In Spring 2021, Forum Virium and Trombia piloted the world’s first electric and autonomous street sweeping machine in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The experiment was part of Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab, implemented in collaboration with the City of Helsinki and Stara. Since then, further pilots have been carried out as far away as the United States. We asked the CEO of Trombia Technologies Oy, Antti Nikkanen, what cooperation with Forum Virium was like and how it benefited the company.
How would you describe your service?
“Developed in Finland, our innovation, Trombia Free, is the world’s first fully powered, electric and autonomous street sweeper. It consumes only 15% of the energy required by conventional brushing vacuum cleaning machines and does not generate any emissions during sweeping. Furthermore, the unprecedented street sweeper consumes only a fraction of the amount of water required by conventional cleaning methods.”
“Combating climate change requires new solutions from all of us at the global level. Our mission is to facilitate the electrification of street and industrial cleaning and the resulting major emissions reductions.”
What kind of cooperation have you engaged in with Forum Virium Helsinki?
”When we started Trombia Free’s smart city pilots in Finland, partnering with Forum Virium allowed us to pilot the noise-free and waterless nighttime cleaning of streets in an urban environment, which has great potential in terms of future city infrastructure.”
The international media attention garnered by the pilot [carried out in cooperation with Forum Virium] was excellent.
Antti Nikkanen – Trombia Technologies Oy
How did the cooperation go and what kind of benefits has it provided?
“The cooperation with Forum Virium has been excellent and gone well. We share the same kind of enthusiasm, proactive attitude and international culture based on bold experimentation. The international media attention garnered by the pilot was excellent.”
How are you doing now, and what are your future plans?
“International interest in Trombia Free has increased significantly, and since the Helsinki pilot we have also carried out pilots at various industrial sites in Milan and the United States, among other places.”
“We have already delivered our first system in the United States, and later this year we will be commencing with the mass production of our system. We are also currently looking for new engineering and software talent to add to our team to support our rapidly progressing internationalisation.”
Article photo and video: Antti Heikkilä.
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