White Paper

Optimizing materials transport with autonomous intelligent vehicles

Materials transport in consumer electronics, automotive electronics and semiconductor manufacturing can get complicated. To enable small-volume, high-mix semiconductor production, for example, wafer cassettes must be transported in complicated orders with precise timing. Tasking human workers with transporting these items is cumbersome and inefficient, while automating the process with autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) also proves to be inadequate due to the numerous problems with space utilization and coordination.

Omron’s mobile robots present a new way to automate electronics and semiconductor materials transport without encountering the obstacles caused by AGVs. These mobile robots do not count as AGVs because there is no guiding strip necessary to control their movements. Instead, we identify them as “autonomous intelligent vehicles” (AIVs) because their innovative software allows them to self-navigate throughout dynamic environments along the shortest viable pathway to their destination. Space-efficient and capable of delivering materials on precise timetables, these robots boost throughput, cut costs and optimize labor.

This white paper will discuss the following topics:

  • Characteristics of autonomous intelligent vehicles and the Omron LD Series
  • How AIVs help save space and promote flexibility
  • How AIVs make delivery more reliable and enable more thorough traceability
  • How AIVs help optimize the workforce and improve safety
  • The role of the system integrator in optimizing an AIV application

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