What does ongoing operation cost?

Budget for: maintenance intervals, spare batteries, wear parts, software licences and cloud services, insurance, training and the staff time needed for supervision and evaluation.

The most frequently underestimated item is downtime. If spare parts come from a third country and there is no stockholding concept, periods of downtime lasting several weeks are realistic.

Also often forgotten: the effort of updating the routes after structural changes. Before procurement, ask about response times, spare parts availability and the option of a replacement device.

How downtime actually affects you is covered under What happens if the robot breaks down?.