April 2021

42 n CONVEYORS AND MATERIALS-HANDLING April 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com AMRs shed new light on automated material transport T he Spanish company Normagrup specialises in manufacturing advanced interior lighting products. When it was founded in 1971, it relied on wooden moulds and homemade ovens to produce emergency lights. Today, it is a world leader in interior lighting using cutting-edge technologies. When the company decided to automate the transport of materials between production areas and an automated warehouse at its plant in Asturias, it decided to move on from AGVs (automatic guided vehicles) to a fleet of small autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) with automated on- board loading and unloading stations. The AMRs would be able to move through narrow spaces shared with factory personnel and would communicate with the company’s warehouse management system (WMS) using the MQTT protocol. “It was too great a challenge for the AGV concept that we were used to, which needed to move through more-or-less controlled environments via fixed trajectories,”explains Normagrup’s CEO, Mikel Jaureguizar. The manufacturer entrusted the integration of the autonomous vehicles the to the Spanish robotics specialist Inser Robótica. “Normagrup was looking not only for a flexible system in terms of the movement of materials in the plant, but also for the integrated equipment for loading and unloading,”explains Inser’s project manager, Ander de Léniz.“Each loading or unloading element is integrated as an ‘island’, with its own built-in control independent from the rest of the equipment. This means that tomorrow, if they want to move one of their conveyors to another position, they just need to unplug it, plug it into the new position and re-record the AMR stop position.” Inser conducted a detailed analysis of the routes between each of the three production areas, an assembly area and an automated warehouse. It decided that four Omron LD-90 AMRs would meet all of its criteria. “These vehicles have navigation technology that allows them to move in a changing environment, such as the one proposed,” explains Inser’s commercial manager, Jon Xabier Madina.“They are capable of managing the routes themselves, avoiding obstacles and looking for alternatives to the planned trajectory in the face of unexpected events, such as a person crossing their path.” The robots’90kg load capacity was more than enough because Normagrup’s loads are always less than 20kg, leaving 70kg for the conveyor structure, motor, sensors and wireless antennae. Once the AMRs had been specified, Inser had to choose the accessories needed to collect and deliver boxes from the vehicles. It integrated belt conveyors on top of the robots, and created coupling elements that would link to Normagrup’s conveyor systems. Finally, the fleet had to be equipped with a “brain”. An application was developed to communicate between Omron’s Enterprise Manager software and Normagrup's WMS. The MQTT messaging service was chosen, due to its versatility and robustness in machine-to-machine communications. Each vehicle communicates via Wi-Fi with the Enterprise Manager and with the WMS and production ERP. “The integration of elements as disruptive as these small vehicles generated a certain degree of uncertainty,”admits Normagrup CEO, Mikel Jaureguizar. But, he adds, the Inser Robótica teammanaged to solve all of the challenges that have arisen. The introduction of the autonomous mobile robots has resulted in improved flexibility, greater agility and enhanced traceability of items at lighting production plant. n A Spanish lighting manufacturer needed to automate the transport of materials between various production and assembly areas at its plant, and an automated warehouse. It chose a fleet of autonomous robots that could carry items through narrow spaces shared with factory personnel. Normagrup’s autonomous mobile robots have small onboard conveyors that transfer items to and from fixed conveyor systems in the company’s Spanish plant