At present, "robot+"is becoming a new path for industrial upgrading. From surgical treatment, new agriculture to high-end manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, many innovative cases of reducing costs and increasing efficiency through robots have emerged. The "Robot+Application Action Implementation Plan" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 17 departments also encourages the market to promote typical application scenarios of robots with high technical level, innovative application mode and remarkable application effect, and carry out innovative practice of "Robot+"application.
When the robot industry is in full swing, there is a daily high-frequency scene that is closely related to you and me and can be upgraded through robot intelligence empowerment, which also ushered in development opportunities-that is, refueling automation. In the past few decades, many technology companies have conducted special research on refueling robots, but related products have always lacked a "key puzzle".
Now, this puzzle is finally finished.
First, refuel the robot and find the "key puzzle"
Knowing the car, opening the lid, grasping the oil gun, refueling, hanging the oil gun and closing the fuel tank are all the work contents of the refueling robot. However, six seemingly simple actions have "trapped" the refueling robot industry for 60 years.
As early as 1963, Charles Mays and Lee Darwin applied for a number of patents to realize "refueling automation" by reforming the fuel filler pipe of vehicles. Thirty-four years later, the smart pump produced by Shell first appeared at the gas station in Sacramento, California. Car owners can install a transponder on the windshield to provide vehicle information to the intelligent pump and enjoy the automatic refueling service.
1963 the first batch of "refueling automation" patents
Although these products have taken the first step of refueling automation, there are many problems in actual operation and they have not been favored by the market.
Until 2008, Rotec Engineering, a refueling robot company, launched a refueling robot called TankPitStop, which was put into use in gas stations in the Netherlands. This product almost realizes the full automation of refueling, but the problem is that this product lacks the assistance of vehicle identification technology, and only cars registered in robot gas stations and equipped with RFID chips can enjoy this service. And the price as high as 10 million dollars also makes this product lack of economy.
At that time, the whole mechanical arm was worth 100000 dollars.
Around 2020, more mature refueling robots appeared on the market.
In foreign countries, Fuelmatics, a Swedish refueling robot company, started a commercialization attempt after being merged by AutoEnergy. The company's refueling robot shortens the refueling time to 2 minutes and 30 seconds, which has improved in terms of safety, fuel compatibility and payment experience. In China, Sinopec's first intelligent refueling robot was put into trial operation in the west gas station of Nanning South Petroleum Station, Guangxi. The product's intelligence in vehicle model judgment and human-computer interaction has been significantly improved, and the refueling time is almost comparable to that of manual service.
Sinopec's first intelligent refueling robot is located in the west gas station of Nanning South Petroleum Station, Guangxi.
In the following years, the refueling robot entered a rapid iterative stage, and refueling robots that optimized the experience and improved the work efficiency on the basis of previous work were constantly coming out. However, in the seemingly prosperous market, there is always a "stuck neck" problem-vehicle recognition rate.
Both the early schemes of vehicle identification using transponder, RFID chip or database matching have their own limitations in vehicle identification. The former needs to pre-install supporting equipment on vehicles, while the latter faces a huge database composed of vehicles and seas, which is inefficient in vehicle matching and identification and needs frequent updating to enter the newly listed vehicle data. If the problem of vehicle recognition rate cannot be properly solved, the large-scale popularization of refueling robots will be impossible.
Just when the industry was at its wits' end, a China technology company suddenly fell off the market.
March 2023 16, topic # Hangzhou officially opens the era of intelligent refueling # Hangzhou ranked fourth in the city rankings, Weibo. The refueling robot "Yikong Energy Arm" built by Yikong Intelligent successfully landed at Xiaoshan Nanyang Gas Station, bringing an efficient automatic refueling experience to the car owners who came to experience it.
Topic # Hangzhou officially opens the era of intelligent refueling # Boarded the hot search in Weibo
According to the on-site experiencer, this refueling robot can be used without modifying the original refueling equipment. As long as the owner stops at the designated location and completes the operation through the mobile App, he can enjoy the 2-minute automatic refueling service. The robot has also passed the explosion-proof certification at home and abroad, and every movement strictly follows the specifications of the gas station. The most amazing thing is that the energy arm of the relay kilometer is almost not limited by the model and refueling number, and the refueling work of different models can be easily controlled.
Xiaoshan Nanyang gas station experienced the citizens for the first time.
How to solve the problem of vehicle recognition rate in postal kilometers?
The key to breaking the game is the change of technical path.
At the beginning of product design, Yikong team was deeply aware of the limitations of vehicle database matching mode. In order to solve the problem once and for all, the team joined the artificial intelligence algorithm, aiming to make the robot "recognize" different oil cap structures like human beings and take corresponding methods to complete the operation.
