No Fueling, it's Robopump

      SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- It doesn't do windows or check your oil, but a robot introduced at a Shell Oil Co. service station pumps gas and takes credit card information while drivers stay in their cars.
      Shell's Smart Pump System pumps gas faster and emits fewer fumes than regular gasoline pumps, its designers say. It also eliminates gas spilled on business suits and hands and keeps drivers warm and dry and small children confident they are not being abandoned.
      Like the nearly extinct human gas station attendant -- without the smile -- the "customer interface center" at Shell's Smart Pump moves up to the driver's window to ask what grade of gas to pump, take credit card information and give a receipt.
      Drivers who have trouble remembering which side of the car their gas cap is on might benefit from the robotic pumping device, which reads information about the car from a plastic transmitter placed on the driver's windshield.
      The pumping mechanism then rolls above the car like a car wash device, and lowers an "arm" to the exact location of the car's gas cap.
      A suction device then opens the gas cap door. The gas nozzle, covered with an airtight sleeve, inserts itself into a gas cap specially designed for the system.
      Gas is pumped at up to four times the speed of regular pumps. The entire process -- from the time a green light signals the driver to pull up to the credit card station until a second green light signals the transaction is complete -- takes about two minutes.
      Art Driscoll, manager of product development for Shell Oil Products Co. in Houston, said last week that the company has done extensive consumer research that revealed that "many motorists consider purchasing gas to be a hassle."
      He described it as "just an additional enhancement at a traditional station."
      It will be months before customers can actually use such a system, however. The prototype must first be certified by a myriad of regulatory boards, including the state Air Resources Board, state and local fire marshals, Underwriter's Laboratory and the federal Bureau of Weights and Measures.
      Shell also must decide how much to charge for the service. In order to use the robotic gas pump, customers must have on their windshields special plastic devices, about the size of a credit card, that transmit information about the vehicle to the pumping system.
      Shell's Smart Pump is the latest step in the oil industry's competition to make gas purchases faster for consumers and minimize interaction with employees.
      In May, Mobil Corp. plans to introduce an electronic gizmo that can be clipped to a key chain and uses radio signals that activates the gas pump and charge the purchase with a single swipe past the pump.
      The Mobil Speedpass eliminates the need to fumble through a purse or wallet for a credit card or cash and to wait for credit authorization.
      Shell is introducing a similar system in two test markets this summer.