(CRI Online) 08:02, July 11, 2016
A laser-guided smart robot is being developed in China, that not only parks a car in under two minutes, but can also squeeze the vehicle into even the smallest and most awkward of spaces with no need for a driver.
The nightmare of finding a parking space and then parking your car may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to an automated guided vehicle (AGV) that is soon to hit the market.
Created by Shenzhen-based Yeefung Techonology, the laser-guided machine can park a car in under two minutes, and slip it into even the tightest of spaces.
Nicknamed ‘Geta’, short for “Get A Car”, the invention aims to cut down the time it takes to hunt for spaces in increasingly overcrowded cities.
The brainchild of Yeefung’s 33-year-old CEO, Marco Wu, Geta doesn’t need tracks or a navigator, and has 360 degrees mobility.
”The parking robot is designed to increase the amount of parking space, becoming a rare thing thanks to land restrictions in China, and all over the world. Our company is focusing on three-dimensional parking which requires minimal space. The robot can go everywhere without tracks, it’s free and versatile and will reform parking in the future.’
Geta transports a vehicle by picking it up from underneath, and positioning it so that it will fit into a slot. Wu says the system can save 30-40 percent of available space.
“The robot is just like a human being. It uses laser navigation, scanning a reflected signal to pinpoint its location. And like our eyes, it knows where it is by recognising objects around it. The signal is then transmitted to a computer containing a map which then shows the robot where to go.”
The Chinese Mainland is expected to have around 170 million cars by 2017, according to a report by Shenzhen-based consultancy company Forward Intelligence.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says China will have over 200 million cars by 2020, which is likely to make parking increasingly difficult.
Wu is predicting high demand from China and around the world for the parking automaton.
“There are many companies interested in our products, such as commercial property companies in Singapore and London, public parking companies in the Middle East, and developers, governments, as well as public parking companies in China. The price for each robot is over one million RMB.”
In 2014 a London parking space sold for 530,000 US Dollars, 2.5 times the cost of an average UK home, showing how big a problem finding a parking space is becoming.
There are other parking robots around the world which take vehicles to designated parking bays, such a Dusseldorf airport’s RAY service, while other systems use tracks to guide the robots to the right parking space.