February 6, 2006. This week, an operator at a large container terminal in the port of New York and New Jersey operated a new post-panamax crane for two full shifts using "semi-automatic" operation with anti-sway and safe height software developed by SmartCrane, LLC.

The operator recorded a significant improvement in throughput and found the system easy to use.

The SmartCrane® patented anti-sway system uses the equations of a pendulum to regulate the accelerations in order to achieve changes in trolley speed without adding sway. In order to correct sway not caused by the trolley motion itself, such as wind or non-vertical lift, the SmartCrane® system uses a SmartCamera™ vision system to track a special target installed on the head block. With this additional information, the anti-sway can make corrections for those external effects.

For greater move efficiency, the system uses a feature called "parabolic move." This is an automatic trolley move at maximum speed to a specified destination such as a pier lane or ship cell or stack. The move begins on the operator's command and the Rockwell Automation drive system begins a fully automatic hoist to safe height and simultaneously signals the SmartCrane® software.

The SmartCrane® software monitors the spreader height and begins moving the trolley only when it calculates the spreader will reach safe height before the trolley arrives at the ship. Beginning the automatic move before the hoist has finished saves precious seconds on every move but does so with assured safety.

The SmartCrane® software then stops the trolley exactly at the destination location with minimal sway, having corrected as necessary using the SmartCamera™.

The SmartCrane technology was developed jointly by scientists from SmartCrane, LLC, Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. and engineers from Virginia International Terminals, Inc. between 1989 and 2001. It was the first computer anti-sway to be successfully implemented in the United States, in 1992.

SmartCrane, LLC is a spin-off from Daniel H. Wagner Associates and began operation on January 1, 2001. The Rockwell Automation order for five cranes at this terminal was the company's first revenue.

#LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico. May 1, 2005. SmartCrane installed an anti-sway system on its first grab crane in the Port of LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico. The crane unloads iron ore and the the anti-sway, installed in a Rockwell Automation drive upgrade, operates the load and upload cycles by pushbutton.

#HAMPTON, VA January 21, 2004. SmartCrane completed installation on five anti-sway systems on new post-panamax cranes for a private terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The system uses SmartCamera™ technology to detect sway and has manual-assist anti-sway, pushbutton move to and from ship, and a special "trap" switch to adjust spreader position and kill sway in one step.

SmartCrane, LLC delivered the systems and software under a subcontract with Rockwell Automation, who provided the motors and controllers for the new cranes.

#FREEPORT, TX., August 5, 2002. SmartCrane demonstrated the first automated loading of ships on a prototype anti-sway system at the Port of Freeport, Texas. The first ever demonstration, with experienced operators at the helm, lasted for 45 minutes and recorded loading rates of 24 containers per hour.

The crane is a Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane, fitted with a special anti-sway computer, an operator interface computer with touch screen controls, and a boom-tip camera for sway and spreader rotation measurements.

#FREEPORT, TX, June 6, 2001. Today, SmartCrane engineers and officials demonstrated the first ever automated operation of a large mobile harbor crane, a Gottwald HMK280E, over a container ship at the port here. The new automated system controls both swing and boom actions of the crane to position the boom end and the load in a precise location, while automatically operating the rotator motor to keep the spreader and load aligned with the ship.

At this first demonstration, the crane did not perform any loading or unloading because this uniquely constructed ship, the DOLE HONDURAS, has its own bridge cranes that actually perform the routine unloading of refrigerated containers. The Gottwald crane occasionally assists with loading when there are mechanical problems with the ship's own cranes.

SmartCrane, LLC, with offices in Hampton, Virginia, began operation in January of 2001 as a spin-off company of Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc., a mathematics consulting firm headquartered in Malvern, PA.

Scientists at Wagner, who are now with SmartCrane, have been developing crane automation systems since 1989, and demonstrated the first computer anti-sway in the U.S., on a crane at Virginia International Terminals in 1992. The development of anti-sway control for rotating boom cranes, of which the mobile harbor crane is only one example, began with a research grant from the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research in 1996 and was completed under the current contract with Brazos River Harbor Navigation District just this year.

SmartCrane recently received an order from Rockwell Automation for delivery of five anti-sway systems including machine vision feed-back, for new cranes being built by Italian manufacturer Reggiani-Fantuzzi for Maher Terminals in Newark, NJ. The mobile harbor crane version also includes machine vision feedback which, in addition to sensing load sway, helps target the final load position.

Last July, Wagner SmartCrane inked a five-year deal with Demag Gottwald of Düsseldorf Germany, the Freeport crane's builder, to supply its automated systems for mobile harbor cranes exclusively to Gottwald. The contract does not prevent SmartCrane from selling the system to others, as long as the cranes are not the same design as typical mobile harbor cranes. Company CEO, Dr. Joseph H. Discenza, wants to interest more traditional crane users and manufacturers in their new automated systems, saying that there are many benefits, including increased safety and reduced operator fatigue, even though many uses are not repetitive.