C h a p t e r 1 | A M R A p p l i c a t i o n s a n d I n d u s t r y I m p a c t
automation paradigm to mobile systems unlocks a
new host of use cases.
Unlike historical robots, modern AMRs are not
confined to the factory floor. Today's AMRs are
integral to a range of industries, including logistics,
healthcare, agriculture, retail, and security. In
warehousing and fulfillment, for example, AMRs
facilitate the movement of goods between storage
areas, packing stations, and loading docks. Here,
these systems support a high degree of flexibility
and can operate continuously to meet rising demand
regardless of labor availability. And at scale, it's just
not practical to have a human product picker walk a
marathon each day.
In healthcare, AMRs autonomously move supplies and
operate in busy corridors where human interaction
is unavoidable. Agricultural AMRs navigate uneven
terrain to support harvesting, spraying, and
monitoring. Meanwhile, AMRs in retail
environments conduct inventory
scanning and restocking.
AMRs are great for project-specific
applications. We designed an AMR that
used LiDAR to navigate by tracking
reflective targets, with sensors fine-
tuning its position before stopping. It
picked up 30 spools of thread at a time,
using inductive sensors to position the
pickup arms during rest, pickup, and
drop-off. Additional sensors tracked each
spool after pickup, ensuring every spool
and empty spot was accurately
accounted for."
David Moses
Engineering Manager, America in Motion
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Engineering the Future: The Sensors and Systems Powering Modern Mobile Robots
