Stan (parking robot)

2024: Use on ferries

In early September 2024, it became known that seaports began to use robots called Stan, which are able to independently load cars onto ferries. In addition, such automated assistants can park vehicles at airports and other busy areas.

Stan is a development of the French company Stanley Robotics, which has partnered with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to introduce robotic systems in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Stan robots fully automate the parking process, while saving space as much as possible.

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Stan is a highly maneuverable platform in the form of a cabin with a holding platform for a vehicle. Outwardly, the car resembles a forklift. The robot scans cars and adjusts the dimensions of its ramp accordingly. Then Stan using special levers captures the wheels of the vehicle, after which it moves it to the desired parking space.

The robot uses the same technology as self-driving cars: it is capable of scanning the surrounding space, detecting objects and responding to obstacles. The equipment includes various sensors, including a high-precision receiver. GPS Car owners interact with the system through a mobile application for. smartphone

Parking with Stan allows for more efficient use of limited space, increasing parking capacity. Storing a car in a separate closed area, where only robots have access, eliminates the possibility of damage to the vehicle by other motorists or theft of things from the passenger compartment. In addition, owners do not have to spend time looking for free space.^[1]

2019: Airport use

In January 2019, it became known about the use of parking robots at airports. They have already found use in the air harbours of Paris, Lyon and Dusseldorf, and from August 2019 they will be tested for the first time in Britain.

Co-founder of Stanley Robotics, which manufactures such parking robots, Stéphane Evanno said that during a five-month trial at Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2018, passenger reviews were "exceptionally good," and the system worked so smoothly that some customers did not even suspect that their cars were being moved by a robot.

Stan parking robot

Britain's second busiest airport - Gatwick Airport - will test robots dubbed Stan within three months to increase parking capacity.

For the experiment, part of the existing ground parking will be allocated, which is provided for self-parking. Its capacity reaches 2350 cars. During the tests, 270 places will be allocated for parking by robots. This area will be specially fenced off from the rest of the car park. On the east side of the allocated area, 8 boxes measuring 4.6 x 8.7 x 3.2 m will be installed. Each of them will have two protected entrances with controlled access: on the one hand for the driver, on the other for the robot. From the arrival side there will be a panel with which the owner will enter his data.

When the car drives into the box, the robot logs the owner's route details so the vehicle is ready when the driver returns. After that, the parking attendant drives up to the car, slides under it, carefully lifts the wheels and moves to the parking lot.

If the tests are successful, the airport will provide a robot parking service in the other two parking areas. The company's management hopes that thanks to the innovation, up to 8500 cars can be fit into the current 6000 parking spaces.^[2]

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