Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Robot Parking In Fact and In Fiction
The first robot parking garage to be opened in New York city will be ready for business this month. You can find it in Chinatown.
(From Robot Parking Garage in NYC)
The developers of the "robot" can now fit 67 cars in an apartment building basement that would ordinarily fit only 24. Here's how it works: first, you park your car on a pallet and get out. The pallet is lowered into the "garage" and then positioned in an open space.
It's all computer-controlled; it costs about $25 per day, which is competitive with other non-robotic parking in NYC.
Science fiction writers have been well out ahead of this trend. In his 1941 novel Methuselah's Children, Robert Heinlein wrote about an automated parking garage called a robopark:
Outside her friend's apartment [Mary] dropped down a bounce tube to the basement, claimed her car from the robopark, guided it up the ramp...
(Read more about Heinlein's robopark)
If you're thinking of buying the Robopark.com domain, you're too late; it's owned by Robotic Parking. They are a US-based firm that opened the first fully automated parking garage in Hoboken in 2002.
Frank Herbert briefly refers to a robotic parking garage in his 1977 novel The Dosadi Experiment and identifies a key element that makes it work:
He activated the grapple tracks. The skitter jerked into motion, danced sideways, and slid smoothly down the driveway to the street.
(Read more about grapple tracks)
The recent movie I, Robot also featured a very well-drawn automated parking garage. Will Smith is shown below "parking" his futuristic Audi.
(Robot parking garage from iRobot movie)
As with other software-controlled devices, problems can occur. A software "crash" in a robot parking garage can actually damage your car. The Hoboken garage dropped an unoccupied Cadillac Devile six floors in 2004.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/3/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.' - Simpson Stokes, 1937.
BeamBike Solar Power Canopy For Electric Bikes
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...' - David Brin, 1990.
REALLY Remote Control Excavators
'It takes over a second for the signal to get to the Moon...' - Pournelle and Niven, 1981
Your Solar Electric Paint Is Ready, Larry Niven
'...you spray it on.' - Larry Niven, 1995
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...'
Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
Skip Movewear Arc'teryx AI Pants
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These
There are alternative names that are probably in the public domain by now.
How Old Are Tesla Designs?
You be the judge.
Is Your Autonomous Tractor Safe?
'The field-minder finished turning the top-soil of a two-thousand-acre field.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'
Police Drones In China Would Like To Have A Word With You
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.'
Oh Great (Part 2), Fence-Climbing Robots
Please, no stingers.
