![]() Thanks to two collaborative robotic arms that remove and replace containers, shake samples, or clean tools to prevent cross-contamination, the Tech Lab’s lubricant base pilot plant operates completely autonomously 24 hours per day. The robotized system “will be integrated with another AGV that already makes deliveries so they can communicate and ensure the samples get to the end user.” The robotized warehouse “combines software to automate the Warehouse Management System (WMS) and hardware with an AGV to transport loads within the warehouse,” continues Alfonso García. ![]() This system will deal with the 60,000 samples received from the industrial complexes each year. Capable of transporting up to 100 kilos and with a battery that lasts for up to 10 hours or 20 kilometers, it charges its batteries without human intervention to ensure it is always available.įurthermore, in July of this year Tech Lab’s warehouse automation system will become operative. Thanks to its SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) navigation system and a set of sensors (laser scanner, gyroscopes, and inertial navigation systems) RobLab moves around independently, communicates with elevators, and opens doors remotely. Named RobLab by employees of the Tech Lab, the AGV is a collaborative robot equipped with a 3D depth camera, ultrasound sensors, and safety bumpers that detect people and objects so it can avoid them or stop. In addition, it does not depend on people’s availability and can carry much more than a person, thereby optimizing the delivery route.” However, the biggest advantage “is that it frees up our technical experts from this low-value task so they can concentrate on more important work, such as decision-making.” Repsol's first automated guided vehicle (AGV) already transports samples and equipment between the warehouse and the various laboratories located in the buildings of the Tech Lab.įor Alfonso García, leader of the Experimentation 5.0 project from Repsol’s Division of Technology and Corporate Venturing, the AGV “improves efficiency in many ways, for example by making deliveries at times that do not interfere with work in the laboratories, scheduled or on-demand deliveries. The financial impact of introducing robots is estimated at over 3 million euros in 2021 just at the Tech Lab, and this figure will significantly increase when robotization spreads to all of the firm's areas. At this center, which is home to the robotics hardware hub, four lines of robots are being developed: logistics robots, warehouse automation systems, collaborative robotic arms, and robotic arms to open and close industrial equipment. The Repsol Technology Lab in Móstoles (Madrid, Spain) develops disruptive technologies that are later implemented in the Company. Repsol has two robotics hubs - one for software and the other for hardware - aimed at developing and implementing physical and software robots to complete routine tasks and free up employees or carry out potentially dangerous work in industrial facilities. In the case of robotization, the Company is training its employees to lead this process, seeking to increase the synergies of human-machine interaction, so that people can focus on tasks with higher added value, such as decision-making. ![]() ![]() Repsol has been clearly commitment in this regard for a long time. In order to reverse the current situation, increased investment in research is a fundamental component, whose greatest supporter in Spain is industry, where 80% of private R&D&I is born. With adequate training, more professional opportunities will emerge, an essential aspect to overcoming the crisis caused by COVID-19. Training is essential so that people have the necessary tools to respond to the challenges that robotization presents. But that’s not all: it has already automated over 100 processes thanks to RPA technology and is incorporating components in robots already in use to make them more intelligent. In 2020, the energy company will carry out its first pilot test using a logistics robot to transport materials in an industrial complex. Robotization is one of the main vectors in Repsol’s digital transformation strategy to improve safety and efficiency in all its processes.
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