Warehouse AMR robot field service in North America (2026)

Short answer: Warehouse AMRs and logistics robots in North America mostly go down for site reasons: damaged floor markers, safety fields that no longer match the aisles, charger faults, Wi-Fi gaps, and fleet manager or WMS links that break after an update. KeepRobots is a robot field service company based in Greater Vancouver, serving Canada and the United States. We can commission your AMRs on site, repair them by the hour, run preventive maintenance and keep spare parts in Vancouver, working to your procedures and escalating to your engineers when needed.

Common field problems with warehouse AMRs

Warehouses are hard on robots: forklifts, pallets, dust, cold docks and constant layout changes. These are the faults a field technician should be ready for.

Problem	Why it happens	What fixes it on site
Robot loses position at certain spots	Floor QR codes, fiducials or tape markers scuffed, covered or lifted by pallet jacks and scrubbers	Replace markers to the maker's spacing and placement spec, re-register them in the map, protect high-traffic spots
Localization drifts in long aisles	Reflectors knocked off or moved, racking changed, featureless aisles	Re-install reflectors at surveyed positions, update the map after racking changes, re-test localization
Frequent protective stops	Safety laser scanner window dirty or scratched, safety fields too large for new aisle widths, pallets parked in the path	Clean or replace the scanner window, review field sets with the site and your engineers, re-validate stopping behaviour after any change
Near-misses with forklifts	Mixed traffic at intersections, blind corners, unclear right-of-way rules	Add slow zones and stop points at crossings, mark floors, agree traffic rules with the site safety lead
Robots queue at chargers or don't charge	Worn or dirty charging contacts, charger misaligned, power supply faults, too few chargers for the shift pattern	Clean and align contacts, test charger output, review charging schedule and charger placement
Tasks not arriving, robots idle	Fleet manager to WMS/WCS interface broken after an update, network timeouts, certificate or IP changes	Check logs on both sides, restore the interface settings with the site IT team, escalate to your software team with evidence
Drop-outs in parts of the building	Wi-Fi gaps near freezers, racking and steel doors; slow roaming	Survey signal along routes, work with IT on access points and roaming, adjust routes where needed
Wheel wear, vibration, payload errors	Cracked expansion joints, uneven slabs, debris, overloading	Replace drive wheels and casters, flag floor defects to the site, check payload settings and lift mechanisms

Floor flatness deserves a site survey before go-live. Joints, ramps and dock plates that a forklift rolls over without notice can cause stops, wheel wear and load shifts on a low-clearance AMR.

What KeepRobots can do for AMR makers

Deployment and commissioning: site and floor survey, Wi-Fi check, marker or reflector installation, mapping, charger placement, safety field setup to your procedures, test runs and operator training.
On-site repair, billed by the hour: drive units, casters, lift mechanisms, scanners and sensors, chargers, batteries, and module swaps guided by your engineers.
Preventive maintenance: scheduled checks to your manual: wheel wear, scanner windows, charging contacts, battery health, firmware versions and marker condition, with a report per robot.
Pre-sales demos and pilots: bring a unit to a prospect's warehouse with your salesperson, or run the demo ourselves after checking floor, network and traffic.
Spare parts and idle-unit storage: drive wheels, casters, scanners, chargers and spare robots held in Vancouver, including consignment stock. See robot spare parts in Canada: consignment.

We don't train or certify forklift operators, and we don't take over the site's safety program. If we haven't worked on your model, we train on your manuals (English or Chinese) and a sample unit first.

Typical process

First email to partners@keeprobots.com: AMR model, fleet size per site, locations, fleet manager and WMS setup, and what you need.
Scope call: escalation path, response expectations, overlap with your team's working hours, remote access rules.
Training and tools: service manuals, fleet manager access, safety configuration procedures, fault codes, parts list; hands-on with a sample unit.
Starter parts stock in Vancouver for wear parts and the parts most likely to idle a robot.
Site survey and commissioning with the customer's operations, safety and IT leads.
Handover: test results, safety field records and a site report to you and the customer.
Ongoing: hourly repair visits, preventive maintenance, re-mapping after layout changes, and a shared fault log.

