A robot that can clean high-rise windows has won the supreme award at this year's Bright Sparks Awards. The annual competition, run by The Skills Organisation, requires school students to come up with solutions to everyday problems using electronics and technology. The robot's designer, 17-year-old Sohail Abdulla, said he wanted to make window washing easier for his father, who suffers from back and knee pain, so he designed a robot that could do the job instead. The Mt Roskill Grammar student says the robot's perpendicular arms allow it to clean a whole window without human interference. A battery-charging shoe also found favour at the awards. Caleb Baptista, 13, also from Mount Roskill Grammar School, says a generator made from coils of wire and magnets is stored in the sole of the shoe. It uses leg power to generate electricity, which is fed to a battery charger also concealed in the shoe.
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