site from day one.
- Delay commissioning if no operator is named.
Want a handover checklist for your site? Ask our team for the full version.
How long should operator training take?
Half a day of guided running, plus the first full clean supervised. The operator needs to map zones, handle a stalled pass, swap a cup, and read a suction gauge. Those four skills cover 90 percent of what goes wrong in month one. Theory without a real run on the actual roof does not stick.
Record a short video of the trainer doing a recovery on your roof. New operators in six months will not remember the drill, and a two-minute clip beats a manual. Keep it with the route card at roof access, on the wall, not in an office folder.
What should be signed off?
A one-page checklist with measured values: suction in Pa, runtime in minutes, charge time, and a note that the emergency stop and recovery drill were demonstrated. Both the trainer and the operator sign. This page is what you show an insurer or a new manager, and it is what makes a warranty claim about a defect straightforward.
Add the contact for spares and the model and serial number. When a cup fails at month eight, one page with the serial number gets a replacement shipped the same day. Without it, the request stalls while someone hunts for the label on the machine.
Who should supervise the first clean after handover?
A trainer, not a colleague who watched once. The first unsupervised clean is where routes get ignored and shortcuts start. Book the trainer for that session if the budget allows, or at least have them on a call. The cost of one more visit is small next to a machine damaged by an avoidable mistake in week one.
After that, review the log weekly for a month. Look at runtime, area covered and any stall. A rise in runtime for the same area means a filter, a cup or a route problem is developing. Catch it in week two and it is a ten-minute fix. Catch it in month six and it is a support visit.