Robot-powered results.

Seegrid Corp. is paving the way for materials handling techniques of the future. Famous for their creation of the first industrial mobile robot equipped with a vision-guiding camera, Seegrid's latest automated guided vehicle, the GT3, has proven to be an automation success among manufacturing facilities in North America.

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The machine acts with Seegrid's Industrial Mobile Robotics (IMR) technology to create a three-dimensional map of the facility. IMR includes state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, image processing, and machine learning methods. Innate functions of the robot--"move, sense, analyze, and interact"--enable manufacturers, warehouses, and distribution centers to automate nearly all of their day-to-day material handling processes without causing workflow disruption.

"We didn't want the wire guides, magnets, or lasers that come with an AGV; we needed flexibility to be able to change the routes easily and frequently, and the GT3 does that for us," said Donnie Dixon, supervisor of materials control at Daimler Trucks. "We can simply change and perform multiple routes for our first and second shifts and do a completely different route for our third shift."

What Dixon refers to is the GT3's user-programmable WalkThroughThenWork capabilities. An operator can program the direction, location of stops, and functions of the robot throughout its path. This flexibility is a key component of optimizing manufacturing by producing the greatest work volume at the cheapest cost.

In addition to providing significant operating cost reductions, the use of mobile vehicles for potentially dangerous heavy-lifting tasks fosters safety discipline and reduces on-the-job accidents and injuries.

Motoman, a subsidiary company of Yaskawa Electric Corp., is another leader in the material handling industry.

Typical material handling robots move, feed, or disengage parts or tools between locations, or they transfer parts from one machine to another during the manufacturing process. Motoman and other robotics developers have changed the role of this traditional robot to perform additional tasks. Manufacturing companies are widely using these robots to unload and move materials on pallets in warehouses and other tasks where a faster, more accurate, and efficient alternative to human labor is desired.

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To differentiate the robots used to assist in moving parts on an assembly line from the tuggers transporting palletized boxes onto trucks for distribution, Motoman offers a "series" of robots. These series categorize the robots by their reach and payload to ensure proper installation and use.

In terms of productivity, possessing a reliable way to speed up any process without losing the accuracy or quality is highly beneficial. Training an operator to program a robot takes far less time and money than it would for the operator to complete the task assigned to the robot.

With a product line of more than 175 robot models, Motoman has grown to be the second largest robotics company in North and South America.

Jessica Jeppsson is a junior in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. Jeppsson also serves as the department's Web architect, writes for NCSU's student newspaper, Technician, and teaches a computing course for first-year engineers.