Abstract
Fully autonomous cars will need fully autonomous charging connections to complete drives further then its rated range. The charging port of a Tesla Model S, North American spec, is located in front of the driver’s side rear tail light assembly, angled to match the aerodynamic body lines, requiring the correct six-axis orientation and a translation to connect with the charging feed. The coupling technology discussed here is focused on off the shelf availability, high reliability, and interoperability, requirements for mass adoption. The Stewart table’s design is based on rigidity while translating six degrees-of-freedom. The Arduino microcontroller and Raspberry Pi’s ARM microprocessor are more than capable of some computer vision and precise controls. OpenCV is a functional suite of computer vision tools, but require robust data inputs. The project used four different coding languages to each stress their strengths on their hardware. The basis of this system need not be only used for vehicle charging but in any environment needing a coupling where a human is best kept at a distance.