Robots at a North Texas Discount Tire store can change tires in as little as 25 minutes.
One robotics company is revolutionizing the way your tires get changed in North Texas.
About two weeks ago, Detroit-based automation company RoboTire implemented its technology at a Discount Tire in Arlington, marking its second partnership with the retailer. Its first was at an Arizona store in August 2022.
This groundbreaking technology, which has been roughly two years in the making, is designed to improve the safety and efficiency of the tire-changing process, and can be easily integrated into existing tire shops, said RoboTire spokesman Ben Wilson.
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“We want to help tire shops,” Wilson said. “We want to help them create the shop of the future, and robotics and automation is very much a part of that.”
Need your tires changed in a hurry? This local store using robots could be your solution https://t.co/rypHmqzbmF
— Warehouse Automation (@warehouserobot) March 8, 2023
The manual process to change all four tires of a passenger vehicle is often lengthy and laborious, taking about an hour. But RoboTire technology cuts this time by almost a third — at around 20 to 25 minutes — using a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, cameras and advanced robotics software, Wilson explained.
When a car pulls up on the green platform, at the Discount Tire store at 5541 South Cooper Street in Arlington, two robot arms scan the car’s tires to locate their lugnuts, which are several bolts used to secure wheels.
Before the robot is put to work, though, technicians use a handheld scanner to get the VIN number of the car for the robot to learn the vehicle’s exact specifications.
“Everyone thinks of robots and gets nervous. Everyone thinks they’re taking jobs away, but really, there are no jobs to take away,” Wilson said. Changing one tire involves one technician, while changing all four tires typically takes a couple.
After the robot removes the bolts and places an old tire onto a mat, a green light turns on, indicating it’s safe to re-enter the floor. A technician then fills up pressure in a new tire and places it on a designated mat for the robots to install, or torque, them onto the car. This process repeats three more times for the car.
“It’s designed to really make the process so easy and so seamless, that [technicians] are more of an overseer, as opposed to active participants in the process,” Wilson said.
The automated process is also unique for minimizing the potential safety risks associated with over and undertorquing the lugnuts, Wilson said. Both can damage vehicles, and undertorquing can cause a car to lose a tire while driving.
RoboTire can change tires on most passenger vehicles. But it’s still somewhat of a learning process, said Discount Tire store manager Dazohn Fisher. One truck that pulled into the shop Friday was too long to fit on the platform and could not use the automated process.
“It’s pretty cool to see the growth with the technicians, and we’re excited to see the growth of the robot as well,” Fisher said, adding his employees have nicknamed the robot machine “Jarvis.”
In addition, changing tires often requires intensive physical work from car technicians. While they still play an “important part” of the tire-changing process, robot assistance almost entirely eliminates the physical strain of the job, Fisher said.
“Employees love it because it reduces some of the back pain,” he said. “Most of our backs smile when we don’t have to lift the heaviest thing anymore.”
He noted customers have been excited about the store’s new feature as well, with many stopping to take photos and ask questions about the technology. The tire-changing robot service comes at no additional cost to customers, he said.
While the automotive industry may be “generally slow to change,” Wilson said he hopes people are able to see the value in this technology service.
“We know the industry is ready for change, and it’s just a matter of making sure everybody understands … and that there is a solution for their challenges out there today,” he said.
