The accolade of “Red Dot” has become established internationally as one of the most sought-after marks of quality for good design. In order to appraise the diversity in the field of design in a professional manner, the award breaks down into three disciplines: the Red Dot Award for Product Design, Red Dot Award for Brands & Communication Design and Red Dot Award for Design Concept. The award is organised once a year, and as one might imagine, competition to achieve this distinction can be intense. Stäubli’s new PF3 platform AGV captured this year’s coveted Best Smart Product award in the international Red Dot Design competition, giving it a world-class mark of quality.
Staubli
Stäubli designs and manufactures a range of premium AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) solutions, and the new PF3 AGV platform, with its outstanding performance, opens up a number of new industrial applications. The ultra-compact design of the PF3 boasts an impressive footprint to payload factor, with its ability to lift and carry payloads of up to 3-ton, whilst achieving sub-centimetre positioning.
Stäubli says that the low-profile of the PF3 AGV provides a number of advantages in use, including its ability to operate within very narrow spaces on the factory floor, manoeuvring in tight spaces, and around obstacles. The company claims that the Safety is assured with a combination of a 360-degree human safety scanner, a total of five emergency stop buttons, a collision avoidance sensor, and an all-round LED strip that communicates the AGV’s status whilst in operation.
It is also claimed that the new PF3 AGV is also designed for ease of integration, with both mechanical and electrical interfaces for third party add-ons, in addition to standard software interfaces. Maintenance procedures are also made easy with side access to internal components making it possible to change over critical components in just minutes.