Paolo Vaniglia, KUKA: “The adoption of autonomous mobile robots is one of the biggest trends in automotive”

“According to market analysis, the introduction of a mobility platform on a production factory is a growing market in Europe compared to the growing potential of standard robots. KUKA makes not only robots, but also mobility platforms since many years.

The growth potential of mobility platforms in production facilities is a trend that we are following to provide new ways of moving objects internally.

What are the biggest sectors for mobility platforms? For sure automotive is one of them, but also the electronics, aerospace, healthcare, consumer goods or metal industry.

The biggest potential for these mobility platforms is in the logistics industry (31 percent market share), followed by automotive, electronics and FMCG (each with 16 percent market share),” Paolo Vaniglia, Key Technology Manager Mobility Platform for EMEA region, KUKA said during Automotive Forum 2024 organized by Automotive Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“A logistics process involves the movement of goods between different locations (outbound handling). Intralogistics focuses on the internal movement of materials within a facility or business. A mobility platform is used to make this.

The smart automation of a warehouse is called AMR (autonomous mobile robots). The adoption of an AMR is one of the biggest trends in automotive, to make processes faster, to merge human power – when necessary – with automated tasks.

Why to adopt an AMR? It responds to the lack of workforce with 24/7 operation and availability. We can avoid accidents, injuries in a production line, especially with forklifts. There is also the possibility to make the production more flexible.

The return of investment of an autonomous mobile robot is very low, we estimate it at less than two years. The engineering solutions is very flexible and very easy to implement and to maintain.

This technology has a lot of potential, can boost the production, make it more efficient and more flexible, and can optimize the human workforce. We don’t have to waste time with people doing repetitive tasks.

The feedback from the production managers is very good: 91 percent plan to extend their automated fleet after their initial purchase.

AMRs is a young market with several players. Deciding features for winning this market include investment cost, ease of use for fast integration and adoption, safety functionality, connectivity to production equipment and ERP, scalability and reliability.”