Details About Our

Floor Marking Robot

The Challenge of Marking Exhibition Layouts

Many in the exhibition and trade fair industry are aware of the challenges with utilizing the space as efficiently as possible. Tight event calendars require lean operations when it comes to planning, producing, moving in, running the show, moving out and tearing down, keeping the lead times as short as possible.

The marking of the stand positions, before actual production starts, is often performed during nights or at other odd hours and typically under stress. Traditionally the marking is carried out manually with tape and long tape measurers. It is a tedious, boring, time- and labour consuming operation and therefore costly.

Our robot-based system, transforms these challenges into an effective, sustainable and cost saving operation using state of the art technology.

General Description of the Robot System

The mechanical design is modularized as much as possible to simplify service.

The chassis of the robot is made of aluminium with a sturdy design. The robot is battery powered and has two drive-wheels, one on each side, that controls the locomotion. For support, two additional swivel casters are mounted in the rear end of the robot. The front of the robot is equipped with a bumper for mechanical obstacle detection.

Positioning

The robot uses a laser scanner for positioning and obstacle detection, connected to an onboard computer. The computer utilizes a detailed map of the facility for navigation and includes software for motion control and obstacle avoidance. This map-based navigation allows the robot to operate efficiently and reliably within the facility.

Marking

The marking of the stand position is done directly on the floor with an ink jet printer mounted in a removable cassette on the robot, printing markers (symbols, measurements and text) on most hard and flat surfaces. The robot can mark event layouts with any number of stands, with any orientation and with an array of irregular shapes. The layout of the markers is based on a CAD-file from the planning of an exhibition/event layout.

Operation

The robot is operated by a graphic user interface on a PC, laptop or tablet. The user interface communicates remotely with the robot through a private WIFI-network or optional the facilities network. All the robot functions are available via this interface and on the robot, there is also a rudimentary interface.

Important Characteristics of the Robot

Our robot is the fastest in the industry

It typically marks 80 booths per hour with four corner markers and four stands’ IDs (16 characters).
The robot is fully autonomous and requires no supervision.
Multiple robots can operate simultaneously in the same hall.

Technical strengths

The robot is not dependent of other equipment
It will not be subject to systematic positioning errors caused by misplaced beacons where all marks get an offset or the whole layout becomes rotated in the room. Our system is not subject of that kind of fatal operational errors.

Suitable for most types of exhibition halls

It works in both large and small halls, with or without pillars.
The robot requires no additional equipment installation for navigation.
It can print on various hard floor types such as painted or polished concrete, marble, painted asphalt, painted or varnished wood.

Flexible printing

All common characters can be printed.
Additionally, special symbols such as corner markers, symbols for electrical and water connections and lighting symbols can be marked.
Symbol and character height can be defined from 30 mm to 85 mm, and printing can be done in many different ink colours for both dark and light-coloured floors.
For easy handling the printer is mounted in a cassette that can be removed from the robot. This gives the possibility to have several printer cassettes for fast colour changes.

Easy to use

To start and finalize work it’s just one or two minutes.
Simple ink replacement and printer head cleaning.
Layouts are uploaded to the robot via an USB stick or the facility network.
The robot’s work can be continuously monitored and controlled from the interface.
The interface allows the operator to freely select in which order to process the room while moving other work equipment around to free up the floor.
A "Follow Me" function allows an easy way to move the robot between halls.

High safety

Obstacle detection through both a safety-rated laser scanner and bumper.
A redundant safety function halts the robot in the event of a software or hardware malfunction.
Bright warning lights signal when the robot is active. The robot can therefore operate while other personnel and work are present in the hall.
The robot is also fitted with an easily accessible SIL-classified emergency stop button.

Robust technology

The robot is designed for a life expectancy of up to 15 years, working 2 million sqm/year based on experience from the current installations.
The technology is well-proven and has been commercially used for a long time now.
The robot is built in modules for easy service and is fully based on components for industrial automation.
The chassis and wheels are designed for heavy-duty use, ensuring long-term performance in tough environments.
The large and robust wheels mean that the robot can easily negotiate uneven floors where remains as nails, screws and other rubbish from the previous exhibition remain.
The robot can work 100% standalone and have no need for external support systems as Wi-Fi networks or time-consuming beacons.
One hundred percent engineered and manufactured in Sweden with industrial grade components.

