In addition to AGV, the mobile robot market has been emerging with new terms in recent years. IGV and AMR have gradually entered people's field of vision in the past two years. These three are only called different "changing soup without changing medicine", or iterative technology. upgrade? Let's talk about it today.
First of all, from a conceptual and application perspective:
AGV is the abbreviation of Automated Guided Vehicle, which means "automatic guided transport vehicle". The AGV is a transport vehicle equipped with an automatic guiding device such as electromagnetic or optical, capable of traveling along a prescribed guiding path, with safety protection and various transfer functions. AGV has a long history of application and is widely used in warehousing and manufacturing.
The IGV is an "Intelligent Guided Vehicle" or a smart guided transport vehicle. Compared with AGV, IGV is more flexible and does not need to travel with any markers; and the path is flexible and flexible, can be flexibly scheduled according to actual production needs, and the planning is simple, to meet the needs of the vast majority of factories. Compared with AGV, IGV is suitable for applications with higher flexibility requirements, such as 3C electronics manufacturing, but the price is relatively high.
AMR (Automated Mobile Robot) is different from the former two. AMR can use software to draw maps inside the factory or import factory drawings in advance to achieve navigation. This feature is equivalent to a car loaded with GPS and a pre-installed map. When the car sets people's residence and work address, they can generate the most convenient path based on the location on the map. Of course, the powerful features make its stand-alone price higher than the previous two, but AMR claims that there is no need to carry out in-plant modifications, so the overall cost may not be much higher.
As can be seen from the above, from the perspective of intelligence, AGV<IGV<AMR, AGV navigation has part of the need to use identification, such as magnetic stripe QR code. IGV does not need to use any logo to travel, and AMR is not only autonomous navigation, but the biggest difference between the two is that it has powerful computing power, which can sense the surrounding environment through sensors and make corresponding decisions; The IGV is just a large actuator, and every move relies on the scheduling of the central control system. AMR itself has a system.
AGV to AMR, new trends in mobile robot development
With the continuous complication of application scenarios, the requirements for mobile robots are constantly improving. From AGV to AMR, the trend of mobile robots is also becoming more intelligent and flexible.
According to relevant research, in the Japanese and North American markets, AMR is gradually replacing AGV as a new trend of storage robots. According to market research firm data, in the first half of 2018, AMR's profit increased by 57% year-on-year, and AGV's profit decreased by 43%. In the Asia-Pacific region, the number of AMRs is relatively small, but the growth is very rapid, with a growth rate of up to 129%. In Europe, AMR shipments have grown exponentially.
However, intelligent replacement is not possible in the short term. Mobile robots are not consumer goods, and companies cannot make frequent replacements in the short term. For the in-plant logistics handling, the requirements of the products are different for different functions and requirements. Each product has a suitable scenario. At present, most of the in-plant logistics handling can be realized by AGV. Whether it is AGV, IGV or AMR, they have their own advantages in different application scenarios.
At present, in the domestic market, AGV products are still in the mainstream. Of course, IGV has certain applications. AMR has also developed related products into the market. I believe that in the future, as the market continues to expand, the industry will continue. There are more refreshing products.
