The entry of many construction machinery manufacturers can confirm the industry's optimism about the application of mobile robots.
With the continuous vigorous development of AGV applications, more and more companies have begun to enter this field. In addition to traditional AGV companies, startups, and logistics integrators, in recent years, some large-scale machinery and equipment manufacturers have also begun to develop related products. .
Zhenhua Heavy Industry-mainly port AGV
ZPMC started with port machinery and is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of heavy equipment for port machinery. ZPMC has been involved in the automation field since 1998. In 2000, ZPMC provided 4 double-trolley quay cranes for the CTA automation terminal in the Port of Hamburg, 2002 Started to develop AGV in 2005, and successfully developed the first generation of straddle carrier in 2005. In 2008, with the support of the 863 project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, it successfully developed and built a demonstration line of automated terminals. So far, Zhenhua Heavy Industry has accumulated rich experience in the software and hardware of the automated terminal control system, and has the ability to provide overall solutions.
In terms of AGV research and development, Zhenhua Heavy Industry's products are mainly port AGVs. In the Qingdao Port automated terminal project, Zhenhua Heavy Industries provided Qingdao Port with 7 quay cranes, 20 automated rail cranes, 38 automated guided vehicles (L-AGV), 1 fixed crane, and a terminal equipment control management system. . Among them, the latest generation of automated guided vehicles (L-AGV) independently developed by Zhenhua Heavy Industries has its own lifting function, which can lift containers by itself; in the fourth phase of the Yangshan Port project, Zhenhua Heavy Industries also provided 88 AGVs for it. In 2019, in the fourth phase of Guangzhou Port Nansha, the first fully automated terminal in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Zhenhua Heavy Industry created a new generation of "IGV" for it. In this project, it is used as an unmanned intelligent guidance for horizontal transportation equipment. The vehicle (IGV) will adopt multi-sensor fusion positioning technology equipped with satellite navigation and positioning, lidar SLAM (ie "synchronized positioning and mapping"), visual SLAM and other automated docks that previously used automated guided transport vehicles. Compared with tens of thousands of magnetic nails to provide navigation and positioning and limit the route of the AGV trolley, the navigation method of the IGV trolley is more flexible. Zhenhua believes that this intelligent, efficient and low-cost solution provides a new technical route for the development of automated terminals in the future. .
Liugong-a variety of AGV products for the smart logistics industry
Liugong is known as "the vanguard of China's construction machinery industry." "Comprehensive intelligence" is one of Liugong's three major strategies. Liugong is integrating traditional industries with modern science and technology, especially IT, the Internet, and intelligent technology. Combined, its leading loaders, excavators, road rollers, forklifts and other products have realized the transformation and upgrading of the enterprise industry through equipment intelligence, manufacturing intelligence and aftermarket intelligence. In terms of equipment intelligence, Liugong forklifts have long been involved in the field of intelligent industrial vehicle products, providing customers with comprehensive intelligent logistics solutions.
In 2014, Liugong began market research and technical research and development of AGV products. After the joint efforts of the entire R&D team, Liugong's first latent AGV series automatic navigation vehicle was born. Since then, Liugong has developed a series of AGV products on this basis. At present, its AGV products include traction, forklift, and handling. Various transfer modes such as type and latent type. From the perspective of drive form, Liugong not only has single-wheel, double-wheel and multi-wheel drive omnidirectional AGVs; in terms of guidance form, Liugong's research and development products also include laser navigation and other products.
In fact, Liugong not only provides intelligent industrial vehicle products, but also provides customers with overall intelligent logistics system solutions. Liugong forklifts currently have a relatively mature set of intelligent logistics solutions, which can be achieved through the AGV intelligent logistics overall solution. Realize the unmanned operation of the factory, which can seamlessly connect with the customer's WMS warehouse management system and the MES manufacturing enterprise production process execution system to reduce labor costs and improve production efficiency.
Zoomlion—starting from magnetic guide AGV
Founded in 1992, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of high-tech equipment such as construction machinery and agricultural machinery. Based on the existing forklift technology, Zoomlion has also gradually stepped into AGV research and development in recent years.
In 2018, Zoomlion launched the TB20V1 series of AGV handling forklifts. This was developed by Zoomlion Industrial Vehicle Co., Ltd. in cooperation with a robot industry research institute in Wuhu. It mainly uses magnetic navigation technology to achieve automatic guidance, and according to users The programmed instructions complete the corresponding actions; and can be remotely controlled through the mobile phone APP.
The relevant person in charge of Zoomlion Industrial Vehicle Company once said that AGV is one of the company's product intelligent development plans and strategic goals. By increasing the proportion of forklift technology, it will take the route of customer customization and proprietary. Based on the accumulation of technical experience in magnetic navigation AGV forklifts, Zoomlion will continue to develop laser navigation AGV products.
Lingong Group——Subsidiary fully develops AGV market
Linyi Lingong Machinery Group (Lingong Group), founded in 1972, is an international construction machinery enterprise and a national high-tech enterprise. Linyi Lingong Intelligent Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lingong Zhike), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lingong Group, was formerly a R&D team for automation and intelligent projects within the group company. It has been market-oriented since 2016. The series of AGV products are well received by the market.
Currently, Lingong Zhike’s intelligent logistics AGV product line includes: backpack, submersible, towed, forklift, etc. Lingong’s AGV is mainly used in the commercial vehicle industry interior line SPS distribution, sub-assembly line process transfer and welding Assembling line material distribution and other links, in addition to the parts industry and material transportation in the field of heavy industry.
Since its external service, Lingong Zhike has achieved geometric multiple growth for 4 consecutive years. From 4.5 million yuan in 2016 to more than 110 million yuan in 2019, the company achieved order sales of more than 110 million yuan. Among a large number of AGV companies, Lingong Zhike has entered the industry Forefront. In accordance with the social environment and industry development trends, Lingong Zhike has also formulated a strategic development plan for the next 5 years. According to the plan, by the end of 2020, the company's orders will reach 220 million yuan, and the company's orders will reach 1.5 billion yuan by 2025.
Sany Heavy Industry-5G-based intelligent networked cloud AGV project
Since its establishment in 1994, Sany Heavy Industry has maintained rapid growth and has now developed into a leading international construction machinery manufacturer. Sany actively promotes the application of robots, automation systems, Internet of Things, visual recognition, AI and other technologies to improve the level of manufacturing process, production efficiency, and significantly improve manufacturing costs.
In 2019, Sany Heavy Industry, China Telecom and Huawei jointly launched a 5G-based intelligent networked cloud-based AGV project, combining 5G, MEC, and AI technologies with AGV, and by navigating the AGV lidar to a 5G-based uplink large-bandwidth The migration of visual navigation and the migration of deep learning algorithms to the 5G edge computing MEC platform greatly reduces the complexity and cost of AGV stand-alone functions, and improves the level of intelligence and standardization of AGV vehicles.
The algorithm experts of SANY Intelligent Research Institute have innovatively aggregated the data from various sensors such as high-definition cameras and radars on the AGV side to the MEC edge server side through the ultra-low latency and ultra-large bandwidth 5G industrial private network. Through the use of self-developed visual perception, deep learning and other algorithms on the MEC side for real-time calculations, local factory big data is formed on the MEC side, and intelligent analysis of factory operation scenarios is realized.
At present, Sany's cloud-based AGV products are being combined with Huawei's 5G modules, and it is planned to produce commercial products in Q1 of 2020.
