In Netherlands (a country that seems particularly amenable to technical innovations - the woman on the image is the Dutch Secretary of Economy), the first fueling robot of the world in practical use has been introduced on some gasoline stations, called TankPitstop.
In Europe, where self-service on gasoline stations is a rule, drivers might not be unwilling to get their car fueled by a machine (though fast-paced ones will prefer to remain at performing it by their own, considering the rather easy-going pace of the fueling robot).
The video is nice - however, I wonder how many cars got scratched before that worked reliably. ;-)
Not a NXT robot, but maybe an inspiration for one that can fuel some of the new LEGO® TECHNIC trucks...
8 comments:
I wonder how does this machine know were and how to open my gas inlet, and then what fuel to fill it with?
All cars work differently, or does this robot only work with a BWM 5 series?
I would rather see a person filling my fuel, or do it myself fast and correct.
martyn
Resistance to new technologies creates the push to polish the problems.
I would be more than happy to have my vehicle filled by a robot (w/ speed & w/o scratches or spills of course).
Pulling the 'Human' out of this picture would help prevent harmful accidents, save countless lives, and future health and environmental problems associated with fuels and refueling.
Chris
Martyn,
there's an (German-speaking) article on it, and it says that the types of cars and their particular inlet locations are stored in some database the robot is accessing (though I did not understand how it detects the very type of car).
Of course, as a Dutch you are the perfect test person for that robot. ;-)
Make photos! :D
Nice but since it can do this why not: wash my windows and oh can you check the tires and oil too :)
There is hope in the futur for FULL service once again. Robotic station attendents.
In a newspaper article it says the robot recognizes a car by a 'sticker' on the car window. It will work with 80% of all cars.
80%? That sounds about right. I imagine it can't handle cars with the gas cap behind the license plate, or anything with an exposed gas cap (such as some trucks/motorcycles have).
But it's still neat. Give it a few years... the technology will improve. In 20 years, we will all wonder why anyone ever pumped their own gas. :P
Eric,
let's revisit this post in 20 years then. ;-)
In 2027, most people might rather wonder that anyone has ever been allowed to pump his own gas at his own leisure just to drive around with the car...
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