'Unmanned Vehicles' Operate at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Busan Plant

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Samsung Electro-Mechanics has introduced unmanned transport vehicles developed with Korean technology at its Busan plant.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology announced on the 15th that it achieved significant improvements in the stopping accuracy of unmanned transport vehicles supplied to Samsung Electro-Mechanics by collaborating with manufacturing specialist company Autorat Co., Ltd. Stopping accuracy refers to the degree to which the vehicle stops at the expected position upon receiving a stop signal.

Autorat had focused on independently developing wireless-guided unmanned transport vehicles, but the stopping accuracy was around ±25mm, which is a relatively wide margin of error, and the reliability was lower compared to overseas products, making market entry difficult. There was also no objective standard or systematic measurement method to evaluate stopping accuracy, which was expected to cause difficulties in after-sales service and quality control even if supplied.

Dr. Hancheol Jo’s research team from the Precision Machining Control Group at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology began necessary technology development at the request of partner company Autorat. Focusing on improving the electrical characteristics of the vehicle motor, they adjusted about 20 variable values such as speed and load rate through real-time motor inertia estimation experiments, then applied an appropriate driving algorithm to secure stopping accuracy at the ±15mm level. They also developed an objective evaluation system incorporating laser error measurement methods. They devised a wheel structure with an expanded surface area to ensure sufficient traction even on floors with oil or covered with tarpaulin, and adopted anti-slip tires to enhance braking performance.

Through these technical improvements, Autorat has sequentially delivered five autonomous unmanned transport vehicles of three types?conveyor, lift, and roll transport?to Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ Busan plant starting this month. This is a successful case of technological independence where a domestic small and medium enterprise broke into the unmanned transport vehicle market, dominated by overseas companies from Japan, Germany, the United States, and Switzerland, and supplied to a large corporation.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to place additional orders once stopping accuracy and reliability are verified during actual operation.

Dr. Jo said, "Having achieved localization of technology in the critical area of stopping accuracy improvement for unmanned transport vehicles, we expect rapid dissemination across various domestic production sites such as automotive, shipbuilding, steel, and paper industries," adding, "We will support the development of unmanned logistics robots equipped with automatic cargo loading functions on unmanned transport vehicles in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.