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I’ve long dreamed of amassing an army of house cleaning robots. So I wanted to love the Winbot X ($599), the new window-cleaning robot from Ecovacs.
After a slew of vacuum cleaning robots that have finally got their act together to clean floors reasonably well, now it’s the window cleaning robots’ turn in the spotlight.
The Winbot X works just like a vacuum robot, only vertically, navigating around a window in neat lines. As well as the suction power that holds it to the glass, this bot is also tethered to a cord attached to a suction cup (called the ‘safety pod’) firmly placed on the window, just in case it falls.
Interior of modern bedroom tethered to its safety pod, which attaches to the window with a suction cub, the winbot keeps a great grip.
Photo: SuppliedI found the Winbot very hardy; it never fell off in the 16 or so times I put it on a windowpane. I was impressed with its grip, with not even the smallest of wobbles.
The bot errs on the side of caution; it has no hesitation in stopping and beeping when there is the slightest problem, which generally means firmly re-pressing the suction cup on the safety pod. You can confidently leave most floor vacuuming robots home alone, but it’s safer with window robots (in these early models anyway) to be around.