SENSORS & SENSING SYSTEMS FEATURE SENSING THE RISE of automated mobile vehicles I


f you were given a magic lens to spy into a factory of the future, what


might you expect to see? You’d hope to find Industry 4.0-style digitally- enabled production with high levels of automation. Perhaps you would imagine something slightly clinical, sterile and futuristic, with all the ‘buzz’ up in a silent digital cloud. And yet, the factory will be making


things – producing a lot more, at a faster rate, many of which will need to be more individualised, personalised and customised. So, now look again – and perhaps you can spot the army of automated vehicles and carts, mini-robots buzzing around the production halls, organising themselves to carry all those ‘things’ – tools, parts, sub-assemblies and finished products. Not only are they nipping about the factory, they are also the tireless workers in goods-out, the warehouse, parcel and sorting centres. If we are going to achieve the rapid


increases demanded in productivity to stay competitive in a tough global economy, then Industry 4.0 is not just about equipping machines with digital connectivity – materials handling and intralogistics processes must equally be optimised. More autonomous, fast and flexible automated mobile vehicles of every kind will be the physical connections that literally come up with the goods.


FLEXIBILITY Industry 4.0 is not really a revolution at all, rather a relentless pursuit to win by marginal gains – a constant, gritty battle to gain ground. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and their smaller cousins, Automated Guided Carts (AGCs), are the perfect allies in this battle, because they offer the potential to free production


Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and their smaller cousins, Automated Guided Carts (AGCs), could not have become the integral part of production and logistics that they are today


without sensors. Dr Martin Kidman, SICK (UK) product specialist - machinery safety; FS engineer (TÜV Rheinland), comments


environments from fixed lines, conveyors and linear processes, and make workflows more flexible to suit fluctuations in production. It was in the automotive industry


that mobile vehicles first earned their production spurs and it remains in the vanguard of development. With their ultimately customisable product, car manufacturers have abandoned inflexible conveyors and lines in favour of production islands with body parts transferred between them by automated transport systems. SICK has worked closely with


automotive customers all over the world and has the experience and knowledge to see that the same principles can be adopted to any process with small production stages and a lot of product variety.


SENSING THE REQUIREMENTS AGVs could not have become the integral part of production and logistics that they are today without sensors. Sensors provide the data that tells


vehicles where they are and where they are going, giving them the eyes and intelligence to recognise the world around them so they can avoid collisions and keep people safe. Sensors help vehicles to correctly identify and pick up their loads, then guide them into the warehouse spaces once they arrive at their destination. It is advances in sensing technology that


are setting an army of AGVs and AGCs on the march. They vary from heavy goods carriers and tugger trains, to pick-and place service robots and low-profile tow platforms, to forklifts and order pickers. Navigation is the first sensing


AGVs and AGCs offer the potential to free production environments from fixed lines, conveyors and linear processes


requirement and not all vehicles need the same levels of sophistication. Most people are familiar with AGVs that track a pattern or line along the floor by following a magnetic, coloured or luminescent tape. Simple and inexpensive, this method still relies on


/ DESIGNSOLUTIONS


Sensors provide the data that tells vehicles where they are and where they are going


the reliability of optical sensors, such as the SICK Optical Line Sensor (OLS), to work robustly regardless of the floor material, surface contamination or defects. The OLS reads 1D codes as it passes over them and transmits route information and operating commands.


Navigation is the first sensing requirement and not all vehicles


need the same levels of sophistication


For greater flexibility, grid localization


systems guide via matrix codes fixed to the floor around an x/y axis. Sensors, like the SICK GLS, work by reading the codes dynamically so that the vehicle can identify its absolute position.


SAFETY AND COLLISION AVOIDANCE Developments in laser scanning technology and LiDAR (Light Detection


DESIGN SOLUTIONS | NOVEMBER 2018


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