Autonomous Forklift Assistance via Manned Vehicle Intervention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Material handling vehicles, both autonomous and manned, face challenges in operational efficiency and compliance with regulations, particularly in scenarios where autonomous vehicles require assistance with navigation or operational difficulties within facilities, necessitating a system for effective communication and human intervention.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising an unmanned material handling vehicle and a manned vehicle connected via a wireless network, allowing the manned vehicle to receive assistance requests from the unmanned vehicle, notify the human operator, and affect the operation of the unmanned vehicle based on human input, utilizing a communications interface, user interface, and controller to facilitate remote assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If autonomous material handling vehicles operate independently without human operators, then productivity and operational efficiency are improved, but reliability and compliance with safety regulations deteriorate due to inability to handle complex situations and lack of human oversight
Solution Approach 1:
A communication system serves as an intermediary between autonomous vehicles and human operators. The system receives requests for assistance from autonomous vehicles and transmits them to appropriate human operators, enabling indirect human oversight while maintaining autonomous operation. This resolves the contradiction by allowing autonomous vehicles to operate independently while still providing a pathway for human intervention when safety or compliance issues arise.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transitions vehicles between fully autonomous operation and human-assisted operation based on situational needs. When autonomous vehicles encounter complex situations or safety concerns, the system enables dynamic switching to human operator involvement, thus maintaining both high productivity during normal operations and reliability when complex decisions are needed.
2Reliability
If autonomous vehicles encounter operational difficulties and wait for human assistance, then reliability is improved by ensuring proper human oversight, but productivity deteriorates due to operational delays and interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing communication channels and assistance protocols before autonomous vehicles encounter difficulties. Human operators are pre-notified and prepared to assist, reducing the actual delay when assistance is needed. The system proactively manages the assistance workflow, so when autonomous vehicles do require help, the transition to human oversight is minimized and operational interruptions are reduced.
3Reliability
If human operators are required to assist autonomous vehicles in real-time, then reliability and safety compliance are improved, but device complexity increases due to communication systems and coordination protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The communication system is designed with multi-functionality to handle various types of assistance requests, notifications, and coordination tasks through a unified platform. By creating a universal communication interface that can manage multiple aspects of autonomous vehicle-human interaction, the system reduces overall complexity compared to having separate specialized systems for each function.
4Device complexity
If autonomous vehicles transmit assistance requests through a centralized system, then device complexity is reduced by simplifying communication architecture, but loss of time increases due to additional transmission and processing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing communication channels and maintaining ready pools of human operators. When assistance requests are transmitted, the system has already prepared the infrastructure for rapid response, minimizing actual delay despite the additional transmission steps.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure generally relates to autonomous operation of material handling vehicles within a facility, such as a factory or warehouse. An unmanned, autonomous material handling vehicle can encounter a variety of issues operating within the facility, and may need assistance to resolve such issues. The unmanned, autonomous material handling vehicle can transmit a request for assistance to a manned, non-autonomous material handling vehicle, and a human operating the manned, non-autonomous material handling vehicle can assist the unmanned, autonomous material handling vehicle.