AMR Shared-Space Access Hierarchy for Deadlock Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) often encounter deadlocks when accessing shared physical spaces, leading to inefficiencies in resource management and throughput in environments like warehouses, where multiple AMRs navigate and perform tasks, as they typically request access to shared spaces at the same time without a coordinated strategy.
Innovation Solution
A resource management system that uses a graph network to analyze routes and apply a global ordering algorithm to generate hierarchies for sets of related shared spaces, allowing AMRs to request access in a structured manner, avoiding deadlocks and optimizing access to shared resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple AMRs request access to shared spaces simultaneously without coordination, then each AMR can independently pursue its task, but deadlocks occur and throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by analyzing the route graph network before AMRs execute their routes. The resource manager pre-identifies sets of related shared spaces and generates hierarchies for these spaces based on the graph structure, so that when AMRs need to access shared spaces, the access order is already determined and they can request access without causing deadlocks
Solution Approach 2:
The resource manager acts as an intermediary between multiple AMRs and the shared spaces. It receives route information from AMRs, analyzes the graph network to determine access hierarchies, and generates coordinated access behaviors that prevent deadlocks while optimizing throughput
2Reliability
If a resource management system implements coordinated access control for shared spaces, then deadlocks are prevented, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resource manager module is configured to automatically analyze route graph networks and generate access hierarchies without requiring external intervention. The system performs self-service by autonomously determining sets of related shared spaces and creating coordinated access behaviors, reducing the need for complex external control mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of access coordination by transforming route information into structured graph network representations. By analyzing the graph structure and generating hierarchies based on spatial relationships, the system manages complexity through parameter transformation rather than complex control logic
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a resource management system and method, which can be implemented in the context of autonomously navigating vehicles, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). A route and a graph network are provided, wherein the graph network comprises interconnected nodes representing resources in an environment. The resources include shared spaces and non-shared spaces accessible by the vehicle navigating the route. A resource manager module analyzes the route based on the graph network to determine one or more sets of related shared spaces on the route; applies an ordering algorithm to generate a hierarchy associated with each set of related shared spaces; and, for each set of related shared spaces, generates a set of behaviors to be executed by the vehicle to request access to the set of related shared spaces based on the associated hierarchy.