As warehouses and distribution centres increasingly turn to automation to improve efficiency and address labour shortages, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are playing a growing role in material handling and intralogistics. Reflecting this trend, ABB Robotics has expanded its AMR portfolio with the launch of the Flexley® Stack F712, an autonomous forklift designed to support warehouse operations alongside the company’s existing tug and mover robots.
“Across intralogistics operations, businesses are being asked to process greater volumes in less time, while working with increasingly limited resources,” said Marc Segura, President, ABB Robotics. “They are under pressure to move goods faster and with greater flexibility, while labour availability is becoming a critical constraint. As part of our jour-ney to more autonomous and versatile robotics (AVRTM), we have combined advanced vision, mobility and intelli-gence in the Flexley® Stack F712 forklift AMR, completing our scalable, AI-powered AMR portfolio.”
F712 is versatile, capable of handling multiple load types and sizes – including open and closed pallets, containers or racks- up to 2,000 kg and reaching heights of 8.5 meters.
The Flexley Stack AMR F712 joins the Flexley® Tug and Flexley® Mover in ABB Robotics’ growing Visual SLAM AMR portfolio. Applications include intralogistics tasks such as warehouse storage and retrieval, as well as line sup-ply, end-of-line handling, body- and press-shop and drive-in and light buffer in the automotive and industries sector.
Unlike conventional AMR forklifts on the market, F712 uses Visual SLAM to map and navigate its environment, eliminating the need for pre-installed infrastructure like markers or reflectors. The AI-enabled Visual SLAM supports the autonomous decisions required to operate in complex, dynamic warehouse operations with a market-leading positional accuracy of ±10 mm. Together with AMR Studio®, this shortens commissioning times by up to 20 percent and creates a versatile and reliable system that can adapt instantly when a warehouse or production floor layout
changes. Certified to the latest ISO and ANSI safety standards, Flexley® Stack F712 can safely operate at class-leading speeds of up to 1.7 m/s while loaded.
F712 is fully integrated with AMR Studio® and is VDA5050 compatible, enabling seamless integration with ABB Robotics’ Visual SLAM AMRs and existing systems within a unified project. This makes it easy to manage complex projects and integrate different types of mobile robots. The no-code, drag-and-drop software suite supports rapid setup, fleet coordination, traffic management and real-time visualization, allowing ABB Robotics’ tugs, movers and forklifts to operate together in the same layout for scalable turnkey automation projects.
