Autonomous pallet robots

A lot of the newer versions of these are GPS or local / optical positioning. The older versions were a series of steel rods driven into the ground at regular intervals along the path the robots travel. Positioning is the counting of those rods so, count 20, turn 90 deg right then travel 10 rods, turn left, move one rod and set load on the conveyor, travel in the same manner to the next point. A controller (or 2) sit in a room watching readouts and monitors then telling an available robot to go to the next needed location. It could be picking raw materials and taking them to a machine or component to another machine or finished product to storage. Coupled with an automated vertical rack system, there's little need for people to be in "traffic" areas. Prox sensors on the robots keep them from hitting humans and they beep CONSTANTLY with amber lights flashing as a warning. The automated rack system I saw (old Keebler factory in Chicago and no, it wasn't a hollow tree!) was about 5 stories high and about 150' deep with 10 racks. Robots drop off the loads and the rack system scans the ID bar code, picks them up, runs them to the horizontal position then lifts them up to their vertical location and extends them into the rack. When loads ship out the automated picker goes to the location in the rack, picks the load, then takes it to the other end of the racks and sets it down where another robot picks it up and takes it to the dock and sets it on another conveyor where a forklift operator loads it into the truck. forklifts never leave the dock area to load or unload. It's a very cool system, I obviously enjoyed it a lot!

Autonomous pallet robots - GIF