Understanding Our Floor Markings

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A descriptive text often set as the exhibition fair ID in order to differentiate multiple exhibitions. Customers also often use different colors for each exhibition fair.

A symbol ID which often is the Booth ID which quickly conveys booth’s row and column in the hall.

A symbol or letter. This is often a corner symbol but can also be a power, water, rigging point symbol

The Robot in Work

Description of the Work Process

Event sales

Production Planning

Operator realtime planning

With a computer-based planning tool, the layout that the robot uses as driving instruction is created. The planning tool is based on the CAD layout created by the business team for the exhibition. Today, we are compatible with several common planning tools in the industry such as Expocad Contractor and Expodesigner. We can also offer a standalone solution for the planning.

Maintenance and Service

The robot does not require any specific maintenance except changing the clock battery in the computer every 3 years. The printer head needs to be cleaned after use. Cleaning is done by pressing a button for a few seconds, all taking less than a minute in account.

To facilitate maintenance and ensure the availability of robots, we offer our customer optional service and support agreements. The content of the agreement is individually adapted to the customer's needs.

General Data

Dimensions

Overall length

840 mm

Overall width

732 mm

Overall height (3 pole option)

946/1046/1246 mm

Drive wheel

D=250 mm, W=50 mm

Swivel casters

D=125 mm, W=50 mm

Weight

45 kg

Speed

Maximal speed

1,5 m/s

Normal operational speed

1,0 m/s

Performance

Absolute positioning accuracy

Better than ±20 mm for 96% of the prints.
Zero cumulative errors.

Printed marks

Type of printer

Industrial DOD ink jet for tough environments

Number of characters

Up to 16 characters/symbols per mark

Height of characters

Option 1: Maximum 30 mm with 16 dots resolution
Option 2: Maximum 42 mm with 16 dots resolution
Option 3: Maximum 60 mm with 32 dots resolution
Option 4: Maximum 84 mm with 32 dots resolution

Characters

Digits, letters, corner marks as └ ┘ ┬ ┼ ʘ, Custom characters and symbols are possible.

Ink

0,6 litre, good for more than 12 hours of work. 22 different colours of ink for dark to light coloured floors and multiple exhibition markings. Different levels of washability are available. Most inks can be mixed to achieve even more colour tints.

Operations

Operation time

1 battery more than 12 hours, typically 15 hours.
2 batteries more than 24 hours.

Charging time

Less than 9 hours.

Operational temperature

0-40 °C

Productivity

Fully charge robot can work for 12 hours marking 40 000 sqm without any interruption. Typical operational speed for one single robot is 80 exhibition stands/hour when printing 300 corners/ intersections with 2x16 characters and a corner symbol over an area of 3000m2.

FAQs

How many robots do one need?

It largely depends on how tight planning you work with. As a guideline, we recommend 1 robot per 50,000 sqm of exhibition space.

How much does a robot cost?

It depends on which business model you want. The most economically model is to purchase the robots. Experience from our customers shows that the depreciation period is normally under 2 years. For more information on prices, contact us for a quote.

Is it possible to test the robot in our own exhibition halls?

Demonstration can be arranged in two ways. Either by customer coming to Stockholm and we do a demonstration at Stockholmsmässan or we visiting the customer and make a demonstration at customer selected site. A demonstration at customer site requires preparation, transport and travels so for that we have to charge the customer some costs.

Where can the ink be purchased?

The ink can be purchased from us or directly from our supplier. We recommend that you use this ink as we have long experience that it works well. It is also possible to use other suppliers of industrial jet dot ink based on water/alcohol as solvent, but then we do not guarantee the function.

Can the robot make markings while other work is going on in the hall?

Absolutely, the robot is safe to work with people around it. In the user interface, there are functions that easily enable parts of the floor surface to be temporally excluded from the job. Later, when these surfaces are again free of work and equipment, they can be activated again for marking.

Can you use several robots at the same time?

You can use several robots simultaneously in the same hall and/or in several halls.

How to remove the markings?

The markings can be washed away with an ordinary scrubber machine using detergents with a pH value of over 12, making it possible to control if markers should be kept or not while conducting normal floor cleaning. By using different colors, multiple event layouts can be marked at the same marking occasion.

Reach Out Today

Feel free to reach out to learn more about how our robot can seamlessly integrate with your process. We’re here to provide any additional details you need.