Robot Vacuums Used to Clean, Sanitize Roof of Holy Kaaba

The Kaaba at the Grand Mosque. (Reuters)
The Kaaba at the Grand Mosque. (Reuters)
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Robot Vacuums Used to Clean, Sanitize Roof of Holy Kaaba

The Kaaba at the Grand Mosque. (Reuters)
The Kaaba at the Grand Mosque. (Reuters)

The General Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques has allocated five robot vacuums to clean and sanitize the roof of the Holy Kaaba, allowing the cleaning operation to be complete in 20 minutes, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Undersecretary of the Presidency for Services, Field Affairs and Ensuring Environmental Prevention Mohammed bin Musleh Al-Jabiri said that the robot vacuum works through a smart application and manually.

The robot's dimensions are 40x40x10, with a charging time of four hours. It can work for three hours. The robot vacuum covers an area of 180 square meters in the three hours with a suction power of 2000 pascal with a dust reservoir of 400 milliliters, and a 250-millileter water reservoir, with three speeds and a hybrid broom and mop that work through artificial intelligence maps.

These modern devices and technologies seek to preserve the quality and safety of marble, remove dust residues, and clean the Holy Kaaba and the entire Grand Mosque.

Al-Jabiri said that the presidency is keen on providing the latest technologies to sanitize the Grand Mosque and speed up tasks at a lower cost.

The cleaning of the Holy Kaaba roof is done by a specialized technical Saudi team according to a fixed timetable. The latest cleaning technologies are used through several stages, where one cleaning process is usually complete within 20 minutes.



DeepSeek Faces Expulsion from App Stores in Germany

FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
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DeepSeek Faces Expulsion from App Stores in Germany

FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

Germany has taken steps towards blocking Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from the Apple and Google app stores due to concerns about data protection, according to a data protection authority commissioner in a statement on Friday.

DeepSeek has been reported to the two US tech giants as illegal content, said commissioner Meike Kamp, and the companies must now review the concerns and decide whether to block the app in Germany, Reuters reported.

"DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union," she said.

"Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies," she added.

The move comes after Reuters exclusively reported this week that DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations.

DeepSeek, which shook the technology world in January with claims that it had developed an AI model that rivaled those from US firms such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI at much lower cost, says it stores numerous personal data, such as requests to the AI or uploaded files, on computers in China.