Mobile platforms

Industry 4.0 also makes us mobile. Using customized sensor and navigation systems, automated guided vehicle systems in the intralogistics of a factory are succeeding in breaking down production barriers and greatly increasing the flexibility of processes.

Automated guided vehicles (AGV) and automated guided vehicle systems (AGVS) are now employed in almost all areas of industry, for example as production supply solutions, as transport platforms on assembly lines, and as an integral part of warehouse logistics systems. The number of technical options available with AGVS as well as the resulting applications have increased significantly over recent years. AGVS are enormously important for providing flexible, economical, and future-proof solutions. Individual requirements vary greatly. The sensor solutions must therefore be scalable and adaptable with a modular approach. Transport tasks are therefore safer, quicker, and more transparent. This allows risks and the causes of faults to be systematically eliminated. It also means that a number of different stages in the production process can be accelerated.

SICK’s portfolio ranges from sensor solutions for small AGVs or automated guided carts (AGCs) right through to specialized AGVs.

Cost-effective automated guided carts must run through production paths, which can be very narrow at times, without posing a risk to persons, machines, and transport goods. Sensor and system solutions from SICK help to reliably protect humans and property from collisions. At the same time, they collect all the data necessary for the reliable and flexible navigation of small vehicles. Automated guided carts manage high speeds even when going around curves thanks to the switching of protective fields. Reliable detection of speed and direction of travel with safety solutions from SICK also reduces the number of components, and thereby the required installation space in automated guided carts.