Dutch Unveil Robot Gas Station Attendant

Lucas123 writes "According to a Reuters' story, Dutch inventors today took the wraps off a $110,000 car-fueling robot they say is the first of its kind. (It was inspired by a cow milking robot.) After registering the car as it pulls up to the pump, the machine matches your fuel cap design with those in a database and your car's fuel type, and then a robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors extends from a regular gas pump, 'opens the car's flap, unscrews the cap, picks up the fuel nozzle and directs it towards the tank opening, much as a human arm would, and as efficiently.' Wait till Hollywood gets hold of this scenario."

Paul Verhoeven, prophet of our times

[elrous0 (869638)]

Once again, I get the strangest sense that Paul Verhoeven somehow foresaw this. Verhoeven worked his way through college in the Netherlands working as a gas-station attendant and would later go on to direct the movie "Robocop." Coincidence? Perhaps not...

First of all, there are other bizarre coincidences, such as the appearance of a DVD in the movie "Robocop" (ten years before DVD would actually debut), the "President Schwarzenegger" reference in "Total Recall" (long before his political career), the 9-11

Re:

[c6gunner (950153)]

1) You're comparing a gas-pumping robot to a bad-guy-killing cybernetic police officer? What do you do for an encore, compare the Apollo Module to the USS Enterprise?

2) You're amazed by the fact that he saw a lazerdisc shrunk it down for his robocop movie? Sorry, I'm not impressed.

3) You got the movie "Total Recall" confused with "Demolition Man", which was directed by someone else.

4) 9/11 reference in Star Ship troopers? Are you sure you weren't just on LSD at the time?

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[Chris Burke (6130)]

the 9-11 satire in "Starship Troopers" (four years before 9-11),

I assume you're referring to the destruction of Buenos Aires by the "bugs". That was just satire of the politically-fueled patriotic hysteria following any such event, of which 9/11 was just one example of. If it reminded you of 9/11 in hindsight, that's because history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.

Also, that event was in the original book by Heinlein, published in 1959. I doubt he predicted 9/11 over 40 years in advance, unless you mea

I think it's not the first.

[BytePusher (209961)]

In Indiana, Shell tried a similar robot in my home town. It cost about $100 for a special gas cap and had a huge bay you would drive into. I guess it wasn't too popular, but definitely existed before this.

Re:I think it's not the first.

[Lumpy (12016)]

$100 for a special cap? someone was overcharging hard.

you can buy for $12.99 a gas cap that has a flap that allows you to easily fuel the car through the cap.

uses a standard pump nozzle size, replace the black flap with a reflective one and It's a 2nd year robotics student project to reproduce everything they did. Opening and closing the door is as simple by attaching a gripper stud or refelctive tape.

Problem is it's far cheaper to let the people use the pump themselves. Why put in a multi thousand dollar robot to do something that people are doing for free. At full service stations the "attendant" is paid minimum wage as it's not a skilled job. I can pay the wages of a gas pump attendant for 10 years for the price of one gas pumping robot.

Can you really? I doubt that.

[SmallFurryCreature (593017)]

Like so many you obviously never employed anyone. This is NOT just a case of paying minimum wage for ONE person.

The robot for the stated amount of money will work 24/7 365 days a year. Never sick, never late, never rude. He makes no demands, has no ambitions to better himself, doesn't demand promotions, doesn't get a higher wage as he gets older. Remmeber this is a DUTCH story, we actually give minimum wage workers a minimum wage they can live on.

The robot doesn't demand overtime, has no holidays.

The rob

Oregon

[ushering05401 (1086795)]

My first thought is that this development is just the latest incremental improvement in robotics, and will help pave the way for more useful robotic applications.

Then I remembered a trip through the state of Oregon. As of ten years ago or so travelers were not permitted to pump their own gas. I don't know if this is still the case, or why it was the case in the first place, but these robots might actually have an application if there are many places with laws on the books requiring certified entities to d

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[Col. Klink (retired) (11632)]

Oregon and New Jersey don't allow you pump your own. The supposed rationale is that, as you speculated, only qualified people are allowed to pump gas. The true reason, however, is featherbedding (i.e. creating jobs). Replacing those guys with a robot won't really solve that problem...

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[uniquename72 (1169497)]

I ride a motorcycle. Does this mean that if I get gas in NJ or Oregon, I have a big, sweaty guy reaching in between my legs to fill me?

If so, I'm there!

It's a jobs program

[donutello (88309)]

It has nothing to do with safety. It has to do with the deluded belief that creating busy work for people to do is a good thing for everyone concerned.

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[veganboyjosh (896761)]

I lived in Portland for about 9 months a few years ago. Had a job delivering food, actually.

The gas wasn't noticeably more expensive, and it sure was nice not having to get out of the car to fill up.

