48 Building a robot to work among people is one of the most complex challenges for uncrewed systems engineers today. On top of dealing with perennial UGV problems such as real-time obstacle avoidance and efficient path planning, one must design a system that real, thinking, feeling humans must accept in their workplace. Robots’ movements can be unpredictable or disruptive, potentially posing a collision risk to pedestrians. Their form factors can make them intimidating if too large, or irritating if so small that they get underfoot. They might also be engineered such that they are difficult to interact with or keep track of. Any of these factors may drive even major factory and warehouse owners, looking to cut costs through use of mobile autonomous systems, to look elsewhere. Robotique Occitane (RobOcc), by contrast, has aimed to engineer its ROC-E autonomous workplace robot to integrate so smoothly and seamlessly among working personnel that it might not only replace the indoor industrial UGVs of large, well-established robotics OEMs working in factories and warehouses, but also find acceptance and uptake among smaller businesses not typically associated with mass automation. “We are working to deploy ROC-E in stores, exhibition show halls, hotels and hospitals, as well as with logistics and production industries more familiar with this category of robot,” explains Patrick Dehlinger, CEO of RobOcc. ROC-E is described by the southof-France-based company as an AIV – an ‘autonomous intelligent vehicle’ – to differentiate it from the automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) long used across large-scale industry and logistics. The system is built upon RobOcc’s NOEME AIV, which itself is a multi-purpose autonomous platform. “But NOEME is just a vehicle; it has much intelligence in it, but by itself it cannot yet perform any missions. NOEME is for integrators but ROC-E is an autonomous Factory AGVs and AMRs can be unwieldy and expensive, so one company in the south of France has aimed to make a robot so simple that even small stores and hospitals can use it. Rory Jackson investigates L’Autonome en Provence August/September 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology ROC-E is a 90 cm tall ‘AIV’ – autonomous intelligent vehicle – to differentiate it from typical AGVs and AMRs (All images courtesy of Robotique Occitane)
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