Autonomous Mobile Robots in High Occupancy Aerospace Manufacturing

摘要

Using a combination of active Radio-Frequency Identification tracking and staff interviews with members from an aerospace manufacturing company, it was uncovered that over 80 hours per week was spent in the manual movement of goods between departments. On a site of over 1000 employees that uses dedicated build cells in separated departments, this mixed-use facility proves challenging for the adoption of an autonomous delivery system due to its narrow corridors and high occupancy, however by investigating the concerns of employees and suggesting low-cost retroactive solutions, this project seeks to justify the transition from manual to automated onsite logistics. The conclusion found that indeed the company does have the transport yields to justify the use of Autonomous Mobile Robots, that the robots would supplement rather than replace workers and that safety was a key factor to address when using robots on a site of this configuration.