From Perception to Performance: RealSense Depth Cameras Power MiR’s Safe Autonomous Navigation in Industrial Environments
The challenge
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) face significant challenges in industrial settings, where obstacles like low-lying objects, broken or non-standard pallets, varying lighting conditions and fluctuating temperatures can compromise navigation and safety.
The solution
MiR’s mobile robots integrate a sophisticated multi-sensor approach that combines RealSense 3D Cameras, SICK microScan 3 and LiDAR scanners.
The results
RealSense-enabled AMRs now operate in warehouses, airports, hospitals and mega-factories, with deployments as large as 800+ robots per customer.
Spotlight on MiR
Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) uses RealSense depth cameras to power safe, fully autonomous navigation in dynamic industrial environments. By combining 3D vision, AI and edge computing, MiR’s robots can perceive complex surroundings, avoid obstacles and adapt in real time.
Safely Navigating Complex and Unpredictable
Environments
While traditional industrial automation systems rely heavily on fixed infrastructure and static programming, MiR needed a computer vision solution that could:
- Perceive and understand the irregular 3D environment in real time.
- Reliably detect and avoid obstacles.
- Adapt to dynamic, non-structured environments without extensive preprogramming.
- Minimize false positives in harsh conditions.
RealSense Depth Cameras for Enhanced Perception and Safety
MiR’s latest innovation — the MiR1200 fully autonomous AI-
powered Pallet Jack — features five RealSense D457 3D depth
cameras combined with an NVIDIA platform, enabling true real-time perception and decision-making.
Key capabilities of RealSense D457 cameras:
- Stereoscopic depth technology.
- AI-enhanced navigation.
- Real-time object recognition.
- Near-field performance.
- Proactive safety.
Odense University Hospital (Odense, Denmark)
Odense University Hospital (OUH) leverages three MiR robots with RealSense depth cameras to automate critical internal logistics and improve operational efficiency while maintaining a strong focus on patient safety.
With over 8,000 kilometers logged without incident, MiR robots have proven exceptionally reliable in high-sensitivity healthcare environments.
Megatech Industries (Vaduz, Liechtenstein)
Megatech Industries, a manufacturer of plastic parts for the automotive sector, deployed four MiR250 AMRs with RealSense cameras to improve internal logistics, enhance safety and increase operational efficiency.
The initiative has significantly reduced bottlenecks and operational costs, with an estimated annual ROI of €100,000.
Safer Robots, Faster Deployment and New Markets
The integration of RealSense cameras into MiR systems has delivered measurable performance and operational advantages, beginning with truly autonomous navigation. Robots can identify and adapt to diverse pallet types and floor layouts, without human intervention.
Future Outlook: AI, Functional Safety and Scalable Autonomy
RealSense cameras are essential to MiR’s vision to deliver highly advanced, safe and scalable systems that not only react to their environment but anticipate it, furthering its quest to build AMR fleets that operate with minimal human oversight, automatically coordinating tasks, optimizing routes and adapting to changing operational requirements.
“Without RealSense, we wouldn’t have a product — we’d have a semi-automated solution at best… What RealSense gives us — true perception — is the key to fully autonomous, safe and intelligent robotics.”
— Nicklas Holm Hansen,
Global Commodity Manager, MiR