HL Robotics’ STAN: Outdoor Parking Robot With 10 Years’ Data

Robots that lift and move cars have been operating at the UK’s Gatwick Airport and France’s Lyon Airport since 2015. HL Robotics’ outdoor autonomous parking robot STAN has accumulated operating data in real industrial settings for 10 years, moving beyond proof of concept.

Automation at outdoor parking lots, airports and vehicle logistics centers is challenging. Rapid changes in weather, including heavy snow, extreme heat and severe cold, are compounded by a steady stream of unexpected variables. The difficulty of demonstrating operating efficiency in advance, even after installing costly infrastructure, has also been a barrier to adoption.

STAN’s proposed solution is a real-time digital-twin control system that recreates real-world sites in a virtual environment. It uses real-time data to monitor vehicles, robots and parking-space equipment, finding routes that avoid collisions and bottlenecks even when multiple robots are working simultaneously. The system also supports simulations before deployment to quantify the benefits customers can expect.

The hardware has undergone environmental reliability testing in 11 regions. HL Robotics says STAN can operate under climate conditions ranging from -20°C to 50°C and lift and move sedans, sports cars, sport utility vehicles and large pickup trucks with a maximum payload of 3 tons. According to figures reported by Electronic Times, its cumulative distance traveled has exceeded 186,000㎞, while the number of vehicle transfers has surpassed 334,000. A survey of airport users who used the service recorded a 94% satisfaction rate.

The practical difference is that companies have a wider range of options to consider when automating parking and vehicle transfers across large outdoor spaces. HL Robotics aims to lower the boundary between indoor and outdoor parking lots and logistics centers by operating STAN alongside its indoor autonomous parking robot PARKIE. However, the challenges of real-world sites, including weather and unexpected variables, do not disappear, and the impact and value relative to investment must be verified through simulations tailored to each site before deployment.