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Drones are autonomous but monitored by specially trained workers |
Audi is using a specially developed drone system to locate vehicles ready for dispatch at its Neckarsulm site.
The flying device flies over the vehicle dispatch area autonomously. It uses GPS and RFID technology to identify and save the exact position of all vehicles it flew over, thereby helping employees to plan the necessary steps from completion of the vehicles to dispatch to the customers.
Many different models roll off the lines at the Neckarsulm site every day. Following production, employees park the vehicles in the designated areas in the plant. Ensuring that each car finds its way to its new owner from here requires exact planning from production to dispatch. The drone makes it easier and more efficient to locate the vehicles at the site.
Given that so many different models are built there, the site is one of the most complex in the Volkswagen group. This makes precise order planning particularly challenging.
“The fast locating of the vehicles creates even higher process quality and is a further stepping stone on the path to digital production. The drone provides support from a completely new perspective. We will now share our experiences with other Audi sites and within the VW group,” said Steffen Conrad, project manager for innovation management at Neckarsulm.
The basis is a technology the automaker been using for quite some time: the RFID (radio frequency identification) chip with the associated vehicle identification number that each vehicle already receives in the body shop. The specially developed hexacopter, a drone with six propellers, flies over the vehicle dispatch areas on predefined routes at a height of around 10 metres (33ft) and determines the exact position of the cars parked there. The drone uses an RFID reader to read out every vehicle while flying directly over the dispatch area and saves the GPS position identified. As soon as the flying device has landed, the data is transmitted to a database via Wi-Fi automatically. After the flight, the result is then displayed on a digital map for the employees.
The drone takes off, flies, and lands in a completely autonomous manner. Trained workers start and monitor the flight from a laptop or tablet. In the event of an emergency, they can use a remote control to intervene in the otherwise fully automatic operation. Four employees have already been trained on how to use industrial drones. As part of this training, they also obtained a drone licence.
Before each flight, the drone receives the weather conditions around the plant premises in Neckarsulm automatically. If the wind is too strong or gusty or there is too much rainfall, the drone will not take off. In addition, the software checks the drone’s battery level and battery temperature before each flight. Should something not fall within the specified safety parameters, it will remain on the ground.
The pilot project is currently being transferred to permanent series testing, as part of which Neckarsulm workers will gather further experience. It is conceivable that drones will be used to locate vehicles at other sites in the future.
