Automation Spotlight: VisionNav Robotics Introduces Heavy-load Forklift AGV

 

As a global leader in industrial driverless vehicles, VisionNav Robotics release heavy-load driverless forklift VNL45 to enable internal logistics with heavier payload and higher flexibility. VisionNav’s new product VNL45 is the masterpiece in their pallet stacker type forklift AGV series. With payload of 0-4.5t and lifting height of 0-4m, it can be widely used for bulky and heavy material transportation and storage. 

Heavy-Load · High Flexibility * Pallet Stacker AGV

VisionNav VNL45

Load Capacity New Record for Logistics Automation

Compared to conventional forklift AGV, VisionNav Robotics VNL45 series is equipped with stronger capacity to transport large size and heavy materials. Its load capacity increases to 4.5T, breaking the limit of conventional pallet stacker AGV’s 3T load capacity and bringing new possibilities for heavy-load logistics automation.

Extraordinary Lifting Capacity for Logistic Demands

VisionNav’s VNL45 forklift AGV also optimizes lifting capacity when increasing it load capacity. Compared to conventional pallet stacker type forklift, its lifting capacity increases from 3m to 4m, which can meet more than 75% internal logistic including material transportation in production lines, and transportation from production to warehouse.

Flexible, Stable and Safe

Apart from using vision as core technology, VNL45 is equipped with additional intelligent perception modules for carrier detection, shelf detection, arrival detection, space detection, etc. It also has 360° anti-collision safety avoidance devices to ensure operation stability and safety. Meanwhile, VNL45 has overload protection to handle 4.5t load at 6m lifting height, which can adapt to various demands in different scenarios.

 

Strong Capacity for More Applications

 

The release of VNL45 takes VisionNav Robotics to the forefront of the heavy-load forklift AGV field. VNL45 is very suitable to transport big size and heavy material, applicable to industries such as ceramic , furniture , machinery processing, etc.

"It is very obvious that VNL45 has better ability, but the main difficulty is not about building the truck body..." Yang Jianhui, Director of VisionNav Robotics, said that application scalability however is the key. Especially under complex working conditions, VNL45 not only needs to deal with onsite interference such as dust, light and uneven ground, but also needs to complete various tasks perfectly, accurately and efficiently, for example, material pick-up and drop-off, horizontal transportation, rack shelf put-away and storage, … and cargo stacking, which is widely considered as the most difficult operation in ceramic industry.  “VNL45 is equipped with the latest visual sensors and algorithm, which can greatly improve environment perception, operation accuracy and efficiency”

VNL45 is the first heavy-duty driverless forklift product launched by VisionNav Robotics. New products for the same series will be introduced later by the team, including heavy-load pallet mover AGV, heavy-load counterbalanced stacker AGV ,etc. Let's look forward to it together!

Pallet Stacking Application: VisionNav Robotics AGV Contributes to Improve Flexibility in Food-processing Company

 

One of the customers that VisionNav served is a well-known food processing company in China, who has international management system, global quality supervision system and strong R&D team and sells products to USA，Canada, Japan, the Middle East and other countries and areas. However, due to the labor shortage in operations, inefficiency of finished good packing and warehousing has always been a long-term headache for the company. To solve the problem and further reduce costs, VisionNav Robotics introduced VNP15 series, counterbalanced stacker type forklift AGVs, as well as the digitalized management system, in order to replace traditional manual operation and realize full automation in logistics processes.

Project Overview

The project includes 2 processes:

1) Finished Goods Packaging: Forklift AGVs pick material from automatic stacker – send packing material to production line – (packing operator) - recycle empty pallets - replenishing empty pallets - transport finished goods to transit area;

2) Storage: Forklift AGV pick finished goods from transfer area and send to FG warehouse – storage by 2 stacks;

Solutions / Products

Part 1: VisionNav Robotics VNP15 Series Counterbalanced AGV

Counterbalanced Stacker Forklift AGV
Model No.	VNP10	VNP15
Lifting Height	0-4000mm	0-4500mm
MAX Loading Capacity	1000KG	1500KG
MINI Stacking Aisle Width	2750mm	3000mm
Weight (with battery)	2200KG	2400KG
Carrier / Goods Type	Nine Block Pallet Four-way Entry Open/Close-boarded Pallet Stillage Cage Roller Cage
Applicable Scenario	Indoor Horizontal Transportation Indoor Production Material Transfer Indoor Put-Away and Picking
Image

 

Part 2: VisionNav Robotics Central Control System

Information such as site forklift AGVs, pallets, goods, equipment will be controlled by central control system. The system issues tasks commands to forklift AGVs to schedule forklift AGVs to execute tasks.

Project Results

By using forklift AGV (multi-series) system, packing material (carton boxes, wrapping films) and finished goods will be unmanned transported among production line, transit area and FG warehouse. The workflows include sending packing material, replenish empty pallets, send finished goods to transit area and send finished goods from transit area to FG warehouse.

 

Project Highlights

1) High Flexibility: not changing original operation processes, site environment and equipment, adaptive to man-machine mixed operations;

2) High Efficiency: system automatically integrates without any manual intervention, forklift AGVs operate with high efficiency which is close to manual operation in peak;

3) High Stability: stack by two layers with high operation stability;

4) Safety: 360° anti-collision avoidance function with 5 level safety protection to ensure the safety of human, vehicles and goods.

