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Drivers won’t need to get out of their cars at filling stations if Autofill
of Stockholm has its way. The firm has devised a petrol pump with an optical
sensor, like a video camera, that forms an image of the position of the car’s
fuel tank flap (WO 98/54083 and 54084). This image is used to control the
movement of a robot arm which moves over to open the flap, unscrews the petrol
cap and pushes a fuel nozzle into the tank. When the tank is full, back pressure
shuts down the fuel supply and the robot arm runs through its previous sequence
in reverse, to replace the cap and close the flap.