48-Hour Pilot: QR-2 Field Test for Industrial Sites

A 48-hour pilot is not a demo day. It is a defined field test with delivery within two business days of contract signature, 14 days of full operation, and five measurable KPIs. This text describes the workflow, preparation, measurement points, and costs for plant managers in mid-sized industrial operations. The flat fee is 1,750 euros and is creditable against the first rental installment.

48-Hour Pilot: What the Test Delivers

The pilot covers six components fixed in a written scope of services:

• Delivery of the QR-2 to the plant site within 48 hours of contract signature.
• Commissioning by two Quarero technicians, duration 4 to 6 hours, including geofence calibration.
• At least three patrol routes with different time windows, coordinated with the plant manager.
• Handover to the Wachschutz after a two-hour training per shift.
• Measurable results after 14 days: detection rate, false alarms, MTBF, coverage, energy consumption.
• Written acceptance protocol with option to transition into a 24-month rental contract.

What the pilot does not deliver: it does not replace physical perimeter measures or §34a-certified intervention staff. The robot detects, documents, and escalates. Physical intervention remains with the Wachschutz or the police.

Next step: align the requirement profile via request a pilot.

Preparation Before Delivery

Preparation decides whether the pilot runs productively on delivery day or loses 36 hours. The following documents and prerequisites must be clarified 72 hours before delivery:

• Site plan and geofence polygons as KMZ or GeoJSON file. Scale at least 1:2,500, with all restricted zones, plant gates, and rail areas marked.
• Handover points to the Wachschutz and complete escalation chain with phone numbers, including on-call coverage outside office hours.
• WLAN or LTE connectivity across the full patrol area. Minimum bandwidth 10 Mbit/s upstream per robot, measured at the weakest points along the route.
• Charging station with 230V connection, covered, no more than 200 meters from the central patrol route. Footprint 1.2 by 1.5 meters, level base plate.
• Data protection impact assessment under GDPR Art. 35, completed and countersigned by the data protection officer. Without a DPIA no pilot start, since person detection and audio recordings are involved.

The DPIA documentation is delivered by Quarero as a template. The assessment must be carried out by the operator. The requirements of the EU Machinery Regulation on autonomous machines are covered by the CE conformity of the QR-2 (EU 2023/1230). Conformity per EN ISO 13482 for mobile service robots is in place.

Next step: request the preparation checklist via request a pilot.

Day 1: Commissioning and Sensor Calibration

Delivery is by van between 08:00 and 10:00 local time. Unloading with a pallet truck, the shipping weight of the QR-2 is 87 kg including transport frame. A ramp or tail lift is required.

Commissioning runs in five steps:

1. Mechanical check and connection to the charging station, initial charge 90 minutes to 80 percent SoC.
2. Thermal camera calibration against reference objects at ambient temperature. Permissible tolerance below 2 Kelvin against the blackbody reference.
3. Adjustment of person detection thresholds to the plant profile. Wildlife, reflective surfaces, and plant traffic are trained in the negative class.
4. Activation of audio detection for glass breakage, screams, and engine noise outside operating hours. Noise level baseline over 30 minutes per route section.
5. First test patrol with the Wachschutz at walking pace, about 4 km/h. Real-time route adjustment, marking of critical points (narrow gates, thresholds, gradients above 8 percent).

At the end of Day 1, a calibrated system with documented routes is in place. The Quarero technicians remain on site until the first autonomous patrol is accepted.

Next step: review the technical specification of the QR-2 outdoor patrol.

Day 2: Full Operation and Shift Handover

Day 2 starts with 24-hour full operation according to the agreed shift schedule. The Wachschutz takes over primary monitoring, the Quarero NOC runs in parallel as backup.

Operational anchor points:

• Live monitoring by the Quarero NOC. Response time on critical alarms below 90 seconds.
• Alarm forwarding to the Wachschutz control room via SIP, MQTT, or direct REST API. The protocol is matched to the existing control room software.
• Training of the second and third shifts in two hours each. Content: mobile app operation, manual override, emergency stop, escalation path on technical failure.
• First stress test with simulated intruder. Two scenarios: climbing the fence in sector A in daylight, unauthorized presence in restricted zone B at night. Detection and tracking are documented with timestamps.

The stress test at the end of Day 2 is the first reliable data point for the later handover decision. False negatives are fed directly back into the training data.

Next step: align the requirements for perimeter security for industrial parks against the site plan.

Measurement Points for the Pilot Evaluation

Five KPIs decide on the handover. Values are collected over the full 14-day pilot duration, documented in the daily operations report.

