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Impressive vid link there, but it couldn't happen without standardisation of production from car manufacurers that seems unimaginable, and could never happen for a bike.

http://www.news.com/2100-11394_3-622906 ... &subj=news

Well they seem to have it working so the hardest part must have been invented already, it would just need a massive database of car dimensions to recognise everything and would have to differentiate between subtle design differences.

Not sure I agree about the bike bit though - I would have said they would be easier as the filler cap is almost always in the same basic place, height would probably be the biggest issue (wouldn't even have to worry about fuel type for the moment).

At the end of the day it's a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.

At the end of the day it's a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.

What Backmarker said!!

A nice idea for those really cold wet, horribly shitty days when you really dont want to get out of the car to refuel.

Still got to get out to pay though

Biggest problem for some cars and virtually all bikes is that to remove the fuel cap, you need a key ...... so unless this robot is also an ultra efficient lock picker, it's not going to get far.

As for the rest of it - well yes - shouldn't be a major problem.

Maybe they'll introduce it in F1 for pit stops now that the Luddites have taken half the fun away from the electronics and software engineers. Got to give them something to do!

D-Rider wrote: Maybe they'll introduce it in F1 for pit stops now that the Luddites have taken half the fun away from the electronics and software engineers. Got to give them something to do!

Let me get this right, are you actually sticking up for Formula 1?

Seems like a step in the right direction to my way of thinking anyway, MotoGp should take note and follow suit

You must excuse me DR, had one of those days at work when everyone gets on your tits and I was looking for an excuse to get the soapbox out

No probs BM.

Not sticking up for F1 - boring as ... a boring thing.

As for the debate about electronic aids (by which I'm not talking about a new cyber-space strain of a horrible disease) .... I'm in 2 minds.

They do have the potential to cut the differentials between riders but then machinery has been developing for years taking levels of skill away from riders that were good at the more tricky things. These days we don't complain about the move away from tank gearchanges and foot clutches - we don't even whinge about quick-shifters. However these things have removed levels of skill. Yet there is always some differential and the best riders can exploit it.
At the end of the season Rossi even seemed to be suggesting that things had gone too far and bikes were too easy to ride as there were so few horror crashes .... which surprised me that someone was complaining that improved safety was a problem.

The other thing that concerns me is that if such aids are banned, then development of these technologies will dramatically slow down and will not filter through to road bikes so quickly.
I would really love to see pressure to reduce race fuel limits at a quicker rate than at present to force the designers to dramatically improve consumption .... and it would happen.

I guess I'm biassed - I'm an electronics engineer - but, to me, the "prototype" class should not be the one to have technology capped.

Fine, by all means do this as a way to pep up other classes but at the pinnacle, let's have bikes with exciting technology requiring riders with the abilities to exploit small differentials.


(oh I love a bit of controversy)

D-Rider wrote:Fine, by all means do this as a way to pep up other classes but at the pinnacle, let's have bikes with exciting technology requiring riders with the abilities to exploit small differentials.


(oh I love a bit of controversy)

And therein lies the rub. IMO these trick bits don't need any rider input, they're designed so that a monkey can ride one safely, which I'm afraid to say is most of the current crop of MotoGP riders. Maybe the old timers who used to race were whingers but at least they rode proper bikes that chucked them off at intervals.

Also when you consider the injuries they get now, these riders are back in the saddle 2 weeks later after their teams/sponsors chucked a few hundred thousand grand on the latest surgery methods, stuff we won't see in our lifetimes.

I like bike racing, its success should be in line with real life.

Back on the original thread, how does it know what fuel is wanted and if you are out touring on a bike with a tankbag, I suppose you may have to live with the fact it may try to fill your tankbag full of diesel!

Otherwise it's scary, I assume they would recognise the car type by using the Auto number plate recognition system that the police have. Should these sort of people have acccess to such databases?
I assume it would use this, as any optical recognition would be almost impossible, if it recognised a car by it's front profile as it approached, how could it be absolutely certain it was not an estate car variant or coupe with the filler somewhere different.

HowardQ wrote:Back on the original thread, how does it know what fuel is wanted ...

...and how much??? (or does everyone else in the world fill to the brim, always?).

This is a wind-up, surely?

In 2008 do we still design "robots" to pretend they're human? Surely a real automated fueling machine would incorporate a metered dispenser into its arm, not pick up the "designed for humans" pistol grip dispenser from the adjacent pump?