Embodiments disclosed herein include a method of centering a substrate in a chamber. In an embodiment, the method comprises inserting the substrate into the chamber with a robot arm, obtaining a delta time value for a second pyrometer relative to a first pyrometer, where the delta time value is a duration of time between when the first pyrometer is covered by the substrate and when the second pyrometer is covered by the substrate, calculating a time offset value of the delta time value relative to an ideal delta time value, where the ideal delta time value is the delta time value when the substrate is perfectly centered in a first direction perpendicular to the motion of the substrate, and comparing the time offset value to a graph or a lookup table that correlates the time offset value to a distance offset value.