Keynote lecture plug & navigate robots for smart factories

Summary form only given. Factory logistics constitutes a major bottleneck for mass production, creating a need for significant optimization. Unfortunately, today´s technology for factory logistics automation is still in an early stage of development and its deployment in the factory requires a trained staff and involves several time-consuming, costly, inflexible and sometimes even error-prone manual tasks. Therefore, the overall project objective of PAN-Robots is to develop, demonstrate and validate a generic automation system for factory logistics in modern factories based on the use of advanced automated guided vehicles (AGVs). The PAN-Robots consortium proposes a new generation of flexible, cost effective, safe and green AGVs that will be able to transport material and products in modern factories autonomously, intelligently and efficiently. In order to achieve this project objective current technologies need to be significantly enhanced and a number of new approaches and technologies need to be developed.