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As early as the 1970’s, Autonomous Guided Vehicles have been helping automate and speed up processes. At first, AGVs utilized wire or tape on the floor to guide them along as they completed their tasks. Although such technology is still used today, AGVs have come a long way since their early days. Autonomous Guided Vehicles have become much more complex and capable. Today’s robots can sense their environment to automatically navigate their way through it. They can communicate with each other to perform certain tasks in tandem, as well as work safely among people.
The AGVs form factor is also diversifying rapidly. Depending on the job at hand, autonomous robots and vehicles can come in a variety of shapes and sizes—from skateboard-sized robots moving light objects, to large fork-lift-sized robots moving or towing heavy machinery. But despite its size or shape, a robot may seem simple on the outside, however, the inside is filled with complex sensors and electronics, and of course, a large assortment of DC motors to provide the required motion. The most obvious application for DC motors is to perform the task of driving and steering the robot so let us take a closer look at how and what motor works for this job.
One of the biggest benefits of an autonomous vehicle or robot is that it can move around on its own. This allows it to transport goods from one location to the next by following a complex set of instructions. In other words, precise position control is critical. Engineers often reach for DC servo motors to drive AGVs as servos deliver the precise speed and position control required for the application. But what are servo motors? “Servo” is a very loose term used to describe a closed-loop motor system: one that most often consists of a motor, a position feedback device such as an encoder, and a driver/controller that can process the feedback from the motor in real-time and adjust the motor’s operation based on the feedback.