Dutch inventors unveiled on 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. The bot can
apparently identify cars as they pull up, and reference them against a database
to determine the type of fuel cap and the fuel type to use, which should avoid
any mishaps. Somewhat interestingly, the inventors admit that the technology
isn't an entirely new idea, and they give credit for the inspiration to the
robots used for milking cows, saying that "if a robot can do that then why can't
it fill a car tank." While it's apparently not a done deal just yet, the team
say they hope to roll out the robot to a "handful" of Dutch gas stations by the
end of the year.
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