Marker-Guided Storage Retrieval for Fast Non-Holonomic Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional autonomous vehicles in storage and retrieval systems are restricted to travel along guide features, leading to increased travel times due to the need for continuous sensing and limited availability of travel paths, especially at intersections, which is more pronounced for non-holonomic vehicles.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a navigation system that allows non-holonomic autonomous vehicles to traverse undeterministic transfer decks with high-speed navigation by using a grid of linearly distributed features, enabling them to travel directly between locations without the need for continuous sensing, thereby reducing travel times and improving path flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autonomous vehicles travel along guide features with continuous sensing, then navigation reliability is improved, but travel time increases and path flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical guide feature system with a visual marker system. Autonomous vehicles use vision sensors to detect and track markers placed at key locations (start, end, and intermediate points) instead of following continuous physical guides. This substitution allows vehicles to travel directly between marker locations without being constrained by guide feature geometry, reducing travel time while maintaining navigation reliability through periodic marker verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-positions discrete markers at critical navigation points before vehicle operation. These markers serve as predetermined reference points that vehicles can locate and follow. By establishing the navigation path through pre-placed markers rather than continuous guides, the system enables more direct routing between points while maintaining reliable navigation through the pre-defined marker sequence.
2Measurement precision
If autonomous vehicles follow guide features at intersections, then navigation accuracy is improved, but travel speed decreases due to 90° turn constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous guide feature into discrete markers positioned at key locations including intersections. Instead of requiring vehicles to follow continuous guides through sharp 90° turns, the system places markers at start points, end points, and intermediate waypoints. Vehicles can travel in more direct paths between these segmented marker locations, maintaining navigation accuracy through marker detection while improving travel speed by avoiding constrained turn geometries.
3Reliability
If non-holonomic vehicles are restricted to guide features, then path following reliability is improved, but path flexibility and direct routing are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical constraint system of guide features with a visual marker system that non-holonomic vehicles can detect using vision sensors. This allows vehicles to determine their position and orientation relative to the navigation path through marker detection rather than physical contact or visual following of continuous guides. The result is increased path flexibility and direct routing capability while maintaining reliability through periodic marker verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional guide feature following to three-dimensional marker-based navigation. By placing markers at specific locations in space and using vision sensors to detect their position and orientation, the system enables vehicles to navigate more directly through the environment. This dimensional approach allows non-holonomic vehicles to achieve better path flexibility while maintaining navigation reliability through spatial marker relationships.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage array system including an open undeterministic transport surface, a navigation array disposed in connection with the transport surface, the navigation array includes a distributed feature, a first waypoint at a first position of the distributed feature, a second waypoint displaced from the first waypoint along the distributed feature and offset with respect to the first waypoint in a direction angled to the distributed feature, and a guided bot, arranged to traverse the transport surface, with a non-holonomic steering system, the guided bot having a bot pose determination system employing sensor data detecting the distributed feature, wherein the guided bot includes a controller configured to generate a substantially smooth curved bot traverse path on the transport surface connecting the first and second waypoints with a predetermined optimal trajectory of the guided bot along the traverse path determined based on a bot dynamic model.