Automated guided vehicles (AGV)

The technical committee of the VDI (Association of German Engineers) describes driverless transport systems (AGVs) as internal, floor-bound systems with automatically controlled transport vehicles. “Automated guided vehicles, or AGVs for short, are location-based, transport goods within an operating area and are guided without human interaction. A typical area of application is intralogistics. Here, AGVs are used, for example, by manufacturers of piece goods and on assembly lines in series production”.

Due to demands for short throughput times, low inventories and high flexibility, the internal material flow is becoming increasingly important as an integrative element in the company. A high degree of flexibility can be achieved with the use of driverless transport systems. The following video from Amazon Kiva shows how driverless transport systems are used in intralogistics:

 

AGVs – practical example Amazon Kiva: Amazon, for example, shows that intralogistics is embracing driverless technology. In 2015 the company invested 775 million US dollars into the warehouse robot manufacturer Kiva Systems. Kiva Systems is now fully owned by Amazon. According to the mail order giant, it aims to increase the productivity of its employees fourfold. In practice, the driverless and orange-colored Kiva robots independently find the ordered goods, pick up the appropriate packaging and bring both to the warehouse worker. A prerequisite for smooth AGV operation: incoming goods, picking, packing and outgoing goods are stations in a logistics chain that are planned down to the smallest detail. Every shelf, every machine location and every item are specified and, even more importantly, recorded in terms of location and software. This is made possible by fixed routes and navigation systems that guide the transport vehicles to their destinations. Destinations and data exchange take place via a material flow computer.

Logistics companies such as Still are even one evolutionary step ahead. They are talking about dynamic capabilities that correspond to self-adaptation of the AGV. “In future, every Still vehicle will have digital maps of the respective warehouse. Even the smallest change will be automatically fed to the AGV,” says Volker Viereck, Advance Development Still GmbH, at the Material Flow Congress 2015 in Munich.” The special feature: “Using a camera, sensors and this map material, the vehicle is able to navigate through the halls without RFID or magnets. Thanks to special networking with other vehicles, warehouse tasks can be carried out cooperatively and completely autonomously, but also jointly with staff.” The latter does not yet work on public roads.

AGVs: driverless on public roads

If we project AGV technology from intralogistics onto the road, however, the available technical possibilities are still limited. For example, current AGV technology operates in an automated GRID. The routes in the warehouse are clearly defined and predictable for the vehicles. If, on the other hand, people and animals are on the road along with the driverless systems, the autonomous vehicle has to deal with these unpredictable factors. The human brain, for example, is so complex and has not yet been thoroughly researched; it has by no means been adapted by supercomputers – merely digitally plagiarized. This means that unpredictable events remain incomprehensible to a computer system. A human brain can solves this challenge daily in everday traffic situations. Car manufacturer Porsche is also skeptical about the technology. E-mobility yes, but: “It’s as tempting as a Rolex for boiling eggs. You want to drive a Porsche yourself,” says Oliver Blume, Porsche CEO.

Driverless transport systems and the VDI

The VDI 2510, VDI 2710, VDI 4451 and VDI 4452 guidelines, spread over 16 documents, contain current specifications on driverless transport systems. They contain information on the following areas, for example:

  • System safety of AGVs
  • Acceptance rules for AGVs
  • Checklist as a planning aid for operators and manufacturers of AGVs
  • Compatibility of AGVs

Automated guided vehicle systems generally consist of the following components:

  • Automated guided vehicles
  • Guidance control
  • Devices for determining location and position detection
  • Equipment for data transmission
  • Infrastructure and peripheral equipment

For more information, see Ant algorithm and information in intralogistics.