Robotic tire changer

zyxelenator

zyxelenator

Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
1,478
Location
Austin,TX
I know a lot of folks like DT, including me, so I found this article in my news feed interesting. https://www.therobotreport.com/robotire-installs-its-first-system-at-discount-tire/
I’m all for this, especially if it will reduce a chance of damaging you wheels/car.
As someone who worked in tire shop doing general car service(not just tires) many moons ago, I can attest that back does and will hurt(even if you are young and healthy 19y.o), especially after you serviced a big box delivery truck, which cannot be lifted high enough due to it’s size and you manipulate heavy wheels while can’t stand up all the way to position them on hub…(too low)
 
Too slow, too stupid.

Looks like additional trip and head hazards for the techs, requiring a large area of the shop to be dedicated to tire rotations. Can a tech work the oil change or other service at the same time? Will this be on every lift or will you have to reposition cars to this rack for rotations?

Does the "AI" know what car is on the rack? What about different size lugs and torque? Will the tech have to program the machine and swap a socket? What about non-standard installations? What about when the machine crashes or gets stuck mid process? Same-side rotations only?

Looks like it's answering a question nobody asked: "how to we automate the simplest part of vehicle maintenance?"
 
RooflessVW said:
Too slow, too stupid.

Looks like additional trip and head hazards for the techs, requiring a large area of the shop to be dedicated to tire rotations. Can a tech work the oil change or other service at the same time? Will this be on every lift or will you have to reposition cars to this rack for rotations?

Does the "AI" know what car is on the rack? What about different size lugs and torque? Will the tech have to program the machine and swap a socket? What about non-standard installations? What about when the machine crashes or gets stuck mid process? Same-side rotations only?

Looks like it's answering a question nobody asked: "how to we automate the simplest part of vehicle maintenance?"
Click to expand...
Of course they'll start by automating the simplest thing, because it's simplest to achieve. As the technology progresses, more complex things will be automated.

The video's claims aside, the point of automating this (or any) task is not to make it faster or better. The point is to replace humans.

The robot may be ponderous (for now), but it never calls in sick, never argues with the boss, never earns overtime, never takes a smoke break or a bathroom break, never fails a drug test, and will never join a union or claim workers comp or file an EEOC complaint. No need to pay benefits to the robot (or juggle schedules to avoid it), and no need to pay unemployment if you get rid of it.

Humans are messy and unreliable, and they cut into profits. Cut loose that rabble, and you don't have to pretend you care about them to keep them working anymore. Pay no attention to their squawking about loyalty and professionalism; the robot is way more loyal to you, and if you have to invest money in it, at least you own it.
 
If you think about it.. look at some of the damage by careless tire techs at Discount Tire, they do exist out there in stores! Management is looking at the damage some of them cause and an investment in a robotic, no error machine would reduce or eliminate customer's damage claims that DT would have to pay out. In a way the techs did it to themselves. I bet they might have been shown the correct way to torque lug nuts, etc but chose not to do it the correct way.

I'm not for people losing their jobs but when the majority don't do a simple job like tightening lug nuts down properly, again, they did it to themselves, to be replaced by a robot.
 
dwasifar said:
Of course they'll start by automating the simplest thing, because it's simplest to achieve. As the technology progresses, more complex things will be automated.

The video's claims aside, the point of automating this (or any) task is not to make it faster or better. The point is to replace humans.

The robot may be ponderous (for now), but it never calls in sick, never argues with the boss, never earns overtime, never takes a smoke break or a bathroom break, never fails a drug test, and will never join a union or claim workers comp or file an EEOC complaint. No need to pay benefits to the robot (or juggle schedules to avoid it), and no need to pay unemployment if you get rid of it.

Humans are messy and unreliable, and they cut into profits. Cut loose that rabble, and you don't have to pretend you care about them to keep them working anymore. Pay no attention to their squawking about loyalty and professionalism; the robot is way more loyal to you, and if you have to invest money in it, at least you own it.
Click to expand...

They can probably use 1 robot and put it on a U track to swing between all 4 wheels of the car / truck. I think at first it will be more about lifting tires on and off the wheel to reduce injury, and still need human to help here and there (remove hub cap with fake bolt, instead of the robot trying to unbolt the fake thing on hub cap), but very soon it should be able to do everything. I actually was wondering if manufacturing already has a similar system and have it matured.

Bigger concern would be if they have any way to sense if a wheel / bolt is defective. Tech can feel that things are abnormal but robots may not, if they aren't equiped with the right sensors. If someone drive it down the road and a wheel fell off because "robot" didn't notice it, who's fault would it be?
 
Last edited:
RooflessVW said:
Too slow, too stupid.

Looks like additional trip and head hazards for the techs, requiring a large area of the shop to be dedicated to tire rotations. Can a tech work the oil change or other service at the same time? Will this be on every lift or will you have to reposition cars to this rack for rotations?

Does the "AI" know what car is on the rack? What about different size lugs and torque? Will the tech have to program the machine and swap a socket? What about non-standard installations? What about when the machine crashes or gets stuck mid process? Same-side rotations only?

