Work Site Vehicle Escort Paths With Dynamic Protection Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned vehicles in work sites, such as mines, face challenges in managing escorted manned vehicles due to unpredictable maneuvers by human drivers, leading to potential collisions and operational inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A work site management system that includes a traveling path generation unit and a protection area setting unit to guide and protect escorted vehicles, using unmanned vehicles to set and maintain permitted areas and protection zones, ensuring safe and efficient travel paths for both unmanned and manned vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an escorted vehicle is allowed to travel freely in the work site, then the driver has flexibility in maneuvering, but the vehicle may travel in unexpected directions due to unpredictable driving behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an escort vehicle as an intermediary between the management system and the escorted vehicle. The escort vehicle monitors the escorted vehicle's position and communicates with the management system, which then provides guidance commands. This intermediary structure allows the driver to maintain operational flexibility while the system ensures trajectory predictability through continuous monitoring and guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The management system continuously receives position information from the escorted vehicle and the escort vehicle, processes this data, and generates feedback commands to guide the escorted vehicle back to the planned path when deviations are detected. This closed-loop feedback mechanism maintains reliability without restricting driver flexibility during normal operation.
2Reliability
If the escorted vehicle travels along a predetermined path, then collision risk is reduced, but the vehicle cannot respond to unexpected situations requiring deviation
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the level of path constraint based on the escorted vehicle's operational context. During normal travel, the vehicle follows the predetermined path closely for collision avoidance. When the system detects unexpected situations through feedback from sensors or manual input, it allows dynamic deviation while maintaining overall path adherence, thus balancing safety and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The management system pre-plains safe travel paths considering the work site layout and potential hazards. These predetermined paths provide collision avoidance guidance, while the system prepares to adjust the path dynamically when unexpected situations arise, combining preliminary safety planning with adaptive response capability.
3Productivity
If multiple vehicles operate simultaneously in the work site, then productivity increases, but the risk of collision between vehicles increases
Solution Approach 1:
The management system acts as a central intermediary that coordinates all vehicles in the work site. It receives position and status information from multiple vehicles, processes this data to identify potential collision risks, and provides guidance commands to each vehicle to maintain safe separation. This intermediary coordination enables multiple vehicles to operate simultaneously while preventing collisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback monitoring of all vehicle positions and movements in the work site. When potential collision risks are detected through this feedback mechanism, the system generates real-time guidance commands to adjust vehicle trajectories, allowing high productivity through simultaneous operation while maintaining collision-free conditions.
4Adaptability or versatility
If manual monitoring of escorted vehicles is used, then flexibility in handling unexpected situations is maintained, but labor costs and human error risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The management system performs automated monitoring, path planning, and collision avoidance functions that would otherwise require manual human intervention. The system uses onboard sensors and communication devices to self-monitor vehicle positions and self-generate guidance commands, reducing the need for human operators while maintaining adaptability through automated decision-making algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical monitoring and control with an automated electronic management system. The system uses electronic sensors, communication devices, and processing units to monitor vehicle positions and generate guidance commands, substituting human operators with an automated system that reduces labor costs and human error while maintaining or improving handling flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A work site management system includes: a traveling path generation unit that generates a traveling path; and a protection area setting unit that sets a protection area in which a target vehicle is to be present based on a position of a first unmanned vehicle traveling in a work site along the traveling path.