I love this product. Think of never having to scrape aquarium glass or acrylic again! I remember times when I would get busy, neglect cleaning, and the glass would get completely overgrown obscuring the view of my reef. This product would have been a life-saver for me.

The RoboSnail is a fully-automated glass and acrylic cleaner that a user can either program to completely clean their aquarium display one time per day or set it in manual mode and only clean periodically. The unit is held on to the aquarium with magnets just like other algae scrapers. Place the unit in the upper corner of your aquarium, turn it on, and you are all set. The RoboSnail senses the edges of your aquarium (top, bottom, left, right) and runs in a computer controlled cleaning pattern scraping the entire front of your display area. When done, the RoboSnail returns to it’s “home base” where it recharges with its docking station. It’s a Roomba for your aquarium glass!

RoboSnail attached to its charger and optional guide bar.

The features of the RoboSnail include:

• On/Off activation switch
• Compact size (100mm x 125mm / 4 inches x 5 inches)
• Fully automated cleaning mode
• Customizable cleaning settings for standard and custom aquarium set ups
• Glass or Acrylic compatible
• Highly efficient engineered CPU
• Modern drive system engineered for years of use
• Universal adapter guide arm
• Docking Station
• Battery powered
• Replaceable battery
• Specially designed scrubber that helps remove animals from the glass/acrylic
• Replaceable scrubber pad
• Variable glass thickness option switch (6-12mm / 0.25-0.50 inch)
• Capable of cleaning aquariums from (208-946 liters / 55-250 gallons)
• Virtually user free maintenance
• 6 month Warranty

One of the main limitations of this unit is that it cannot go around corners. If you need to clean multiple panes of glass, you will either have to move it to each pane and clean them separately or you will need to buy multiple units. Also, due to its size smaller aquariums might be problematic.

Packaging for this product will include:

• 1 Robo Snail main unit, 1 guide arm (2 pieces)
• 4.8v rechargeable battery
• mounting tape
• 1 charging dock
• 1 scrubber unit
• 1 AC/DC adapter.
• 1 replaceable scrubber pad

The suggested retail price of the unit is approximately $225, which might put it out of the range of many aquarists. However, I’m certain it will find a home with some hobbyists in addition to public aquariums.

According to their website, the company is currently in talks with distributors. Look for this product to be available sometime in the first quarter of 2012.