Axiomtek is proud to announce their successful and continuing partnership and collaboration with Alert Innovation, the company Walmart has entrusted with their quest to revolutionize the retail industry by leveraging advancements in robotics technology to automate their grocery operations. Alert Innovation has developed the Alphabot system, a highly efficient, “first-of-its-kind” Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) that is also an Automated Each-Picking System (AEPS). Axiomtek’s embedded computers and SMARC System on Modules (SOMs) were Alert Innovation’s computing platforms of choice. Axiomtek rose above offerings from six other leading industrial computer companies in Alert Innovation’s selection matrix that weighed factors such as quality, support, performance, interfaces offered, scalability, cost, ease of use and ruggedness. The rigorous evaluation showcased Alert Innovation’s commitment to quality, reliability and their commitment to the successful deployment of the Alphabot system.
Alert Innovation has been working closely with Axiomtek’s Eastern region business unit, Axiomtek Systems. Axiomtek believes in designing reliable industrial computer solutions that support their customers’ pioneering spirit and cutting-edge applications using groundbreaking technology. The company’s customer-focused approach includes their belief in partnering with their customers, supporting them and helping them achieve their project goals. For a period of almost two years prior to the announcement of the Alphabot pilot test in a Walmart Supercenter, the Axiomtek team worked alongside Alert Innovation’s engineering team, helping to identify and customize products for Alert’s use, participating in schematic reviews and supporting driver development to ensure seamless integration. Since then, Axiomtek has continued to invest in and support the Alert Innovation Alphabot system’s mission. A number of products have been tailored to balance performance and cost effectiveness, mitigate the challenges associated with refrigerated and frozen environments by adding conformal coatings and integrate application-specific interfaces.
“It’s all about creating a dramatically better grocery shopping experience for consumers and a dramatically more efficient and effective store for the retailer, ” said John Lert, CEO of Alert Innovation. “We are able to solve many problems all at once with the Alphabot system. The system is highly scalable and flexible to meet increase or decrease in demands with high efficiency level. It eliminates waste and offers near-perfect inventory accuracy and traceability. The Alphabot system also increases both space and labor efficiencies with its three-dimensional system architecture that utilizes vertical space and enhanced workstation for exceptionally fast picking and packing. Our Alphabot system is designed for reliability and fail-safe operation.”
The Alert team recognizes Axiomtek for their business ethics and customer-centric approach. “Axiomtek has been our leading embedded computing supplier from day one,” said Matthew Coady, Senior Director of Electrical Engineering and Controls. “We chose them because their products and team consistently met our stringent project requirements, delivering quality, performance, support, and all the features our applications required. The SMARC SOM that we selected fits in our space-constrained application and helped us come to market quickly. If (and when) our application needs more processing power, memory or storage, Axiomtek has a range of products in their portfolio and roadmap that will help keep our hardware platform viable for many years to come. Axiomtek was quick to provide us with a BSP for our QNX operating system, and carrier integration support. For us, engineering and account support were among our top considerations and the Axiomtek team’s attentive customer service has been critical to our success. Their engineering and R&D teams offer expertise and support to help us overcome our challenges and realize our goals.”
Axiomtek and Alert Innovation plan to continue the collaboration and create more synergies through the two companies’ strengths to expand Walmart’s Alphabot system deployment throughout the world. For more information, please visit us.axiomtek.com or contact us at solutions@axiomtek.com.
