BlueBotics has launched ANT everywhere, a product extension for its ANT navigation products that widen the scope of AGV and AMR operations by enabling outdoor operations.
Outdoor use has traditionally been a challenge for producers of automated vehicles. This is because there are typically few permanent “features” visible outdoors, which are required for modern mobile robots to calculate their exact position. ANT everywhere overcomes this challenge by adding an additional data source for navigation: GNSS with real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning. The result is an indoor-outdoor navigation system that makes outdoor AGV and AMR operations as precise as those indoors.
When an ANT-driven vehicle is enabled with ANT everywhere, its navigation algorithm uses whichever data source is the most relevant at the time:
Inside a building: ANT navigation uses its usual odometry, inertial measurement unit (gyroscope), and laser scanner data to calculate a vehicle’s exact position, matching permanent features in the environment with those stored in its onboard site map.
When transitioning outside: with fewer features visible, GNSS data starts providing ANT with additional positioning information.
Fully outside: with fewer or zero permanent features visible, GNSS data is given higher priority still.
