Automating window washing

Three and half years ago, I stood on the corner of West Street and gasped as two window washers clung to life at the end of a rope a thousand feet above. By the time rescue crews reached the men on the 69th floor of 1 World Trade they were close to passing out from dangling upside down. Ramone Castro, a window washer of three decades, said it best, "It is a very dangerous job. It is not easy going up there. You can replace a machine but not a life."