Industrial sourcing · China to Europe

Buyer-firstOpen route · visible proof

Buyer guide · Material handling

AGV robot from China

An AGV follows a fixed path, magnetic tape or floor codes, so the vehicle is the cheap part and the hard part is your floor: its flatness, its joints, its forklift traffic and who re-lays the path when the layout changes.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 30 September 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Guidance method

Magnetic tape is the lowest price and the least flexible. QR code tags give tighter stopping and a grid of routes. Some listings sold as AGV already use laser mapping. Ask which one the price assumes.

Rated load and how it is carried

Jacking under a rack, towing carts, a roller top or forks. Each is a different vehicle. Rated load is often the jacking figure; ask for towing separately.

Battery and charging

Lead-acid or lithium iron phosphate, manual swap or automatic charging dock. The dock and its floor space are frequently a separate line.

Traffic control software

One AGV on one loop needs no fleet software. Two or more sharing junctions need a traffic manager, and that licence is often priced per vehicle.

Safety sensors and stop behaviour

Laser scanner fields, bumpers and emergency stops. Ask how the scanner field grows with speed and the stopping distance at full load.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

A floor drawing with every route, junction, stop point and door.
Floor condition: slope, joints, drains and ramps along the route.
What it carries: rack, cart or pallet, with dimensions and the heaviest full load.
Moves per hour at each station, and how many shifts.
What it talks to: doors, lifts, conveyors, your warehouse system, and over which network.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
Run a taped or tagged copy of one of your routes at full rated load for a full battery cycle.	It completes every loop without leaving the path, and the runtime matches the claim on your load.
Step a person and then a low box into the scanner field at full speed.	It slows, then stops before contact, and restarts only when the field is clear and as configured.
Stop at a docking point ten times in a row.	Measured stop position stays inside the tolerance you need for the transfer, every time.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity naming 2006/42/EC, or Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 for delivery from 20 January 2027, plus 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU where they apply.
The risk assessment and a statement of which parts of EN ISO 3691-4 for driverless trucks the design follows.
Manuals for the vehicle, the charger and the traffic software, with the scanner field settings.

The one people forget. The UN 38.3 test summary for the lithium battery. Without it the forwarder may refuse to ship the vehicle with its battery fitted, and the battery then arrives late or not at all.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

Routes change every few weeks, or people and forklifts share every aisle.

An AMR robot, which plans its own path around obstacles instead of stopping on a line.

Product moves along one fixed straight path between two machines, all day.

A roller conveyor system: no battery, no software licence, and nothing to steer.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 6Six magnetic-tape AGV listings, checked September 2026, rated 200 to 1,000 kg, asked US$4,000 to US$11,800 per vehicle. These are asking prices, not landed cost.
Listings · 2Two 500 kg QR-code AGV listings, checked September 2026, asked US$7,600 to US$13,800; one stated plus or minus 10 mm positioning and at least 8 hours at full load.
Arithmetic100 m out and 100 m back at 1 m/s is 200 s, plus 30 s at the stations is 230 s. 3,600 / 230 = 15.6, so about 15 round trips an hour for one vehicle.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

AMR robot. Choose it when your routes change often or the aisles are shared with people.
Pallet conveyor. Choose it when full pallets travel the same short path all day.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Material handling page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European AGV robot: what is the real difference?+

Mostly the software, the safety configuration and local service. The chassis parts can be similar. Price the traffic manager and a technician visit, not only the vehicle.

What belongs on an AGV robot inspection checklist?+

Serial number against the declaration, battery type and label, scanner fields at each speed, stop tests at full load, docking repeatability, and the charger.

What CE documentation does an AGV robot need?+

A Declaration of Conformity and the technical file behind it, with the risk assessment. A CE mark in a listing proves nothing.

Who is the EU importer of an AGV bought direct?+

Your company, if it places the vehicle on the EU market. Your name and address go on the vehicle or its papers, and you check the conformity file before use.

Contact

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