Automated Transportation: When AGV Meets RFID

Automated Transportation: When AGV Meets RFID Mastering Automated Transportation with AGV and RFID RFID, as a type of automatic identification technology, has very obvious advantages in its application on AGV carts. First, RFID has a strong resistance to other environmental factors, such as oil pollution, water, dust, and electromagnetic interference, so it is very suitable for the working environment of the production workshop. Secondly, RFID technology is quite mature, with low maintenance costs and simple technical construction, making it more advantageous in actual operation. For these reasons, the application of RFID site recognition on AGV carts is becoming more and more widespread. In addition, RFID can improve the work efficiency of AGV carts, making their role in the production process more important, thereby creating greater value for enterprises. Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp What is AGV technology？ AGV is an abbreviation for Automated Guided Vehicle, meaning “automatically guided transport vehicle.” This is a wheeled mobile robot that can run along wires, marking blocks, or magnetic strips on the ground, or through visual or laser navigation. It is mainly used for the transportation of materials and goods in workshops and warehouses in industrial production. With the arrival of Industry 4.0, more and more enterprises are beginning to pay attention to and widely apply AGV. Currently, AGV is used in production lines, warehouse storage, inbound, line-side, storage, picking, packaging, sorting, outbound, loading and other scenarios. AGV can automatically charge, has a high degree of automation, convenient operation, small footprint, and can freely travel within the production workshop, has great flexibility, and has been widely used in e-commerce, express delivery, warehousing and sorting, automobiles, tobacco, medicine, 3C, clothing and other types of enterprises and manufacturing industries. AGV is characterized by wheeled movement, compared to walking, crawling, or other non-wheeled mobile robots, it has the advantages of speed, high efficiency, simple structure, easy control, and safety. Compared with other equipment commonly used in material transportation, AGV does not require fixed tracks or brackets, and is not restricted by sites, roads, and space. Therefore, in the automated logistics system, AGV can maximize its automaticity and flexibility, achieve efficient, economical, and flexible unmanned production. Why is RFID technology used on AGV carts? The main reason for using RFID on AGV carts is to achieve more accurate goods recognition and path navigation. The RFID reader can read the position information in the RFID landmark and drive the AGV cart along the set route through the PLC controller. Traditionally, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) mainly rely on fixed magnetic tape for navigation when handling materials. However, this method is less flexible, easily disturbed by surrounding metal materials, and difficult to meet the needs of complex routes. In this context, the emergence of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology provides new possibilities for the navigation and handling work of AGV carts. RFID technology is a non-contact smart recognition technology, which has the characteristics of fast read-write speed and short read-write time, and can read and write moving objects. Therefore, using RFID tags as marking stations on magnetic navigation routes can conveniently plan the route of AGV carts, achieve the optimal route, and thus significantly improve the performance of AGV carts. In addition, the application of RFID technology in AGV automated transport has good environmental adaptability. It can accurately identify RFID tags through site positioning, thereby achieving navigation control of AGVs. By embedding RFID tags in the navigation magnetic strip, AGV carts can read station tags, determine their location based on the current tag, read tag information, choose the correct path, or search for the optimal path according to the algorithm, to save the time required for transportation. It is worth mentioning that the positioning advantage of AGVs using RFID is very obvious. First, RFID is less disturbed by other environments, such as oil pollution, water, dust, and electromagnetic, so it is more suitable for the working environment of the production workshop. Second, RFID technology is very mature, with low maintenance cost and simple technical construction, so the application of RFID site recognition and positioning in AGV carts is also widespread. It can be predicted that with the continuous development and progress of technology, RFID will play an increasingly important role in the application of AGV carts RFID technology has the following significant advantages in automated guided vehicle (AGV) site identification: 1.Real-time monitoring and recording of work information: One major advantage of RFID technology is its ability to monitor the working state of AGV vehicles in real time and record their work information in detail. This detailed monitoring and recording ability is crucial for understanding transport routes, avoiding possible delays or errors, and ensuring the smoothness and efficiency of the transport process. 2.Quick and accurate identification of location information: RFID technology can quickly and accurately identify the location information of AGV vehicles, which is crucial for ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of the transport process. Especially in the event of a malfunction, RFID technology can quickly check and locate the fault to facilitate timely repairs, reduce losses in the transport process, and ensure the smooth operation of the production line. 3.Intelligent management: Another major advantage of RFID technology is its ability to intelligently manage AGV vehicles. With RFID technology, we can automatically obtain data and flexibly control the activities of vehicles, thereby improving work efficiency, reducing manual intervention, and enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of the transport process. 4.24-hour uninterrupted work: RFID technology enables AGV vehicles to work 24 hours without interruption, significantly enhancing the level of automation in production and transport. By reducing labor costs and improving work efficiency, RFID technology helps to enhance a company’s transport capacity and competitiveness. How exactly does an AGV trolley implement intelligent RFID positioning and navigation? An RFID reader/writer is installed on the AGV trolley, and AGV landmarks (RFID electronic tags) are installed at each node of the driving track. When the AGV car passes through a node during work, the RFID will automatically obtain the material/product information pre-entered on the AGV landmark (RFID electronic tag),