The Cleaning Machine is part of Companion Quests that allow you to recruit SAM in the game.
The Outer Worlds The Cleaning Machine
This quest will be unlocked after you leave Emerald Vale and on the main quest Passage to Anywhere. Just go up the ladder of the ship towards the Captain Quarters and examine the automechanical sanitation machine that you see lying there abandoned in the supply closet.
At the start of the quest, you will only come across the name SAM, and will not know anything about it. Go to ADA and ask her about it. She will tell you that the previous captain of the ship might have information about it. Now back in your questers, look for the entries with the name ‘SAM’. You will gain 6300xp just by coming this far. Now you will come to know about the acid steeper, which you will have to get from Roseway in Terra 2.
For the next part of the quest, travel to Roseway Gardens and go to the storage facility there located South of the Landing Pad. You will have to fight a few of Marauder enemies and when you get to facility a passcode will be required to access it. You will get this password by hacking into the terminal of Auntie-Biotics Lab. Get inside the storage facility and get the Acid Steeper and you will get 7200xp. A nearby locker also has Reconditioned Exo-Helmet.
Return back to the unreliable and finish modifying the SAM by interacting with it on the second floor. You will get 7200xp and SAM will ask you if you want to register, just say yes and it will take off and patrol the floor. Your reward for completing the quest will be 19200xp, 1000 Bit Cartridge and a new companion: SAM.
