SmartBay AI Robot Handles Tire Swaps Without Removing Wheels from the Car

Automated Tire Inc. spent years in Boston perfecting a robotic system that takes over the dirtiest, most tiring part of any service bay. Called SmartBay, the machine steps right into a standard twelve-foot bay and goes to work on tires while the wheel stays bolted to the vehicle. Shops now have a practical way to move more cars through the day without adding extra hands or forcing techs to wrestle heavy assemblies on and off machines.

Lifted autos are hoisted into position as usual. Then SmartBay swoops in and grabs the tire, breaking the bead and peeling it off the rim in one fluid action. The lug nuts do not move, and the tire pressure monitor remains still. As the new tire glides onto the rim, the system quickly mounts it before balancing the complete wheel-end assembly, brakes, suspension, and everything else. The only input required from the technicians is to simply place the new tire on a nearby rack and watch the whole thing unfold.

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The cameras positioned throughout the bay maintain a careful check on the wheel well as the job progresses. They’re like small sentinels, detecting anything strange with the brakes or suspension and sending that information directly to the shop computer for the customer report. They also have a precise cutter that can slap wheel weights onto the rim to the tune of a tenth of an ounce, resulting in a silky smooth final balance that would never be achieved manually. And the entire routine for four tires? Clocks in at roughly 45 minutes from the time the car drives up, with the business anticipating it to drop to around 30 as the system becomes smarter.

Now, you can have one technician standing in the midst of two or three of these bays and keep them all running at the same time. You know, a single individual working alone could be able to finish four tires in 75 minutes, but that same tech monitoring numerous SmartBays? No problem; they can go through twenty-four tires in the same amount of time. With the system handling all the work, consistency becomes automatic, since every automobile is treated with the same care, regardless of who is working that day or how busy the schedule is.

In terms of pricing, leasing one unit will cost you around $4900 per month, which is actually less than what you’d pay for a dedicated tire tech when you consider all of the perks, turnover, and downtime you’d normally have to deal with. Shops benefit from regular throughput, without having to worry about 1 employee calling in ill and disrupting the entire afternoon schedule. Car owners, particularly those with electric vehicles, will notice the change, as their heavier vehicles and rapid torque tend to burn through tires much faster, but SmartBay has their back, keeping service bays on track.

Instead of relying on a technician to manually remove the wheel and tire, as well as balance it all on the old equipment, SmartBay accomplishes it all for you, requiring just a minor touch-up from an operator. One technician may even run two or three of these SmartBays in tandem, churning through tires all day long, 24 of them each hour, compared to around four every 75 minutes today.
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