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Comment by gpm | Hacker News Reader

This article desperately needs a video, here's a nearly 2 year old video from the same company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3hmbYLQedc

Your video is the only non-animated one i can find, and really, its just of a dolly bumping into a car, then cut to 'car being on dolly' and disappearing out of view. All the pictures in the article seem taken from the animated promotional stuff for stanley-robotics.com which itself seems unrealistic as best. And even the 'already used in France' bit is misleading, as it was a trial at charles de gaulle with no information on the scale or success.

Their site looks like its there to attract investors rather than sell any kind of real product.. i might be wrong but i don't think this is going to amount to anything, shame.

Here is a non-rendered video where the lifting happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bocfNOjeBm8

I don't see how 2 tons are being lifted from such a low and thin surface. The whole thing looks more like a Kickstarter than a real product.

Edit: Nope this is 100% legit

Maybe something similar as pallet jack: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet_jack

Example of an electric one: https://youtu.be/w7MG3DOwAhQ

Quite close to this Stanley device. They claim capacity of 3,5 tons. Forks are not as long, but the mechanics seem such that extending them should not be a problem.

same replies as above. Our robots have been receiving in our opened service (Lyon airport) on a daily basis vehicles up to 3 tons (incl. heavy SUVs with hybrid powertrain). Our mechanical spec. is higher though

Can't find anywhere in Lyon airport to book this service;

https://www.lyonaeroports.com/en/parkings-airport/car-parks-...

Also they seem to use ectorparking.com at Lyon, are you affiliated with Ector?

Also no sign of it on Twitter, seems like people using it would likely talk about it on social media (maybe it's a private beta for airport employees?)

we understand your point, please see also our comment above. we are extremely serious and cautious people, and have not even started communicating ourselves regarding the Gatwick project. Our robots are very real, and impressive according to the professionals & users knowing them. Kind regards, Stanley Robotics

here Stanley Robotics, we are the makers of these robots. You are fully right, and btw this article is clearly not from us. We are careful in communication. Big news, this time by us, are coming in 2 months from now. The very same robots as the ones for London Gatwick, have already behind them more than 1 year of daily operational experience: at Lyon airport(France). Currently 150 parking spaces, managed by those robots, are managed every day there. This number is increasing rapidly week by week. Stay tuned, thanks :)

Elsewhere in this thread someone posted a few videos that make it much easier to understand what's happening. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19011731

Have you had any communication with tire manufacturers about how you lift the car that way?

Wouldn't that put unusual stress on the tire plies? Maybe once or twice might be OK, but if someone did this to tires 500 times a year (e.g. commuting to work, once at arrival at garage at work, once at departure from work) would the tires still be OK?

I found a VR video (which needs dragging around quite a bit on my computer to find the desired angle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIaxPa2aUDI that showed the car being put into its slot. Looks pretty neat.

thanks. but really old now already, and it was in an easier - indoor - environment. far better coming very soon, please stay tuned ;)

In the distant future, I might be able to just get out of my car and walk away to let the robots do their thing. But in the near future, any time saving is negated by standing there watching the robo-magic :)

Huh ... so that answers my big question: What about Rear-wheel-drive and AWD cars? AWDs are difficult to dolly. Tow truck drivers (that don't own flatbeds) have to either disconnect the rear differential or put dollies under the wheels.

Here’s one from Lyon: https://youtu.be/V4bgiMP_WfM

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