¶ START WITH THE VIDEO
No, really, start with watching this super professional video cut.
You can also watch it on youtube
¶ INTRODUCTION
We all know those types of car washing service:
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They are expensive for owner and slow for customers and need complicated maintenance.
They also require human to make a job. As we all know - humans are not stable: they can't work 24/7, they need to have food and get rest. Sometimes humans are getting sick or even die suddenly.
My version of car washing service solves all these problems.
It is cheap. You will see some calculations below.
It works 24/7.
It is fast.
It does not need humans.
Maintenance is much cheaper.
¶ WATER TURRET
That's what you saw on video. I call it water turret. It can identify and clean a car.
In general, it is a box with some hardware inside and outside like: small computer, video camera and servo-motors.
Of course there is one more important part. It is software. It processes video, identifies car, controls water flow and servo-motors.
Right now i have only one item of it built just like a “proof-of-concept”, so i would like you to imagine that there is a garage with 2 cameras setup and 4 water turret boxes.
Here are some pictures to help you [enlarged]:
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Turrets are blue boxes. And cameras are small and light (there are two cameras).
We don't need all four cameras just because side's cameras see almost the same but one is mirrored. And we don't need rear camera since turret will be closer to the back of the car and can use image from the front camera and it still will be efficient.
Once car enters garage turrets start tracking it as an object. They can even let driver to know when he should stop. After car's parked - driver goes outside and pays with the card. Having payment terminal outside solves a problem when cleaning started and driver (for some unknown reason) left inside of the garage.
The simplest washing cycle consists of: watering foaming watering.
With normal water pressure any of this step should take no longer than a minute.
Of course time can be adjusted to have a chance to sell anything to the driver. Coffee or any other extra options.
If you still like humans as an employees you can have couple of guys which will clean interior of the car. But not recommended by the manufacturer [that's me].
¶ DETAILS
Washing service consists of two cameras, four water turrets, one main computer, one red light LED and one green light LED.
¶ main computer
It will process payments, analyze video and control turrets. It can also store raw video for security reasons.
Price only depends on storage space. If you aren't going to store videos or you plan to store them in a cloud storage, here are some computers which are enough for the task
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Additional storage can cost up to $200.
In general: cost of main computer $150 - $350
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water turret
It is a box with some some hardware inside. Basically it will need:
- RaspberryPi or ESP32
- two water valves
- two relays
- two servo-motors
- multiple socket outlet
Here is an example of how box looks inside/outside:
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IMPORTANT keep in mind, all media are provided for the “proof-of-concept” purposes.
¶ cameras
It may be USB cameras or IP cameras. The last one is preferred. The best option is to have cameras which can be connected with ethernet.
This is one pretty good and costs $36: https://www.amazon.com/Anpviz-Microphone-Waterproof-Recording-IPC-D340W
¶ TOTAL COST
Here is a list of items need to build one washing service.
It includes: one main computer, two cameras, four water turrets
| NAME | PRICE | COST |
| main computer | $150 | $150 |
| 4 x raspberry pi | $50 | $200 |
| 8 x valve | $10 | $80 |
| 8 x relays | $10 | $80 |
| 4 x servo-motors | $20 | $80 |
| 2 x cameras | $35 | $70 |
| power outlets (depends), price is very average | $5 | $20 |
| TOTAL | $680 |
Yes, calculations do not include water cost, garage rent, bribes, electricity bills, etc. But on the other hand this is not my business.
¶ CONCLUSION
I would say this is some type of cyber punk. Become a part of the future. Who knows, maybe starting a rise of the machines is your destiny.