PRE2015 4 Groep3
Group members:
- Maurits Ambags - 0771400
- Wesly Chu - 088994
- Arthur Geel - 0907552
- Jasper Sparla - 0844019
- Twan Weernink - 0851703
Mogelijke projectideeën
- Tankrobot (voor bij tankstations)
- Leidend systeem voor dementen
- Afruimrobot voor in de horeca
- Bezorgrobot in gebouwen (zowel post/pakketten als eten/drinken)
- Kookrobot
- Landbouwsysteem (kleine kas, grote velden)
- Glazenwasserdrone
Introduction
In present day, refueling cars is a process that is still being done manually. Users are expected to correctly determine which fuel their vehicle requires, connect the fuel hose to their car and supervise the process of refueling the vehicle. Each of these activities is very trivial to the common user, however has serious consequences if done incorrectly (either engine failure or a fire of sorts). Therefore, they pose quite a danger to users, as the lack of attention may result in unsafe conditions. Secondly, the whole process takes considerable time, and automating the process may allow users to head into the pump building to pay and/or drink their coffee while their vehicle is being refueled. This would increase the throughput of fuel pumps as well.
Requirements
Our intention is to provide a robotic support to refuel vehicles. We wish to provide an external tool, as opposed to integrating this robot into the fuel pump. This should allow pump owners to more easily adapt to this technology without significantly restructuring their buildings, as well as come at a lower cost overall for new pumps. This robot should be able to lift a fuel hose out of its holder, locate the vehicle's fuel inlet, possibly remove the cap of this inlet and insert the nozzle. After the tank has been filled, the robot places the hose back into its holder and (possibly) notifies the car owner.
In order to allow the robot to move about fuel hoses, we will need a mechanism for grabbing a hose. Current fuel hoses are designed in a way that humans can grab them easily. It seems overly complicated to mimic this behaviour, as making a robotic hand is a different challenge in itself. We see more potential in the use of magnets here. The robot would have a magnet that connects to a metal plate on the fuel hose. This would require some modification to the fuel nozzle, but leaves the rest of the pump as is.