Case Study: Austin Lighthouse for the Blind achieves 2.5x productivity with Zebra (Fetch Robotics AMRs)

Austin Lighthouse Empowers Visually Impaired Workers and Doubles Productivity With Mobile Robotics

Austin Lighthouse (The Travis Association for the Blind) is a nonprofit that trains and employs people who are blind or visually impaired, operating a million-square-foot warehouse that ships more than 500,000 orders a year. Facing rising competition and heavy order volumes—with 450 employees (250 legally blind) who spent significant time walking to move carts— the organization needed a way to speed order processing while making work more accessible and independent for its workforce.

Austin Lighthouse deployed Fetch Robotics CartConnect100 AMRs with FetchCore software and Zebra TC8300 devices, integrating four robots into its cart-pick routes and using accessibility features like text-to-speech and voice picking. The robots eliminated much cart-travel time, boosted picking productivity by 2.5×, reduced physical strain, and enabled employees to manage robots and software, expanding skills and job opportunities.

Austin Lighthouse for the Blind

Alonso Perales

Vice President of Business Innovation