Will Robot Window Washers Replace The Person Hanging Outside My Window With a Squeegee and Pail?

A less-known function of some domesticated robot helpers are ones that clean windows. There are several models. A quick Google Search came up with 4 that looked like they could do a reasonable job on window interiors. But a window washing machine that can crawl up the side of high-rise buildings requires more sophistication, robustness and intelligence.

Domestic robot window cleaners use powerful suction to adhere to window surfaces as they clean. They are not cheap with the ones I saw online coming in at over US $300. The benefit of using these devices is there is no need to climb up and manually clean windows that are normally out of reach. Having just done that exercise in the last two weeks at our new apartment, I have an appreciation for the labour-saving benefits such devices provide and I may as I get older consider investing in one. After all, I already have a Roomba cleaning my floors so why not a robot to do the windows as well?

On the Skyline website, it includes some interesting industry statistics.

• Annual revenue generated by the window cleaning industry amounts to US $40 billion.
• The workforce is dominated by those over 40 in age with few young people signing up to wash the windows of skyscrapers.
• Cities around the world are eliminating urban sprawl through intensification which is causing an explosion in the building of more high-rise commercial and residential structures.

The need for window-washing humans or robots, therefore, is only going to get bigger in 21st-century cities around the world.

Ozmo combines a flexible robotic arm, artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision to clean building facades. It has onboard sensors that can adjust the pressure needed based on the type and thickness of the glass. Onboard LiDAR maps the building facades it is working on in three dimensions. As it moves it calculates its cleaning path hundreds of times per second while adapting to variable external environments by using onboard machine learning. Windy conditions pose no threat. And no humans are at risk as it allows for remote control operations by a handler should Ozmo need to be shut down.

Skyline Robotics started working on Ozmo in 2017. Located in Israel, the company also has an office in New York City and was recently featured on CNBC in a segment that described Ozmo as a disrupter of a “century-old practice of window washing.”

There is no doubt that Ozmo will mean fewer human window washers will be needed if robots take over the job. The current human operator of Ozmo accompanies the robot supervising and watching over its operation from the rooftop. But that is more a labour and regulatory issue than a need since the robot can be remotely controlled from anywhere.

Reverse osmosis constantly cleans the water used to wash the windows removing contaminants collected from the window surfaces. The name Ozmo comes from this osmotic feature.

The robot doesn’t need multiple tool heads as it tracks across window surfaces. States Ross Blum, CEO at Skyline, “We don’t need a separate squeegee and a separate brush to get a perfectly clean window. It’s one motion.”

Ozmo was just named the winner of the 2023 PropTech Breakthrough Award recognizing technology advancements in \construction and real estate. The company has raised US $12.9 million to date with $3.35 million added in new investments this month.

For the burgeoning world of skyscraping buildings that are emerging in cities around the world, Skyline’s Ozmo could be a game changer.