Most of today’s best robot vacuums have docks that automatically empty the bins, clean the mop pads, and sometimes more. Now it looks like the same idea is starting to make its way into robotic window cleaners.
I was just introduced to the new version of Ecovacs’ windowbot – the WinBot W3 Omni – at CES 2026, and it comes with its own clean station. It’s called the Vortex Wash OMNI Station, and Ecovacs says it’s the first of its kind.
When your automatic window cleaning is done, you remove the plate with the mop pads on it (without having to touch the dirty pads yourself) and slide it into a dock.
Inside, rotating brushes and squeegees scrub it clean in a 1-minute cycle. Then it is ready to be put back on.
While it’s a neat trick, it doesn’t make as much sense here as it does on a robot vacuum cleaner.
First, mop pads on window bots don’t get nearly as dirty as those on robovacs because they use almost no water. This is a great dock for something that could easily be taken care of by the occasional throw of the pad in the washing machine.
Second, it’s hardly less hassle – you have to remove the pad to insert it into the cleaner. And it’s not like the self-cleaner helps the windowbot operate autonomously (as is the case with robotic vacuum cleaner docks)—you still have to hang around to monitor it while it’s cleaning and lift it to move it to each new pane for another.
Charging ahead
While I probably wouldn’t buy the big, bulky dock solely for its automatic cleaning features, it has another trick that helps strengthen the proposition.
The dock acts as a charger and power source for windowbot. Typically, window cleaning robots need to be plugged in to work – they need to be light to be sucked to the glass, so they don’t want to carry a heavy battery with them.
Here, the wireless dock acts as a separate battery pack with a cable running from it to the window cleaner. You then recharge the dock as needed.
If you have a window that is in an awkward location, away from an electrical outlet, you would not normally be able to clean it with your window cleaning robot. Except now, you would be able to bring this base over to your secluded window.
I’m still not sure it’s the most elegant solution, but it’s an interesting development in a category that I think will become more popular.
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