AIV: Autonomous Industrial Vehicle powered by artificial intelligence
Powered by AI and real-time perception, AIVs (Autonomous Industrial Vehicles) are taking mobile robotics to the next level, making automated flows smarter, safer and more agile across warehouses and production facilities.
AIV: Autonomous Industrial Vehicle powered by artificial intelligence
Powered by AI and real-time perception, AIVs (Autonomous Industrial Vehicles) are taking mobile robotics to the next level, making automated flows smarter, safer and more agile across warehouses and production facilities.
A new generation of autonomous mobile robotics
Alstef Group’s AIV (Autonomous Industrial Vehicle) takes conventional AGV technology a step further with a perception dome that provides a deeper understanding of its surroundings. Onboard 3D cameras combined with artificial intelligence enable the vehicle to detect, identify and recognize people, loads, vehicles and signage. The AIV can then adapt its behavior in real time according to the situation.
This evolution makes automated material flows smarter and more flexible, particularly in areas where automated vehicles, manual equipment and operators share the same space.
By recognizing people, the vehicle can adapt its behavior to the situation, for example by slowing down or stopping according to the distance. This enables smoother interaction between operators and automated vehicles without unnecessarily disrupting flows.
A deeper understanding of its surroundings enables the AIV to anticipate situations and reduce unnecessary stops. Smarter obstacle management helps maintain smooth flows and operational performance.
By interpreting its surroundings in real time, the AIV can adapt its behavior to different situations and better manage the variations and unexpected events inherent in dynamic operating environments.
Elements that traditionally require configuration can be recognized directly by the vehicle. For example, when the AIV recognizes a pedestrian crossing, it can automatically adapt its speed without requiring the area to be configured in advance within the system.
Recognition capabilities can be expanded with new detection categories to address specific customer environments and use cases.
From detection to understanding
Today’s Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) provide robust and reliable operation based on predefined traffic and operating rules. With its AIV and perception dome, Alstef Group is developing a new approach: enabling the vehicle not only to detect its surroundings, but also to interpret them and adapt its behavior accordingly.
Using onboard 3D cameras and artificial intelligence models, the vehicle can identify different elements, including people, pallets and loads, forklifts and other vehicles, pedestrian crossings, signs and obstacles. This information can then trigger an appropriate response.
See
3D cameras observe the vehicle’s surroundings in real time and capture the information required for analysis.
Understand
Artificial Intelligence identifies and classifies detected elements, including people, pallets, equipment and infrastructure.
Adapt
The AIV uses this information to adapt its behavior, including its speed and response to the situation.
A perception dome designed for industrial operations
The perception dome provides a semantic understanding of its surroundings. Images captured by the 3D cameras are analyzed in real time by artificial intelligence models capable of recognizing people, loads, equipment and infrastructure around the vehicle.
The objective is not simply to detect that something is in the vehicle’s path, but to understand what it is so that this information can be taken into account in the vehicle’s behavior.
Detecting people in motion and during load transfers
The perception dome can identify a person before they enter the AGV’s safety fields while the vehicle is travelling at full speed. This allows the vehicle to anticipate the interaction and progressively adapt its behavior, slowing down or stopping according to the distance. It also takes context into account: a person standing behind a window, fence or barrier does not trigger unnecessary slowing or stopping.
Detecting obstacles at floor level and at height
The system recognizes obstacles such as forks, empty pallets, loads, manually operated forklifts and pallet trucks. This extended perception also enables functions that previously required additional optional safety equipment to be integrated directly into the solution.
Pallet detection and positioning
For automated pallet transport operations, the perception dome can determine the actual position of a pallet and adapt the vehicle’s docking trajectory accordingly.
It also enables functions such as push and drag prevention, checking that a location is clear before load placement, and pallet distance detection.
AI trained on real-world operations
To enable the AIV to recognize the situations it encounters effectively, Alstef Group has built its own private AI dataset using images collected under real operating conditions, including within the production facilities and warehouses of its industrial partners.
Over two years of R&D, our teams have collected, selected and annotated data to train recognition models on real-world situations involving operators, pallets, equipment, infrastructure and configurations encountered in the field.
Control over both the dataset and AI models enables the AIV’s perception capabilities to be continuously expanded, with new detection categories and functionalities developed for different applications and use cases.
More flexible and adaptive mobile robotics
Industrial sites are constantly evolving: operators move around, mobile equipment circulates, pallets are relocated, spaces are shared and layouts or operating conditions change over time.
By combining perception and artificial intelligence, the AIV is designed to better manage this variability and facilitate coexistence between automated flows and human activities.
This new generation of vehicles builds on Alstef Group’s expertise in automated material handling and mobile robotics, from AGV and AIV design to fleet management and integration into production and warehouse operations.
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