When the first automatic guided vehicles (AGV) appeared, they were guided by a wire in the floor. Then came non-wire guidance by laser and inertial systems. And now, according to Seegrid Corp. (www.seegrid.com), the next generation of AGV guidance is here – vision.

The vision system's hardware includes four cameras and an embedded computer. Low-precision relative odometry input from encoders is cleaned up by the camera images and fed to the proprietary 3-D map-based navigation software to guide the vehicle, explains Scott Friedman, president and CEO of Seegrid.

Already the company has struck a deal with AGV supplier Amerden (www.amerden.com) to offer the technology commercially. According to Amerden's president, Roland Anderson, demo vehicles will be available by the end of this year.