Foxconn Technology Group is gearing up to promote its AGV (automated guided vehicle) solutions in Taiwan through its affiliated Asia Pacific Telecom (APT) and FHnet to help manufacturers smartize their operations, according to industry sources.
Rolling out AGVs represents the first step in Foxconn’s development of electric cars and autonomous driving cars, which form one of the three major domains targeted by the group for upgrades and transformations. The group has incorporated the AGV solutions into its own plants in China as well as to clients in the panel manufacturing sector there, the sources said.
Besides in-house-manufactured hardware components, the solutions adopt a robotics operating system developed by Beijing-based Megvii Technology, an AI startup also affiliated with Foxconn, which can work out customized software systems to simultaneously control operation of 500 AGVs, the sources indicated.
APT and FHnet are incorporating AGVs into the manufacturing plants in Taiwan to shuttle unmanned delivery tasks among production lines and warehouses for raw materials, semi-finished and finished products. Megvii’s highly flexible software can easily integrate AGVs, robots and manufacturing execution system (MES) to help businesses create smart logistics and automated production lines, saving labor force by over 70% and operating cargo pickup efficiency by threefold, the sources continued.
The sources said the AGVs also feature built-in sensors and positioning guidance devices that can help optimize movement routes in accordance with real-time environment parameter