As the youngest business unit of the BOWE GROUP, BOWE MOVE offers autonomous mobile robot solutions (AMR) for intralogistics. Wolfgang Wagner, Director of Business Unit Mobile Robotic, explains how BOWE MOVE’s AMR fleet automates and optimizes internal transportation.

Mr. Wagner, the idea of driverless transport systems is not particularly new and has already been in use for decades with track-guided devices. What is your view of the current market?
We talk to many companies about their intralogistics, and we see that the automotive industry in particular is very advanced. At the same time, other industries are picking up speed. This is true especially for the logistics industry, but also for food production and manufacturing companies. Everywhere you look, transport trolleys have to be moved manually – which is labor-intensive and ergonomically challenging. That's why everyone is desperately looking for automation solutions for these predominantly manual material flows. Today, much is already transported using autonomous underride AMRs or forklifts, but when it comes to trolleys, there are only a few solutions on the market.   

What is the reason for this lack of solutions?
We see three key challenges for automation solutions in this area. Firstly, trolleys are often used in large numbers within a company and are also used across different plants. However, there is a very wide variety of trolley designs and many company-specific solutions that have been optimized with manual processes in mind. Secondly, trolleys are often used in highly dynamic and varying environments. Imagine, for example, the goods receiving area of a logistics center, where many trucks arrive and trolleys are stored and retrieved. Such conditions are a challenge for many AMRs, as there are too few consistent reference points available for reliable navigation. At the same time, the work around transporting the trolleys, for example during loading, is still highly manual. The trolleys are difficult to position precisely on their rollers. As a result, many systems are prone to errors when positioning at the transfer points for automated transport. And this is exactly where we come in.

Nevertheless, you have two tugger AMRs, the TugBOT and the FlexxBOT, in use for transporting carts. How do you deal with these challenges?
We are tackling this demanding task because it allows us to solve real customer problems. We have designed our AMRs to meet the specific requirements of brownfield sites, with a focus on diversity and dynamics. For example, we use 3D LiDAR sensors to obtain three-dimensional data for spatial localization, in contrast to 2D LiDAR navigation. This enables our AMRs to navigate reliably, even in environments where up to 85 percent of the layout has changed. Additionally, our AMRs recognize the 3D position of load carriers and can accurately pick up even inaccurately parked carts. Regarding design, we have various gripping modules that can be adapted to customer carts with minor adjustments. And if that doesn't work, we also design specific gripping solutions for the customer. Our goal is to provide customers with a complete solution for their own processes: a clever combination of suitable smart AMRs, dynamic fleet management, and control over the entire material flow, including WMS and asset management. In brownfield environments, there are often already many partial solutions in place, where we want to create added value with our AMR and software products, including with additions. 

Source: Handelsblatt