I like the basic idea, but the complexity of the robotic arm version is daunting and I don't like the side-track movement of the dangling cable version.

But if you have a simple single lane track, combined with manually inserted dangling cables ... there's the risk of blocking off the path to a car that needs a charger. Hmm...

@🌴 Seph 💭 👾 There are several different systems shown, and AFAICT only one of them has automatic plugging in (it's the picture of a complex robotic arm charger).

The first system shown has the ability to automatically lower a charger, but it must be manually plugged in.

I know that the second paragraph says that it plugs in automatically, and I found other articles repeating this claim, but this is just a case of people being stupid. It doesn't plug in automatically. You have to plug it in manually.

Apparently, people studying the video have calculated you'd have to wait around 15 minutes for the robot to arrive. (The video is sped up, the robots are much slower than they appear.)

“imagine it takes 5-7 hours charging, you need to stand there 15 minutes just to wait for the charger to come to you.”

autos.yahoo.com/ev-and-future-…

China Tests Ceiling-Mounted Robot That Charges EVs Automatically

Chinese parking garages use robotic ceiling arms to deliver EV charging cables to any parking space, eliminating the hunt for open charging stations.

^{Annemarije de Boer (Yahoo)}

I guess I should explain - there's no space for any sort of servos to robotically move the cable other than reeling it up/down. And that is the limit of what the viral video shows.

I don't think the original company was trying to be deceptive, I think that people reposting the viral video added the claim of automatic plug in and people stupidly repeated the claim with no basis.

In contrast, there are certain humanoid robot companies which are just plain scammers at this point, deceptively posting videos that claim to be "AI" autonomous operation when they've been caught using remote control just off screen.

In the case of this video, I think the company isn't being deceptive. And speeding up footage is common enough and should be expected.

@🌴 Seph 💭 👾 I don't know if it has anything to do with the speed, but it's not just going left/right. You can see there's a main rail that goes left/right, as well as short "cross" rails perpendicular to the main rail.

The idea of moving off onto these short side rails is that the robots do NOT block each other.

It's not obvious to me exactly how the movement mechanisms work. Depending on how it's done, maybe the wheels used are too small for fast movement or something.