RMT News, Announcements and Events

First Industrial Automation Mobile Robot Designed for Flexible Manufacturing and Flexible Materials Handling Applications

November 18, 2003

ActivMedia Robotics, US and RMT Robotics, Canada, announced their collaboration on a revolutionary new smart Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) based on ActivMedia Robotics Control Systems (ARCS). The new AGV, to be released June 2004, will target flexible manufacturing, package delivery and materials handling operations with difficult pick-up and delivery problems to solve.

Currently, AGVs move products and parts about the factory or warehouse following lines in the floor or triangulating from reflectors inside the building. The new AGV will deliver unit loads to any location without lines or reflectors. Instead it "maps" the building and calculates its position fusing sensor readings.

According to RMT President Douglas Pickard, "Standard repetitive-path AGVs do not provide the flexibility needed for most industrial applications. We chose ActivMedia Robotics ARCS control systems for our new platform because it will allow our customers to adapt easily and quickly to changing needs. This opens up new applications and new markets for integrated robotic and AGV systems.

Jeanne Dietsch, CEO of ActivMedia Robotics, says "We chose RMT as a technology partner for this new ARCS AGV because they understand the materials handling needs of manufacturers and have an excellent reputation for engineering, manufacture and integration of unique industrial automation systems."

ARCS is a software, firmware, sensing and electonics package that allows mobile platforms to travel to any destination in a known building. Goal destinations and orientations may be changed on demand automatically or manually.