Abstract
Actum4, a technology-based company, founded in 2020 by engineers from the automotive supply chain industry, has been developing the Autonomous Mobile Robot in order to offer a new type of transport and logistics solution for materials integrated into the manufacturing process within the concept of Industry 4.0. The present research project aims to raise the level of technological readiness of the Autonomous Mobile Robot Actum4, from the current TRL7 to TRL8. In such a way as to achieve a robust and reliable version to start serial manufacturing and expand the business of transport and logistics services for materials for companies in the manufacturing sector. Recently, mobile autonomous robots have aroused interest in industrial and service sectors, due to their wide range of applications. The ability to navigate environments without the need for physical or electromechanical devices to guide them is making them more promising and useful. In particular, the use of autonomous mobile robots for material transport and logistics operations has great potential to improve the quality and increase the productivity of industrial manufacturing processes. Worldwide, there are many conveyor robot solutions with different characteristics, according to specific applications. However, in Brazil, there are very few companies that provide solutions based on autonomous robots for industrial environments. It is worth noting that the operational characteristics of Brazilian factories are different in relation to European, American, or Asian countries. Because, in general, in Brazil the level of automation is lower and the plants are aged, and the quality of the factory floor is not always perfects. Over the last two years, Actum4 has developed 12 prototype versions of the Autonomous Mobile Robot within an incremental improvement process. Currently, two prototypes of the V8 version of the autonomous robot are in assisted operation at the company Paranoá and a prototype at the company Sabó. Both companies are partners of Actum4, belonging to the supply chain of the automotive sector. Tests in a real factory floor environment made it possible to collect operational data from the robots. Through statistical analysis of the data, Actum4 identified some problems of loss of accuracy in the process of locating the robot within the industrial environment, impairing the quality of navigation and consequently the fulfillment of material transport operations within the expected performance criteria. Until now, Actum4 has carried out the developments with the company's partners' own resources. It is submitting this research project directly to Phase 2 of PIPE, as Actum4 has already gone through the initial stages, corresponding to Phase 1 of PIPE of scientific concept validation, functional validation and operational validation. The research will be conducted in four stages: 1) Data collection regarding robotic platforms and perception sensors; 2) Analysis and modeling of the Autonomous Mobile Robot; 3) Manufacture and testing of a pilot batch of Autonomous Mobile Robots; 4) Fine-tuning the project and compiling the results obtained. We emphasize that the Autonomous Mobile Robot from Actum4 is a solution that was born incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Big Data technologies at its core, within the context of Industry 4.0. Furthermore, Actum4 has already established strategic partnerships with companies in the automotive supply chain, and with SENAI - São Caetano, among others. (AU)
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