Robot SOTO from Magazino Automates Intralogistics at ZF

The Munich-based robotics company Magazino wins the technology group ZF as a customer for a pilot project with the robot SOTO. The mobile robot SOTO automates the material supply between the warehouse and the assembly line, transporting small load carriers completely autonomously. The pilot operation started at the Friedrichshafen site in the gearbox assembly for commercial vehicles and offers both sides the opportunity to gain experience with the robot for live operation.

Already in recent years, there has been a close development partnership between ZF and Magazino. Among other things, the prototype of the robot and the gripping mechanism for different small load carriers (KLT) were tested. The pilot project started in September 2021 and is designed for about a year. During this period, a pre-series model of the robot will be used in several presence phases in the production environment in Friedrichshafen.

Dr. Hermann Becker, production manager at ZF in Friedrichshafen, says: “ZF sees mobile robots like SOTO as a fundamental element to fully automate logistics processes in production, support employees, and reduce costs. The goals of the pilot project are: both sides gain experience for later live operation, ZF can incorporate its own requirements into the development, and Magazino can further optimize the robot and make its processes more robust.”

Markus Ruder, responsible project manager at Magazino, describes the target process as “The robot SOTO takes over the transport of an average of more than 10 KLT with material from the retrieval point to the assembly line. Here, the robot hands over the KLT into inclined shelf racks. At the same time, the return transport of empty containers is also taken over. The VDA containers can weigh up to 20 kilograms and have a footprint of up to 600 x 400 millimeters. Cameras and sensors allow safe operation alongside humans – Data Matrix Codes (DMC) are used by the cameras to identify the correct pick-up and drop-off points.”

Interface Helps with Traffic Control in the Workshop

For the first time, the VDA 5050 interface is implemented in a robot system from Magazino. The cross-industry interface primarily helps with the overarching traffic control in the workshop. The robot SOTO will ultimately operate in a very busy work environment. Numerous other traffic participants such as forklifts, industrial trucks, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and tugger trains share the traffic routes with SOTO – it is essential to keep an overview at all times.

While assembly lines in the manufacturing industry are highly automated today, the supply of replenishment still mostly occurs manually. Previous solutions such as tugger trains or simple automated guided vehicles (AGVs) do not fully automate the process, as manual work is still required during loading and unloading.

Fully Autonomous Solution

The robot SOTO combines these essential process steps into a single, fully autonomous solution: the picking of differently sized KLT, the autonomous transport of multiple KLT from source to sink, and the delivery into flow racks at different heights. Collecting empty containers and rotating small load carriers by 90° to 180° are also part of its capabilities. The combination of these abilities clearly distinguishes the robot SOTO from the market environment and enables true end-to-end automation in material supply for the first time.

Photo: © Magazino