AGV Path Planning Segmentation for Warehouse Congestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing path planning methods for AGVs in warehouses and factories face challenges such as congestion, increased calculation time, and the inability to ensure timely arrival of high-priority goods, leading to potential traffic jams and delays.
Innovation Solution
A method for determining path plans by identifying initial and arrival positions, searching for multiple paths, excluding non-included positions, and allowing movement to new positions after a predetermined time, thereby reducing calculation load and optimizing path selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple AGVs are used to increase conveyance capacity, then productivity improves, but congestion and traffic jams occur leading to decreased throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the path planning problem into multiple search stages: first searching for paths without time constraints, then identifying positions not included in any path plans, and finally searching for paths to specific positions at specific times. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple AGVs efficiently by dividing the complex multi-agent path finding into manageable sub-problems, reducing congestion through distributed path selection.
2Loss of time
If path search calculation time is reduced to improve real-time performance, then responsiveness improves, but the number of paths searched decreases leading to suboptimal solutions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary path searches without time constraints first, identifying all feasible paths and positions not included in any path plans. These preliminary results are then used to guide subsequent time-constrained searches, allowing the system to focus computational resources on critical path-finding tasks while avoiding redundant calculations, thus achieving both speed and optimization quality.
3Ease of operation
If conventional path search methods are used, then implementation simplicity is maintained, but traffic congestion at destination points increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where path search results are analyzed to identify positions not included in any path plans. This information feeds back into the path planning process, allowing the system to adjust and diversify path selections for multiple AGVs, thereby distributing traffic more evenly and reducing congestion at destination points while maintaining operational simplicity.
Data Source
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AI summary
This technology is, for example, a method for searching for a path plan for moving a moving object by a computer, the method comprising: determining a first initial position at which a first moving object capable of moving at a first speed exists at a first time and a first arrival position at which the first moving object to exist at a second time which is later than the first time, respectively; determining a first plurality of path plans which allow the first moving object to move from the first initial position at the first time to the first arrival position at the second time, the first plurality of path plans being representable by pairs of time and position; determining positions which are not included in any of the first plurality of path plans at each time; and determining at least one first movement position at a third time between the first time and the second time, the first movement position being a position to which the first moving object can move after a predetermined time elapsed from the third time, the first movement position excluding positions not included in any of the first plurality of the first path plans.