Automated guided vehicle

AGVs are employed in nearly every industry, including pulp, paper, metals, newspaper, and general manufacturing.

The term AMR is sometimes[1] used to differentiate the mobile robots that do not rely in their navigation on extra infrastructure in the environment (like magnetic strips or visual markers) from those that do; the latter are then called AGVs.

AGVs are available in a variety of models and can be used to move products on an assembly line, transport goods throughout a plant or warehouse, and deliver loads.

The first AGV was brought to market in the 1950s, by Barrett Electronics of Northbrook, Illinois, and at the time it was simply a tow truck that followed a wire in the floor instead of a rail.

[citation needed] Out of this technology came a new type of AGV, which follows invisible UV markers on the floor instead of being towed by a chain.

[citation needed] In an automated process, LGVs are programmed to communicate with other robots to ensure product is moved smoothly through the warehouse, whether it is being stored for future use or sent directly to shipping areas.

Today, the AGV plays an important role in the design of new factories and warehouses, safely moving goods to their rightful destination.

This information is used to regulate the AGV's steering system, ensuring it follows the wire path accurately.

In this system, reflective markers are placed on walls, poles, or fixed machines within the AGV's operational area.

This information is compared to a stored map of the reflector layout in the AGV's memory, allowing the navigation system to triangulate its current position.

The AGV then adjusts its steering based on its position relative to the programmed path defined by the reflector layout.

[2] This method also doesn’t necessarily restrict the AGVs to fixed paths; they are capable of localization and navigation in any area where two to three reflective markers are visible.

They can handle failure without bringing down the entire manufacturing operation, since AGVs can plan paths around the failed device.

Vision-Guided AGVs use Evidence Grid technology, an application of probabilistic volumetric sensing, and was invented and initially developed by Dr. Hans Moravec at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Evidence Grid technology uses probabilities of occupancy for each point in space to compensate for the uncertainty in the performance of sensors and in the environment.

Without any infrastructure, the forklift equipped with geoguidance technology detects and identifies columns, racks and walls within the warehouse.

The magnetic tape is laid on the surface of the floor or buried in a 10mm channel; not only does it provide the path for the AGV to follow but also strips of the tape in different combinations of polarity, sequence, and distance laid alongside the track tell the AGV to change lane, speed up, slow down, and stop.

Another way to set up zone control traffic management is to equip each individual robot with its own small transmitter/receiver.

There are three main ways to control the AGV: locator panel, CRT color graphics display, and central logging and report.

[citation needed] Automated Guided Vehicles can be used in a wide variety of applications to transport many different types of material including pallets, rolls, racks, carts, and containers.

Because AGVs operate with precisely controlled navigation and acceleration and deceleration this minimizes the potential for damage making them an excellent choice for this type of application Automatic loading of trailers is a relatively new application for automated guided vehicles and becoming increasingly popular.

AGVs are used to transport and load pallets of finished goods directly into standard, over-the-road trailers without any special dock equipment.

AGVs can pick up pallets from conveyors, racking, or staging lanes and deliver them into the trailer in the specified loading pattern.

AGVs are used to transport rolls in many types of plant including paper mills, converters, printers, newspapers, steel producers, and plastics manufacturers.

[25] Efficient, cost effective movement of materials is an important, and common element in improving operations in many manufacturing plants and warehouses.

AGVs are becoming increasingly popular in the healthcare industry for efficient transport, and are programmed to be fully integrated to automatically operate doors, elevators/lifts, cart washers, trash dumpers, etc.

AGVs typically move linens, trash, regulated medical waste, patient meals, soiled food trays, and surgical case carts.

Warehouses with hazardous goods have primarily adopted this technology as they can operate in extreme conditions like passing through freezers.

When it reaches a floor requiring horizontal movement, the AGV unlocks from the vertical cab and drives itself out of the elevator.

When a battery pack gets to a predetermined level the AGV will finish the current job that it has been assigned before it goes to the charging station.