Finally, a Tiny Robotic Vacuum for Smartphones and Tablets

Here we are in 2013, a bunch of suckers – suckers! – cleaning the screens of our phones and tablets using our bare hands. It's time to shake things up.

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Takara Tomy

Takara Tomy's Auto Mee S robotic vacuum automatically cleans smartphones and tablets.

Here we are in 2013, a bunch of suckers – suckers! – cleaning the screens of our phones and tablets using our bare hands. It’s time to shake things up; really rattle the microfiber cleaning cloth industry to its very core. Those fat cats have been getting rich off us for far too long. And what’s the best way to overthrow an aging industry desperately clinging to every last penny of profit?

Robots.

Just as the Roomba robotic vacuum has forced every last domestic and commercial cleaning service into obsolescence (note to TIME research department: please fact check this last quip, but I’m pretty sure it’s 100% accurate), so shall Takara Tomy’s $17 Auto Mee S smartphone and tablet cleaning robotic vacuum send every last microfiber cloth maker spiraling into a pit of economic doom.

According to Gizmodo, the Auto Mee S can automatically clean a smartphone screen in four minutes; a tablet screen in eight. If a microfiber cloth can clean faster than that, I’d sure like to hear about it (research: check this, too, but it’s probably also 100% accurate).

As Akihabara News reports, the vacuums will be available in four colors on March 28 in Japan. Whether you somehow import one of these into the U.S. or hop on a plane to get one, you’ll more than make up for it by not having to purchase microfiber cloths ever again. At that point, you’re basically making money (research: one last check here).