If we were going to compare the Hobot S6 Pro to anything it would be a Kreepy Krauly (a South African invention, in case it comes up at your next pub quiz) that works on windows. Not Windows. Like… windows. Those things made of glass?
It’s got a ton in common with the current generation of robotic vacuum cleaners. Hobot specialises in the technology, after all. But instead of using its suction power to clean a surface, the Hobot S6 Pro goes all-in on the mop attachment and uses the rest of the ‘vacuum’ to cling, remora-like, to your windows and glass doors. And your desk, if you turn it on at the wrong time.
Cute little sucker
The Hobot S6 Pro, visually, comes across as a cross between a robot vacuum and a limpet. It has the same basic square shape as the average automated floor cleaner but the top section includes handles for mounting it on your glass windows prior to beginning a job. The design also reminds us of shaped explosive charges for breaching doors and we were sorely tempted to cover the Hobot S6 Pro in Desert Camo paint before sending it on its vertical way.
The underside, unsurprisingly, also bears a strong resemblance to a robovac but all of the suction power is used to cling to smooth surfaces. The remainder is an oversized mop function, facilitated by interchangeable pads that oscillate at a high rate to polish up a window surface.
Small water jets — these can be swapped out — are mounted on the sides with water tanks that you’ll have to refill manually when they run dry. A bouquet of sensors live around the edges and the whole unit operates with a wire in tow. There is a battery but it’s mostly there to let it cling precariously until you rescue it, in the case of a power outage or something similar. Relax, you have twenty minutes to get there.
In-suck-tion manual
It’s a fine concept and one that’s easier to wrap your head around once you see it in action. Initial setup looks more intimidating than it actually is and you’ll have it up and scooting in vaguely horizontal lines in no time. There’s also a protective cord provided that’ll — in theory — save your R8,000 appliance from impacting the ground at high speed if something should go wrong. We say ‘in theory’ because we don’t usually test review products to destruction.
In operation, the Hobot S6 Pro is perhaps less noisy than a handheld vacuum but outputs more volume than its floor-based counterparts. It takes some doing to impart around eight kilograms of suction. This does mean it’s possible to pry it off the window before it’s finished if that’s something you’re interested in doing. You’ll do it at some point. Whether you turn it off or not is up to you.
That’s because, as smart as this R8k app-controlled robot is, it can’t climb over frames or obstacles. If you’re planning to use it on multiple panes, it’s going to be a pain in the neck and make you move it to its next task. Still, it beats doing the job yourself. Right?
Sucks-ess is relative
The Hobot S6 Pro takes, according to the company itself, 600 strokes of the mop surface each minute. It won’t wear through your glass pane, though. Each stroke is just 4mm long and it’ll take 2.6 minutes to clean one square metre (m²) of glass. Again, those are company numbers. In our experience, it took about eight minutes to complete one floor-to-ceiling glass panel — about 3m x 1.2m — here at the Stuff offices. Humans are faster, but humans didn’t have to do it. And that’s the point.
It wasn’t all slightly lengthier-than-usual upside, though. We had some issues with the included window-cleaning fluid which the robot itself couldn’t clear up. A bit of the concentrated liquid spilled on the liquid, in the same manner as juice or another sticky substance. Human intervention was needed. Hand smears and dust, though, were more than happy to depart under the 4mm of fury (multiplied by 600x per minute) we unleashed.
Hobot S6 Pro verdict
If you’ve got tons of windows and don’t have a love affair with Windowlene and paper towels, the Hobot S6 Pro could be a great purchase. It would suit a bed and breakfast, a restaurant, or anywhere else with large glass panels in abundance. This is mostly based on its price tag because it’ll tackle smaller windows with some heightened supervision. But at eight grand, you really want to use this on an industrial scale to get your money’s worth.
It’s not perfect. No robot is. But Hobot’s little sucker will cheerfully trundle along your windows until they’re cleaner than they were before, without taking up an entire person for the full duration of the job. It’s still quicker to clean windows by hand, especially if you’ve got a squeegee with a long handle, but we’ve made robots for this task now. Just don’t forget the safety tether if the Hobot S6 Pro is operating above head height or higher than the ground floor… or anytime, really.
