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06 Feb 2008
Dutch inventors have built the first robotic fuel pump which can fill a petrol tank without the driver needing to leave the car.
The £55,000 machine is fitted to the side of a fuel pump and automatically locates the filler cap when a vehicle pulls in.
The robot then matches the design against its database of cars and can unscrew the filler cap and deliver the fuel.
"I was on a farm and I saw a robotic arm milking a cow. If a robot can do that then why can't it fill a car tank?" developer and petrol station operator Nico van Staveren told Reuters. "Drivers needn't get dirty hands or smell of petrol again."
The 'Tankpitstop' robot should be in operation at a small number of filling stations in the Netherlands by the end of the year.
A video of the robot in action can be seen on the Tankpitstop website.
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