WEST BANK: Israeli-developed robots replace brushes and wipes in house cleaning chores

In a click of a button - robots take over domestic chores, such as cleaning toilet seats and windows. Israeli students of the mechanical engineering department at the College of Judea and Samaria in the Jewish town of Ariel in northern West Bank presented their inventions that poise to replace humans with robots in cleaning, washing, painting and brushing. Students demonstrated how a shoe-box-sized robot attached to a toilet seat can automatically operate a brush which cleans it in and out. The robot is wired to an electronic box which controls its operation. Another invention faced the challenge of washing and cleaning interior and exterior windows. A small engine attached to a rubber wiper connects by a magnet force to a similar part on the other side of the window, and by a click of button - the two parts simultaneously clean the window. A sensor wired to the robot directs it to move all across the desired area. The inventors said the robot enables reaching high windows and spots that are difficult to reach. Professor Zvi Shiller, head of the mechanical engineering department at the Ariel College, envisions a "robotics revolution" that would integrate robots in all fields of life. "We think that actually there should be much more Israeli companies that dealing with robotics like there are in the United States and Japan, and we see no reason why Israel could not be a leader in robotics industry because we are very strong in electronics, we are very strong in computer science and we also very strong in mechanic engineering. The problem is that nobody integrated that into robotics," Shiller said. The Ariel College is the largest public college in Israel, and located on a hilltop in the occupied West Bank which Palestinians want for a future state.

ITN Source | July 13, 2007

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