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The appearance of a building is more than just a reflection of architectural design. Clean facades contribute to healthier environments by reducing the buildup of mold, pollutants, and debris that can compromise air quality. They also help maintain community pride, ensuring neighborhoods and business districts look vibrant and well cared for. From a financial perspective, regularly cleaned facades preserve property values and extend the life of building materials, protecting investments for both owners and occupants.
The Risks of Traditional Facade Cleaning
Traditionally, facade cleaning has relied on teams of workers suspended on scaffolding or cradles, armed with high-pressure washers and chemical solutions. This manual approach is both time consuming and expensive, with large buildings sometimes requiring weeks of work and significant labor costs. More importantly, the process exposes workers to considerable danger. Even with safety equipment in place, manually cleaning the facades of buildings poses great risks. Weather conditions, structural challenges, and the physical strain of the job make facade cleaning one of the riskiest tasks in the maintenance industry.
Autonomous Drone Solutions
Drone technology is now transforming this work by replacing human labor in high-risk environments with autonomous aerial systems. These drones can navigate building surfaces with precision, using sensors and artificial intelligence to clean facades more efficiently and at lower cost. Instead of weeks of manual labor, drones can complete the same task in days, while also reducing water and chemical usage. This shift is central to a new partnership announced between YY Group Holding Limited and UnoMove (Younuozhixing Technology Co., Ltd.), which aims to bring autonomous facade cleaning solutions to Southeast Asia through a Memorandum of Understanding.
About YY Group and UnoMove
YY Group, headquartered in Singapore, provides on-demand workforce solutions and integrated facility management services across Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and the Middle East. Founded to deliver scalable staffing and operational support, YY Group has expanded its role through digital platforms and IoT-driven systems that enhance performance for industries including hospitality, logistics, retail, and healthcare.
UnoMove, based in Suzhou, China, specializes in advanced robotics. Its flagship project is a facade cleaning drone powered by AI navigation and safety systems, designed specifically to handle the unique challenges of high-rise maintenance. On its website, the company states: “Our mission is to harness autonomous robotics to improve human environments, making building operations safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.”
How the Drones Work
The drones developed by UnoMove use artificial intelligence and multi-sensor arrays to detect and adapt to variations in facade surfaces, ensuring consistent cleaning results. Equipped with water-efficient spraying systems, the drones minimize waste while maintaining thorough coverage. Their autonomous flight paths allow them to scan, clean, and verify completed areas without constant human oversight. Operators remain on the ground, monitoring progress and intervening only when needed. This not only reduces the risk of accidents but also shifts human workers into supervisory and inspection roles where their expertise adds more value.
Partnership Details
The Memorandum of Understanding grants YY Group exclusive distribution rights for UnoMove’s drones across Southeast Asia for an initial three-year period. The agreement also sets the stage for broader collaboration in robotics, expanding innovation beyond facade cleaning into other facility management applications.
“This partnership with UnoMove underscores our vision of integrating robotics into the very fabric of facility management. By removing workers from one of the industry’s most dangerous tasks, working at heights, we are not only improving safety, but also enabling our teams to focus on higher-value inspection and supervisory roles. This is a step forward in building a safer, smarter, and more efficient future for the built environment.” – Mike Fu, Group CEO of YY Group.
Gao Wei, CEO of UnoMove, added: “We are delighted to collaborate with YY Group, whose market reach and industry expertise in Southeast Asia will accelerate adoption once our solutions are ready for market. Together, we look forward to redefining building maintenance with technologies that protect people, raise service standards, and support sustainable operations.”
Looking Ahead
The implications of this partnership go beyond convenience. Autonomous facade cleaning drones represent a new era of building care where safety, efficiency, and sustainability converge. For cities filled with skyscrapers and commercial towers, these solutions offer a way to maintain architectural beauty without exposing workers to harm. They also set the foundation for future robotics applications in facility management, from inspections to repair tasks. As cities continue to grow vertically, the integration of autonomous facade cleaning drones offers a sustainable and technologically advanced solution for preserving urban skylines without compromising worker safety.
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