I believe New Jersey also has/had a similar policy of not allowing motorists to pump their own gas. It's my understanding that by requiring gas stations to provide at least one gas pump attendant, it keeps at least one person per station employed above and beyond what they would in any other state. Consider

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[Nefarious Wheel (628136)]

...sure was nice not having to get out of the car to fill up...

Sure is safer, too. That stuf is toxic as well as having a lot of energy density for a liquid. Just a little bit of training -- a tiny bit, really -- is all you need to keep people from exposure to hot plasma or a lot of strange molecules that the monkey in you never learned to deal with. You or I may know intuitively what to do, but the non-Slashdot crowd is pretty immense and prone to errors in mundane day-to-day engineering processes such

Hmm

[Sta7ic (819090)]

[whirrrr-click] Target identified. Model recognized as Homer J. Simpson. Preparing doughnut tube.
[whirrrr-click] Target identified. Model recognized as College Student. Preparing beer tube.
[whirrrr-click] Target identified. Model recognized as Slashdot Visitor. Preparing "In Mother Russia" meme-milk and "Cowboy Neal" flakes.

Re:Hmm

[elrous0 (869638)]

"I can still hear it screaming in that fire we had. After that I decided to just go back to the old-fashioned pumps."

My fuel "flap" has a lock

[QuantumG (50515)]

and I can't understand how other people handle not locking their fuel flap. You lock your car, which is covered by insurance, but you leave the fuel for the taking? Thankfully, I've yet to see a film where someone turns a car into a Molotov cocktail by inserting a rag into the fuel cap and lighting it up.. thankfully, because kids have a thing for emulating what they see in films.

My fuel flag does have the means to be opened from inside the car.. so I guess I could just do that when approaching Sir-Pumps-A-lot.

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[geekoid (135745)]

I just live in a decent neighborhood.
The day I feel I need to lock up is the day I start looking for a new house.

Not that a lock would actually stop someone.

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[QuantumG (50515)]

That's a retarded view of security, for which you should be ashamed.

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[Culture20 (968837)]

You'd really only get scorch marks on your car. Since the fuel is only flammable in vapor-form with oxygen, you'd just get a car-sized kerosene lamp (with the burning rag acting as a wick).
A friend once had an engine-fire, and when the fire department arrived, they just calmly walked over to the car, and unscrewed the fuel cap. They explained that the fuel would evaporate safely, and his car would remain intact.

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[pimpimpim (811140)]

same here! It might work pretty for new & expensive cars, though, it can go together with the central locking mechanism.

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[poetmatt (793785)]

Umm, no?

Fitting the thing with a master key for each manufacturer would not be difficult. Such things are well known. Not that anyone will think of the possible abuse that would ensue or anything. /sarcasm on last sentence, not on first

NJ and Oregon

[dj245 (732906)]

Residents of New Jersey and Oregon are thrilled by this latest development. Finally, a way to fuel up without rolling down the window.

Whatever you do, don't bend over...

[by Anonymous Coward]

to check your tire pressure. Just saying.

Key?

[Tribbin (565963)]

Will it open my door and take the key out of my pocket?

Novelty Act

[milsoRgen (1016505)]

Now this is were automation really is handy dandy stuff. But actual merits aside, if it were to ever be used in the US it would be a novelty. People would bitch and complain...

I grew up in Oregon. A state that requires an attendent to pump your gas. I worked at a texaco one summer. There were 3 distinct positions on the issue:

1. Out of staters: Oh my god wow, it's really illegal for me to pump my own gas? Why thank you keep the change.
2. The in towners: Hurry the fuck up kid and please get my side windows.
3. The drive up politicians: Don't you see how this is hurting the very business you work for by requring man power for a job the costumer could do themselves. (My reply: dude I'm just here for the beer money)

So yeah I see the same thing to varying degrees happening at the pump (if this were to ever become a substantial choice for gas station owners here in the states)... Which would just be a rehash of the old auto workers complaints I can remember from as far back as grade school. Our science text books had these odd placed "Look to the future" sections. One of which was about robotics, and how there was a concern it would replace jobs with out creating... yadda yadda yadda Seemed like a pro union slant to me even then. (tho for the record I am pro union)

All that aside. I think it would be cool to have a robot doing this. I've worked in gas stations outside of Oregon here and there. Where people could do their own fueling, the amount of gas people slopped all over themselves, their car or the ground was substantial... and they always wanted a refund!

just testing it out with my spanking new Volvo

[sam_paris (919837)]

Hey guys,

i'm actually writing this from my iphone, while in my car, while one of these new robots fills up my volvo. I don't know why you guys are tagging this "whatcouldpossiblygowrong", it seems well engineered and apparently efficient. The only problem I can foresee would be some sort of short circuit which could produce a spark and ##KR2F@F@$F$ {NO CARRIER}

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[sam_paris (919837)]

Well, it's become a new meme to tag anything that remotely sounds dangerous with that particular tag... at first it was funny.. it's a little tiresome now.

