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Automated Mobile Robots

Autonomous Mobile Robots

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Combining autonomous mobile robots with cobots is nothing new. To date, however, these systems have not been affordable for medium-sized companies. Models available on the market start at around $27,000, and solutions with an integrated robot arm start at $75,000, making it difficult to achieve widespread adoption. This is where our Low-Cost Automation division brings about change.

For four years now, igus® has been testing autonomous mobile robots in-house. Examples include driverless shelves that deliver mail and other supplies to offices, and around 30 mobile robots that move through production to quickly transport rotary stacking containers to warehouses. The lessons learned are then incorporated into the development of igus® robots.

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The Lighthouse Project

The Lighthouse project is defined as a mobile robot with integrated HMI and vision capabilities, capable of autonomously tidying up an office. The roadmap anticipates the emergence of various systems over time. This year, igus® is introducing a streamlined version tailored for the education sector, priced at under $11,000—including the robot arm!

How is such an affordable price achievable? The development approach follows a bottom-up strategy, omitting components like classic safety laser scanners from the basic package to keep costs within the target range. Despite this, the solution is designed for easy retrofitting to meet industrial requirements. For instance, it largely adheres to VDA5050 specifications.

There are other technical aspects that the project takes into account. The wider the range of tasks for a mobile robot, the greater the stroke and travel of the gripper must be. Although solutions for this already exist, they do not fit into the low-cost concept in terms of price. Therefore, igus® is presenting an affordable gripper this year that has a large stroke, long travel, and great flexibility for gripping different geometries.

The vision behind all these development efforts extends beyond simple but effective applications, such as transporting components from A to B. Tasks like cleaning or serving coffee directly at the workplace demonstrate that applications can be found in all areas of life.