Release Notes - Q1 2022 - Release 1.5 "Agloolik"

For our first release of 2022, we've focused on improving the usability of the SYNAOS Intralogistics Management Platform, with our new Shop Floor Search and some key improvements to our AGV Fleet Management through configurable routes, controllable traffic assets and Sleep/Wake actions for supported AGVs.

New Features

Shop Floor Search

On large maps, it can sometimes be difficult to find the vehicle or workshop you are looking for. With our new store floor search, you can now find vehicles, handover points and traffic lights with just a few clicks, without having to pan or zoom.

Read more about our new shop floor search in our blog post.

Supporting external Identity Provider Azure

Customers can now integrate their own Azure identity provider into their SaaS tenant, making user, role and group assignment management easier.

Generate Empty Transport Orders

In order to support a downstream process for managing incoming empties orders in the warehouse with forklifts, we have created the ability to update Empties Transport Orders on the fly: after picking up an empty load carrier, we will generate and communicate the optimal destination for the empty load carrier. This happens via a REST API that can be consumed by external order systems.

Routing Configuration

You can now configure certain areas on the shop floor so that they are only made available for vehicles to pass through if no other route exists at that time. This guards against vehicles being routed through shop floor areas that are dedicated to a special purpose (e.g. battery swap lanes) as they might be blocked by vehicles serving their special purpose.

Manual sleep/wake actions

Users can now put an AGV to sleep or wake it up again (only compatible with supported hardware).

Improvements

Control Traffic Assets

We can now take full control of automated traffic assets, starting with traffic lights. Changes to the state of traffic lights are submitted on demand, for example when a vehicle needs to pass by an asset, to ensure the movement of vehicles on the store floor is in line with their priority. We also support traffic assets controlled by third party systems, taking into account any change in state and adapting our real-time planning process accordingly. We've also been able to apply this approach to automatic doors and elevators.

Improved Order Tracking

We’ve order tracking easier to understand, in particular, the ability to manually complete Tour Transport orders: we’ve made it easier to understand the difference between completing a Tour Transport and completing orders within a Tour, so that our users can use the system more effectively.

AGV lane reservation in meters in addition to nodes

We have found that the way we currently reserve lanes for AGVs using nodes does not work very well for navigation graphs with varying node density. Setting reservation limits in metres (in addition to nodes) is better suited for area-based traffic management and is available in this update. Reservation limits in metres can be set specifically for AGV types, giving you more flexibility in configuring traffic management.

Flexibly Configured MQTT Topics

It is now possible to specify multiple custom fields for the MQTT topic prefix of AGVs and shop floor devices. This added flexibility makes communication between our platform and AGVs and devices more robust and enables a more accurate representation of the process hierarchy. It also makes commissioning AGVs and shop floor equipment easier and faster.

Shop Floor Map Legend

We’ve made it easier to understand what all the icons, states and badges are by adding a nifty map legend to the shop floor view.

Coming Soon

Warehouse Execution solution and Inventory Management

This significant extension to our SYNAOS Intralogistics Management Platform will make it possible to receive customer orders and orchestrate warehouse workers as they go about their storage, relocation, picking and consolidation tasks.

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In Inuit mythology, Agloolik is a spirit that lives underneath the ice and acts as tutelary guardian for the protection of seals. It is said to provide aid to fishermen and hunters. If hunters prayed to the spirit before fishing, Agloolik will bless the hunters with prey.