Pittsburgh, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/12/2016 -- Seegrid, the pioneer and leader in three-dimensional vision navigation for material handling was featured in Fortune magazine. Doron Levin, staff writer, reported that robots have been playing a growing role in manufacturing for decades. The Giant Eagle regional supermarket chain uses four pallet trucks at its Grafton, Pa. center to move merchandise around the warehouse and into trucks bound for its stores. Seegrid's vision technology that guides the robots, invented at Carnegie Mellon University, could be an enabler of the self-driving cars of the future, such as prototypes under development at Google.
Seegrid Corp., located near Pittsburgh, has sold about 300 of its $100,000 vision-guided pallet handlers and other machines to a diverse assortment of manufacturers including Daimler AG's North American truck operations. Sales are "growing very fast," reported Jim Rock, CEO.
Conventional automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are computer-controlled mobile carriers that move through factories carrying and delivering parts and materials, following buried wires, tape or laser along a preset route. Seegrid's vehicles, by contrast, learn a route by "seeing" as it travels. The visual record is then converted to computer code. The vehicle then can respond to directions, recognizing routes by matching what it sees to what it learned.
Rock noted, "Wires and lasers and tapes require engineering and alterations each time the route changes. Our system tracks a route or many routes. That knowledge is committed to the machine's memory. It's infinitely flexible and changeable."
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About Seegrid
Seegrid (http://www.seegrid.com), the pioneer and leader in three-dimensional vision navigation, provides unique and revolutionary automation technology for materials handling. Engineered with state-of-the-art Seegrid Vision, industrial trucks are transformed into the next generation of AGVs: vision guided vehicles (VGVs). VGVs navigate without wires, lasers, magnets, or tape, and deliver unmatched flexibility. Designed for simplicity and reliability, the Seegrid flexible automation solution is offered in a line of pallet trucks and tow tractors.
Experience the maximum benefits of VGVs with Seegrid Supervisor to manage, monitor, and control a fleet of vehicles in context of your operation. Generating economic advantages and operational efficiencies, VGVs optimize workflow processes, increase productivity and throughput, labor optimization and operating costs. An award-winning organization, Seegrid is experiencing significant growth both in employees and clients. Multi-billion dollar organizations focused on lean manufacturing best-practices are turning to the Pittsburgh-based robotics leader. From large automotive operations to retail distribution centers, Seegrid VGVs are advancing the reality of a Fork Truck Free approach. VGVs improve workplace safety, reduce equipment and product damage, and deliver a rapid return on investment.
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