Problem
Like many others in the industry, Quest’s customers began to experience severe labor shortages that are a consistent obstacle to a fully efficient plant. The market had released the Autonomous Guided Vehicle (AGV), but the initial investment in terms of time, space and hardware were enough to discourage customers from implementing the solution. The AGV solutions also were built for distribution centers or warehouse environments and did not address the needs of many customers from the end-of-line to the warehouse area.
Solution
Quest designed and built its first Intelligent Autonomous Vehicle (IAV) as a single pallet, stainless steel fully washdown capable model. The unit does not use traditional AGV physical guides such as magnetic tape or rails but uses preprogrammed routes that are executed without the physical guides and yet has safety features to slow or stop when it met an obstacle. The unit can also decide how to finish the execution of a command based on the obstacle in the standard path and the facility map.
IAV Today
The Quest Intelligent Autonomous Vehicle (IAV) provides a smart, flexible solution to move product through your facility. With no need for any magnetic tape or other physical guides, and safe to work alongside other workers, the IAV paired with our Box Bot provide a cost-effective solution. The existing solutions include, one-, two- and three pallet versions as well as a forklift option. While most other AGV or AMR solutions have a limited vehicle selection, Quest leverages its modular product design to optimize each IAV for the conditions within the facility.