To achieve this recognition ability, a large amount of data is needed for algorithm tuning and scene verification. Fortunately, Yikong has been deeply involved in the field of unmanned car washing for several years, and has accumulated a wealth of historical vehicle experience models. In the "feeding" of the Volkswagen vehicle history database, the vehicle coverage rate of the relay kilometer energy arm has exceeded 90%. With the "snowball effect" of self-learning ability, the coverage rate is expected to reach 100%, which will solve the "stuck neck" problem of refueling robots in one fell swoop.
The intelligent person in charge of the post-kilometer explained the post-kilometer refueling robot on the spot.
At this point, a refueling robot that has exceeded market expectations in terms of work efficiency, cost control and scene compatibility has finally entered the historical stage, and a brand-new "man-machine collaboration" smart gas station business closed loop is also coming out.
Second, the man-machine collaborative scene upgrade opens a new chapter in smart gas stations.
The data shows that the number of gas stations in China will reach 23 1 10,000 by the end of 2026, and the market will be saturated with competition.
The traditional gas station model is highly dependent on site selection. Gas stations with less advantageous locations have to increase their marketing efforts to attract passengers by giving away glass water and washing cars. This kind of involution problem is becoming more and more serious, and it has become a "ceiling" that gas stations can't break through.
At a time when thousands of industries are upgrading intellectually and digitally, traditional oil stations also have many new development ideas: oil business is only basic service, and non-oil business including retail, automobile maintenance and membership precipitation is the new idea of diversified income generation for oil stations.
If people want to do a good job in the value-added service of gas stations with limited manpower, they need some scientific and technological help to make the basic refueling service to the extreme. The refueling robot represented by the relay kilometer energy arm is a shortcut to upgrade the traditional gas station to a smart gas station.
Yikangli refueling robot landing gas station
From the point of view of reducing cost and increasing efficiency, the efficiency of the relay kilometer energy arm to complete the refueling action within 2 minutes is very competitive, and the domestic production rate of the whole machine as high as 99.6% has reduced the cost to the acceptable range of gas stations. When refueling, it can also prevent excessive refueling and reduce oil and gas emissions. With such a refueling robot, the efficiency of man-machine cooperation in gas stations will be greatly improved: the robot will digest mechanical repetitive work, and employees can focus on service upgrading, introduction and guidance of value-added services, membership development, private domain operation and other directions.
From the perspective of scene compatibility, the energy arm of the relay station can land freely, and it can be seamlessly connected with any gas station scene without modifying the original facilities of the gas station, that is, it can be used immediately. In the iteration of subsequent products, the energy arm can also adjust the robot tools to deal with alternative fuels such as electricity, hydrogen, CNG and LNG, and expand the service radius of gas stations.
From an intelligent point of view, the owner can interact with the relay kilometer energy arm in the car for the first time through the App. During the refueling process, the robot moves in a small range to ensure safety and stability. In the case of pedestrian intrusion, vehicle movement, etc. Robots can actively identify risks and take protective measures. If you encounter unconventional refueling (such as outsiders carrying barrels to refuel), the machine will refuse to refuel. Under other abnormal conditions, after accurate calculation, the product can also independently realize alarm, emergency interlock, pull-off, automatic shutdown and other operations.
With the advantages of postal kilometer energy branch recognized by the market, the future prospect of intelligent gas stations is gradually clear:
In daily operation, employees have more energy and enthusiasm, and introduce the latest offers and activities to car owners during the refueling interval. During the peak period of refueling and the window period of oil price adjustment, the refueling robot can complete the task with the highest efficiency in an orderly manner to ensure that the urban traffic is not affected. Even if there is no employee for parking guidance, the owner can complete refueling with the help of App and refueling robot. In remote areas or late at night with less manpower, the normal operation of gas stations is not a problem.
A similar story has a precedent in the chain restaurant industry: McDonald's introduced an automatic ordering system in 20 17, which changed the restaurant qualitatively. In the past, the "messy" queuing scene disappeared and was replaced by a more comfortable and free diversified ordering environment. Whether it is manual, code scanning or machine ordering, you can choose freely. When you walk into McDonald's, the clerk will kindly guide you and help you choose the best discount combination. The manager will also invite you to join the welfare group and enjoy the exclusive benefits of the store. These upgrades in efficiency and service level have made McDonald's share price out of the "long cow" that lasted for several years.
Similarly, in the process of gas stations moving towards "smart gas stations", similar performance thickening effects can also be produced. The relay kilometer energy arm is the key puzzle of this intelligent revolution: the ultimate efficiency and service will continuously draw the relationship between car owners and gas stations, prompting the former to join the membership, contribute more consumption to gas stations and enjoy unprecedented experience.
Wisdom gas station Yili km refueling robot
It can be said that this truly commercialized, grounded and universal refueling robot has taken a historic step in the smart gas station. I believe that in the near future, many ideas about smart gas stations will be realized with the help of this refueling robot.
This article is proud of the author Che Shuoche, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.