Published rates

Item	Canada	United States
Diagnostic fee, per visit (credited if the repair is approved)	$200 CAD	$200 USD
Call-out fee, Greater Vancouver core area	$100 CAD per visit	Travel quoted per project
On-site labour	$150 CAD per hour	$150 USD per hour

Taxes extra. Parts extra. Travel outside the core area and US jobs are quoted per project. Deployments, preventive maintenance programs and demo support are quoted per project from the same hourly rates. No onboarding or annual fees.

Example only: an AMR at a warehouse in the Greater Vancouver core area keeps stopping in one aisle. The visit is a $200 CAD diagnostic plus a $100 CAD call-out. If the fix is replacing floor markers and re-testing, taking two hours of labour ($300 CAD), the diagnostic is credited against the approved repair, so the visit comes to $400 CAD ($100 call-out + $300 labour) plus parts and tax. Outside the core area and in the US, travel is quoted per project.

Compliance points for warehouse AMRs in Canada and the US

References to raise with your safety engineers, certification body and lawyer. This is not legal advice.

Mobile robot safety standards: ANSI/A3 R15.08 (industrial mobile robots; Part 1 for manufacturers, Part 2 for integration) is the main US reference for industrial mobile robots. ISO 3691-4 covers driverless industrial trucks and their systems, and ANSI/ITSDF B56.5 covers driverless and guided industrial vehicles in the US. Which one your customer's safety team asks for depends on the vehicle and the site.
Forklifts are separate: AMRs often share aisles with forklifts. Forklift operator training is the employer's responsibility under the WorkSafeBC OHS Regulation (Part 16, Mobile Equipment) in BC and OSHA's powered industrial truck rule (29 CFR 1910.178) in the US. It is not part of AMR commissioning.
Electrical and radio: Canadian-accepted electrical marks (for example CSA or cUL) and ISED radio certification in Canada; NRTL listing and FCC authorization in the US.
FCC Covered List: on July 28, 2026 the FCC put foreign-produced advanced robotic devices on its Covered List (DA 26-786). The definition names autonomous mobile robots explicitly, and the FCC's FAQ says automated guided vehicles may fall within it even if they follow predefined paths. "Foreign-produced" depends on where the robot is made, not who owns the company. New models can't get FCC equipment authorization without a Department of War Conditional Approval; one has been granted for an AMR series (DA 26-996). Models authorized before July 28 can still be imported, sold and used, repairs with identical parts are not prohibited, and software updates that mitigate harm are allowed by waiver at least until January 1, 2029 (DA 26-789). Hardware changes are a different matter; check with your lab. We found no similar measure in Canada. Full summary: FCC Covered List and robots: Canada vs the US.
Batteries: lithium-ion packs ship as Class 9 dangerous goods (UN3480 alone; UN3481 packed with or in equipment).

For the partnership model, see North America field service for robot makers and third-party robot service for robot manufacturers. Related reading: FCC Covered List and robots, robot field service in North America without your own team and robot service partner checklist. Other robot types are on the solutions index.

FAQ

Can you set up safety scanner fields on our AMRs?

We can configure and test safety fields following your procedures and settings, and record the results. Changes to safety configuration are agreed with your engineers and the site's safety lead first.

Do you train the warehouse's forklift drivers?

No. Forklift operator training is the employer's responsibility under WorkSafeBC rules in BC and OSHA rules in the US. We focus on the robots and on traffic rules where robots and forklifts meet.

Can you troubleshoot the fleet manager and WMS connection?

We can check logs, network settings and interface status on site with the customer's IT team, and send clear evidence to your software team when the fix is on their side.

Are AMRs covered by the FCC's July 2026 robot rule?

The FCC definition names autonomous mobile robots explicitly, so foreign-produced AMRs that meet its other criteria (weight, sensors, connectivity, navigation software) generally fall within it. New models need a Conditional Approval to get FCC authorization; models authorized before July 28, 2026 can still be sold, used and repaired. Confirm your product with your lab and lawyer.

How do you price warehouse AMR service?

Diagnostic $200 CAD in Canada or $200 USD in the US per visit, credited if the repair is approved, plus labour at $150 CAD or $150 USD per hour. Call-out in the Greater Vancouver core area is $100 CAD; other travel is quoted per project. Taxes and parts extra.

Other robot types

Write to partners@keeprobots.com with your robot model, where your customers are and what you need. We reply within one business day, in English or Chinese.