| Gas-Pumping Robot |
EasyNews, UseNet made Ea .. |
| ::darkshadows:: (blood@thirsty.net) |
2008/02/04 17:26 |
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From: "::darkshadows::" <blood@thirsty.net>
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Subject: Gas-Pumping Robot
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Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:26:34 GMT
Xref: news.nzbot.com alt.fan.rolex:5559
Gas-pumping robot: what could go wrong?
Mon Feb 4, 11:08 AM ET
EMMELOORD, Netherlands (Reuters) - 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.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dutch inventors unveiled Monday a 75,000 euro ($111,100) 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 was on a farm and I saw a robotic arm milking a cow. If a robot can
do that then why can't it fill a car tank, I thought," said developer
and petrol station operator Nico van Staveren. "Drivers needn't get
dirty hands or smell of petrol again."
He hopes to introduce the "Tankpitstop" robot in a handful of Dutch
stations by the end of the year. It works for any car whose tank can
be opened without a key, and whose contours and dimensions have been
recorded to avoid scratching.
Asked whether he would trust his car to a robotic garage attendant,
Jelger De Kroon, filling his black Alfa Romeo at a nearby petrol
station, said: "Why not? I guess I could keep my hands free and clean,
but I'd hope they have good insurance."
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, editing by Ralph Boulton)
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