One of the main problems with battery-powered robots is that batteries themselves are heavy and the robots spend unnecessary energy moving their own mass. Especially in climbing robots that already spend a lot of energy sticking to surfaces and moving against gravity. Well, some researchers from the Zhejiang University in China have created a robot that doesn’t depend on batteries.
Enter the water-powered, climbing, window washing robot. Relying almost entirely on water-pressure, the robot doesn’t require any batteries to function. Similar to the robot that uses supersonic air jets, it generates a vacuum that helps pull it towards surfaces, but instead of using air, this washing robot makes use of water to generate the vacuum. In addition to helping the robot move, the water is then squirted out of the robot’s arm to do the window washing.
Suction cups on the legs of the robot also help the robots stick onto windows and move around. But unlike the air-powered vacuum robot, this one won’t be able to stick to any surface due to the fact its suction cups just won’t do the job. The robot has a small battery to power the wireless communication system, and to trip the servo motors, but other than that it runs completely on water. Watch a video demonstration of this window-washing robot after the break: