Omnidirectional AGV released
Kivnon, a Spanish AGV manufacturer, has developed the K41 Slim, which has a 1,000kg lifting capacity with omnidirectional movement.
The AGVs have low height (lower than 210mm), which is said to make it a flexible AGV ready to operate in a variety of environments and trollies. The units are powered by lithium batteries.
Kivnon is also trying to differentiate by operating via free navigation, that is, without any elements on the surface. This technique, based on SLAM technology and named mapping, allows the K41 Slim to build a map of the place where it is located and, at the same time, use that map to determine its own location in an unknown scenery and environment in real time.
The autonomous vehicle was exhibited for first time at LogiMAT.
One case study is Faurecia, an automotive company. It has installed an end of line buffer, sequence and warehouse, to provide car seats to an international automakers (OEM).
The Kivnon AGV K05 Twister is deployed, an automated guided vehicle with 360º rotation capacity on its own axis, specially conceived for confined spaces.
Workers transfer the car seat from the end of the line to the AGV, which then delivers it to a loading robot, that synchronised with the sequence, picks it up and tells it when it can return to the initial position to start another cycle. Once the automated guided vehicle is released, the robot hands it to OEM’s overhead conveyor.
With in loop battery charging stations the system can work 24/7. In addition, Kivnon’s lifting platform comes equipped with a RFID reader to identify seats ID and confirm is the requested by the OEM.
Overall, 26 AGVs and 200 carts are required for this process that moves a very high number of seats per day.
“This is a very flexible system that allows quick layout modifications and the opportunity to increase capacity in a very fast and simple way,” says César Lafraya, plant director at Faurecia in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
