Shelf Positioning Using Range Scans for Skewed AGV Pickup

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Automated guided vehicles face challenges in safely and accurately navigating and positioning shelves due to inconsistent shelf arrangements, leading to potential collisions and delivery issues, as they struggle to reliably identify the correct position and orientation of skewed shelves.

Innovation Solution

A transporting device equipped with a range finding device and a controller that scans a storage area to obtain datum points, calculates valid points within the area, and uses these to determine the shelf's positioning information, ensuring accurate and safe transportation by employing a global coordinate system and dimension parameters, along with noise filtering techniques like DBSCAN.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If automated guided vehicles are used to transport shelves, then labor time is saved and human factor risks are avoided, but the vehicles cannot reliably identify the correct position and orientation of skewed shelves

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveautomation of shelf transportVSAvoidposition and orientation identification accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary scanning of the storage area to obtain datum points and establish a coordinate system before the transport task begins. This preliminary positioning information is used to pre-calculate the correct path and orientation for the automated guided vehicle, enabling it to handle skewed shelves accurately without real-time manual intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces manual visual inspection and physical positioning with an automated optical scanning system. The range finding device captures spatial data, and the controller processes this information to automatically determine shelf position and orientation, substituting human sensory and motor functions with electronic detection and control systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Adaptability or versatility

If shelf arrangement constraints are not applied, then storage flexibility is improved, but shelf arrangement errors occur leading to collisions and delivery issues

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage arrangement flexibilityVSAvoidtransport safety

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously scans the storage area to obtain real-time datum points about shelf positions. This feedback information is processed to detect any deviations from expected positions, and the controller adjusts the transport path accordingly. The feedback loop enables the system to adapt to actual shelf arrangements while maintaining transport safety.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a dynamic positioning system that can adapt to varying shelf arrangements. Rather than requiring fixed, predetermined shelf positions, the system dynamically determines the correct path and orientation based on actual measured positions, allowing flexible storage configurations while maintaining reliable transport operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Quantity of substance

If all datum points are used for positioning, then data completeness is improved, but noise and errors from points outside storage area increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenumber of datum pointsVSAvoidpositioning accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and separates valid datum points from invalid ones by checking whether each point falls within the defined storage area boundaries. Only the valid points that lie within the storage area are used for positioning calculations, while points outside the area are discarded. This extraction process eliminates noise and improves positioning accuracy while maintaining the benefit of having multiple measurement points.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Enables effective and accurate positioning of shelves, preventing collisions and ensuring safe transportation by filtering out noise and identifying the correct position and orientation of shelves within the storage area, thus enhancing the reliability of automated guided vehicles in warehousing and logistics.

Implementation Method 1

The range finding device is configured to scan the specific space to obtain multiple datum points

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectLight reflection: Reflection

Data Source

PatentUS20240219915A1Shelf positioning method of a transporting device and transporting device capable of positioning a shelf

Publication Date: 2024.07.04 CORETRONIC INTELLIGENT LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS CORP

AI summary

A shelf positioning method of a transporting device is provided. The transporting device includes a range finding device and a controller. The shelf is located in a storage area within a specific space. The shelf positioning method is described below. A global coordinate, a global orientation angle, and dimension parameters of the storage area are input to the controller. The range finding device is configured to scan the specific space to obtain multiple datum points. The controller is configured to calculate and remove multiple datum points located outside the storage area, so as to leave datum points located in the storage area as multiple valid datum points. The controller is configured to obtain positioning information of the shelf according to the valid datum points. A transport system capable of positioning a shelf is also provided.