This AGV project have been developed as a supplier of Swisslog (Former Digitron) for an Iveco Plant in South of Italy.

There are 12 AGVs that transport the motors, picking them up from the assembly exit and depositing them on various accumulation conveyors. Each of these can be assigned a different motor type.

The AGV pick up the motors at the end of these accumulations and transport them to the test cells where the operator performs motor tests. Motors that pass the test are transported to shipping, while motors that fail the test are taken for repair.

Calls for the carts are made via buttons by the operators or signals on the conveyors. The system operates in two shifts and therefore must guarantee operational continuity; to achieve this, a configuration of two twin computers was chosen so that if one fails, the other takes over.

This system was optimized with a highly flexible logic to ensure very high throughput performance. The installation was carried out at night, as production was running under the old system (PDP-11) during the day. The switch between the old and new systems was carried out without any disruption to production.

AGV navigation type: inductive wire guidance

Traffic controller: 386 PC, in warm backup, with Digiboard multiserial ports, connected to all devices on the layout, including host communication, DI/DO signals and infrared transreceivers to communicate with AGVs.

Charging concept: charging stations with contacts on the side of the AGV, when batteries are low, the vehicle is sent there to stay and charge, as well the AGV goes on charger when there are no transports to execute.

This AGV system is working over two shifts, morning and afternoon.

Number of AGVs: 12

AGV manufacturer: Digitron

Function: AGV traffic controller development

Year: 1991