Final year Mechanical Engineering students of Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda, Goa, Johan Vernekar, Vibert Trindade, Francis Fernandes, Siddhant Dessai and Cecil Falcao have successfully developed and tested a prototype of a “Glass Cleaning Robot for High Rise Buildings. The project aims to eliminate risk of exposing human beings to laborious and dangerous work and thereby reducing time and cost of cleaning.
Cleaning is achieved by horizontal movement of a sponge attached to the lower end of the horizontal aluminium frame of the robot. The vertical and horizontal frames consist of vacuum cups which hold the robot against the glass surface. Ultrasonic sensors detect the distance between the glass and the sensor. If the distance is within the limits, the relay circuit is signalled to actuate the solenoid valves which extend/retract the pneumatic cylinders that facilitate the motion of the robot. All the actions of the robot are controlled by ATMEGA328P microcontroller.
