AGVs are gaining importance in most manufacturing environments. In modern industry, they make everyday work easier, ensure a smooth workflow, supply other people and machines with parts, and perform more and more complex tasks. In the end, the aim is to have greater production capability, better quality, and optimization in production resources.
AGVs already have reliable safety mechanisms to prevent accidents based on 2D lidars and bumpers, but in 3D space, several challenges remain. Especially with free navigation intelligence which enables a higher degree of flexibility and efficiency but is also more demanding when it comes to safety, 3D object detection is essential. It is said that say that AGVs are safe but to further ensure the safety of AGVs, collisions must continue to be prevented, which can only be achieved by appropriate infrastructure and the right sensor technology.
To avoid collisions, a wide range of sensor technology is already in use today, including lidar, radar, ultrasound, camera, infrared, and many more. In the following white paper, all common AGV safety sensors are presented, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.