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Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#141

Post by NextPerception »

tamal wrote: post #87
Animats wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The snake arm is quite simple. The "snake" part is a set of dumb hinged segments; it's all cable-driven from the base. The application does not require much rigidity or repeatability. The load is low; it's just carrying a power cable. There's probably a camera at the end of the tentacle to guide the connector to the car's power socket. The car opens the connector cover, so there's no need for a mechanism on the robot…

The huge benefit will be when this is used in conjunction with the self parking system. You drive up to the front of your house, get out, and the car drives itself into the garage and plugs itself in.

I completely agree. I came here to say this but see you beat me to it! I might add that this could be used to park your car miles from where you live. You would simply let your car know when to pick you up and it would come to you like calling the valet at a hotel before heading out. If tesla had overnight parking garages/chargers scattered around we could use all that garage space in our houses for more activities!

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#142

Post by brc »

brianstorms wrote: post #94

Can you imagine how pets are going to react to this? A real-world use-case involves this in a garage, and you pull into the garage (or tell the car to) and it parks and then this snake starts its dance and finds the chargeport and connects and starts charging... and your dog goes completely ape-shit. And barks and shrieks and jumps and snaps its teeth and gets a nice vise-grip with the snake in its jaws and next thin…

Most dogs hate Roombas as well.

After a little persistence, it usually settles down to an uneasy status quo.

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#143

Post by hvis »

jeromeflipo wrote: post #138

Why not put that thing into the car? It would take both space and weight (i.e impact range and performance) but then we could install outlets anywhere. The car (fleet) owner would be responsible for everything, including maintenance and replacements. Maybe there's a reason why cables are part of the appliances instead of the outlets? Also, car owners would certainly prefer a snake that works everywhere and not just a…

As a piece of new technology, it might need more frequent replacements than an averate Tesla car part.

Also, it would be unfortunate if you can't refuel your car because it has no juice left to power this appendage.

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#144

Post by tim333 »

eric_h wrote: post #96
bendykstra wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet if you exposed another mammal like a monkey or a cat to that recharging tentacle, it would be frightened by it too. We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things. It's one of the most common phobias. Sci-fi horror merely tapped into that fear.

> We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things Are we really wired for it, though? I've personally never had that fear. Perhaps it's a little more nurture than nature?

While its not very hacker news to post funny cat videos there's one here of one reacting in what looks like an anti snake way to a cucumber. I doubt the reaction was a learnt fear of cucumbers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Ov_ptXsE8&feature=youtu.be...

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#145

Post by razster »

corysama wrote: post #12

The gif is sped up. This vid is actual speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI I think it's awesome. But, it obvious that the current implementation will inspire the creeps in lots of people. Sci-fi horror has put an unfortunate bad rap on robotic tentacles and chromed vertebrae.

Wouldn't it be faster to just have a post that would align with the vehicle, being already at the correct height to start out with, quickly find the connector and wham-bam thank you ma'am.

Snake version will always be slow due to the number of motors needed, imo.

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#146

Post by afarrell »

sandworm101 wrote: post #93
aidenn0 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A common argument against EVs I've heard repeated is "Sometimes I forget to plug in my cell-phone, and it dies mid-day. What happens if I forget to plug in my car?" This will address that concern, as silly as it is.

So it will seek out and plug in without driver input? I guess that would only work if they are in everyone's garage. Isn't there a smartphone ap that can remind owners if they part at home without connecting?

So a heavy (perhaps diesel-fueled) truck can pull up by the side of the vehicle and charge it enough to get to the next station?

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#147

Post by CydeWeys »

mhb wrote: post #99
bendykstra wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet if you exposed another mammal like a monkey or a cat to that recharging tentacle, it would be frightened by it too. We are wired to be afraid of snakes and snaky things. It's one of the most common phobias. Sci-fi horror merely tapped into that fear.

Kids and adults are OK with stuffed lions and tigers. How does that fit in with the wiring theory?

Stuffed toys are exactly that, toys. They aren't representative of real lions and tigers in many ways, including most relevantly that they are cute, not ferocious, and are usually much smaller.

If you had a lifelike stuffed tiger and you posed it in contexts where it wasn't immediately obvious that it wasn't real, I bet you'd get some amazing startle reactions. It sure works with dinosaurs, even though dinosaurs haven't existed for millions of years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSup2gj2Gn4

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#148

Post by drcross »

shostack wrote: post #21

Are there any engineering advantages from choosing this design vs. a more traditional arm, or plug that just moves on two rails up or down and then extends out? In theory, there is minimal height distance from where such a charging station would be in relation to the car and the charging port height, even when accounting for different Tesla models. As such, I'm not clear why they went with something that on the surfa…

Yes, this design is far more compliant to external movement and also the stage can be far smaller than something needing three axis of freedom.

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#149

Post by elwell »

austinh100 wrote: post #135
elwell wrote: post #112

If your still using a gas fueled vehicle, my startup will do this for you (we use only humans at the moment, however). http://purpledelivery.com (LA only)

FYI you need to fix that site, it takes me a full 2.5 minutes to finish loading with 150mbit internet in LA.

Nothing showed for that long or the video was loading in the background?

Re: Tesla unveils new car-charging robo-snake

#150

Post by abritinthebay »

ams6110 wrote: post #136
freerobby wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you pull up to a Supercharger on Friday night of a holiday weekend. All the stalls are taken and there is a line of a handful of cars in front of you. Today, you wait in your car until the people in front of you finish charging. Tomorrow, you leave your car in line and go get dinner.

Imagine you pull up to a Supercharger on Friday night of a holiday weekend. All the stalls are taken and there is a line of a handful of cars in front of you. I'm wishing I still had my gasoline-powered car at that point.

Well the gas car would just be in a line at a gas station instead. It doesn't solve the issue at hand.
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