Forklift Navigation Control with Vehicle Limit Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current warehouse vehicle navigation systems face issues with miscommunication between navigation and vehicle control systems, leading to system failures and inefficient operations, particularly when switching between manual and automatic driving modes.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control module (VCM) and navigation control module (NCM) communicate vehicle limits, such as steering, traction, and hoist limits, to ensure commands adhere to predetermined constraints, preventing system failures and optimizing automatic operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If semi-automated or fully automated operation is implemented, then operational efficiency is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to miscommunication between navigation system and vehicle control system
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle control module receives feedback from the navigation control module about commanded maneuvers and compares them against predetermined vehicle limits. This feedback loop ensures that navigation commands are validated against physical constraints before execution, preventing miscommunication and system failures while maintaining automated operation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation of navigation commands against vehicle limits before they are executed. The vehicle control module checks whether commanded maneuvers exceed predetermined limits (such as maximum steering angle, acceleration, or deceleration) in advance, preventing invalid commands from causing system failures.
2Device complexity
If vehicle operators manually navigate the vehicle, then system simplicity is maintained, but productivity decreases due to mistakes and inefficient routes
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle control module acts as an intermediary between the navigation control module and the vehicle systems. It receives high-level navigation commands and translates them into validated control actions that respect vehicle limits, enabling automated operation without requiring complex direct control architecture.
3Ease of operation
If navigation commands are issued without considering vehicle limits, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to inability to execute commands within physical constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle control module continuously monitors navigation commands and provides feedback when commanded maneuvers would exceed vehicle limits. This feedback mechanism allows the navigation system to operate freely while ensuring that only physically achievable commands are executed, maintaining both ease of operation and command execution precision.
Data Source
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AI summary
Included are embodiments for providing vehicle control limits. One embodiment of a system includes a navigation system and a vehicle that includes a memory component that stores a program. Embodiments of the system are configured to receive an indication for automatic control of the vehicle, receive a route for the vehicle to reach a destination for completing a work order from the navigation system, and determine a vehicle limit, wherein the vehicle limit is based on a current state of the vehicle. Some embodiments are configured to communicate the vehicle limit from a vehicle control module (VCM) to a navigation control module (NCM), determine, via the NCM, an automatic command based on the destination and the vehicle limit and send the automatic command to a motor of the vehicle.