Autonomous Site Maintenance Scheduling to Cut Crew Idle Time
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Maintaining outdoor sites, such as golf courses, is complex and costly due to the need for multiple machines and tools, and autonomous vehicles often require human oversight for certain tasks, leading to idle time and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A management system that optimizes outdoor site maintenance by assigning tasks to both autonomous vehicles and human crews, using a maintenance management computing system to identify regions, determine maintenance plans, and monitor task performance, allowing for seamless integration and efficient task completion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If autonomous vehicles are used to perform maintenance tasks, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for human oversight and coordination systems
Solution Approach 1:
A central management system acts as an intermediary between autonomous vehicles and human operators, coordinating task assignments, monitoring progress, and managing communication. This mediator handles the complexity of coordinating multiple autonomous vehicles with human crews, allowing the autonomous vehicles to perform tasks independently while maintaining system-wide optimization through centralized oversight.
2Reliability
If human operators supervise autonomous vehicles, then reliability is improved, but loss of time increases due to idle time waiting for prerequisite tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The management system implements continuous feedback loops by monitoring the status, location, and task completion progress of autonomous vehicles in real-time. This feedback enables the system to dynamically adjust task assignments, alert human operators when they are ready for the next task, and coordinate Prerequisite task completions, thereby eliminating idle time while maintaining reliable supervision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-planning maintenance sequences, pre-assigning tasks to appropriate resources (autonomous vehicles or human operators), and preparing task dependencies in advance. This allows human operators to be notified and ready before prerequisite tasks are complete, eliminating waiting time while maintaining reliable task execution.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple machines and tools are used for maintenance, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The management system implements a universal coordination platform that can handle diverse maintenance tasks across different region types (fairways, greens, roughs, etc.) using a standardized interface. This universal system assigns tasks to various autonomous vehicles and human operators through a common management framework, providing adaptability to different maintenance needs without requiring separate complex systems for each task type.
Data Source
AI summary
A maintenance system operates to coordinate site maintenance activities among a human maintenance crew and a fleet of autonomous vehicles. A maintenance plan is developed for a region of the site, which includes a sequence of at least some of the tasks. Maintenance tasks are then assigned to the maintenance crew and autonomous vehicles. The system monitors the performance of the tasks, and upon completion of the tasks, assigns other incomplete tasks until all tasks have been completed.