Component Handing Automated Guided Vehicle–A Cyber Physical System Case Study

Material manoeuvre on shop floors and storages is often wholly neglected chore which accounts for higher overheads to the proprietor. The issues related to material handling can be resolved to greater extent by automation which is an integral component of Industry 4.0. This smart revolution talks about a new segment in the Industrial Revolution which focuses largely on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, sensors and real time data. The technologies of this innovative revolution ensure time and cost savings owing to faster operations, reduced machine downtime, better productivity and higher quality output. Cyber Physical System (CPS) which is an association of embedded systems interrelating with physical peripherals in real time plays a vital role in Industry 4.0 and one of the applications of CPS can be a customized autonomous component handling system. This paper deals with case study of the development of an automated component handling system, Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV), especially for small to medium scale enterprises (SMEs) with due consideration to CPS layers in an attempt to make it more intelligent. The component handling times for manual and automated methods have been compared to focus on one of the benefits in terms of time saving offered by adopting Industry 4.0 and CPS.