NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2008 – A gadget called Winrobo could become the greatest home invention since the washing machine.

Winrobo is an automated window washing robot.  While no such device is currently available in the consumer marketplace, engineering students at more than 100 colleges and universities are designing prototypes that could one day bring ease to one of a homeowner’s most drudging – and, in some instances, dangerous – tasks.

The students will enter the robots in 12 regional competitions throughout the United States and in Chile and Ecuador.  Regional competitions will take place in March, April and May of this year.  The 12 regional winners will compete in the 2008 ASME Student Design Competition finals to be held this November in Boston.

The competition will run in conjunction with the 2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.

The Boeing Company along with door and window manufacturer Pella Corporation are providing funding for the competition, in which the student engineering teams will be judged on the functionality and speed of the window cleaning systems.

In the competition, the robots will be required to wash a residential double-hung window autonomously.  The robots must be designed to travel over the glass surface and remove ink debris.  Movement is via battery power.  Once placed on the glass, Winrobo must move back and forth between the two window panes without assistance.  

Winrobo must traverse the window while carrying 50 millimeters of water, which cannot spill or leak from the containment system of the device.  As well, all designs must include a safety cord which will serve to secure the robot to the window in the event of a malfunction.

The ASME Student Design Competition aims to challenge the creative and problem-solving skills and abilities of tomorrow’s engineers.

The schedule for the regional competitions is:  March 14-15 at California State University, Fresno, Calif.; March 28-29 at Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Wash.; March 28-30 at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y.; March 28-30 at University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.; March 28-30 at Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Va.; April 3-5 at Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colo.; April 4-6 at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla.; April 4-6 at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.; April 5 at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Conn.; April 17-19 at Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La.; May 29-31 at Universidad Tecnologica Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile, and May 29-31 at the Escuela Politectina del Ejercito, Quito, Ecuador.

Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences.  ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.

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