Definition of AGVs and AMRs
DEFINITION OF AGV AND AMR
MiR TOP / Introduction to AMR / Definition of AGVs and AMRs
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What is an AGV?
Do you know what AGVs are?
AGV is an abbreviation for automatic guides vehicle, and in Japanese it is called an unmanned transport vehicle or an automated guided vehicle. For those who work in the manufacturing industry, this may be a little late, but it seems that it is surprisingly unknown to others.
In JIS D6801, an AGV is defined as "a vehicle that can travel autonomously within a certain area and transport items other than people, such as cargo, and is not to be used on roads defined by the Road Traffic Act."
They are classified by the inductor that indicates the route they take, and there are various types of driving methods, such as electromagnetic guidance, optical guidance, and image guidance.
As you can see from the fact that JISD6801 "Automated Guided Vehicle System - Terminology" was established in 1990, AGVs themselves are not that new. Until now, they have mainly been used for transportation work within limited areas such as logistics warehouses and manufacturing lines.
Automated guided vehicle (guide type)
Shift from AGVs to AMRs
Among AGVs, those that do not require induction and estimate their own position from information from mounted sensors are generally called AMRs (autonomous mobile robots). In Japanese, they are called non-guided driving AGVs or autonomous driving transport robots.
Unlike AGVs, which have a variety of driving methods, most AMRs use the laser SLAM driving method.
SLAM stands for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping.
Laser SLAM is a method that uses an onboard laser scanner to measure the distance to walls and pillars, create a map of the surrounding environment, and estimate the robot's own position on that map.
Therefore, by adopting the laser SLAM method, AMRs no longer require guides to be set up along the travel path as was the case with conventional AGVs. This is the crucial difference between AMRs and AGVs.
Did you understand the definitions of AGVs and AMRs? On the next page, we will explain in more detail the differences between AGVs and AMRs.