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(mellow music) - [Matt] Hi, Im Matt from BlueBotics and in this video well cover five AGV development mistakes that you as an automated vehicle maker should definitely look to avoid.
At BlueBotics weve helped producers develop vehicles for over a decade.
So we surveyed our team to identify the most common mistakes that vehicle makers make when theyre developing an AGV, an automated forklift or a mobile robot.
Here then is what weve learned.
The first mistake we see vehicle makers making is not knowing their vehicles application well enough.
Every industry has its own specific needs.
An AGV for the automotive sector, for example, will probably need to perform very different functions that a pure warehousing product or a hospital logistics robot.
For example, many AGV development projects begin with the goal of sub-centimeter accuracy, but in many cases, like in warehousing, accuracy of around one centimeter or a half inch is usually more than enough.
A generic vehicle thats designed to suit as many applications as possible might end up suiting none of them, and it stands a good chance of exploding your development budget.
Therefore, its important to define what success looks like.
So before you reach out to any possible automation partner like BlueBotics, or you begin prototyping your AGV, try to define exactly what you want your vehicle or mobile robot to do, and then explore whether or not in reality it actually needs to do this.
So run your draft vehicle specs past suppliers and if possible potential customers in your target industry to see what features need to be added or maybe eliminated.
Do this early and be prepared to adapt these specifications.
At BlueBotics, we sometimes see companies skip this step and instead move forward with more complicated functionality than the end user really needs and the result is often an unsuccessful product.
Mistake number two is not hiring the right (or the right number) of team members.
Starting an AGV development project without the right in-house expertise can lead to stress and unplanned expenses.
The roboticist on your team for example, will ideally be an expert in mechatronics.
So, theyre skilled in mechanical, electronic and computer engineering, to ensure that they know how your vehicle works from end to end.
And not having the right level of detailed knowledge in house? Well, that can lead to several problems.
It can lead to costly mistakes like installing a component meant for manual vehicles which wont work in an AGV.
It can also lead to lengthy delays as your mechanical engineer, for example, scrambles to learn computer programming, and it can mean frustrating support calls with suppliers in the future - because if your team doesnt understand how your vehicle works, how can they fix it when it breaks? Theres also the bus factor to contend with, that is of course, the risks to your business or one of your employees disappearing from a project because they were...
you guessed it, hit by a bus.
Or maybe more likely perhaps they leave the company or retire.
The result though is the same.
If you only have a single point of knowledge for your AGV project, then you risk this project grinding to a halt if that team member leaves.
What would the potential cost of this brain drain be to your business? And how does this compare to building a slightly larger team right now? These questions are worth considering.
Finally, also worth mentioning is the need for technical post-sales staff who can travel to your customers sites to actually commission or install your AGVs.
Youd be surprised how many companies consider this a little bit too late.
Will the staff you send to get your customers AGVs moving on site be the same ones who develop those vehicles? If they are this will of course, slow down any new development work or, by contrast, will you build out a separate team to handle these revenue generating installations? In summary, redundancy is not only valuable for components and systems, it pays to apply backup thinking to your people too.
So if you can, build out a team of relevant experts.
Try to hire people with overlapping roles, not just a single person.
And of course, its true that hiring a second electrical engineer might be a hard sell to the CEO, but there are almost certainly people with complimentary skills in your wider company who might be delighted to spend a few hours a week on a cool robot project.
So invite them in to create documentation if nothing else.
And on the same theme, to avoid the bus problem, really ask your development team to create great documentation as they go.
This way, any new or replacement staff have much more chance of succeeding in the future.
If your staff are not technical writers, a series of screen-recorded videos can do the job just fine.
Mistake number three is focusing on the wrong costs.
AGV development is expensive, but what weve learned at BlueBotics, really from working with vehicle makers right around the world, is that cutting corners on hardware in the beginning often leads to increased costs in the long-term.
In a typical AGV project, hardware will represent almost all of the time and less than half the cost, so it makes sense to invest here.
