What distinguishes these machines
AGV usually refers to automatically guided vehicles following defined routes; AMR refers to robots able to adapt their navigation within the intended environment. Commercial terminology varies: review the model’s actual functions and limits.
ISO 3691-4:2023 addresses safety requirements and verification for driverless industrial trucks and their systems, including AGVs and AMRs among its examples. Its scope and other applicable references must be checked. The label “autonomous” does not demonstrate that equipment can travel without restrictions alongside people.
Assess the complete application
Consider the robot, load, attachments, transfer stations, fleet control and environment. OSHA identifies impact and trapping hazards in mobile applications. A passage that is safe for an empty robot may no longer be safe when its load protrudes.
Analyse crossings, doors, slopes, visibility, floors and changing obstacles. Include start-up, adjustments, cleaning, fault recovery and maintenance. Risk is not limited to normal travel: exceptional interventions can bring people close to hazardous parts or movements.
Pedestrians, routes and operating zones
Organise routes and access to reduce dangerous encounters. In Spain, Royal Decree 1215/1997 requires traffic rules and measures to protect workers on foot from mobile equipment. Signs support that organisation, but do not replace necessary separation.
Define transfer zones, access conditions and the response to a blocked route. Consider visitors, contractors and shift changes. Do not make safety depend solely on everyone always knowing the intended path or hearing a warning.
Safety functions and commissioning
Review with the manufacturer and integrator which functions detect presence, limit movement or trigger a safe stop. A sensor used for navigation must not automatically be assumed suitable for protecting people.
Validation must consider the intended configuration, load and conditions of use without exposing people to dangerous tests. Document acceptance criteria and operating limits. Also check behaviour following loss of communications or power, and how the system restarts without generating unexpected movement.
Maintenance and configuration changes
Establish safe procedures for clearing blockages, removing loads and maintaining equipment. Control hazardous energy and avoid entering trapping zones while relying solely on a software pause. Charging and batteries require measures appropriate to their technology.
Review route, speed, load or facility changes before applying them. Keep records of incidents and safeguards, and train operators and intervention personnel. A system that was initially validated can lose its safe conditions if the environment changes without assessment of the consequences.
Hypothetical example: crossing a pedestrian aisle
A warehouse introduces an AMR to transport containers to a station. The review identifies a door that conceals pedestrians and loads that increase the space occupied during turns.
The route is modified, the crossing organised and safety functions verified for the intended conditions. Arrangements for removing a blocked container are also defined. The solution combines design and organisation; it is not simply a matter of reducing speed or adding an audible alarm.
