Window Washers’ Jobs: Outsourced To Robots?

Window washers may be out of a job. Robots are taking over, potentially.

Window washers in New York have long fascinated city dwellers below with their fearless attitude toward heights. The future of the window washing might be heading to those beings incapable of fearing heights (robots).

The Inquisitr reports that some human window washers assigned to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital wore super hero costumes to cheer up the patients.

Window cleaning robots aren’t that new, but most of them, like the Windoro, rely on magnets to stay in place. According to Gizmag, this requires the robot to be built in two parts and sets a limit on how thick the window glass can be before you see your automated window washer sail to an early demise below. Ecovacs‘ Winbot 7 uses a pair of concentric suction rings to stick to the glass, so is claimed to work on any thickness of window, so long as it’s flat enough. Even suction has its limits.

The Winbot 7 is apparently coming to the market soon, a little machine billed by Ecovacs Robotics as the first full-service window-washing robot. The Winbot 7 resembles a Roomba vacuum cleaner, attaches itself to the pane, and proceeds to clean the surface of the window. And when it’s done, it plays a tune. Not only fearless, but whimsical.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nick Savadian, executive general manager on the US side, says the robot is marketed toward those super busy people looking for a way out of mundane chores:

“One thing we’re short of in life is time.”

We’re probably nowhere near the technology needed for full-on robot suits such as the ones in the upcoming live-action film Robotech, but as The Inquisitr reports, we can still watch movies about them.

Not everybody is happy about this advancement in technology. Scaffold-riding professionals and the New Yorkers who admire them are among those who would rather it didn’t happen. It’s hard to look up to a robot, even if it is several stories above you.

Would you like to see robot window washers?

Window washers are freaking fascinating. Also, they must be freezing.

— robot banana (@robot_banana) January 30, 2013