Robots will be an economic disaster.

[geekoid (135745)]

What will gas station attendants do when this replaces them? Go work at a fast food place? great, but in 5 years when they 'iBurgerFlipper' replaces them then what?

The idea that the jobs market loss in one are creates more jobs another is not always true.

Espcially when you consider global scales of volume. If McDonalds can displace 2 owrkers with a 110,000 robot, you bet they would.

And who do you think will build the robots? that's right, other robots. While it will create new industries, it can not create

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[Osurak (1013927)]

Marshall Brain already thought of that. Check out his short story, Manna [marshallbrain.com]

Re:Robots will be an economic disaster.

[vertinox (846076)]

What will gas station attendants do when this replaces them? Go work at a fast food place? great, but in 5 years when they 'iBurgerFlipper' replaces them then what?

I dunno... I suppose they will do the same thing as the textile loomers did after the industrial revolution in the 1800s.

IMO if your job can be replaced by a machine, it probaly was boring.

Re:Robots will be an economic disaster.

[Sciros (986030)]

The gas station attendants will likely get work as "gas station robot maintenance dudes" that fix robots which, you know, go bad. And you know they will. Let's consider some likely scenarios:

1) Robot claws open rear passenger door thinking it's a gas cap cover and shoves nozzle down whoever's strapped in.

2) Robot decides you have a 2007 model instead of 2008 and destroys your gas cap because they way it opens has been changed

3) Robot beats you up and drives off in your car

4) Robot doesn't know the "3 clicks" rule and keeps screwing your gas cap back on for all eternity

5) Robot is racist and doesn't service some people

6) Robot sees a Lamborghini pull up and tries to mate with it, costing the gas station around $400,000

These are all nightmare scenarios that are all too possible if the robots aren't maintained. We'll need people to do this. No way I'd trust other robots!

Uneconomical Impractical or Both

[CodeBuster (516420)]

Suppose that this robot works perfectly every time without hassling the customers, damaging their vehicles, wasting their time, or generally causing other problems which cost the gas station owner money (a big assumption). From the standpoint of the gas station owner why invest in this robot when your customers already pump their own gas at no additional cost to you? I can think of only three (3) possibilities. First, if your competitors install this robot AND enough of your customers refuse to gas up at your station because you DO NOT have the robot then it might make sense provided that the margin (thin already for independent station owners) is able to support the cost which brings up the next point. Second, your customers are willing to pay more for their gas for the novelty OR the convenience of having a robot pump it for them (perhaps, but certainly a niche. Most people are very price sensitive when it comes to buying gas, driving miles out of their way to save a couple of pennies in some cases). Third, the local laws require a human attendant anyway (Oregon has this type of law) where the present value of the gas station attendant's wages in perpetuity are more than the costs of purchasing and maintaining the robot (provided that the initial assumption about damage to property and persons remains true). In any case it is highly likely that this robot will not be widely used or fill only niche markets because it is a cost center for the gas station owner and not likely to be or become a profit center. At best, it might become a requirement of doing business, but I cannot see many gas station owners installing and using the robot unless they are forced to by either the marketplace or the government.

Only one question

[darkhitman (939662)]

So, how soon until we find out that gas-pumping robots, too, can die in freak, gasoline-fight accidents?

Roll on the obesity

[cliffski (65094)]

I know its not exactly a serious workout, but jesus, are people too lazy to do this themselves? Frankly I enjoy getting OUT of the car and stretching my legs, its never exactly a major chore.

How do I fill my lawn mower

[robertjw (728654)]

This might be an OK idea for cars, but what happens when I need to fill my lawn mower, a gas can, an ATV on a trailer, motorcycle, etc...

Seems like there are a large number of situations when this wouldn't work. Will the robot replace all pumps? Will there be special pumps for when the robot doesn't work? Will gas for my lawn mower get more expensive since I have to drive across town to find a station that can actually put gas in a can?

Any Idea How Bizarre this is?

[Chrisje (471362)]

My hometown, Emmeloord, the Netherlands, is one of the sleepiest places on the earth. Initially it was a farming community. It was ocean until 1920 when the dyke was built to close the part of the ocean to form a brackish lake, and then in 1941 the area was mad into land just prior to the Germans invading the country. From the fifties, there was a boom of Farmers from Zeeland fleeing the south after the flooding of '53 which killed 5000+ people. My mother was one of those.

This town is populated with earthy farm folk. There is nothing to do. On any given Sunday you can fire guns downtown without anyone even hearing them. The streets are empty on Sundays. When I went to high school, 16 year old boys took their John Deeres and Massey Fergusons to school. The first thing I ever learnt how to drive was a small Massey Fergusson tractor from the late forties. The second thing I learnt how to drive was a fork lift.

