Tired Of Cleaning Fingerprints Off Your Tablet? Let This Tiny Robot Do It For You

automee-s

It takes no more than about 30 seconds to run a cloth over your smartphone or tablet display and free it from greasy fingerprints. But if you’re just too darn lazy to do that, check out this tiny little autonomous robot that does it for you. From Takara Tomy, the Automee-S is a 2.75-inch Roomba-like device that (slowly) makes its way around your smartphone or tablet display and gives it a good clean.

As you can see from the video below, it’s not exactly speedy. It is programmed not to fall off the edge of your display, which is good, but it would be a whole lot quicker — and cheaper — to just grab a cloth and clean your device yourself.

Having said that, if you’re into novelty items and you don’t mind spending ¥1,575 (about $17) on something you’ll probably only use once, then you’ll find the Automee-S on sale from March 28. It’s launching in Japan first, but I’m sure you’ll be able to find it on the Internet with shipping to the U.S. — if you really are that desperate for one.

The Automee-S uses special paper pads to clean your display, and extras are included in the box. It doesn’t come with batteries, however — you’ll have to provide those yourself, and Takara Tomy says that it accepts no responsibility for any damage the Automee-S does to your device.

So if this thing turns evil and starts scratching your displays as opposed to cleaning them, don’t expect Takara Tomy to help you out.