Phoenix replaces high-rise cleaning crews and free-flying spray drones with a tethered, rope-anchored robot system: an inspection aircraft that maps the facade, a wall crawler that does the contact work, and a roof station that powers, waters, and recovers everything in a closed loop.
Free-flying multirotors that push a brush or squeegee against glass fight physics they can't win. Phoenix moves the contact work onto a rope-anchored crawler and keeps the aircraft for what it's actually good at: inspection.
Pressing a tool against a facade pushes the aircraft away. A free-flying drone has to fight that force continuously, which shows up as streaking, missed coverage, or contact loss.
A power-and-water umbilical run 100+ meters up a facade adds real weight and wind drag that eats directly into payload and flight time. Phoenix's tether carries power and data only.
Spraying cleaning fluid past motors and battery packs risks ingress and shorting. Phoenix's crawler uses a sealed onboard reservoir with a closed-loop vacuum reclaim, not open spray.
GPS is unreliable beside tall structures and glass reflections defeat vision and LIDAR ranging. Phoenix uses RTK ground reference plus physical rope anchoring instead of relying on freeform positioning.
Each unit has exactly one job. Nothing free-flies while touching the building.
Unit 01
A redundant six-rotor aircraft that never touches the building. It maps the facade, flags soiling and defects, and plans the crawler's route. It never carries water and never contacts glass.
Unit 02
The unit that actually touches the building. It rides two independently rated ropes, anchors itself with a powered suction drive, and does the mechanical work with a squeegee and microfiber head, reclaiming every drop of fluid.
Unit 03
Anchors the ropes, delivers power and data down the tether, holds fresh and reclaimed water, and reads live wind and rain data to lock out operation before conditions get unsafe.
Anything above a sidewalk has to fail safe, not just fly well.
The crawler is load-rated to hang from either rope alone. A single failure cannot cause a fall.
Six independent rotors on the aircraft, redundant winches on the ground, redundant comms links.
Every drop of fluid used on the facade is vacuum-reclaimed at the tool head, not left to run down the building.
Live wind and precipitation sensing halts operation before conditions exceed the rated envelope.
Primary link plus an independent RF backup channel, so a dropped signal returns the system to a safe hold, not a fall.
Built toward EN 1808 (suspended access equipment), aviation risk-assessment approval for the survey aircraft, and IP65-rated enclosures throughout.
Scheduled facade cleaning without a rope-access crew on the building.
Gentle tool heads for stone, tile, and ornamented facades.
Terminal glazing and control-tower glass, cleaned on tight overnight windows.
Cladding and skylights exposed to dust and process residue.
Large curtain-wall spans cleaned between events.
Exterior maintenance without introducing personnel risk near critical infrastructure.
Tell us about the building. We'll size the rope plan, tool heads, and duty cycle before anything gets scheduled.