Autonomous Mobile Platform Optimizes Smart Factory Logistics

Comau has commercialized an automated guided vehicle (AGV) platform that is said to be flexible enough to be deployed across a range of manufacturing scenarios. Comau says that the Agile1500 is the first AGV within the company’s new platform and fully expresses its open automation design approach.

Modular, scalable and completely reconfigurable, the AGV can carry as much as 1,500 kg with a maximum speed of 1.7 m/sec. It can facilitate core operations including just-in-time and just-in-sequence production, as well as optimized logistics flows inside the factory, improved warehouse management and better overall production efficiency.

The company says that the Agile1500 is part of the development of a new Industry 4.0 operating platform. Security features, such as an integrated laser scanner that stops the AGV upon detection of an obstacle along its route, can increase overall plant safety.

The Agile1500 is a standard product that is also configurable. It can be fitted with different accessories to accommodate diverse manufacturing needs and factory layouts. Furthermore, it works with multiple navigation systems that use both natural landmarks like walls and objects and predefined points like magnetic tape.

Comau says that benefits include reconfigurability; compact design with on-the-spot rotation capabilities; system management software that handles transport orders, allocates vehicles and monitors the entire AGV fleet; and easy interface with other automation systems in the factory.