Reference
Warehouse robotics & autonomous forklift glossary
Concise, plain-English definitions of the terms you will meet across an automation project — from AGV and AMR to SLAM, VDA5050, VNA, goods-to-person and the UK safety regulations that govern deployment. Every entry is one or two sentences and vendor-neutral. Pair it with the guides for the full picture.
41 terms · alphabetical
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- 3PL (Third-Party Logistics)
- A company that provides outsourced logistics services — warehousing, fulfilment and distribution — on behalf of other businesses. 3PLs are major adopters of automation because contracts and volumes can change quickly.
A
- AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle)
- A driverless vehicle that transports loads along a fixed, pre-defined guide path such as a wire, magnetic tape or markers. AGVs are predictable and simple but cannot freely re-route around obstacles.
- Aisle Width
- The clear space between racking runs. It dictates which truck classes can operate in an area and is a primary input when selecting and sizing an autonomous forklift fleet.
- AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot)
- A driverless robot that builds and reads a map of its environment, plans its own route, and re-plans in real time to drive around people and obstacles — no fixed guide path required.
- Autonomous Forklift
- A driverless industrial lift truck that transports, lifts and stacks pallets on its own using onboard sensors and software. Also called an AGV forklift, automated forklift or robotic forklift.
C
- CE Marking
- A conformity marking indicating that a product meets EU health, safety and environmental requirements. In Great Britain the equivalent is the UKCA mark, with CE still accepted for many product categories.
- Counterbalance Truck
- A forklift with a weight at the rear that balances the load on the forks, allowing it to lift without outriggers. Suited to wider aisles and general-purpose handling.
- Counterweight
- The mass built into the rear of a counterbalance forklift to offset the load on the forks. Its size limits how heavy a load the truck can safely lift.
- Cycle Time
- The time a robot takes to complete one full task — for example travelling to a pallet, lifting it, moving it and placing it. Shorter cycle times mean more moves per hour from each truck.
D
- Deadlock
- A situation where two or more robots block each other and neither can proceed. A capable fleet manager actively prevents and resolves deadlocks to keep traffic flowing.
- Depalletising
- The process of removing items or cases from a loaded pallet, often as a precursor to picking, sortation or production feeding. The reverse operation is palletising.
- Dock-to-Stock
- The flow of goods from the receiving dock into storage locations. A common high-volume, repetitive task that autonomous forklifts handle well.
E
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
- Business software that manages core processes such as orders, inventory, finance and procurement. Robot fleet managers often integrate with an ERP to align material movement with business operations.
F
- Fleet Manager
- The software layer that coordinates a group of robots — assigning tasks, scheduling charging, managing traffic and preventing deadlocks — and connects them to warehouse systems.
G
- Goods-to-Person (G2P)
- An order-fulfilment model in which robots bring stock to a stationary picker, rather than the picker walking to the stock. It reduces travel time and can raise pick rates.
- Gradeability
- The maximum slope a vehicle can climb, expressed as a percentage. It matters for ramps, dock approaches and inclines within a facility.
L
- Latent (Latent Jacking) AMR
- A low-profile robot that drives underneath a load, cart or rack and raises it slightly with a lifting mechanism to carry it. The low body lets it slip under loads without forks.
- LiDAR
- Light Detection and Ranging — a sensor that fires laser pulses and measures their return time to map surroundings precisely. It underpins both navigation and obstacle detection on autonomous trucks.
- Lift Height
- The maximum height to which a forklift can raise a load. It determines which racking levels a truck can serve and is a key specification when matching a truck to a warehouse.
- Line Feeding
- Delivering parts and materials to a production or assembly line as they are needed. Autonomous trucks are well suited to the repetitive, scheduled nature of line feeding.
- LOLER
- The UK Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations, which govern the safe use, inspection and maintenance of lifting equipment. Relevant to deploying lifting robots and forklifts in Great Britain.
N
P
- Pallet Truck
- A low-level material-handling vehicle that lifts a pallet just clear of the floor for horizontal transport. Autonomous pallet trucks handle dock-to-stock moves and long internal hauls.
- Payback Period
- The time it takes for the savings from an investment to equal its cost. A common headline metric when justifying warehouse automation, alongside total cost of ownership.
- Payload
- The maximum load weight a robot or forklift is rated to carry, usually given in kilograms. Choosing a truck with adequate payload for the heaviest expected load is a basic selection step.
- Pick Rate
- The number of items or order lines a picker or system completes in a given period, such as picks per hour. Goods-to-person automation is often justified by improvements in pick rate.
- Positioning Accuracy
- How precisely a robot places a load relative to its target, typically measured in millimetres. High accuracy enables very-narrow-aisle and high-bay storage without a human driver.
- PUWER
- The UK Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, which require work equipment to be suitable, safe and properly maintained. Autonomous forklift deployments must respect PUWER duties.
R
- Reach Truck
- A forklift whose forks extend forward to reach deep into high-bay racking, maximising vertical storage density in narrow aisles. Available in autonomous as well as manual forms.
- ROI (Return on Investment)
- A measure of the gain from an investment relative to its cost. For automation it weighs labour, throughput and damage savings against the total cost of the system over its life.
- Rotary Jacking
- A lifting mechanism on some load-carrying robots that raises and rotates a load or rack, allowing the robot to reorient pallets or shelving while moving them.
S
- Safety Scanner
- A certified laser sensor that monitors protective zones around a robot and triggers a slowdown or safe stop when a person or object enters them. A core safety component of autonomous trucks.
- SLAM
- Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping — the technique that lets a robot build a map of an unknown space while at the same time tracking its own position within it. It enables guide-path-free navigation.
- Stacker Forklift
- A forklift that lifts and places pallets into low and mid-height racking. Autonomous stackers suit narrow and very-narrow-aisle storage and ground-level pallet stacking.
T
- Throughput
- The volume of work a system processes in a given time — for example pallets moved or orders shipped per hour. Raising throughput is a primary goal of warehouse automation.
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- The full lifetime cost of an asset — purchase or finance, software, integration, maintenance, energy and support — rather than just its purchase price. The right basis for comparing automation options.
U
- UKCA Marking
- The UK Conformity Assessed marking, the Great Britain equivalent of CE marking, indicating a product meets UK requirements. Relevant to placing machinery on the GB market.
V
- VDA5050
- An open communication protocol that lets a single fleet manager coordinate driverless vehicles from different manufacturers. It enables mixed-vendor fleets and helps avoid supplier lock-in.
- VNA (Very Narrow Aisle)
- A high-density storage layout with aisles only slightly wider than a pallet, served by specialised trucks. It maximises storage capacity but demands high positioning accuracy.
W
- WCS (Warehouse Control System)
- Software that directs and coordinates automated equipment such as conveyors, sortation and robots in real time, sitting between the warehouse management system and the machines.
- WMS (Warehouse Management System)
- Software that manages warehouse operations — inventory, locations, receiving, picking and shipping. Robot fleet managers integrate with the WMS to receive and report on tasks.
Put the terms to work
Now that the vocabulary makes sense, read the guides to see how it fits together — or book a free site survey and a FlyWei engineer will translate it into a concrete plan for your warehouse.