AGVs: Meet Your Autonomous Mobile Coworkers

Modern Materials HandlingCimcorp in the NewsNew hires entering the materials handling world have access to an assortment of autonomous industrial vehicle technologies that their counterparts did not a decade ago. In fact, the pace of advancement in navigation, sensors and capability has tracked with that of self-driving cars.

Don Heelis, sales manager for Cimcorp, says AGVs create a safer environment than one with, for example, a fleet of forklifts working near pedestrians.

“If you’re not paying attention, someone can get seriously hurt, but AGVs don’t have bad mornings or hangovers,” Heelis says. “It’s a factor that’s not necessarily obvious until you get into a facility. It’s amazing how humans start to interact with this equipment once they become comfortable with it. I’ve seen customers who use bicycles to cover distances in a large facility, and they slalom between AGVs without a second thought. Doing that around human-operated forklifts could be bad for your health.”

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