Unpacking the Complexity of Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) Communication Intentions Through Ontology

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) performing intralogistics tasks continue to have a growing presence on shop floors of warehouses and factories. In most cases, they operate in the same working space as human workers and therefore need to communicate with them. In research and industry, there are several communication tools addressing different communication intentions of the robots. In this paper we propose an ontology that provides an overview of the most common and essential intentions of intralogistics AMRs, enabling manufacturers and users to design, describe and verify their robot’s interaction capabilities. The set of intentions is created through an iterative process, including two workshops with experts from the industry. The resulting ontology contains twelve main intentions, each assigned to one or more categories (moving, idle, safety area, special status and safety-relevant). Possible applications include the aforementioned usage by manufacturers and users of AMRs in intralogistics but may be expanded to other robots and fields.