Either or was yesterday - as well as is the new standard: With the incomparable vehicle software ARCOS (Autonomous Robot Control & Operating System), DS AUTOMOTION enables its transport vehicles to act not only as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), but also as Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and thus sets an example in the world of intralogistics.
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For many years now, driverless transport vehicles have increasingly been taking over internal transport tasks, but until now the high flexibility of these vehicles has been foregone at the expense of efficiency and the ability to plan the material flow. In the event of constant disruptions in the form of obstacles along the route, an AMR can permanently avoid the obstacle, but the processing of an order becomes inefficient.
With the vehicle software ARCOS, zone-based autonomous functions can be switched on and off and the desired behavior of an AMR can already be defined in the planning stage.
At narrow points or places with high traffic volumes, better solutions can be achieved with fixed lanes and fixed traffic rules, while autonomous navigation is advantageous at other points in the material flow.
This relieves the customer of an elementary decision, as for the first time the highest flexibility and maximum efficiency from the two worlds of AMR and AGV can be realized in just one transport system and in the same facility.
Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms enable the vehicles not only to take fully autonomous evasive action in the event of unexpected obstacles within user-defined limits, but also to interact with multiple AMR in free space. As confirmed by DI Dr. Andreas Richtsfeld, head of technology and product development at DS AUTOMOTION, it is possible for DS AUTOMOTION's AGVs to navigate both cooperatively and collaboratively.
The ARCOS vehicle software has been nominated for the International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the year (IFOY) Award 2023 and will be exhibited at the Tests Camp Intralogistics in Dortmund from March 27 to 30. The winners of the categories will then be determined by means of a three-stage IFOY audit consisting of an IFOY test, a scientific IFOY Innovation Check and a jury test.