The era of robot refueling is here! Han's explosion-proof collaborative robots help gas stations upgrade to intelligence

Last year, #Hangzhou officially opened the era of intelligent refueling# #The world's first self-learning refueling robot landed in Hangzhou# and other related Weibo topics were on the top 10 hot search list in the city and the entire network. Many car owners came here to queue up to experience the fun and novelty of the robot's automatic refueling. Now that more than half a year has passed, do you still remember this "refueling robot" that has become popular on the entire network? Let's talk about it together——

Project Background

Data shows that by the end of 2022, the number of gas stations in China has reached 115,000, equivalent to one gas station every 46.5 kilometers (the total mileage of national highways according to the Ministry of Transport is 535 kilometers). The market is saturated and the competition is very intense. Traditional gas stations that only provide refueling services are facing the dilemma of rising labor costs and gradually declining profits. At the same time, the rapid development of new energy vehicles has also exacerbated the sense of crisis of traditional gas stations.

Secondly, automobile refueling service is also a labor-intensive industry with high repetition and low added value. The workers’ working environment is relatively special, and dangerous factors such as flammable and explosive substances and high pressure exist for a long time. Therefore, "replacing people with machines" is also one of the important measures to achieve safe production.

Nowadays, the application of "robot +" has become an important national development strategy. Relying on refueling robots and using scientific and technological power to maximize basic refueling services, injecting new development momentum into traditional gas stations has become an important direction for the entire industry's forward-looking layout.

Han's Robotics' Solutions

At present, Han's Robotics has reached in-depth cooperation with customers. As one of the oil and gas service companies with the largest refueling business and the most refueling stations in the country, customers have deep accumulation in oil and gas business scenarios, "better understanding of customers and business", while Han's Robotics has long focused on the research and development of collaborative robot body technology and product production. The cooperation between the two parties is an efficient interpretation of the "robot + application" action plan——

The two parties jointly built a more automated and intelligent refueling robot workstation, which is based on the E15-F explosion-proof series collaborative robot. It can operate normally in an environment with volatile flammable and explosive gases. It can quickly connect with the 3D visual recognition system, the integrated grasping end tool (including suction cup tools, fixtures , etc.), the seventh axis and related business software. It can actively learn and identify and determine the position of different car fuel tank caps, and actively complete the actions of opening the cap, grasping the oil/gas gun, refueling/gas, hanging and releasing the oil/gas gun, and closing the car tank cap.

In actual use, after parking the car, the car owner only needs to complete the refueling/gas order through the mobile phone APP, and can complete the refueling/gas and payment operations in the car, allowing the car owner to enjoy the new automated refueling/gas service without getting out of the car and without zero communication.

The E15-F collaborative robot has completed national explosion-proof certification and can be used normally in oil and gas volatile working environments. In addition, it is easy to deploy, occupies a relatively small space, and requires little modification to gas station facilities and equipment, and generally does not affect the normal business of gas stations.

Advantages and effect feedback

National explosion-proof certification : The refueling/gas workplace has special operation characteristics and has very high requirements for explosion-proof performance. Safety is the top priority. The Elfin-Ex series explosion-proof collaborative robots launched by Han's Robotics have passed the authoritative certification of the "National Instrument Explosion-proof Safety Supervision and Inspection Station (NEPSI)". It adopts a leakage compensation positive pressure explosion-proof system with medium isolation ignition source, and the shell is designed with multiple sealing structures to achieve intrinsic safety, positive pressure and other composite explosion-proof structures; equipped with a positive pressure monitoring system, it can monitor the positive pressure protection gas pressure of the robot in real time and provide power-off protection function to block explosive flammable gases and dust from entering the robot to avoid explosion risks.

Completing the national explosion-proof certification with high standards is not only an important technical guarantee for Han's Robotics to smoothly enter gas stations, but also a confidence and safety guarantee to help partners and end users complete the intelligent upgrade of traditional gas stations.

Looking to the future, it is compatible with various business application scenarios such as refueling, gas filling and charging : With the diversified development of the automotive industry, traditional gas stations need to adapt to the development trend of the industry and have reached a "crossroads where changes must be made". Han's explosion-proof collaborative robots are not only suitable for traditional refueling business, but can also be used in other energy supply scenarios such as gas filling and charging. They are highly scalable. With a one-time investment in traditional gas stations, the service radius of the gas station can be expanded to meet the needs of future business expansion and development.

Small transformation, high efficiency, and support for 24-hour continuous operation : As mentioned above, the number of traditional gas stations that have been built is huge, and the cost of large-scale transformation or new construction is quite high, which puts great financial pressure on end users. The overall deployment of the Han's explosion-proof robot is simple, and it can be flexibly deployed by wall-mounted, upright, or even inverted installation as needed. There is no need to carry out large-scale transformation of existing gas stations, and it will not affect normal business activities; secondly, the use of Han's explosion-proof robots for automated operations can complete all operations within 2 minutes. The most important thing is that it can operate continuously for 24 hours without human intervention, which can greatly improve the operating efficiency of traditional gas stations.

Focus on the main body, easy to integrate : Han's Robotics focuses on the research and development and production of collaborative robot main bodies, has nearly 20 years of industrial experience, and has accumulated profound robotics technology. "Our Robotic Arm fully considers the actual needs of customers from design to production, and provides a wealth of SDKs, APIs and other business interfaces", which can easily achieve efficient docking with third-party software, end tools and external axes, making it easy for customers or partners to seamlessly integrate with their existing business systems or conduct secondary development. The flexible and efficient cooperation model gives customers more choices and convenience, thereby further reducing upgrade and maintenance costs.

The implementation of refueling robots has the potential to completely change the appearance of gas stations. This technology and product that "represents the future work and lifestyle" will help traditional gas stations keep up with the pace of the times. Han's Robotics will work hand in hand with partners and end customers to continue in-depth cooperation, actively explore more application scenarios based on explosion-proof collaborative robots, and jointly promote the technological innovation and application expansion of explosion-proof refueling robots.