Usage of Autonomous Mobile Robots Outdoors - An Axiomatic Design Approach

Industry 4.0, growing material supply chains, and changing logistics structures require flexible material flow solutions. As a result of this development, the usage of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) is increasing significantly. Although there has been much research undertaken on the design of indoor AMRs, there is a lack of research regarding outdoor systems. Weather and road conditions are still challenging for sensors and actuators. Furthermore, requirements regarding the system, which must be known and met beforehand to guarantee industrial applicability, are yet to be sufficiently determined. This paper aims to close this gap and identify functional requirements through Axiomatic Design, which is used to develop design guidelines for practitioners. Starting with a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews, the authors gather basic customer requirements. These customer requirements will then be analyzed to define functional requirements. Through a mapping and top-down decomposition process, the research team deduces design solutions for using outdoor AMRs. These requirements and solutions will be transformed into guidelines, which help system designers to improve the implementation of AMRs on the factory premises.