Dont forget, to create an accurate vehicle you need accurate measurements.
Your hardware therefore needs to be robust and high quality, especially components that measure variables like the angle of steering, speed and traction.
Cutting corners on your kit to save $50 here, might well compromise the performance of your entire $100,000 vehicle, not to mention causing problems when installing and maintaining this AGV.
So, when designing and prototyping, think long-term and really go for the best possible components by default.
Then if you like, once your new AGV is working perfectly, cost out the difference in price between top shelf and standard hardware choices and decide which alternatives you want to test.
You may find space for major savings, or the difference may be a lot less than you think.
Mistake number four is automating the wrong vehicle.
BlueBotics ANT navigation is flexible, accurate, robust, all those things.
So with tech like that, you can automate whatever vehicle you like, right? Well, in theory yes, but in practice the time and pain involved in automating some manual vehicles would actually be better spent automating other models or even building an automated product from the ground up.
The difficulty level when automating a manual vehicle can be high, so make sure youre fully informed about whats involved before you move ahead.
For example, automating a vehicle with fully mechanical steering means a motor and encoder will need to be installed alongside the steering column and this adds difficulty, expense and a potential point to failure.
Your manual vehicle may also have a mechanical throttle and brakes, which will need to be electrified before they can be automated.
And manual drive vehicles tend to feature built-in safety features that are designed to avoid human mistakes.
These will all need to be adapted to give an AGV or an automated forklift the reactivity it needs.
So, discuss the topic of which vehicle to automate very carefully with your preferred automation supplier before you get started.
Or, if youre planning to automate a third-party vehicle like an existing manual forklift, try to also talk to its producer directly.
Really, a single phone call at this stage could help you avoid a world of development pain later.
Mistake number five is underestimating the importance of sales and marketing.
AGV development, as weve discussed, is a significant investment.
So youll really get the best ROI by ensuring as many people as possible hear about your creation.
Therefore, even for small vehicle makers - especially for small vehicle makers - its a good idea to try and expand your team beyond R&D, beyond engineering.
Invite sales staff to your development meetings so they can feedback customer questions.
Let your marketing manager take pictures and videos of your test runs.
Offer beta customers a discount in exchange for permission to talk about their projects.
If you have in-house sales or marketing, you could hire an agency or a freelancer (try fiverr.com) and you could see if your supplier and customers will help too.
With suppliers for example, ask them to highlight your vehicle on their website and to talk about it to their sales team - it contains components they manufactured after all! And after you launch, ask happy customers to talk about how using your vehicle has made their businesses more efficient.
Telling stories like this is really win-win as they speak not only to the excellence of your product, but also to your customers wisdom in facing the future and embracing new technology.
Theres lots you can do today as well through digital marketing channels that is very cost effective.
Effectively, you set the cost and the targeting is really very powerful.
So set up Google ads for example, to get found on search for ready to buy keywords or advertise on LinkedIn, targeting for example by industry, by region, by job title.
And an extra top tip, targeting LinkedIn users via the groups they are members of on LinkedIn, returns surprisingly great results in terms of people seeing your brand and clicking through to your website.
Also, engage your suppliers.
Produce a joint press release at launch where you talk about your choice of their technology, and then ask them to help distribute that and publicize the partnership.
They will have existing networks and existing reach, so try to piggyback on that if you can.
The bottom line is that your AGV project wont be successful if you cant sell your finished product.
So make sales and marketing a line item and give your vehicle the best chance of success.
Developing an automated vehicle isnt easy, but it is worth it.
At BlueBotics we have a dedicated team of automation specialists who help companies to produce accurate robust AGVs that work.
So, if this is you, be sure to reach out to us via bluebotics.com and be sure to click Subscribe, and then the bell icon below this video to make sure youre notified when we post more guides like this.
Thanks for listening! (soft music)
BlueBotics SA: 5 AGV Development Mistakes to Avoid | A Vehicle Maker Guide - IT Staff Augmentation