Small automated self-guided vehicles, are now being used to quickly transport parts around the Volkswagen car assembly plant in Palmela near Lisbon, autonomously operating thanks to spin-offs from ESA Mars rover. Developed by the Portuguese start-up company Active Space Technologies, and its subsidiary Active Space Automation, its automatic guided vehicle (AGV) ActiveONE is based on the expertise gained from contracts with ESA for the design of mechanical space mission structures and the development of systems to test the locomotion sub-systems and motors for a rover to be used in surface and underground exploration on Mars in the European ExoMars mission.
What earlier was done by factory workers on trolleys and forklifts is now done autonomously by the computer controlled automatic guided vehicles (AGV) developed by the Portuguese company Active Space Technologies.
“Our ActiveONE AGV is developed based on the expertise we gained from contracts with ESA for the design of mechanical space mission structures and the development of systems to test the locomotion sub-systems and motors for a rover to be used in surface and underground exploration on Mars in the European ExoMars mission,” said Active Space Technologies CEO Bruno Ramos de Carvalho.