KPI	Target value	Measurement method
Person detection rate in restricted zones	above 95 percent, day and night	Comparison of robot alerts against video ground truth
False alarm rate per 24 hours	below 2 events	Classification by Wachschutz dispatcher
Mean Time Between Failures	above 720 hours	Logfile analysis, unplanned downtime
Patrol coverage per shift	above 92 percent of route length	GPS track against target route
Energy consumption	maximum 4 charging cycles per 24 hours	Charging station telemetry

The detection rate is reported stratified by day and night phase, since the thermal camera shows different characteristics in fog and rain. The false alarm rate is the KPI with the highest variance in the first 72 hours, since the system is adjusting to plant traffic. Empirical value: days 1 to 3 typically run at 4 to 6 false alarms, from day 5 below 2.

Next step: collect baseline data of the current Wachschutz for comparison.

Handover Criteria After 14 Days

At the end of the 14-day pilot, the acceptance protocol decides the further course. Three scenarios are contractually foreseen:

1. All five measurement points met. Transition into a 24-month rental contract at 3,500 euros monthly for the QR-2. The pilot fee of 1,750 euros is fully credited against the first rental installment.
2. Deviation in exactly one measurement point. Pilot extension by seven days at no additional cost. The affected KPI is specifically readjusted, for example through route change or threshold adjustment.
3. Structural problems or deviation in multiple measurement points. Return of the robot without contractual commitment. The pilot fee is waived, the operator pays only for the delivered reports.

The written acceptance protocol is signed by the plant manager and the Quarero project lead. It contains the KPI values, the list of all incidents, the logfile of manual overrides, and the recommendation for further operation.

Optional: upgrade to the QR-3 with extended sensors. Lead time another 48 hours, configuration on the same contract basis. A blanket KRITIS suitability is not claimed. Applicability to KRITIS sectors depends on the thresholds of the KritisV and must be checked case by case.

Next step: review the three-tier pricing for subsequent months.

Cost Comparison: Pilot vs. Conventional Wachschutz

A conventional 24/7 post in the commercial guard and security service costs between 15,000 and 25,000 euros monthly, depending on tariff region, qualification, and surcharges (BDSW industry data). The pilot price is 1,750 euros flat for 14 days and is creditable against the first rental installment.

Direct comparison for a mid-sized industrial site with one 24/7 post:

Position	Conventional post	QR-2 pilot (14 days)
Pilot phase / onboarding	0 euros (immediate deployment)	1,750 euros
Monthly follow-on cost	15,000 to 25,000 euros	3,500 euros rental
CapEx	0 euros	0 euros
Staff recruitment	4 to 12 weeks	not required
Maintenance and insurance	external, not included	included in rental price

Additional operational points:

• No works council process for a new guard hire, since no staff is hired. Co-determination on the introduction of technical monitoring under BetrVG §87 para. 1 no. 6 must be handled separately and is addressed in the preparation phase.
• Scaling to additional sites possible without staff recruitment. A second site can be running within 48 hours with identical setup.
• No follow-on investments, since maintenance, software updates, and insurance are included in the rental price. The rental model without CapEx forms the contractual basis.

A full assessment over 24 months including response forces and control room integration is provided in the TCO analysis industrial park. An isolated staffing cost calculation is in the Wachschutz cost comparison.

Next step: calculate TCO over 24 months for your own site.

Common Errors in Pilot Operation

From more than 40 completed pilots, five recurring errors can be named that distort the pilot evaluation or block the contract transition:

1. Unclear escalation chain. Without a named on-call duty between 22:00 and 06:00, alarms dissipate in the shift handover. The consequence is a low effective detection rate even though the robot reports correctly. Countermeasure: named on-call list before pilot start, updated monthly.
2. Geofences too tight. If the geofence allows less than 1.5 meters of clearance to plant gates or hall walls, the robot blocks at narrow points. Manual override is required, MTBF appears to drop. Countermeasure: geofence corridors at least 2 meters wide, narrow points as waypoints with reduced speed.
3. Missing night shift training. If only the day shift is trained, the night shift operates the app by guesswork. Operator errors appear in the logs as manual stops and distort the availability statistics. Countermeasure: two hours of training per shift, documented with attendance list.
4. No baseline measurement before pilot start. If the incident figures of the conventional Wachschutz for the last 90 days are not available, the comparison benchmark is missing. The pilot KPIs are absolute and interpretable, but the economic comparison is not. Countermeasure: review shift logs for the last three months and define incident categories.
5. Data protection documentation deferred. If the DPIA is only produced after the pilot, the works council blocks the transition into the rental contract. Operational suitability is then proven, but legally not implementable. Countermeasure: treat the DPIA as a pilot prerequisite, not a consequence.

These five points are part of the preparation checklist and are walked through with the plant manager 72 hours before delivery.

Next step: schedule a preparation call with the Quarero project lead via request a pilot.

Handover

The 48-hour pilot is a defined procurement step, not a sales meeting. It delivers five reliable KPIs in 14 days, a written acceptance protocol, and a clear basis for deciding on continuation in the rental model. The 1,750 euro flat fee is creditable, return on non-suitability is free of charge.

To initiate the pilot, the site plan, geofence polygons, connectivity proof, and the completed DPIA draft are required. Inquiry and preparation checklist via request a pilot.