Autonomous Mobile Robots in Manufacturing Operations

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are widely used by many industry segments for many decades. However, because of high cost, limited flexibility, and lack of agility and reconfigurability, the traditional AGVs are not best fit for the next-gen manufacturing as defined by "Industry 4.0" which calls for a smart automation to enable flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing operations. The autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are highly flexible, multi-purpose, easy and cost effective for deployment with no disruption to production. Therefore, started by warehousing and distribution industry for material handling operations, AMRs are rapidly adapted by manufacturing industries. However, a complex and dynamic manufacturing environment presents many challenges for the autonomous mobile robots, a wide range of research and development work are needed in order for AMRs to replace traditional AGVs in today's manufacturing operations. This paper presents AMR's technology and advantages and explores some AMR application concepts in the areas of material handling robustness, fleet utilization/management, and applicability for assembly operations, that are critical for AMR implementation in manufacturing, especially automotive manufacturing operations.