The automatic guided vehicle (AGV) is a material handling robot on wheels used in a factory, or a storage area, to move around the unfinished raw material, or the finished product, to whatever floor destination is needed. Typically an AGV looks like a forklift and performs the same functions of a fork lift driver. It is controlled by a warehouse or manufacturing hub computer which orchestrates the entire process flow - which integrally includes the allocation of the inventory being transported around by the AGV robots. An AGV can work multidirectionally - either off-loading from the delivery docking bay to the production line, or in the other direction, taking the finished product to the warehouse for storage, or directly to the loading dock for shipping.
How exactly do these automated robots know how to get around the industrial work area? They are able to do it in different ways, utilizing several different technological approaches: with lasers, with embedded wires, with magnets, with magnetic tape and gyroscopes, and with other experimental technologies. Some believe that the most functional and practical of those options is the navigation system of a laser guided vehicle (LGV), which uses a laser to scan and triangulate its position many times a second by shooting at reflective targets located at or on miscellaneous objects and most importantly onto the perimeter walls of the facility.
The LGVs roam about a product handling area usually loading and unloading pallets from the pallet conveyors (the pallet may or may not have been wrapped with industrial quality plastic wrap). What keeps these scrambling robots from crashing into people, equipment, or other LGVs? A Laser Guided Vehicle will self-determine the most ideal route from point A to point B, and using its sophisticated internal traffic control mechanisms, it is able to detect and avoid collisions with other robots, people or fixed obstructions (also, usually the human workers need periodic awareness training to work in harmony with the robots).
The AGVs get around on powerful electric batteries, usually either the liquid lead-acid batteries, which lasts the longest but emit a harmful gas (hydrogen sulfide gas), or the gel batteries, which do not emit the unfriendly gas, but are more expensive and have a shorter life span. The other options besides the type of battery an AGV has, is the type of mechanism it uses to recharge. There are three ways a robot can recharge: 1. manually, a facility person switches out a battery about every eight hours, depending on the amount of usage, 2. a machine changes out the battery at a recharge station at the same frequency as the manual battery swapping is performed, 3. The third choice is called “opportunity charging” and this charging takes place whenever the robot is idle and uses that freedom to recharge (this option is for the less busy industrial sites).
The AGVs are ideal for the larger businesses that want to move towards a partially or fully automated production operation. The robots are an expensive capital investment no doubt, but are also known to save money over time with the improvements in efficiency and reliability they offer, as well as the reduction in labor costs. In other words, it can potentially give a company the competitive edge it is looking for in satisfying customer requirements and demand in a cost effective manner.