Forgive even jaded New Yorkers from craning their necks and gawking at the bizarre image near the top of a 45-story Manhattan skyscraper.
Seeing is disbelieving: Last week, Ozmo, the world’s first commercial window-cleaning-robot, programmed in AI and LiDAR, began cranking two white mechanical arms back and forth, soapy squeegees in hand, at three times the speed of a human on a high-rise on Avenue of the Americas [Durst Organization]. Force sensors assisted the bot in judging the fragility of a window pane to apply the necessary pressure.
There is still a human element to all of this: A computer operator stationed on the roof supervises the bot, which hangs in a metallic basket normally occupied by people.
“Earnestly, I have so much respect for anyone washing windows more than 1,000 feet above the ground,” Ross Blum, president and chief operating officer of Skyline Robotics, said in an interview.
Automated windows washers are just the latest gadget to sub for humans as AI, bots and drones seep into nearly every corner of our lives. Robotic dentists, bakers and other automated assistants are performing repetitive tasks at speeds more effectively than people.
The 7-year-old Skyline insists the automated window-cleaning system is far from a novelty, but an essential service.
A shortage of qualified workers on high rises, combined with expanding skylines in New York and other major cities, has helped create a $40 billion window-cleaning industry to modernize, according to Skyline Robotics. Window washers are aging — 75% of them in the U.S. are over 40, and just 9% are between 20 and 30 years old — says online jobs resource Zippia.
“It is a brutal, dangerous job,” said Blum, who spent part of Tuesday on a high-rise roof operating Ozmo. “The sun alone is an issue. You’re getting hit directly by it, and by the glass.” Compounding safety is rain, wind and other natural elements, he added.
But getting there hasn’t been easy for Skyline. For more than 30 years, there have been 100 attempts to automate window washing. A phalanx of issues such as regulatory hurdles, water-management woes, unintended residue from suction-based systems, and weight and height issues with power-washing drones have sunk the best efforts.
“We had to find solutions that fit within very specific parameters, not what was convenient for us to do,” Skyline Robotics Chief Executive Michael Brown told The Robot Report. “Real estate is traditionally conservative, and we had to get buy-in from service providers, property owners, and industry regulators.”
Skyline’s first user, The Durst Organization, vouched for the efficiency of the small robot. “New York City is world-renowned for its skyscrapers and an exceptionally skilled labor force,” Nick Durst, senior analyst at The Durst Organization, said in a statement. “The Durst Organization’s investment in Skyline and implementation of Ozmo is driving the future of the window cleaning industry to make the work safer and more efficient, while creating new opportunities for window cleaners.”
Skyline has its eyes fixed on more wuthering heights. It has patents for more high-rise robo-washers in London, Israel, Japan and Singapore, and is in conversations with officials in Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle.
