AGV vs AMR: What's the Difference, and What Does It Mean for Your WMS?

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) both move goods around a warehouse without a driver. The difference is how they find their way, and that decides how well each fits a building that changes.

What Is an AGV?

An AGV follows a fixed path set into the facility: a buried wire, magnetic strips, floor tape or reflectors. AGVs have moved material for decades and suit heavy loads and routes that rarely change. When something blocks the path, an AGV stops and waits. Changing a route means changing the floor, which takes time and money.

What Is an AMR?

An AMR navigates on its own using cameras, laser scanners and an onboard map. It plans its own route, steers around people, forklifts and pallets, and can take on a new layout when its map is updated. AMRs are usually smaller and built to work alongside people, often bringing totes to pickers in the aisles.

Which One Fits?

AGVs fit stable, high-volume flows with heavy loads. AMRs fit operations whose layout, product mix or volume changes, and they can be added a few at a time. Many facilities run both.

What It Means for Your WMS

Whichever you choose, the robots only help if your warehouse management system tells them what to do and records what they did: orders become tasks, and completed tasks update inventory. That integration is where E2 works. For one 3PL, E2 integrated Locus AMRs with its HighJump WMS and added leased robots for peak season.

See how we connect WMS and automation, read our case studies, or find answers to common questions.

Ready to talk about your warehouse? Book a discovery meeting or call 612-225-1961.