Materials Handling Vehicle Drive Parameter Reset for Semi-Automated Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current materials handling vehicles lack an efficient method to transition between manual and semi-automated driving modes, particularly during stock picking operations, where adaptive acceleration parameters are not accurately captured, leading to suboptimal vehicle control.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that monitor and store drive parameters during manual operations to adaptively set acceleration limits for semi-automated driving, using detected transitions in load handling assembly states and vehicle movements to reset and update data for precise control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If drive parameter data is continuously stored during manual operation for semi-automated driving, then adaptive acceleration control is improved, but data accuracy deteriorates due to accumulation of irrelevant data during non-picking operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of pick operation start conditions (load handling assembly lowering, vehicle stopping) before transitioning to data storage mode. This ensures that data collection begins at the appropriate moment, capturing only relevant drive parameters for semi-automated driving adaptation while excluding irrelevant data from non-picking operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller continuously monitors drive parameters and load handling assembly states, using this feedback to detect when a pick operation begins. Based on this feedback, the system dynamically resets the data storage, ensuring that only data from relevant picking operations is accumulated for adaptive acceleration control, thereby maintaining data accuracy while improving adaptability.
2Productivity
If the controller monitors and stores drive parameters during manual operation, then semi-automated driving performance is improved, but system complexity increases due to additional monitoring and data management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The controller leverages existing sensors and processing capabilities already present in the materials handling vehicle, making the existing control system perform multiple functions: real-time monitoring of drive parameters, detection of pick operation conditions, data storage, and adaptive acceleration control. This multi-functional approach improves semi-automated driving performance without significantly increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts acceleration parameters based on monitored drive parameter data from manual operations. By changing the acceleration parameters adaptively rather than using fixed values, the system improves semi-automated driving performance while the parameter adjustment logic is implemented through software algorithms that add minimal hardware complexity.
3Loss of time
If the system detects vehicle transitions to identify pick operations, then data reset timing is improved, but detection reliability may worsen due to ambiguous transition states
Solution Approach 1:
The pick operation detection is segmented into multiple independent conditions: load handling assembly state (lowering/lowered), vehicle motion state (stopping/stopped), and drive parameter patterns. By dividing the detection into separate checkable conditions, the system achieves precise timing for data reset while reducing detection errors through multi-condition verification rather than relying on a single ambiguous transition signal.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for operating a materials handling vehicle is provided and comprises: monitoring, by a controller, a first vehicle drive parameter during a manual operation of the vehicle by an operator; storing, by the controller, data related to the monitored first vehicle drive parameter. The controller is configured to use the stored data for implementing a semi- automated driving operation of the vehicle subsequent to the manual operation of the vehicle. The method further comprises: detecting, by the controller, operation of the vehicle indicative of a start of a pick operation occurring during the manual operation of the vehicle; and based on detecting the start of the pick operation, resetting, by the controller, the stored data related to the monitored first vehicle drive parameter.