The automation of window cleaning involves an opportunity for great savings and increased occupational safety. In its project, Smart Travel Oy developed a window cleaning robot for the needs of the real estate and construction sector.

What kind of problem is the project trying to solve?

Window cleaning constitutes a significant cost in the maintenance of buildings. It accounts for about 1 per cent of the costs incurred by a property. According to studies, the value of the global window cleaning market at an annual level is about USD 10 billion.

Window cleaning with the current methods is extremely expensive because:

1. It is expensive to arrange access to a high outside wall for people 
2. It is expensive to guarantee the safety of people working on a high outside wall 
3. Window cleaning is slow and expensive

The Wall-R window cleaning robot developed by Smart Travel Oy is aimed at automating window cleaning. The objective of the Wall-R innovation is to enable property automation that does not require any changes in the property. The innovation includes an easy and swift installation and a device that is suitable to be used on all straight walls regardless of the size of the wall and the windows or the form of the window sills.

Objective: to highlight the advantages of a window cleaning robot! 

The field test of the cleaning and painting robot was aimed at speeding up the change in the operating practices of the slowly developing window cleaning industry. Project funding enabled a test and a trial of robotised window cleaning.

The tests carried out in the project had two objectives:

1. To investigate whether the window cleaning robot saves 80 per cent of the costs compared with the current basic methods. 
2. To find out what functionalities based on the industrial internet should be added to the robot for it to provide more value to the customer. 

What was done in the project? 

The project tested the functioning of the cleaning and painting robot in practice. The costs of using the robot were documented and compared with the current market price of window cleaning work. The robot was tested at a variety of sites in order to compile extensive test material.

The technical deficiencies discovered in the prototype during the field tests were listed and cost estimates were made for the missing functionalities.

What were the outcomes of the experiment? 

During the project, it was observed that the device did not yet bring the desired savings in the prototype stage. The results achieved in the field tests show, however, that with further development, it will be possible to reach the savings of 80 per cent. 

The deficiencies of the prototype were revealed by the field tests and the functioning of the diagonal concept was proven. This was a significant step forward for the automation of window cleaning.

Who benefits?

Valuable observations were made of the functioning of the prototype of the automatic cleaning and painting robot. Based on the observations, it was possible to make changes to the prototype and the project supported the development and quality control of the product. 

Once its development has been completed, the cleaning robot will benefit the real estate and building sector widely as automatic window cleaning provides savings, practical advantages and safety.

Watch a video about the robot: