Winbot, the little robotic window cleaner, is now ready to buy; one for regular windows with frames ($300) and a model for windows without frames ($400) (apparently, more sensors are needed).
Winbot is a five-pound box that latches itself to your glass panes with an industrial-strength suction mechanism. Then, based on what its minuscule sensors detect, it scoots around on its caterpillar feet to wash and dry your windows.
You start by spraying a bit of Ecovacs’ formula cleaner on the front pad. Then, attach the included microfiber pads at either end of the robot’s belly. As it moves, the front pad scrubs and the belly pads handle the drying. There’s also a squeegee in between the cleaning and the drying pads.
Once it’s set up, you put the Winbot in the middle of the window, power it on, and the device calculates the distances to the window’s edges. Then off it goes, zig-zagging along back and forth, up and down, cleaning the glass to a streakless shine in about five minutes.
Arthur C. Clarke describes clever window-cleaner robots that are used by space aliens for those close-solar-approach-clean-ups in his 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama.
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