A drone that can be used to both extinguish fires and wash windows of skyscrapers will be launched in the UK early next year. This release comes after its creators received a lot of interest from UK customers following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Equipped with 14 motors, the drone can easily wash tall buildings and structures using high-pressure hoses. The drone weighs about 90 kilos and will be tethered to the ground with the high-pressure water supply hose. Using high definition cameras, the operator will be able to monitor and record what the drone is doing.

The drone was designed and created by Aerones, a drone tech company based in San Francisco. The company was founded by two Latvians, Janis Putrams and Dainis Kruze in 2015. They have been working on furthering the technology ever since. Aerones claims that their drone is 30 times faster than humans at cleaning windows and buildings. Humans need to set up their lifts and conventional baskets before cleaning windows for a skyscraper. With the drone, you’ll just need to hook it up then guide it as it quickly does the job. Even better is the fact that no humans have to risk their lives to clean windows.

Aerones also created a drone that could be used to extinguish fires in tall buildings. Firefighters usually find it hard to reach the top floors of burning skyscrapers. Instead, a drone can be used to put out the fire without risking a firefighter’s life. Another application for the drone is cleaning, painting, and de-icing wind turbines, a process that is known to be extremely difficult and dangerous for humans. In northern Europe and Canada, the blades of wind turbines sometimes get covered in ice which reduces the power they can generate. Before drones, helicopters were needed to de-ice wind turbines which were very expensive.