What is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR)?

An autonomous mobile robot, or AMR, is a robot on wheels that gets around a building by itself. Using onboard sensors and a digital map, it carries shelves, carts, parts or supplies from one place to another, and figures out its own route, steering around people and obstacles along the way.

How AMRs work

• Sensors: 3D cameras and lidar laser scanners let the robot see its surroundings.
• Mapping: a technique called SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) lets it build a map and know where it is on it, with no tracks or markers on the floor.
• Navigation: when the path is blocked, it slows, stops or picks another route.

AMR vs. AGV

Older automated guided vehicles (AGVs) follow fixed routes marked by magnetic tape or wires in the floor. If something blocks the track, they stop and wait for a person. Changing their routes means changing the building. AMRs need no fixed path, so they can be moved to new jobs and layouts far more easily.

Where they're used

• Warehouses: Amazon says it has deployed more than 1 million robots across over 300 facilities. It calls Proteus, which moves heavy carts of orders around staff, its first fully autonomous mobile robot.
• Hospitals: AMRs deliver linens and medicines to nurse stations and can ride elevators and pass through doors.
• Factories: plants that switch products often can reroute AMRs instead of rebuilding fixed conveyor belts.
• Mobile manipulation: a cobot arm mounted on an AMR can move between workstations. Epson's AX6 cobot, for example, is light enough to ride on one.