Centralized AGV Guidance Using External Positioning Data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automated guided vehicles (AGVs) require high-cost components like high-performance processors, large-capacity memory, and sensors for navigation, leading to expensive systems and potential issues like collisions and deadlocks due to the need for individual location detection and communication.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle guidance system that includes a positioning device for external location measurement, a guidance device generating guidance commands with location information of points of passage, and a storage device for storing and updating these commands, allowing vehicles to operate without individual location measurement and IC tags, reducing system costs and communication load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If conventional AGVs use high-performance processors, large-capacity memory, and high-performance sensors for individual location detection and autonomous travel, then autonomous travel capability is improved, but system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that centralizes the functions of location detection, map management, and route calculation. Instead of each AGV having its own high-performance processor and sensors for these functions, the server performs these tasks centrally and provides guidance commands to AGVs. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by maintaining autonomous travel capability while significantly reducing the computational hardware requirements and system cost of individual AGVs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the complex functions of location detection, map storage, and route calculation from individual AGVs and places them in an external server. By taking out these resource-intensive functions from the AGV system, the patent reduces the device complexity and cost of AGVs while preserving their autonomous travel capability through server-provided guidance commands.
2Extent of automation
If IC tags or location markers are disposed within the area for travel to enable location detection, then autonomous travel is enabled, but system cost increases due to reader devices and communication infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical system of IC tags, location markers, and reader devices with an information-based system using wireless communication. Instead of AGVs physically reading location information from tags or markers in the environment, the server calculates AGV locations based on position information received from a positioning device and provides guidance commands through wireless communication. This substitution eliminates the need for costly physical infrastructure while enabling autonomous travel.
3Reliability
If mutual communications are performed between multiple AGVs to avoid collisions and deadlocks, then safety is improved, but system cost increases due to additional communication requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the server as a mediator to manage multiple AGVs, eliminating the need for direct peer-to-peer communication between AGVs. The server receives position information from all AGVs, calculates their locations, and generates guidance commands that inherently avoid collisions and deadlocks. This centralized mediation approach improves safety through coordinated control while reducing communication costs by eliminating the need for complex inter-AGV communication protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle guidance system includes vehicles, a positioning device to measure a location of each of the vehicles and output location information of the vehicles; a guidance device to generate, for each vehicle, a guidance command to guide the vehicle; and a storage device to store a guide command for each vehicle. The guidance device generates a guidance command including location information of points of passage defining a traveling path for each vehicle, stores the guidance command to the storage device, and, when at least some of the points of passage are to be altered, stores altered location information of points of passage to the storage device. Each vehicle accesses the storage device to acquire, from the storage device, the altered location information of points of passage.