Charger prototype finding its way to Model S

What people said

Animats · 2026-02 · Reference

This is what a pancake motor looks like.[1] Thin and flat. Wrong form factor for fitting into a wrist. Strings ("tendons") have their own problems. Wear at bearing points, mostly. You need an opposed pair, too. So there's a motor, a winding drums, and something like a spring to maintain tension. Or two motors and two winding drums, which gives better control. That's why snake robots have never caught on. They're good painting robots, because they can get into tight spots. But repetitive cycling wears the tendons at the same place on each cycle. There was a good application - Tesla's snake charging robot.[2] All the complicated stuff is in the pedestal, and you can surround that with concrete to prevent damage if it's hit by a car. The snake part has no motors, just discs and strings, plus the connector and probably a cell phone camera at the end. It can be made easily replaceable, like a gas station hose. But some people thought it was too creepy. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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Animats · 2024-11 · Reference

I liked the Tesla snake robot for charging.[1] But it upset many people. It looks complicated but is a rather simple mechanical design. There are several motors in the base pulling on cables. The arm itself is just segments, disks, and cables. So all the complexity is in the base, and you can surround that with a metal or concrete box to prevent damage. Arm replacement wouldn't be too expensive. Tesla is now touting wireless car charging, but that's a lot of power to transmit through air. [1] [VIDEO]

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Animats · 2022-03 · Reference

The robotic arm that connects your Tesla to the charger Tesla demoed that in 2015, but didn't make it into a product.[1] Apparently too many people thought it was "creepy". (That's a good way to do the job. Snake arm robots are quite simple. The tube just contains some pull cables running through disks with holes.[2] All the motors are in the base. So you can build one of these with a protected base and an easily replaced arm tube. The usual problem with snake robots is that the cables wear out. But that's in painting applications, where they're in constant motion all day. A charging robot moves, slowly, for maybe one minute per hour. They're not very repeatable, which is fine in this application. The car won't be in the same place every time anyway. There's a TV camera in the end to find the socket. It's too bad that didn't ship as a product.) [1] [VIDEO] [2] [LINK]

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