Self-Driving Vehicles Hit the Factory Floor

When industry observers reference "smart manufacturing," Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), it is often related to connecting plant floor equipment and analyzing Big Data in an effort to increase quality and efficiency on the production line or in the supply chain. But sometimes it is the most simplistic applications that make the biggest difference. Enter Otto Motors, a start-up division of Clearpath Robotics, which is focused exclusively on intelligent self-driving vehicles (SDVs) for material transport in factory and distribution facilities. The company and its products, including the Otto 100 for light-load material transport and the Otto 1500 for heavy-load transport, were unveiled this week at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. The company launched in April of this year to focus on bringing modular SDVs that use onboard sensors to navigate the facility.