Nostalgiac for the days when an attendant gassed up your car?
The second robot I ever thought I could
like.
Motorists nostalgic for the time they could sit
tight while attendants braved windswept garage forecourts to fill their tanks
may yet see those heady days return — compliments of a Dutch
robot.
Dutch inventors have unveiled a 75,000 euro car-fuelling robot they say is the first of its kind, working by registering the car on arrival at the filling station and matching it to a database of fuel cap designs and fuel types.
A robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors extends from a regular petrol pump, carefully opens the car’s flap, unscrews the cap, picks up the fuel nozzle and directs it toward the tank opening, much as a human arm would, and as efficiently.
I can picture a cold, snowy night when I would prefer stopping at a filling station with one of these. Who do I pay? And how?
Dutch inventors have unveiled a 75,000 euro car-fuelling robot they say is the first of its kind, working by registering the car on arrival at the filling station and matching it to a database of fuel cap designs and fuel types.
A robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors extends from a regular petrol pump, carefully opens the car’s flap, unscrews the cap, picks up the fuel nozzle and directs it toward the tank opening, much as a human arm would, and as efficiently.
I can picture a cold, snowy night when I would prefer stopping at a filling station with one of these. Who do I pay? And how?
Posted: Mon - February 4, 2008 at 12:49 PM