IN Brief:
- SmartPass is available now for ANT-driven AGVs and AMRs running under BlueBotics’ ANT server fleet manager.
- The function keeps vehicles on virtual paths by default, but allows short, configurable detours around blocked objects.
- BlueBotics says tying those detours to existing traffic rules is intended to cut deadlocks in busy internal logistics sites.
BlueBotics has launched SmartPass, a new function within its ANT navigation and fleet management software that is aimed at one of the more stubborn problems in automated internal logistics: how a vehicle should respond when its path is suddenly blocked.
The Swiss supplier is positioning the release as a middle ground between the fixed-route behaviour associated with traditional AGVs and the freer obstacle avoidance used by many AMRs. In practice, that means vehicles continue to follow virtual paths for normal travel, but can leave those paths briefly, within preset limits, to move around a stationary obstruction before rejoining the original route.
That distinction matters in warehouses, production plants, and distribution operations where automated tuggers, pallet movers, forklifts, and carts are expected to move predictably through shared traffic zones. Dr Nicola Tomatis, chief executive officer of BlueBotics, said conventional AGVs tend to stop and call for operator assistance when blocked, while conventional AMRs can attempt any route available, creating the conditions for fresh congestion. “No matter how clean a site, and how well trained its staff, the paths of mobile robots sometimes become blocked,” he said. “AGVs typically manage this situation by sending an alarm to an operator, while AMRs take any route possible, without limitation. The first can lead to transport delays, the second to traffic deadlocks. SmartPass effectively bridges the gap between the two.”
BlueBotics says the system is designed to keep those local decisions under central fleet control, rather than letting vehicles improvise freely. SmartPass manoeuvres are governed inside the ANT server traffic management framework, with vehicles authorised to avoid obstacles only when there is no risk of blocking another robot. The company also says vehicles will move around objects, but not around other vehicles, and that SmartPass is disabled near pick and drop points where repeatable positioning still matters more than flexibility.
There is also a productivity claim behind the launch. BlueBotics says SmartPass-equipped vehicles can maintain higher speeds and cleaner acceleration profiles while following their virtual routes, switching to slower reactive behaviour only when needed. It also says some vehicle actions, including fork movement and equipment communication, can continue during an avoidance manoeuvre, reducing the stop-start sequencing that often drags down cycle times.
The release fits a broader pattern in BlueBotics’ recent product development, which has focused on making mixed and more tightly orchestrated fleets easier to manage. Over the past two years the company has expanded ANT server with VDA 5050 support and connected its navigation stack to JBT’s mot.OS platform, both aimed at wider interoperability. SmartPass extends that logic from fleet coordination into the vehicle’s immediate response to disruption on the floor.
SmartPass is available now for vehicle makers, system integrators, and end users deploying ANT-driven AGVs and AMRs through ANT 2.35. BlueBotics is scheduled to demonstrate the technology at LogiMAT in Stuttgart from 24 to 26 March and at MODEX in Atlanta from 13 to 16 April.
