Robot Stopping Point Planning for Protrusion Collision Avoidance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In warehouse environments, autonomous vehicles face challenges in navigating around obstacles, particularly difficult-to-detect protruding parts of human-operated vehicles, which can lead to collisions due to limitations in sensor detection and path planning.
Innovation Solution
A method is implemented where vehicle footprints are projected along planned paths to identify potential collisions, and buffer regions are applied around detected obstacles to trim the path and prevent collisions by stopping the vehicle before reaching the obstacle, allowing for alternative paths to be determined for safe navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensor detection is used to identify obstacles, then collision avoidance is enabled, but difficult-to-detect protruding parts of human-operated vehicles cannot be reliably detected
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary path trimming by projecting vehicle footprints along the planned path and identifying potential collision points before the vehicle reaches them. This allows the vehicle to slow down and stop in advance, preventing collisions with difficult-to-detect protruding parts of human-operated vehicles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary buffer region around detected obstacles and uses projected vehicle footprints as a mediator to identify potential collisions. This intermediary layer allows the system to account for undetected protruding parts by creating a safety margin that extends beyond what sensors can directly detect.
2Reliability
If the vehicle stops at the end of the trimmed path, then collision safety is improved, but operational efficiency decreases due to path trimming
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial path trimming by removing only the portion of the path that would lead to potential collisions, rather than trimming the entire path. This allows the vehicle to maintain efficient operation on safe portions of the path while only making minor adjustments to avoid obstacles.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle rushes through safe portions of the path without stopping, and only slows down or stops when approaching the end of the trimmed path where potential collisions are detected. This allows the vehicle to maintain high speed for most of the journey while ensuring safety near obstacles.
3Measurement precision
If buffer regions are placed around obstacles, then false-positive collision detections are reduced, but path planning complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary path trimming by projecting vehicle footprints along the planned path and identifying potential collision points before the vehicle reaches them. This allows the vehicle to slow down and stop in advance, preventing collisions with difficult-to-detect protruding parts of human-operated vehicles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary buffer region around detected obstacles and uses projected vehicle footprints as a mediator to identify potential collisions. This intermediary layer allows the system to account for undetected protruding parts by creating a safety margin that extends beyond what sensors can directly detect.
Data Source
AI summary
An example method includes determining a path to be followed by a vehicle through an environment. The path includes an ordered sequence of positions. The method also includes determining an intersection between a first object in the environment and a first area planned to be occupied by the vehicle while moving along the path and, in response, sequentially testing the ordered sequence of positions to identify a first ordinal position in the ordered sequence of positions, where the first ordinal position corresponds to a second area planned to be occupied by the vehicle while moving along the path, and where the second area is within a threshold distance of the first object. The method additionally includes trimming the path to remove (i) the first ordinal position and (ii) any positions subsequent thereto and causing the vehicle to stop at an end of the trimmed path.