HENCON’s Smart Automated Guided Vehicles (SAGV’s)

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV’s)

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV’s) are an indispensable part of modern industry at the current scenario. Since decades they have been implemented in every type of industry (ports, logistic operations, automotive-industry, etc). A few years ago, the Hencon AGV’s were the first automated vehicles that were able to enter the primary  aluminum-industry. The reason why it took much longer to automate aluminum –industry is mainly due the harsh environment in aluminum plants. Dust, high temperatures and electro-magnetic fields were a challenge for engineers to develop a reliable vehicle.

AGV’s in aluminum industry have done their first steps in mean while. Hencon sold several projects with automated Furnace Chargers, Anode Pallet Transporters and Crucible Transporters. It has been a severe learning curve, which allowed us to constantly optimize and learn from our experiences, together with our customers. Our products of today are in many ways more mature than the first prototypes that have been tested.

One of the leasons learned is that replacing human controlled machines by AGV’s imply a lot of advantages (24/7 availability, increased reliability, very precise working, reduced labor costs, etc) but we were also facing an interesting problem: an AGV lacks the common sense and the flexibility of the human mind. When a man faces an obstacle, he will think about ways to work around, he will look for solutions. AGV’s are preprogrammed machines, equipped with some smart sensors and radars. But when an obstacle blocks their way, they will simply stop until the obstacle has been removed.

In reality this means that the efficiency of an AGV will not be brought to a maximum profit. Especially when AGV’s work in mixed traffic situations (forklifts, pedestrians,…) their safety procedures and sensors will make them stop and inactive more often than absolutely needed.

Hencon’s SAGV’s

For this reason, Hencon started – in close collaboration with another Dutch engineering company, Quantillion - to develop an additional layer of artificial intelligence, in order to make our machines smart. The SAGV (Smart AGV) offers  an unknown flexibility and turns your factory into an environment that will be almost completely self-sustaining. The SAGV will be able to think and to learn. In the same example as above, the SAGV will not simply stop if an obstacle is on its path, it will first detect if it should stop (eg pedestrian) or walk around (eg concrete block). On top of that, it will communicate. It will inform the other SAGV’s and together they will be able to reroute their paths in order to avoid the obstacle the next time. They will also check if – due to the changed circumstances – it would not be a good idea to interchange their activities. They will be behaving like a colony of ants: working together and creating an unknown synergy (acting like having  a common brain). This is a big step forward to traditional AGV’s or human controlled vehicles, who do not work as a team but follow individual instructions.

Autonomation vs Automation

The SAGV’s are not only able to communicate with each other, they will also be able to communicate with the hard ware in the factory: pots and furnaces will be able to prioritize their needs to the SAGV’s. If a furnace needs to be charged or a specific sudden action is needed on a certain pot, SAGV’s will be able to act immediately. By continuously collecting data, experience and learning how processes work, predictive feed-back is a powerful tool. The SAGV will be able to predict what will be happening next, continuously improving and fine-tuning their behavior.

Before setting up an SAGV in a real environment, a digital twin will be created. This means that on a virtual basis, and by using all available data, we will be able to understand how your processes work in your factory, which will enable us to create a machine with an already trained behavior before it will be doing its very first real steps in your environment. During this training, we will simulate every possible situation.

We believe that by doing so, we can tackle one of the most important challenges in an aluminum smelter: unpredictability. By enabling our machines to cope with unpredictable situations, by even being enabling them to predict certain events, we can increase the efficiency, flexibility and the safety in your casthouse and potroom tremendously, all this, without intervention by humans. Of course, all of our machines can be overruled at any time by people.

SAGV’S in Industry 4.0

Adding all these advantages, makes your factory smart in the real sense of the word. Actually, our new generation of AGV’s, the SAGV’s, will be doing more than just automating the transportation of  anodes and liquid metal in your plant. These machines are helping you to make your plant almost completely autonomously.

Author: Peter Vanvuchelen

Director Business Development, HENCON