Indoor Positioning Systems, at-a-glance
Indoor positioning
Precise navigation of an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), Intelligent Guided Vehicle (IGV) or Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is a key capability for successfully digitizing the value chain. Not only for navigating from A to B on the most optimal route, but just as important to avoid interfering with other robots or humans in the work area in the best possible way.
The needed level of autonomy of the robot varies in different usage scenarios.
Sometimes you need the robot to be able to navigate all by itself with little interference from the outside, and sometimes you need to take an approach with more centralized control in order to be able to e.g. dynamically change routes and tasks for forklifts in a warehouse in order to optimize time and emissions.
Navigating a robot
To navigate a robot precisely you need to have a setup that to some extent are similar to what you experience outdoors with GPS or Galileo; a number of satellites (3 as a minimum) that covers the working area of the robot, and a tracker on the robot that determines the position. With the GOTposition system the satellites are placed under the ceiling 8-25 meters apart and with as clear a view of the working area as possible.
Depending on the exact configuration you will receive an updated position up to 15 times pr second. The position is initially in a local coordinate system defined during the initial system setup and calibration, but can of course be transformed to any other coordinate system incl. Longitude/Latitude and served to you using most standards incl NMEA.
