VisionNav
Robotics launched one of their most revolutionary products, VNP20 series
automated guided counterbalanced truck. The new product can work indoor and
outdoor, and do the truck loading and unloading in loading bay. It can also be
used in in all different applications and scenarios.
R&D
Background
In the past
five years, with experiences from 100 projects and over 500 proposed solutions,
VisionNav team realized that industrial driverless vehicle will not have large-scale
application unless we can find solutions to solve the most complicated problems
such as truck loading and unloading, put away and retrieval from high level
racks, pallet stacking, stillage cage staking, etc. The difficulties always
come from the complicated and volatile surrounding environment (man-human share
paths, disordered placement, non-standard products, variety types of trucks,
etc.)
For customers,
the only way to know whether industrial driverless vehicles are workable
(completely replacing manual trucks) is its peak working efficiency compared to
manual trucks in c complicated and volatile surrounding environments. That is, without
sacrificing safety and stability, “automated” perception (information
acquisition) and motion control (action execution) capabilities shall be
infinitely close to "manual".
At the end of
2018, VisionNav Robotics kicked off the research and development of VNP20
series. It took 10 doctors nearly three years to develop VNP20 product with
strong sense and motion control ability by mixing self-developed 3D laser + visual
perception technology, multi-axis real-time motion planning technology and
high-precision visual servo control technology. With maximum running speed of
3.0m/s, multi-axis motion, accurate and continuous fork movement, the peak
working efficiency of VNP20 can compare to manual truck in complex and
changeable environment.
3D Laser + Visual Perception, Visual Servo Control for
Better Safety and Efficiency
In forward
direction, we use 3D laser + visual perception to greatly increase the perception
distance and field of view. The maximum running speed of VNP20 can achive 3.0m/s
while the operation is 100% safe. In the meanwhile, with in-depth learning and
classification of obstacle targets, it can realize real-time judgment and auto
detouring.
In the fork direction,
we use 3D laser + vision to generate observations of the target objects and
available space for pick and place, which can optimize real-time 6-DOF motion
of the forklift AGV, as well as feedback results to visual server controller.
These are to realize smooth movement of multi-axis combinations, making sure
the accurate and efficient execution of the fork moving during loading and
unloading, picking and placing, stacking and destacking, etc.
Equipped with Various
Attachments to Standard Truck to Solve Non-Standard Issues
There are various
attachments for VNP20 series standard products, such as side shifter,
adjustable fork, multi-pallet handler, rotator, paper roll clamp, pipe winder,
etc. We have standard control module configured for each type of attachments to
meet different requirements for materials handling and transportation in
different industries, such as pallets, cages, soft bags, paper rolls, and
turnover boxes.
Stronger ground adaptability to
cope with loading bay and outdoor working conditions
VNP20 is equipped
with 450mm hard-wearing solid rubber wheels to have better obstacle surmounting
ability, climbing maximum 13% degree slope, passing over maximum 50mm width grooves
and running up maximum 30mm height steps. Now it can easily work in loading bay
and outdoor for high-speed, heavy-loaded working conditions.
Starting with Truck loading
and Unloading in Loading Bay to Cover All Scenarios
What are the
key design of VNP20 series product launched by VisionNav Robotics?
Yang Jianhui, Product
Director of VisionNav Robotics, said that during the R&D process, the main
focus is on the AGV working ability in complex and changeable surrounding environment,
including indoor positioning ability under changing lighting, 3D environment
perception ability, accurate and efficient visual servo control ability, and
water/dust-proof ability. “Truck loading and unloading operation accounts for
more than 50% of the manual truck operations in warehousing logistics, which is
the main target application place for VNP20. However, the working condition is
highly complicated, not only because the variety of the truck types, parked
vehicles everywhere, but also the diverse shapes of the material for loading
and unloading, which requires our products to have very strong perception
ability. In the meanwhile, truck loading and unloading requires highest peak
efficiency in all scenarios, therefore it is also very important to achieve
efficient motion by motion optimization and visual servo control.
VNP20 series
products also use high-performance hardware, software and configuration from
driverless cars to solve technical problems for complex scenarios such as truck
loading and unloading, helping to build a solid foundation to realize
large-scale application of industrial driverless vehicles in whole scenarios.
About
VisionNav Robotics
VisionNav
Robotics(www.visionnav.com), a global leader in
industrial driverless vehicles, is committed to empower vehicles with
technology and promote flexible unmanned application in logistics. VisionNav
Robotics provides industrial driverless vehicle products and flexible unmanned
logistics solutions for manufacturing and warehousing logistics. At present, it
has developed and produced a variety of unmanned forklifts and tractors,
breaking through rigid demand scenarios such as 9.4m high access, 2.0m narrow
channel access, driverless loading and unloading vehicles and multi-layer
mobile frame stacking, which are widely used in automobile manufacturing, tire
manufacturing, transportation, food, petrochemical, e-commerce logistics, third
party logistics, pharmaceutical and other fields.