Annual Report

THIS WAY PLEASE!

Mobile platforms have become indispensable in warehouses and production halls. But now these small vehicles must move around more intelligently because the trend is away from rigid production lines and towards highly flexible logistical and production processes. SICK offers a software solution for this purpose.

SICK has an interesting approach to opening up new markets and rapidly developing product ideas into marketable products: Its so-called Start-Ups. These small agile teams work independently of the usual product development process – and often yield astonishing results. LiDAR localization software is one of these success stories. Its history began with the founding of the Start-Up in September 2016 and the first version of the software, called LiDAR-LOC for short, was launched on the market in November 2019: In combination with SICK sensors, the software enables mobile platforms to move intelligently within their warehouse or production hall environments by detecting where they are and using this information to find their own way to their ordered destination.

»WE WERE WELL AWARE THAT THE LOGISTICS AND MATERIAL FLOW SEGMENTS WERE FACING UPHEAVAL,

AND THAT NEW SOLUTIONS – ALSO IN THE FORM OF SOFTWARE – WOULD BE NEEDED.«

“We were well aware that the logistics and material flow segments were facing upheaval, and that new solutions – also in the form of software – would be needed,” explains Michael Repplinger, Head of Product Management Mobile Platforms, who was a member of the Start-Up team right from the start.The team rapidly focused on the mobile platforms. They are mostly guided by magnetic strips attached to the floor, so they travel along defined fixed routes – a technology based on reasonably priced sensors that are already about 25 years old. Today, however, these paths are no longer in demand and represent, literally, a dead end: “This is because large rigid production lines are simply no longer up-to-date,” explains Dr. Christoph Reinke, Head of Business Unit Mobile Platforms. “It is often difficult for companies to predict how a product will sell in future and whether their production plants will be working at full capacity. For this reason, logistical and production processes should be as flexible as possible and capable of dynamic adaptation. This also involves the mobile platforms or automated guided vehicles (AGVs).” Meanwhile, the products themselves are becoming increasingly individualized: The AGVs in a modern production hall receive fewer – and smaller- scale – driving tasks than their old colleagues. A magnetic strip is often no longer the right solution here either.

A range of technologies – for which the necessary software can be purchased from various suppliers – already enable AGVs to move flexibly. “Though some customers make enormous efforts to develop their own solutions,” says Repplinger. “This involves a lot of initial work before any value creation can be achieved with the AGVs. There are also often problems with these ‘home-made’ solutions after a while because it is difficult to adapt them to changed conditions.”

So there is demand among customers for such solutions, which range from simple low-cost to scalable high-end variants. This is the point at which the Start-Up team got involved and began specifically developing localization software. “The research projects run by the Corporate Department Research & Development with SICK’s key customers formed a good basis for this, while other aspects of the software had to be newly developed,” explains Christoph Reinke.

The Start-Up team worked closely with major customers in order to achieve as much market proximity as possible. But Sales – with their good customer relationships – also provided the team with good feedback that they could exploit. “Our aim was to get on to the market as quickly as possible and then learn alongside the customers so that we could further develop the product,” Repplinger sums up the approach.

»THE SECRET IS THAT THE BASIS FOR THE SOFTWARE WAS ALREADY, IN EFFECT,

CONTAINED WITHIN THE MOBILE PLATFORMS THEMSELVES – NAMELY IN THE DATA.«

The secret is that the basis for the software was already, in effect, contained within the mobile platforms themselves – namely in the data constantly provided by their laser scanners. The software combines this with a floor plan of the area and a map of the surroundings that the laser scanner has recorded. The vehicle always ‘knows’ where it is because the software continuously compares this map with what the scanner ‘sees’ while in motion, and it uses this information to find its own route to the destination autonomously. “In technical terms, this is very complicated because the measurements take place several hundreds to thousands of times per second,” explains Michael Repplinger. In addition, industrial environments are in constant flux and the software must be able to react appropriately. “The software, of course, has a certain level of tolerance. But if there is a lot of change in the surroundings, the customer must carry out a new map-making process so that the vehicles can orient themselves again without making mistakes,” explains Reinke. Thus free movement is possible even in a dynamic environment. The software also visualizes the ground plan on a screen – with the corresponding measurement points, the particular positions of the AGVs, and their paths. So everything can be tracked and controlled. Driving tasks can also be sent to the AGVs.

“We are the only supplier with its own hardware and software solution for localization. This is attractive for customers and really does make their lives much easier,” says Michael Repplinger. Major carmakers are already using the new solution from SICK. “In our experience, new developments often first find their way into automotive production. The carmakers are soon followed by other industries, however, and we can offer them our solution too,” adds a confident Reinke. A software product is also economically interesting for SICK because of its scalability: After the initial development effort, the main costs are for maintenance and sales. Strategically, LiDAR localization software is a major step along the path from a pure sensor producer to a supplier of digital solutions.

The history of LiDAR localization software also shows how well the Start-Up approach works at SICK: The team created a marketable and promising product with great potential within just over two years – and has rapidly become a Business Unit in its own right, with about 20 employees in Waldkirch and Hamburg. A second variant of the software, which also compensates for defective or missing magnetic strips, will be launched in late 2020.

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