Looks like it's answering a question nobody asked: "how to we automate the simplest part of vehicle maintenance?"
Click to expand...
It does not have to be "faster". If you can save some labor and have 1 tech supporting 2 bays worth of robots it would be savings already, I think it will go in the direction of self checkout in grocery stores, you are saving money despite being slower.
 
PandaBear said:
It does not have to be "faster". If you can save some labor and have 1 tech supporting 2 bays worth of robots it would be savings already, I think it will go in the direction of self checkout in grocery stores, you are saving money despite being slower.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.
Pretty soon, they'll be eliminating the guy at the front desk also.
You'll scan your VIN, a handful of tire choices will pop up on the screen, and you'll choose and pay for your tires without ever talking to anyone.
Just like the checkout at Wally's.
 
Imp4 said:
Absolutely.
Pretty soon, they'll be eliminating the guy at the front desk also.
You'll scan your VIN, a handful of tire choices will pop up on the screen, and you'll choose and pay for your tires without ever talking to anyone.
Just like the checkout at Wally's.
Click to expand...
More like McD drive through. You will talk to a "front desk" guy working in Midwest over video conferencing, you use credit card to pay, you drive onto the bay following the video camera and monitor telling you where to pay, you get out of the car, you wait for the robot to pull the wheels out, put it on a machine to mount and balance, put it back on the car, lower back on the ground. You get in the car to drive off.

If there's a problem a tech will look at the robot and "fix" it manually on a separate bay, or you have to make an appointment in a manual shop next door.
 
PandaBear said:
It does not have to be "faster". If you can save some labor and have 1 tech supporting 2 bays worth of robots it would be savings already, I think it will go in the direction of self checkout in grocery stores, you are saving money despite being slower.
Click to expand...
Sure sure sure faster doesn't matter to a production shop.

Why would I put up with this thing taking all day to do a rotation on its special rack when the lube kid can do it while the engine is draining?

Especially with all the room that this system takes up. Less racks per shop.
 
RooflessVW said:
Sure sure sure faster doesn't matter to a production shop.

Why would I put up with this thing taking all day to do a rotation on its special rack when the lube kid can do it while the engine is draining?

Especially with all the room that this system takes up. Less racks per shop.
Click to expand...
It depends on labor cost. Taking up room may be an issue. I think a more "hybrid" setup would make more sensee like a robot assist lift cart makes a lot more sense, and this robot as is still need human to mount and balance tire instead of doing it all without human. If I were to build a "robot" I wouldn't mount an industrial robot this big on the floor and crane it in place, I would have a smaller robot on a "cart" with "outrigger", move to the wheel and then do its thing. Much less space needed and much easier to scale up the operation.

You can also have the lube kid start the engine oil drain then let the robot does its thing, it is not mutually exclusive of each other.
 
It does say the main goal is to reduce back injuries, not speed. The robot is assisted by humans for now( I guess they punch in what car model/ tires it needs and it should know what is correct pattern and tq to apply from the database(my assumption)). It can't balance tires right now, but maybe in the future? This can potentially optimize workflow at other shops. (DT does not do oil changes), while one car is getting a new tire installed or rotated, you go work and/or change the oil on another car, then swap them, or something to that nature...
 
zyxelenator said:
It does say the main goal is to reduce back injuries, not speed. The robot is assisted by humans for now( I guess they punch in what car model/ tires it needs and it should know what is correct pattern and tq to apply from the database(my assumption)). It can't balance tires right now, but maybe in the future? This can potentially optimize workflow at other shops. (DT does not do oil changes), while one car is getting a new tire installed or rotated, you go work and/or change the oil on another car, then swap them, or something to that nature...
Click to expand...
A simple wheel jack will cut back injuries to near-zero.
 
zyxelenator said:
I know a lot of folks like DT, including me, so I found this article in my news feed interesting. https://www.therobotreport.com/robotire-installs-its-first-system-at-discount-tire/
I’m all for this, especially if it will reduce a chance of damaging you wheels/car.
As someone who worked in tire shop doing general car service(not just tires) many moons ago, I can attest that back does and will hurt(even if you are young and healthy 19y.o), especially after you serviced a big box delivery truck, which cannot be lifted high enough due to it’s size and you manipulate heavy wheels while can’t stand up all the way to position them on hub…(too low)
Click to expand...
Use a shovel to lever them up. That's how I do semi tires. No way would I tru to lift one.
 
RooflessVW said:
Sure sure sure faster doesn't matter to a production shop.

Why would I put up with this thing taking all day to do a rotation on its special rack when the lube kid can do it while the engine is draining?

Especially with all the room that this system takes up. Less racks per shop.
Click to expand...

Because there is no lube kid at DT, all they do is tires, not even Alignment…
 
Takes a little more time but my dad taught me to slowly jack the car up and catch the highest lug with the tire leaning back to it. The tire sort of falls onto the lugs and then jacks up enough to slide on fully and be tightened up. It may not explain well but it works well and no lifting.
 
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