Answer from AI Robotics Australasia. .
| Feature | AGV | AMR |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Fixed path installed in the building | Onboard map, replans when the aisle is blocked |
| Layout changes | A route change means changing the path infrastructure | A route change is mostly a map and a mission update |
| Traffic | Predictable, easier to reason about in a stable plant | Flexible, needs fleet software so robots do not deadlock |
| Infrastructure | Path hardware in the floor or on the walls | Less path hardware, more dependence on sensors and software |
| Best site | Repeat routes that will still be there in five years | Job shops, mixed warehouses, and lines that get rearranged |
When an AGV is enough
If a tugger or a unit-load carrier runs the same loop between two machines every shift, a guided vehicle is a proven tool. The path is boring on purpose. Operators learn where it will be. Commissioning is about the route, the charging point, and the handshake at each station.
The cost people miss is the next renovation. Moving a line means moving the path. If that happens every year, the guided vehicle's simplicity becomes the project that never ends.
When an AMR earns the extra complexity
An autonomous mobile robot is the right call when pallets, stillages, or totes have to move between points that change, or when people and forklifts already occupy the aisle. The robot should slow, wait, or take another route instead of stopping the plant because someone left a stillage on the tape.
Fleet software matters as soon as you have more than one vehicle. Two AMRs that cannot negotiate a narrow aisle will block each other more expensively than a single AGV ever did. Mission design, charging, and what the robot does when a drop station is full are the real design work.
Do not buy navigation and forget the load
The vehicle is the easy photograph. The project is the interface: pallet stands at a repeatable height, a call button or a WMS message that means 'ready', and a rule for what happens when the receiving station is occupied. A perfect navigator with a vague drop point is an expensive queue.
We look at the material movement first. AGV, AMR, or a conveyor is the answer to that flow, not a category to fill.
Related questions
Which is better, an AGV or an AMR?
An AGV is better on a route that will not change. An AMR is better when the building, the obstacles, or the destinations move. Many sites end up with conveyors for the stable flow and mobile robots only where flexibility pays for itself.
Is an AMR the same as an AGV?
No. Both move material without a driver. An AGV is guided along a prepared path. An AMR localises on a map and can choose a different path when the planned one is blocked.
AGV or AMR for a warehouse?
Stable pallet loops inside a finished warehouse often suit an AGV or a conveyor. Goods-to-person and buildings that keep changing the slotting usually suit an AMR. The WMS handshake decides more than the vehicle category.
What does an AMR project actually require?
A map, a fleet policy, charging, repeatable pickup and drop geometry, and a clear signal for when a station is ready. The robot cannot invent a process the floor has not defined.