Charge Electric Cars? Just Order Robots!

JAKARTA - For the convenience of consumers charging electric cars, the Hyundai Motor Group has developed an automatic charging robot (ACR).

ACR is a robot with one arm capable of connecting cables to a charging port and capable of releasing itself after charging is complete.

Previously, the Hyundai Motor Group had introduced the robot in July last year through its official Hyundai Motor Group website. At that time, Hyundai released a video of the ACR robot action.

Hyundai has re-released the latest video regarding the development of ACR, where a Hyundai Ioniq 6 is seen parked at the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging site. After the vehicle stops, ACR communicates with the vehicle to open a charging port, and finds the right position through the camera feature installed on the robot.

ACR then took the charging and attached the cable to the charging port, so that the charging process began. After the charging is complete, the robot removes the cable from the port, returns the cable to its original place, and closes the charging site.

Reporting from Hyundai's official website, Sunday, April 2, 2023, Hyundai Motor Group's Head of Robotics LAB, Dong Jin Hyun, revealed that the ACR robot is an innovation that helps EV charging and can even do a good job in the dark.

"ACR will help make EV charging easier and more comfortable, especially in a dark environment. It will also increase accessibility, especially for people with mobility barriers, as charger cables become thicker and heavier to enable high-speed charging," said Dong Jin Hyun.

Robotics LAB Hyundai Motor Group has also considered various variables in its development, such as vehicle parking locations, charging ports, weather, potential barriers, and charging cable weights. They hope that ACR can provide security and comfort so that all customers can experience it at charging stations.

Hyundai also hopes that the robot significantly increases security during EV charging, and when combined with an autonomous parking control system in the future, this can increase utilization by charging several vehicles that are parked in a row.

The ACR that has been developed will be exhibited at the Seoul Mobility Show 2023 in South Korea from March 31 to April 9.