VDA 5050 in practice test: AGV mesh-ups and mobile robot showcases are entering the fourth round

‍With regard to communication standards such as VDA 5050, users are particularly interested in their practical readiness. Laboratory field tests show what's working — and are chasing records.

Much of the work on standardization initiatives such as the VDA 5050 interface is, with all due respect, dry exercises. Technical discussions with details, technical development of structures and taxonomies. It is in the nature of things that users in particular ask: Is this really practical? Can I mixed robot fleets Are you really orchestrating as harmoniously as necessary via the common interface?

VDA 5050 a paper tiger? Since its world premiere at Dortmund's AGV mesh up in March 2021, the makers and supporters of the VDA 5050 have been answering exactly this question with a kind of sporting event — so-called “AGV mesh-ups,” live tests for the VDA 5050, or “showcases.”

VDMA member companies from the intralogistics sector meet at regular intervals to attend them. During events lasting several days, mobile robots interact with a central control system.

Since the premiere in 2021, companies have been increasing the level of difficulty every year in order to thoroughly test the practicality of the interface. This is based on real tasks in production and warehouse logistics.

• AGV mesh up, Dortmund

The VDMA Conveyor Technology and Intralogistics Association regularly organizes INTRALOGISTICS as part of the IFOY TEST CAMP AGV mesh-ups. At this live test event for the VDA 5050 communication interface, interested users can experience live how the central control of a mixed fleet with several vehicles from different providers works. At the same time, the live test also enables participating providers to gain important experience and insights when implementing the VDA 5050.

While there were still six AGVs at the VDA 5050 premiere in 2021, the number of mobile robots controlled here at the same time grew to seven in 2022 and nine in 2023. In 2024, a total of ten companies will be involved in the AGV Mesh-Up.

By the way: The word game mesh-up is deliberately based on the term “mesh WiFi.”

• Mobile Robots in Production, “Automatica” trade fair, Munich

Also on the Automatica, the world's leading trade fair for automation and robotics, demonstrated a total of ten intralogistics players in 2023 in a Showcasethat automated intralogistics transport is anything but a dream of the future: Eight mobile robot manufacturers and one production plant automation provider demonstrated their established automation technologies in a multi-stage production process. A powerful clock here too: the VDA 5050.

‍Record chase with VDA 5050

Over the years, a “Look, it really works! “It has become a veritable record chase. The industry is facing ever greater challenges, wants to bring together more and more robots from more manufacturers — and thus create vivid evidence over and over again that even almost unrealistically complex intralogistics scenarios can be solved in practice. And that in a relatively short period of time.

The message is clear: For anyone who thinks of intralogistics processes from a practical perspective and strives for flexibility and interoperability in intralogistics, the standardized VDA 5050 interface offers a powerful interface that primarily allows scaling. Even though the currently prevailing structures in practice should not be nearly as complex as the laboratory-like musclework of the showcases.

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