Photo courtesy of Skyline Robotics

Commercial window washing is still handled primarily by humans on scarily high perches, but now — thanks to a handful of startups — robots are poised to disrupt the industry. 40 Foot Fiberglass Telescoping Pole

Why it matters: It's safer and faster to use a robot to cleanse a skyscraper — plus, they don't need meals or smoke breaks.

Driving the news: Two competing Israeli companies, Skyline Robotics and Verobotics, are pitching their robot-based window-cleaning systems in New York and other big cities.

Where it stands: Skyline, whose "environmentally diligent cleaning robot" is called Ozmo, recently secured an investment from the venture arm of the Durst Organization, the big developer that owns One World Trade Center.

Verobotics, meanwhile, has secured a distribution deal in Hong Kong for its autonomous high-rise building cleaner, which has been billed as an "Israeli robot spiderman."

How it works: The two companies' systems operate quite differently.

With Verobotics' system, a 20-pound robot armed with a brush is lowered down from the building roof.

Zoom in: The killer app for these robots — beyond window washing — may turn out to be inspection and maintenance.

The big picture: Window washing is a business that "basically hasn’t changed in the last 100 years," Genosar tells Axios.

Of note: Small robotic window washers for home use are already on the market, from companies like Hobot.

The intrigue: New York City is planning to replace its notorious Rikers Island prison with four new buildings in various boroughs — and will require that all facade cleaning be done by robots, Brown said.

Telescopic Pole For Cleaning Solar Panels The bottom line: There's a boom in building skyscrapers — including supertall versions — and robots seem like a promising innovation for cleaning and inspecting them.