The nine-kilogram, cleaning robot from Verobotics is tested to work on the facade of a high-rise building. (PHOTO: HANDOUT)

Edited by QI Liming

Israeli start-up Verobotics plans to deploy dozens of its autonomous robots to inspect and clean the exterior of skyscrapers.

The company's lightweight robots can work around the clock and clean buildings up to 10 times faster than traditional workers. Verobotics' nine-kilogram cleaning robot, which walks on building surfaces using two robotic legs, suction cups and a safety wire, reflects the potential of property technology.

In the facade construction industry, the so-called building management units (BMUs) are widely used, and large cranes installed on top of buildings support a platform for workers who clean and do maintenance work on the facade of buildings. It is calculated that the system of using BMUs was too labour and time intensive for building operators and dangerous for workers.

Therefore, the research team replaced the BMUs with an autonomous system that consists of a roof unit, a climbing robot and a cleaning device. The system can purportedly be deployed on a site in less than an hour, with up to six robots cleaning a building's facade at a time.

The cleaning apparatus descends from under Verobotics' AI-powered robot and uses a dry brush, rather than traditional liquids and chemicals used for such work. While scaling the side of a building, the robot uses on-board cameras to scan the surface and create a 3D model, which can be used to identify structural issues or pinpoint areas of heat or cooling loss.

Currently, the model of Verobotics' cleaning robot is fit for use on certain buildings with glass and aluminium facades.