SkyScraper-I: Tethered whole windows cleaning robot

Many serious accidents are reported about the manual window cleaning task, and it is needed to automate the task for the majority of windows having no special guide frames for window cleaning machines. This paper proposes a novel tethered window cleaning robot named a “SkyScraper-I” and discusses its design. The SkyScraper-I has the functions to approach all the windows located on one side of a building by controlling the lengths of a pair of suspending tethers from the top of the building and to clean the whole surface of the windows. The robot consists of the vertically suspended sliding rod, a pair of clamping arms with clamping suction rollers on both ends, and a squeegee sliding mechanism to wipe the window. The clamping suction rollers have three functions: to fix the Sky-Scraper between the upper and lower frames of the window, to produce a suction force without touching the window, and to drive sideways for wiping all the window. From the several preliminary experiments, the SkyScraper-I demonstrated good mobility to move from window to window and to clean the surface of each window.