Why do you need cellular for AGVs and AMRs?

Patrick Ruelke pushes forward business development activities in the Ericsson Center of Excellence for 5G to help organizations integrate Industry 4.0 solutions.

Why do you need cellular for AGVs and AMRs?

When Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) connect to a 5G network, it opens new capabilities and efficiencies. AGVs have been cruising industrial floors for decades but were originally designed to operate over Wi-Fi. Limitations existed from the start. If an AGV detected a potential collision, it stopped and had to be manually cleared by a person to resume operations.

In this episode of Cellular Curious, Patrick discusses the evolution of AGVs as they move towards Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and why 5G overcomes the shortcomings of previous connectivity solutions like Wi-Fi.

The global autonomous robot market generated $29 billion USD in 2019. In 2030, the market is expected to reach $220 billion. As the spaces AGVs needed to cover grew, another flaw in their connectivity design emerged: a seamless handover from one Wi-Fi cell to another was not possible, and when data transmissions become limited, accidents might occur. Over the years, thanks to advancements in cellular and 5G connectivity, AGVs have moved closer to becoming truly autonomous robots, no longer reliant on preconfigured scripts.

With 5G, AMRs can utilize navigation algorithms, LiDAR sensors, vision technology and virtual map sharing to detect objects, think on their own and move autonomously through facilities. Wi-Fi cannot support these advanced machines with the seamless coverage and high data transfers needed to operate in sprawling environments.

Cellular, namely 5G, is the only technology that can provide the reliability, bandwidth, coverage and security required to safely operate AGVs and AMRs.

In this episode, learn all about the world of AGVs and autonomous mobile robots, how they operate, the benefits they provide, and why they need cellular to perform at the highest levels.

If you’re interested in more episodes of Cellular Curious, you can view them here.

New report available | Connected manufacturing: A guide to Industry 4.0 transformation with private cellular technology