When my iPhone's screen gets grungy or sticky from too much finger poking, I find that a quick wipe with a paper napkin and little water usually does the trick. Still, if you're the kind of person who feels that every problem needs to have a high-tech solution, may I present the AutoMeeS phone and tablet cleaning robot from Takara Tomy.

It's very much like that window cleaning robot we saw recently, only downsized to the point where it will fit on a smartphone's screen.

Just like with its bigger cousin the Roomba, the AutoMeeS maps out a route for covering your device, then sets to work scrubbing off fingerprints and smudges. Cleaning time is around four minutes for a phone and eight minutes for a tablet, which makes me kind of skeptical about any claims of high efficiency. Nevertheless, it should be a nifty conversation starter.

The AutoMeeS will available in Japan on March 28 for about $17.

Akihabara News, via GeekyGadgets