Car park robots give valets the boot


8 Jun 2007

UK company Sky Parks Projects, which recently opened an office in Dublin, has developed a robotic parking system that lifts, parks and retrieves cars using autonomous robots.

The Sky Parks Robotic Parking Systems (SRPS) robots can collect a car from the designated drop-off area, lift it up and have it parked in around 2.5 minutes, making parking quick as well as secure, due to the fact that no public access is given to the parking area.

Sky Parks has already installed eight parking systems worldwide, including one at Cartier head office in Paris. The technology to develop SPRS cost €20m and is currently the most advanced automated parking system in the world.

The company said the benefits of using SPRS include increased security, no risk of scrapes or accidents while parking and maximum use of limited parking space.

Although the robots are highly sophisticated the component parts are commercially available, making it feasible to repair them easily.

“The SRPS is the new watchword in urban planning; it is about making the best use of available space above and below ground,” said Tony Corcoran, managing director of Sky Parks.

Sky Parks is also operating a Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) scheme, where it requires no upfront payment for the building of the car park but will itself generate revenue from the premises for a certain agreed time.

By Marie Boran