Proof-of-Concept Planning
A proof of concept (POC) validates the J1600 against your specific application before a wider purchase or deployment. It sits alongside two other evaluation routes — the hands-on demonstration and the two-week paid trial — and is the right choice when an application needs deeper or more controlled validation than a standard trial provides.
Choosing the right evaluation route
| Route | What it is | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Demonstration | 30–60 minutes hands-on; first autonomous task typically within about 15 minutes | Partner experience center or customer site |
| Paid trial | 14 calendar days on your own tasks, with deployment day and support included | Your facility |
| Proof of concept | Validation scoped to your application, agreed individually | Copenhagen demo area, or your plant |
Demonstrations prove ease of use. Trials prove the robot in your daily operation. A POC proves a specific application question — for example an unusual load carrier, a demanding route, or a throughput target — before you commit further. See Trial planning.
Two places to run a POC
The Copenhagen demo and test area
Prospects can run tests at the company's Copenhagen demo and test area. The facility is built for validation under intentionally real-world conditions: deliberately uneven flooring, water-filled test loads, and multiple test setups. Testing there is useful when you want to see your load types handled before moving anything into your own operation.
Your own plant
For a POC in your production environment, machines can be transported to your plant. The EMEA distributor and integrator network is experienced in running plant trials and POCs, and the sales and technical team scopes the test with you. POC scope, duration, and success criteria are agreed individually for each case.
What to validate in a POC
Focus the POC on the questions a demonstration cannot answer:
- Loads: your actual carriers against the open-base requirement and the 1,250 x 1,250 mm envelope — especially open cages, barrels, or custom carriers. See Pallet and load suitability.
- Floors and routes: real bumps, gaps, flatness, and clearances on the intended paths. See Route and floor suitability.
- Environment: temperature, humidity, and traffic conditions at the actual workstations. See Site suitability.
- Tasks: the exact task patterns you plan to run — deliver-and-return, drop-and-wait, multi-point flows — and the post-delivery behaviors.
- People: how quickly your operators reach independent use. Training takes about 30 minutes for an existing electric-pallet-jack operator.
- Throughput: whether the automated legs reclaim the operator time your business case assumes, against the up-to-80% claim for repetitive transport.
Setting success criteria
Define pass criteria before the POC starts: which tasks must run, at what consistency, handled by whom, and what evidence the decision needs. The weekly-check-in structure of the paid trial is a good template. Agree the criteria with your partner and the technical team when scoping the POC.
Arranging a POC
Contact the sales and technical team or your local partner. Inquiries via mobilerobot.com are routed to the partner network. If the POC succeeds, the next step is purchase — with the optional structured go-live described in Deployment scope examples.