To automatize (logistical) processes where a package or a pallet has to travel longer distances, an increasing amount of Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are being used. To completely automatize a process though, the development of only an AGV is not sufficient.

The business location (warehouse) has to be set up and provided with a physical infrastructure suitable for the AGV to navigate and also software, needed to integrate the AGV in the processes, has to be developed for each individual company. This leads to very high (operational) costs, making an AGV solution only economically feasible on larger scales.

Nobleo Project B.V and Brightcape B.V. work together to develop a “standardized” AGV solution for electrical pallet trucks: “The Forklift Warehouse Management System”. Using navigation based on relative displacement, the AGV can move autonomously in a warehouse without the need of additional physical infrastructure in the warehouse. By developing a generic Warehouse Management System (WMS), incl. couplings and an intuitive user interface, it will be possible to integrate the WMS with existing software systems (ERP systems) and processes. This makes it possible to reduce development- and investment costs significantly, which makes small scale AGV solutions possible for the smaller (MKB) companies.

This project is partly subsidized and made possible by the Metropool Regio Eindhoven.