Robox AGV navigation systems combine precision, reliability, and full integration between hardware and software. Thanks to our experience in developing electronics and control software for AGVs, we offer modular and scalable solutions suitable for complex systems and heterogeneous fleets.
Our guidance technologies include:
- Inertial guidance: odometry and gyroscope for dynamic correction along paths with reference magnets. It enables very high positioning accuracy (below the millimeter) and is highly reliable and stable over time. It also allows operation in outdoor environments.
- Natural navigation (LiDAR and SLAM): it provides maximum route flexibility and reduces the need for physical infrastructure. It is ideal when the layout may change over time or when minimizing interventions on floors or walls is desired.
- Laser navigation: triangulation using reflectors for structured indoor environments that require flexible routing.
- GPS navigation with RTK technology: for fully outdoor navigation using GPS technology. A ground station increases precision up to few centimeters.
AGV control software
Fleet manager | AGV MANAGER
Plant management software ruling traffic. AGV MANAGER provides an integrated development environment with x-script editor to describe movement and operations.
Robox AGV Tool | RAT
The RAT graphical environment allows you to generate the vehicle map file by importing layouts in DXF format (both for the plant and the vehicle) and defining routes, specifying intersections, permissions, speeds, behaviors, start points, and loading/storage points, etc.
RAT enables the simulation of timing and spatial constraints, optimizing the behavior of one or more vehicles. It also allows verification of the suitability of the vehicle(s) for the expected traffic.
Sensors for inertial guidance
RHAM Module | AS3009.x13
Rectangular magnetic antenna designed for unidirectional AGVs and linear paths, with a geometry optimized to stably follow a predominant direction. It is particularly suitable for applications where movement occurs mainly along forward/backward trajectories, ensuring reliable and consistent behavior in navigation along the route.
RHAM Module | AS3009.x14
Square magnetic antenna designed for omnidirectional AGVs, supporting movement in multiple directions and on-the-spot rotations. Its geometry enables detection on all vehicle orientations, making it suitable for complex maneuvers and routes that are not constrained in a single direction.
Main application areas
In the process industry sector, AGV systems must adapt to a wide range of operational contexts, often characterized by highly demanding industrial environments, heavy loads, or continuous working cycles
Applications exist in heavy industry, where vehicles handle steel coils or large-mass materials in environments such as steel mills and rolling mills, as well as in the textile industry, where high precision is required in managing material flows between production departments.
Other AGVs operate as general-purpose industrial transporters for semi-finished and finished goods, while in some configurations they take on highly specialized functions: for example, automated vehicles integrated with cleaning or production line maintenance systems, or autonomous machines used in agriculture for repetitive and controlled field operations.
In all these scenarios, what changes is the control architecture, navigation, safety management, and integration with the plant. The ability to design modular, adaptable, and robust solutions makes it possible to implement reliable AGV systems even in non-standard applications, ensuring operational continuity, positioning accuracy, and long-term stability.
Typs of AGV navigation systems
Regardless of the navigation technology adopted, the onboard AGV hardware and software architecture remains unchanged and forms the core of the vehicle’s control system. Information from the navigation systems is processed by the Robox RP-2 motion controller, which, in accordance with the commands received from AGV Manager, controls traction, steering, and other equipment, ensuring movement consistent with what is defined in the map through the RAT software.
The RIG-8 TPU is used for manual handling operations, parameter setting, and diagnostics, while still allowing the use of a panel-mounted HMI depending on application requirements.
The vehicle control software is developed in the R3/C++ language using the RDE development environment and runs on the RP-2. The software structure is divided into three main functional areas:
- navigation management (traction and steering axes),
- management of axes and auxiliary functions (forks, roller conveyors, etc.),
- command execution management.
The latter includes the list of operations that the vehicle is able to perform, received from the AGV Manager via Wi-Fi communication.
Inertial navigation system for automated vehicles
This type of guidance allows the vehicle to navigate within the plant using a Robox rectangular antenna (for unidirectional AGVs) or a square antenna (for omnidirectional AGVs), together with a gyroscope that provides position information while the vehicle travels over magnets placed on the floor.
PROS
- Simplicity of the required infrastructure, compared to other systems; the magnets can be easily installed in the ground. The magnets (10 mm diameter, 40 mm length) are embedded in the floor at a distance of approximately 5 meters from one another by simply drilling holes in the floor.
- Ability to achieve very high positioning accuracy (below the millimeter) by placing magnets where such precision is required;
- Easy and reliable outdoor navigation.
CONS
- Necessity of precise magnet installation;
- Necessity to install new magnets when configuring new routes longer than few meters.
Natural navigation system for AGVs
This type of guidance allows the vehicle to navigate within the plant by processing signals from PLS scanners. The system processes these signals and provides the AGV’s position and orientation as output.
PROS
- Flexibility in defining and modifying routes;
- Possibility to be used by vehicles with just a Robox controller and PLS devices.
CONS
- Unreliability in open spaces. The system requires the presence of static objects, such as walls or pillars, to determine the position of the vehicle.
- Low tolerance to environmental variation. Excessive environment modification can lead to the inability to determine the vehicle position.
- Limited positioning precision, especially in absence of static reference objects.
Laser navigation systems
This type of guidance allows the vehicle to navigate within the plant using the NAV350 sensor, which triangulates on appropriate reflectors placed on the facility walls, enabling the system to determine the absolute position and orientation in the plane.
PROS
- Ease and flexibility in route definition.
- Relative simplicity in the necessary infrastructure (passive mirrors), but more complex if compared to placing magnets.
CONS
- Very stringent requirements on floor evenness and flatness.
- Difficulty in outdoor or narrow corridors.
- Susceptibility from intense incident artificial or natural light.
GPS navigation systems
In this configuration, the AGV localizes itself using signals from GPS satellites, processed by an integrated receiver and managed by the vehicle’s control system. Thanks to RTK corrections, the system achieves high centimetric accuracy, enabling precise and repeatable movements thanks to a small, fixed station and without any other reference point around the plant.
Position data is combined with information from other sensors to improve accuracy and reliability, especially in the presence of interference or temporary signal loss. This solution is particularly suitable for outdoor applications over large areas.
PROS
- It enables navigation in very large outdoor environments.
- It only requires an RTK correction system.
CONS
- Dependence on satellite signals.
- Not suitable for indoor plants.
Functional safety for AGVs
Safety PLCs, integrated with scanners and sensors, ensure reliable monitoring of work areas and dynamic protection of vehicles, humans, and plant devices.
Robox solutions are scalable and suitable for any type of AGV, offering maximum flexibility in design and fleet management.
Our experience with AGVs
Robox has been operating in the AGV sector since 1992, gaining decades of experience in the development of navigation systems, control electronics, and integrated software. This long-standing expertise allows us to fully understand the needs of modern plants and to design solutions that are reliable, flexible, and durable over time.
The first technology adopted was the so-called “underground wire”, used both for guidance and for transmitting information between the fleet manager and the vehicles.
When it became clear that the wire was impractical on curves, it was decided to bury it only along straight sections, relying on odometry for turns. The natural evolution led to the complete elimination of the wire and the integration of a gyroscope to detect the vehicle’s orientation, giving rise to inertial guidance, which remains Robox’s preferred technology to this day.
Every design choice, from navigation modules to fleet management software tools, is based on years of field experience and a deep understanding of autonomous vehicle dynamics.
Thanks to this longstanding expertise, Robox is able to offer solutions that are proven yet always innovative, capable of adapting to any plant.
Design and production of electronic equipment, programming languages, development environments for robotics and motion control.
Accessibility Statement