Brownfield Automation
A brownfield site is an existing facility whose processes and layout were not designed around new automation. Most warehouses and factories are brownfield, and their realities — changing layouts, mixed traffic, imperfect floors, no appetite for a construction project — are exactly what the J1600 is designed for.
No infrastructure, by design
The J1600 needs nothing built, mounted, or embedded:
- no tracks, wires, magnets, or reflectors;
- no building modifications;
- Wi-Fi optional for basic use;
- no mandatory warehouse-management-system, fleet-manager, or IT integration;
- ready to use on delivery, with typical setup in hours or one day depending on scope.
Navigation is 3D LiDAR SLAM on an industrial NVIDIA Jetson AI computer: the robot builds and continuously updates a three-dimensional map while an operator drives it, then localizes and plans its own routes to saved destinations. 3D mapping is designed for greater precision and reliability than traditional 2D navigation in complex or changing environments, scanning environmental structures at heights reaching up to 70 m above the vehicle.
Living with a layout that moves
Brownfield floors change: pallets appear mid-aisle, racking moves, seasonal areas open and close. The J1600 absorbs this in three ways:
- It routes around obstacles. The environment model updates continuously, and the robot navigates around whatever is in the way — see Dynamic Route Changes.
- Operators re-teach in minutes. A moved drop point is fixed by driving there and tapping Save location — no automation expert, no reprogramming project. See Temporary Location Setup.
- A person is always in the loop. Anything the site throws up that automation should not guess at — a blocked aisle, a damaged pallet, an improvised storage spot — is handled by immediate manual takeover. See Handling Exceptions and Irregular Loads.
What the floor still has to provide
Brownfield tolerance has measured limits. Autonomous operation requires:
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Gradeability, automatic mode | 0% — level floors only |
| Gradeability, manual mode | 5% unloaded / 3% at full load |
| Maximum traversable bump | 25 mm (1 in) |
| Maximum traversable gap | 20 mm (0.8 in) |
| Floor flatness/levelness | TR34 FM3 / FF 25, FL 20 |
| Temperature | 5–40 °C (41–104 °F), indoor |
| Humidity | 20–80%, non-condensing |
| Ingress protection | IP21 |
The company validates against rough conditions deliberately — its Copenhagen test and demo facility uses intentionally uneven real-world flooring — but the limits above still govern deployments. Full details: J1600 technical specifications.
Incremental by nature
Brownfield automation with the J1600 starts with one flow — often a single work cell, receiving lane, or warehouse-to-production leg — and grows point by point. Advanced automation (automatic charging, come-to-me, VDA 5050 fleet management, APIs) is available when the application scales, never required on day one. See the J1600 overview.