Let’s be honest, as much as the charging points and stations have improved, there are still certain barriers that we must eliminate to facilitate a process that will soon be common for all drivers. In order to bring electric mobility all over the world, Ford has developed a cargo assistant robot that helps people with disabilities or reduced mobility. A service that will make life easier for many drivers, although at the moment it is being tested initially in Germany.
The development has been carried out by the University of Dortmund, in Germany. With a custom design, the first tests in real conditions are already being carried out. Although initially it was designed with electric cars in mind, it can also be used in any type of plug-in vehicle, although at the moment there are certain limitations, such as the location of the charging socket. Over time they hope to refine the details, allowing more systems and models to load.
The assistant robot eliminates the need to drag heavy charging cables to the car’s connection port. The prototype developed by Ford and the center allows the user to manage the charging robot from a mobile application. Light indicators give instructions to the driver to leave the car in the correct place, and Through the corresponding application, the driver can open the charging socket and make the robotic connection. All this without having to get out of the car.
The ultimate goal is that in the future the entire process will be fully automated with little or no involvement from the driver.. The idea is that drivers with disabilities or reduced mobility are exclusively responsible for parking the car and that the charging point takes care of the rest through precise and calculated movements. Once the load is complete, the robotic arm folds and is perfectly stored while waiting for a new client. Ford thinks that this system can have other uses and destinations.
The concept of robotic and assisted charging point is nothing new. On many occasions we have heard similar systems and technologies that seek to make life easier for all drivers. There are more advanced developments that contemplate total vehicle autonomy and charging, such as the ZiGGY system that we presented to you a few weeks ago. State-of-the-art car parks where the driver is freed from work while the car completely autonomously searches for a space, parks and a robot automatically loads. We are not so far from that moment.
