Automated Charging Solution for Electric Vehicles
At a glance
Customer
Hycan, a Mobility Power Supply (MPS) product designer.
Problem
Inefficiencies and high costs associated with electric vehicle charging in parking lots.
Solution
Flexiv devised an innovative mobile automatic charging system comprising of an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) with an adaptive robot. This system leverages artificial intelligence, computer vision, and force control to automate car charging.
Key Features
Seven degrees of freedom, precision-based control, artificial intelligence, machine vision, dual safety certifications, and the adaptability to charge any electric car model.
Advantages
Enhanced safety, optimized operation, universality, and flexibility in handling different car models.
Overview
With the rapid adoption of electric cars, parking lots are increasingly looking to offer car charging solutions to their customers. Installing a dedicated car charger per parking space is often impossible or cost-prohibitive though. Flexiv developed a solution to this problem by mounting an adaptive robot to a mobile platform that can navigate the car park and automatically insert the charging connector in the car charging port.
Case Study Customer
Hycan
Hycan is committed to designing secure and efficient Mobility Power Supply (MPS) products. Their mission is to deliver dependable and convenient charging services while tackling the issues prevalent in parking lot charging scenarios. These include inefficient use of charging stations, underutilization of parking spaces, and time constraints for vehicle owners.
Flexiv’s Solution
Flexiv’s adaptive mobile charging solution revolutionizes parking lot charging by combining an AMR (automounts mobile robot) with an adaptive robot that uses artificial intelligence, computer vision, and force control.
Mirroring how a human would manipulate the charging plug, Flexiv’s robot can use a combination of vision and force control to ensure that the plug is always correctly inserted into the car’s socket. Featuring seven degrees of freedom, and the ability to navigate in a car park safely and reliably independently, Flexiv’s charging solution can calculate an optimized pathway to ensure its charging task is completed quickly and efficiently.
This focus on safety is further reinforced through the solution of dual CE and ETL certification and its AI engine, which prioritizes the protection of individuals and vehicles at all times.
Technical Features
Complete with seven degrees of freedom, a whole-body control algorithm, computer vision integration, industry-leading force control, and artificial intelligence Flexiv’s charging solution can utilize adaptive control strategies to perform actions like a human.
1. The solution’s high-speed, precision-based control ensures accurate and reliable task completion.
2. Dual CE and ETL safety certifications provide peace of mind that the robot meets or exceeds international safety and quality standards.
3. A reliable and adaptable AI vision algorithm provides exceptional tolerance to lighting changes, and secondary camera angles are used to enhance object recognition accuracy.
Solution Advantages
Safety and Reliability
Leveraging high-precision force control and inbuilt safety features, Flexiv’s automatic charging solution guarantees the safety of personnel, vehicles, and charging devices during the charging process.
Compliant Operation
A human-inspired approach to object manipulation, supported by multiple force control strategies and compliance control, enables the charging solution to eliminate port damage caused by posture, position, trajectory accuracy, and other variables.
Universality and Flexibility
Due to an adaptive robot’s unique force control ability and a highly adaptable AI vision algorithm, it can adapt itself to any make and model of the electric car. This means that the robot can complete the charging task regardless of body styling, port location, or charging port height.
