Building Mobile Robots With Ease: Modular Solutions Accelerate AMR And AGV Development

The demand for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) is exploding as industrial automation

continues to take off. These intelligent machines play a vital role in enhancing productivity, enabling flexible production and ensuring work safety. However, manufacturers and system integrators face significant challenges in rapidly developing and deploying these robots in the face of the growing number of options available in the market and evolving customer requirements.

The market for AMRs and AGVs has continued to expand in recent years, especially in the manufacturing, logistics, and warehousing sectors. According to market researchers, mobile robot shipments grew by 53% in 2022 and are expected to continue to grow at a rate of approximately 50% per year for the next five years. This growth not only reflects the market's demand for automation technology, but also the manufacturing industry's urgent quest to improve productivity and flexibility.

However, with the rapid growth of the market, AMR and AGV manufacturers face a number of challenges. On the one hand, they need to constantly innovate to provide new features and solutions that meet customer needs; on the other hand, they also need to focus on time-to-market to ensure that their products can enter the market quickly and seize the lead.

Challenges in Mobile Robot Development

Manufacturers and system integrators face a number of challenges in the development of mobile robots. First, the design, manufacture and integration of mobile robots is a complex process that requires a significant investment of time, effort and expertise. Second, as technology continues to evolve and new solutions and technologies emerge, manufacturers need to constantly learn and adapt to new technology trends. Finally, due to the diverse and changing nature of market demands, manufacturers need to be able to respond quickly to customer needs and provide customized solutions.

To meet these challenges, manufacturers and system integrators need to find a solution that is flexible, efficient and easy to integrate. Modular solutions, as an emerging technology trend, provide new ideas and methods for mobile robot development.

Modular solutions accelerate AMR and AGV development

Modular solutions break down complex systems into independent modules, each with specific functions and interfaces, bringing three major advantages:

Flexibility: Different modules can be quickly combined to suit various customer needs and application scenarios.

Easy Integration: Standardized interfaces and protocols between modules make integration with other systems or devices simple.

Scalability: As technology advances and the market changes, new modules or functions are easily added to expand system capabilities.

In the development of AMRs and AGVs, modular solutions can greatly simplify the development process and accelerate time-to-market.

For example.
Rexroth offers the ROKIT robotics kit and the ctrlXAUTOMATION automation toolkit as a complete modular solution. The solutions include software and hardware components that handle positioning, navigation and motion for a wide range of vehicle types. With this solution, manufacturers can quickly build mobile robots that meet their customers' needs and significantly reduce time-to-market.

The ROKIT suite includes state-of-the-art hardware and software components that accurately handle the positioning, navigation and motion control needs of all vehicle types. Its Linux-based real-time operating system, standardized open interfaces, flexible programming techniques, as well as Web-based engineering and comprehensive IoT connectivity capabilities, dramatically reduce component and engineering workload and increase efficiency by as much as 30% to 50%.

Collaboration and Data Exchange

ctrlX AUTOMATION is based on open standards such as EtherCAT, OPC UA, MQTT, VDA 5050, etc., ensuring compatibility and interoperability with different systems. And the ROKIT suite offers users great flexibility thanks to its compatibility with established PCs, operating systems and laser scanners.

In terms of data exchange, ROKIT components such as Locator, Navigator and Motor can be seamlessly connected to the ctrlX CORE control platform and efficiently transfer data via its application architecture. In addition, ctrlX's data layer technology ensures fast and accurate data exchange between process data and safety functions.

Programming requirements

The implementation of AMR and AGV components does not require in-depth programming knowledge. aXessor's intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface significantly reduces the time-to-market and allows the user to focus on the core business logic of the project.

Open Software Architecture and Applications

The open software architecture of ctrlX AUTOMATION allows developers the freedom to choose the desired application or use any open source software. Self-developed software can also be run on the control platform, while functions from all common programming languages can be transformed into applications that can be distributed and operated via the ctrlX Store.

Safety requirements

For the safety requirements of AMRs and AGVs, ctrlX AUTOMATION and ROKIT Motor offer comprehensive solutions. With the EtherCAT fail-safe (FSoE) connection, all safety information is reliably exchanged and functional safety in accordance with performance class d is realized. In addition, the ctrlX SAFETY safety solution provides the necessary interfaces and modules to support safe arithmetic calculations and ensure stable system operation.

Easy to implement

Plant managers can easily integrate AMRs and AGVs without costly changes to the infrastructure. robit locator's laser-based positioning software determines the location of the vehicle in real time and automatically generates a map of the environment without requiring any changes to the existing structure.

Robotics and automation components not only simplify the development, commissioning and engineering process of an automated guided vehicle system, but also shorten the development cycle by dramatically reducing the number of components, mounting space, interfaces and cabling required through a highly integrated and compact design. With this solution, the topology of AGVs can be successfully reshaped to be simpler and more flexible, which meets the high demand for automation and intelligence in future factories.