Warehouses, logistics companies, agribusinesses and healthcare facilities are all looking for new, innovative ways to improve operational efficiency and speed, ensure precision and improve safety. Many are turning to autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in these areas.

What are autonomous mobile robots?

An autonomous mobile robot (AMR) is a type of robot that can sense its environment and move independently through that environment. AMRs differ from their predecessors, autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs), as the latter run on rails or fixed tracks and often need to be supervised by operators.

AMRs use an advanced set of sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning and a path planning computer to sense their environment and move through it free of any wires. Because AMRs are equipped with cameras and sensors, they use obstacle avoidance techniques to navigate, such as when they encounter an unexpected obstacle like a dropped box or a crowd of people. In this case, the robot slows down, comes to a stop or chooses an alternative route to avoid the object and continue its task.

MBO have gone into Partnership with the company AGILOX from Austria to provide an easy and innovative solution to automate Intralogistics.

AGILOX is at the forefront of technological innovation in the AMR sector, delivering the best technology in the industry. The advanced X-Swarm technology from AGILOX sets it apart from the competition. With a commitment to excellence and a focus on cutting-edge developments, AGILOX continues to lead the way, providing unparalleled performance and reliability that customers can trust.

Automating print and folding machines has been a long ongoing topic in our developments, and we have achieved quite a lot here. However, unlike the machines, the material handling between the different machines in the workflow has not seen a lot of development in our industry yet. Paper is mostly still unloaded, stored, brought, and taken from machines with manual labor.

Our vision of a smart factory is only feasible with exact planning, tracking, and calculation of orders throughout the entire workflow. AMR technology is a vital part of this as it enables very fast and easily implemented integration into existing processes. Material handling and delivery are done just-in-time without the need for prior calculations and planning.

The data collected from the AMRs can be used for future improvements in the processes and after calculations of the costs of orders.

Through the increased efficiency in the workflows, it is possible to save substantial costs in material handling and storage.

The AMR doesn't need to rest, sleep, and doesn't get sick. It can be used very effectively in 3-shift operations as it barely wastes any time with charging and does so automatically when needed.

Stress is taken off the workers, and there is less strain on their health with moving heavy pallets.

Traditional monotonous tasks are being transformed into smart and plannable tasks thus overall increasing satisfaction among the workers.