Gyro application in vehicles for factory automation

Considering transportation and material handling factory automation more and more requires flexible solutions to be adaptable to varying tasks. Automated guided vehicle systems (AGV-systems) therefore are developed towards free ranging systems without any hardware guidance like inductive wires. At IPA two vehicles are in service to investigate advanced technologies in the whole field of navigation, e.g. by using gyros for localization purposes. Results of test rides with different gyro types are presented and compared to purely odometrical methods. Future localization components are shown and their modular structure is described.