Autonomous Carts and AMR Integration
The material handling industry is changing forever as more companies are turning towards autonomous intralogistics systems to help cut down costs and increase efficiency. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR’s) can help to optimize planned routes within a facility, but still require a certain level of human intervention in order to make material transfers at designated stations. By combining the AMR with Autonomous CarryMatic® products, facilities can truly create a fully autonomous intralogistics system.
How The System Communicates
The CarryMatic hitch control (HC) is mounted on the back of the AMR and draws less than 2 amps of power each transfer. This hitch control receives signals from the AMR to know when the unit has arrived at a predetermined location. It is also able to communicate any emergency stop signals.
Once the unit has arrived at a set location, the signals are sent to the HC, which then communicates with the control panel that is located within each workflow ‘zone’. Each conveyor station ‘zone’ has its own control panel. This supervisor acts as the brains of the system and can allow for remote service support, which is available 24 hours a day for basic troubleshooting issues. The panel requires 2 basic PLC landline cables to draw power from.
Autonomous Transfer Process
Once the AMR has stopped at a predetermined location, the unit will communicate with the HC that it has arrived. The supervisor panel will then check the ‘zones’ conveyor load sensors to see which have loads that are ready to be picked up or dropped off. The supervisor then communicates that information to the HC who will initiate the transfer. The HC also locks the drive motor of the Seegrid AMR during a material transfer for safety purposes. Once the transfer has taken place the HC and supervisor control panel will confirm the transfer. Then, it communicates that to the AMR to allow it to proceed to the next station. The system has a transfer speed of approximately 30 feet per minute.
To learn more about how our autonomous carts and autonomous intralogistics systems can help you optimize your facility, reach out to our CarryMatic team using this link. Let us help you eliminate waste and improve your production!