 

Project Value

1) Reduce operating costs by replacing 10 operators’ vacancies. The company worked in 2 shifts per day, 5 operators per shift before, now it is unmanned operation all day;

2) Realize digital management by matching the information flow and logistics flow, to help upgrade intelligent manufacturing;

3) Achieve high efficiency with 24/7 unmanned operation, meeting the needs of material supplement, material replenishment and finished goods storage.

 

About VisionNav Robotics

VisionNav Robotics, a global leader in industrial driverless vehicles, is committed to enabling vehicles with driverless technology and promoting flexible unmanned application in logistics. VisionNav Robotics provides industrial driverless vehicle products and flexible unmanned logistics solutions for manufacturing logistics and warehousing logistics. At present, various types of autonomous forklift and tractor products have been developed and produced, realizing applications such as 9.4m high level storage and retrieval, 2.0m narrow passage storage and retrieval, truck loading and unloading, and multi-layer stacking, which are widely used in automobile manufacturing, tire manufacturing, food, petrochemical, e-commerce logistics, third party logistics, pharmaceutical and many other industries.

 

 

Heavy-load AGV: VisionNav Robotics Application in Ceramic Industry

Abstract: Unmanned logistics has been main focus of ceramic industry. This article takes an example of an internationally renowned ceramic company, fully introduces how to introduce heavy-loaded forklift AGV in business processes in terms of project requirements, proposal development and project implementation, and finally realize unmanned logistics and automation in tile production. 

In June 2021, unmanned logistics project jointly created by an internationally renowned ceramic company and VisionNav Robotics has been successfully launched, becoming an excellent example of intelligent logistics upgrading in ceramic industry.

Project Requirements

The company mainly produces ceramic tiles and plates, rock plate and other ceramic products, especially their ceramic plates, which enjoys a high reputation in both domestic and overseas markets. The company owns 3 large production bases, 21 ceramic tile production lines and 4 ceramic plate production lines in China and foreign countries. In recent years, with increasing demand of customization, company is actively looking for opportunities for intelligent upgrad. After several investigations in supplier’s strength, research and development capabilities, product performance and service capabilities, the company choose VisionNav to cooperate in their first unmanned logistics project in ceramic tile production.

In ceramic production, especially for customized tile plates, material is very heavy and fragile, raising high requirements in intra-transportation. Several business processes are involved in this project including material transportation from kiln to semi-finished stereoscopic warehouse, from warehouse to polishing line, which all need to realize unmanned logistics and automation management.

Unmanned Processes

Project Difficulties:

1) Complicated working conditions: working conditions in ceramic tile production area are normally very complicated, mainly are with high concentrations of dust and bad ground flatness. When unmanned facilities are introduced to the scene , man-machine mixing situation also needs to be considered. Therefore, higher requirements for safety and system scheduling ability of driverless vehicles are put forward.

2) Particularity of material: ceramic tiles, especially tile plates, are heavy in weight, large in size and fragile, which is a extremely test in carrying capacity and stability of driverless vehicles;

3) Process requirements: due to the requirement of precise stacking in stereoscopic warehouse, the perception and adaptive control ability of driverless vehicles are highly required. 

Solution and project deployment

After preliminary investigation and site visit, VisionNav Robotics developed an intelligent and replicated solution for internal unmanned logistics based on customer's needs and existing processes. Considering heavy weight of the material, the use of heavy-load driverless forklift VNL45 is proposed, with system integration between VisionNav central control system and customer’s existing business process management system. There is no need to install reflectors or magnetic strips on site, which enhance flexibility and scalability in the project.

 Heavy-Load Pallet Stacker Type Forklift AGF

 

1) System deployment

Customer has already deployed its own WMS system. VisionNav’s central control system (RCS) manage seamless system integration with the existing system to have accurate data.

2) Terminal deployment: Kiln → Semi-Finished Stereoscopic Warehouse → Polishing Line

Material: semi-finished ceramic tiles, 1000~3000Kg

Equipment: heavy load pallet stacker forklift AGV VNL45

Operational Process: Customer system calls forklift AGV via RCS to transport semi-finished products from kiln to stereoscopic warehouse. After 1 day for cooling, AGV will again transport products to polishing line, and return with empty rack.

Highlights: The material rack at customer site is with four-legs bearing type, which needs to be accurately stacked to a fixed position (4 fixed piles) on 1^st level of the rack in the warehouse. VisionNav Robotics’ forklift AGV automatically stacks material rack accurately. With the help of space perception, AGV can improve the accuracy of its operation.

1^st Level of the Rack in the Warehouse

 

Project Outcome

This project achieves unmanned material transportation between production line and semi-finished goods warehouse, effectively replacing manual work and improving operation accuracy, helping peer companies to achieve:

1)     Precise operation: forklift AGVs can work 24/7 to automatically unload, transported and store material, achieving in-time intra-logistics and reducing human operational errors.

2)     Intelligent management: scheduling system can do real-time matching of information flow and logistics flow, achieving the goal of digitalization, automation and intelligent management.

About VisionNav Robotics

VisionNav Robotics（www.visionnav.cn), a global leader in industrial driverless vehicles, is committed to enabling vehicles with technology, promoting flexible unmanned application in logistics. VisionNav Robotics provides industrial driverless vehicle products and flexible unmanned logistics solutions for manufacturing and warehousing logistics. At present, a number of driverless forklift and tractor products have been developed and produced, 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.