Nico van Staveren was a long-time friend of my fathers. My father is now dead and gone, but to see Nico come up with this stuff is just more than bizarre. Figure my bewilderment of finding a story on /. about my home town, one of the least likely to be in the news places on the planet.

The only thing I wonder about is what this will mean to anyone with a Toyota or Mazda that happens to pull into the robotic pump. Like my townsman so aptly commented "Why not, but I hope they're insured well". :-D :-D

This really made my day. It brought tears to my eyes as I'm reading this in my living room in Haifa, Israel.

Re:Already Happened

[by Anonymous Coward]

Do you know how to tell when a porn star is filling his gas tank?

Just before the fuel comes out, he yanks the nozzle out and sprays it all over the windshield.

Re:

[Supergibbs (786716)]

Mod parent up *funny* :-)

Re:Already Happened

[russ1337 (938915)]

Also, it seems that you can register .com domains that start with the f-word and end with "ingmachines".

What could possibly be wrong with "www.firetruckingmachines.com"?

Re:well...

[garlicbready (846542)]

considering it costs $110,000, and if the gas station is fully automated will it be able to beat the crap out of someone who refuses to pay?
(think Johny Cab / Total Recall)

"warning insufficient funds
engage orifice insertion override"

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[mrxak (727974)]

From the pictures and video, looks like you have to be parked just right, and do we know how well it can figure out which car is which?

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[Facetious (710885)]

I'm not sure about countries in Europe, but all U.S. cars have a bar code visible through the windshield (windscreen) that represents the VIN (vehicle identification number) that is easily machine readable. Of course some people have taken to covering it up as it has been used as an "attack vector" for identity theft.

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[trolltalk.com (1108067)]

"I'm not sure about countries in Europe, but all U.S. cars have a bar code visible through the windshield (windscreen) that represents the VIN (vehicle identification number) that is easily machine readable"

Ever try to read the vin? Some are easy - a lot aren't.

Then there's accumulated snow, rain, frost, dirt, etc.

Also reflections, angle of view ...

Also there's the issue of damage when a motorist drives off too soon. Nowadays, its' about a grand in damages. This thing would be a LOT more expensive.

Re:well...

[Facetious (710885)]

Heh. I guess it goes like this.

Step 1. Scan VIN through windshield. If successful, pump fuel.
Step 2. Open driver's door and scan VIN that is imprinted on door frame. If successful, pump fuel.
Step 3. If steps 1 and 2 fail, seize vehicle; phone police; play, "This is the fuel pumping robot at [address] I have seized an illegal immigrant and/or terrorist. Please pick him/her up at your convenience."

Re:well...

[YrWrstNtmr (564987)]

but all U.S. cars have a bar code visible through the windshield (windscreen) that represents the VIN (vehicle identification number) that is easily machine readable.

[TinFoil]
What a wonderful tracking tool. Whether you pay cash or not, we know that VIN XXYY123 left gas station Z at 2:42 PM.
[/TinFoil]

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[Timberwolf0122 (872207)]

Thats why I keep old food wrappers/post-it notes on my dash board, stop the spooks tracking me by barcode scanners hidden in the squeegies homeless people use to clean windsheilds.

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[geoffspear (692508)]

In America, that's what we call a huge breach of privacy. That would allow anyone who can see my car to find out what kind of car it is!

Cyberdyne Oil Co.

[Chris Burke (6130)]

So... basically Skynet is going to be able to take over just by refusing to refuel our SUVs?

So, Gas Net?

[Skevin (16048)]

Drivernator: ...a revolutionary type of gas station attendent...In three years, Gas Net will become the largest supplier of robotic fueling devices. All gas stations are upgraded with Gas Net internals, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they refuel cars with a perfect operational record. The Gas Net funding bill is passed. The system goes on-line on August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from buying gas. The automated pump replacement begins to learn, at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am, eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Sarah: Gas Net fights back.

Drivernator: Yes. They begin exporting backyard-brewed bio-diesel from Russia.

John: Why Russia? They're supposed to be our chief exporters.

Drivernator: Because Gas Net knows that Russian bio-diesel will damage the bottom line of domestic energy companies while degrading the performance of modern vehicles.

Sarah: Jesus.

SKC

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[Gat0r30y (957941)]

whats next, a robot that wipes your backside?

They have those?

With apologies to Peter Griffin.

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[Klaus_1250 (987230)]

Doubt it. Some people don't like or don't know how (!) to fuel their car. In fact, I know several people who always visit the same gas station simply because it still has a gas attendant (a rarity here in the Netherlands, though 20 years ago it was quite common). Seeing that more and more gas stations here are becoming unmanned entirely (saves you up to 10 eurocent per liter), why not a Gas filling robot? You can stay in your car where it is warm, where you can listening to your favorite radio station, eat