OREANDA-NEWS. A robot capable of pumping gas is working at one of the gas stations in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The mechanism itself looks like a huge robotic arm, which is equipped with special sensors and just comes out of a conventional gas pump. The principle of operation of a mechanical hand is no different from the work of a live employee of a gas station. The only difference is that in order to use the refueling robot, the client will need to download a special application to the phone, through which the robot receives an order from the user. Next, the robot is trained to open the fuel tank of the car, unscrew the lid and direct the fuel nozzle towards the open gas tank. Such simple manipulations of the robot start the automatic refueling of the car, after which it tightens the gas tank lid back, closes the door and returns to its original position. Thus, the entire refueling process becomes autonomous, and in time it takes only 180 seconds, about the same amount is spent on refueling your car and a live employee.

The tanker robot was developed by the team of Sinopec, which is considered one of the largest oil and gas producers in China.

The robot itself consists of four components: a mechanical manipulator, a cognitive system of a fuel injector and other refueling accessories, as well as a control system. There was also a technology for bypassing obstacles, which is simply necessary so that the mechanism does not run over pedestrians and vehicles during maintenance.

Sinopec plans that their robot tanker will be used at more than 30,000 gas stations throughout China.