Autonomous Mobile Robot Convoys for High-Throughput Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) or automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in intralogistics face challenges in maintaining high work rates while minimizing collision risks, often requiring speed reductions that hinder efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The formation of convoys of AMRs or AGVs traveling at approximately the same speed and maintaining predetermined separation distances and orientations, utilizing a theoretical grid of positions and distribution sections to optimize movement paths and avoid collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If autonomous mobile robots operate at high speed to increase throughput, then productivity improves, but the risk of collisions increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple autonomous mobile robots are merged into a convoy formation, traveling together as a coordinated group rather than individually. This combining approach allows the system to maintain high speeds while reducing collision risks through collective movement and coordinated control of the entire convoy unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The convoy formation implements dynamic speed adjustment where all robots in the convoy move at approximately the same speed, adapting their velocity collectively rather than individually. This dynamic coordination allows high-speed operation while maintaining safe spacing and reducing collision risks through synchronized movement.
2Reliability
If robots maintain large separation distances to avoid collisions, then safety improves, but the throughput of the system decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Robots are merged into convoys with predetermined separation distances that are optimized for safety. By combining multiple robots into coordinated groups with fixed spacing, the system achieves both collision avoidance and high throughput, as the separation distance is maintained safely while the convoy moves as a unified high-speed unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The separation distance parameter is optimized to a predetermined value that balances safety and efficiency. Rather than using excessive spacing, the system implements a specific optimized distance that ensures collision avoidance while maximizing throughput, and this parameter is applied consistently across all convoys in the system.
3Adaptability or versatility
If robots travel at different speeds to handle varying tasks, then operational flexibility improves, but system coordination becomes complex and collision risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The convoy implementation creates a dynamic coordination system where robots adjust their speeds to match the convoy's common speed. This dynamic speed matching simplifies coordination complexity by establishing a unified speed reference for the entire convoy, while still allowing operational flexibility through the ability to form different convoys for different tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments robots into discrete convoy groups, each operating with coordinated speed control. This segmentation allows different convoys to handle different tasks with appropriate speed profiles, maintaining operational flexibility while reducing individual coordination complexity within each segmented convoy unit.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for transporting items (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5) in an intralogistics system (1) using autonomous mobile robots (A, B, C) each capable of transporting one item (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5) in a transport circuit (2) of the system, the method comprising a step of forming a convoy (C1, C2) comprising at least two mobile robots (A, B, C) travelling at the same speed at least along one section of the circuit (2). The invention also relates to a system for carrying out the method, as well as to a facility for sorting items comprising such a system.