Mobile Robot suits material handling applications.
Press Release Summary:
Employing Industrial Mobile Robotics technology, vision-guided Model GT3 moves through manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution operations utilizing stereo cameras to build 3D map of environment. It then uses map and its own reasoning ability to navigate predetermined path to complete assigned transport task. Designed to free up skilled employees, GT3 pulls carts, delivers palletized materials, and positions supplies without wire guides, magnets, or lasers.
Original Press Release:
Seegrid Unveils GT3 Industrial Mobile Robot for Material Handling
Seegrid Unveils GT3, the First Vision-Guided Industrial Mobile Robot Designed Specifically for Material Handling in Manufacturing, Warehousing and Distribution
GT3 customers Giant Eagle, Daimler Trucks and GENCO experience successful operational performance
PITTSBURGH - March 11, 2008 - Seegrid Corporation (www.seegrid.com), the premier provider of vision-guided mobile robots for the material handling industry, today announced the introduction of its autonomous tugger, the GT3. The vehicle employs Seegrid's Industrial Mobile Robotics (IMR) technology which enables it to move through manufacturing, warehousing and distribution operations utilizing stereo cameras to build a reliable 3D map of the environment. The GT3 then uses the map and its own reasoning ability to navigate a predetermined path to complete its assigned transport task.
"The GT3 is our first machine introduced to do facility-wide transport in the material handling industry," said Scott Friedman, CEO of Seegrid. "We couldn't be more pleased with the positive reception it has gotten from dealers and customers."
The GT3 transports materials and finished goods without wire guides, magnets or lasers. It is designed to free up skilled employees by taking care of such tasks as pulling carts, delivering palletized materials and positioning supplies in tight areas. The vehicle is highly flexible and can be implemented quickly and easily with no workflow disruption. The GT3 frees up workers to focus on higher-valued tasks, increases productivity by constantly enforcing the work pace, fosters safety discipline and reduces labor, accidents and injury costs. It has the lowest total cost of ownership and the highest Return on Investment (ROI) in the material handling industry.
"What excites Giant Eagle about Seegrid's technology is that it is incredibly sophisticated machinery yet it is easy to use and very durable with high reliability," said Larry Baldauf, Senior Vice President of Distribution and Logistics of Giant Eagle. "We look forward to Seegrid's future generations of products which we believe could change the future of material handling."
Donnie Dixon, Supervisor of Materials Control at Daimler Trucks, NA, confirms the GT3's flexibility. "We were looking at an AGV but didn't want the wire guides, magnets and lasers that come with it - we needed flexibility to be able to change the routes easily and frequently, and the GT3 does that for us. We use the GT3 to continually supply parts to our assembly stations. We love its versatility--we are able to simply change and perform multiple routes for our first and second shifts and do a completely different route for our third shift - just that flexibility alone provided us real value."
Gary Siefert, Vice President of Customer Service at GENCO Supply Chain Solutions stated, "Our facility is a product returns processing center for Sears where, as you might imagine, we process a large volume of packaging waste which needs to be cleared and moved to disposal areas to keep the operations productive. We use the GT3 to move the packaging material waste from numerous work stations spread throughout our facility to a central disposal point. The GT3 is constantly traveling along its designated route, driving productivity and freeing up our employees to perform other more valuable work. After utilizing the GT3 for a number of weeks we were able to determine that the ROI on the GT3 was exceptional."
Visit Seegrid in Booth #2627 at NA2008 to see the GT3 in action.
About Seegrid Corporation
Seegrid (www.seegrid.com) brings a new class of affordable industrial mobile robots to the material handling industry that operate reliably and safely in dynamic warehouse, distribution and manufacturing environments. Seegrid's robots differ from today's AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) in that the company's IMR technology is the first to provide early-stage capabilities of autonomous robot behavior with Sense, Move, Analyze, Interact and Repeat capabilities. The result--AGV-like competence but with greater flexibility at a considerably lower cost. IMR-enabled robots provide WalkThroughThenWorkTM capabilities, providing an operator with the ability to simply and easily instruct the robot along a desired path, adding behaviors such as horns and stop stations, usually in minutes. Seegrid robots literally come straight off the truck, an operator quickly inputs the path and the robot is immediately productive.
