If you have a big sliding door in your house, along with kids and/or a dog, you know how quickly the glass can get dirty. The dog puts nose prints all over the glass, and kids put fingerprints over the nose prints.

If you own a retail store, you know how often the glass – especially glass on the door – gets dirty.

Here is a potential solution – the window cleaning robot:

One funny thing about this video is the fact that it took so long for someone to think of this. This basic “magnet through glass” idea has been used to clean aquariums for decades.

The other thing to consider, however, is the utility of it. Roomba is a good idea. But it is not a great idea. There is something about Roomba and its cousins that is not quite right. It takes too long, and it misses spots, and it’s a train wreck if something has been spilled on the floor (or worst case scenario – the dog has diarrhea at night and Roomba turns on automatically). In other words, Roomba is too stupid, and I fear the window-washing robot suffers from the same problem. Washing a window takes a few minutes for a human being. It seems like we are waiting for a robot that is fast, intelligent and thorough like that.

See also:
- How ASIMO Works
- How Robots Work

[[[Jump to previous invention - Amazon creating the Virtual Walmart, and resurrecting Webvan in the process]]]

If you would like to follow Brainstuff on Twitter or Facebook, here are the links:
- Follow Brainstuff on Facebook
- Follow Brainstuff on Twitter