AGV Systems
Automated guided vehicles (AGV) are able to perform transportation operations without any human direction or control. This cuts down on labor costs and accidents while increasing productivity and safety on the facility floor. Used by the aerospace, automotive, food processing, mail, manufacturing, newspaper, pharmaceutical, plastics and storage industries, AGV are equipped with several different systems that allow automated product and material sorting, storage, transportation, delivery and assembly. They may be fixed path systems, which use some sort of physical guidance path, or free range systems, which use computer software instead of material to guide the AVG. These are popular alternatives to manually operated forklift trucks, conveyor systems that take up space, and push-cart transport, which require much physical labor.
The main fixed path AVG systems use wire, tape, magnets or paint to guide the vehicle in a certain direction. During these processes, the AVG senses the physical location of the objects and follows it via an antenna that picks up frequencies. These systems are becoming less popular because of the difficulty in installation and relocation. The most preferred AVG systems today are free-range, which provides flexibility in path and direction route, and the ability to take traffic and obstructions into account while making decisions about route direction. Inertial navigation uses a computer control system which sends the vehicle directions on where to travel. A gyroscope is located within the AVG that keeps track of and maintains the direction the vehicle is headed.