What questions should a company ask itself before using AGVs in its production or intralogistics?

Mark Götzinger. © Bosch Rexroth

Mark Grötzinger: Automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots offer great potential for optimizing intralogistics. In order to fully exploit this potential, the value stream must first be known and understood in the relevant environment. The collection of basic data such as material requirements or frequency is the basis for further planning.

Jörg Heckel.

Jörg Heckel: From my point of view, the most important questions to ask in advance are: Are the employees sufficiently involved in the automation project and are they supported during planning and implementation? Is the process of the manual activity to be automated well documented and are other ancillary activities, such as removing packaging material, to be taken into account in addition to the transport task? Are the transport units, i.e. pallets or small load carriers, firmly planned for use and are there AGV providers for them?

Why should a company simulate the use of AGVs/AMRs in advance?

Heckel: "With the simulation, the design of the AGV system can be predicted more accurately - for example with regard to the required number of AGVs and the transport capacity. Once project planning is complete, the simulation model can be compared with the actual operation and further optimizations can be simulated.

Grötzinger: A simulation helps to better estimate the required number of AMRs and to identify and resolve bottlenecks in the value stream at an early stage. Possible risks can also be identified in advance and eliminated in the planning phase. Users benefit from faster and more economical implementation.

How can AGVs be integrated into production and intralogistics regardless of the manufacturer?

Heckel: The interfaces in production and intralogistics are diverse. One important point is the allocation of transport orders. The VDA 5050 interface is a cross-manufacturer standard that facilitates this part of the integration. However, the interaction of the AGVs with the infrastructure is also relevant - for example, the roller shutter door, which requires a signal from the AGVs for their passage. Other interaction points are the sources and sinks for loading and unloading. There is still a lack of corresponding standards at the control level. These can be created via OPC UA Companion Specifications, for example, and reduce the integration effort.

Grötzinger: We rely on open interfaces across the board. In 2020, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association defined the aforementioned VDA 5050 as the communication interface for data exchange between automated guided vehicles and control systems from different manufacturers. This interface means that AGVs and AMRs such as our Active Shuttle can be used universally. Users can combine vehicles and robots of different types and manufacturers in intralogistics. In practice, they are already using the interface under various VDA 5050-compatible control systems in their intralogistics.