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Mastering the great outdoors 


By Dr Martin Kidman, Safety Solutions Manager for SICK (South & West Europe) B


right sunlight, rain, fog, snow and dust – unpredictable and changeable conditions have hindered automated vehicles


from keeping safely on track in the great outdoors. Remaining available and productive in outdoor industrial settings is an elusive goal for mobile machines, especially while operating to recognised and certified safety standards. Yet the boom in Automated Guided


Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs) is driving production and logistics teams to hunt down every improvement to their material and goods flow around the clock. Moving vehicles automatically between production and logistics centres means connecting the indoors and outdoors, for example where AGVs may need to travel between nearby buildings to transport tooling or parts. These vehicles need to operate safely without colliding with people or obstacles, whatever the weather. For this, AGVs and AMRs need optical sensing technologies such as laser scanners for navigation and safe operation. But, in bad weather or dusty or dirty environments, less reliable devices can cause frequent stops, limiting the availability of the vehicle. Whether it is operating inside or outside, any AGV or AMR that protects personnel completely reliably, but stops so many times it compromises the material flow, will be mothballed. It’s a delicate balance. The laser scanner must have the sensitivity to detect people or objects in its monitoring area reliably. It must also be resilient to the pitfalls of frequent error stops as a result of harsh weather, dirt or dust.


The good news is that the safety laser scanner has now reached a level of sophistication that makes it an extremely rugged and reliable performer. For many years, laser scanners operating in a wide range


42 July/August 2023 | Automation automationmagazine.co.uk


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