Warehouse Vehicle Path Validation With Dynamic Clearance Boundaries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current path validation tools for materials handling vehicles in warehouses are inadequate in dynamically adjusting travel paths to avoid obstacles and ensure clearance, particularly when dealing with complex vehicle configurations like tuggers and trailers, leading to potential collisions and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A path validation tool that utilizes environmental layout data, vehicle kinematics, and dynamic vehicle boundaries to determine potential intersections and modify travel paths by adjusting the dynamic vehicle boundary and clearance area, incorporating clothoid merging paths to optimize route changes and avoid obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a materials handling vehicle follows a pre-planned travel route, then navigation efficiency is improved, but the vehicle cannot avoid obstacles leading to potential collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic path modification by continuously updating the travel path based on real-time obstacle detection. The vehicle transitions from static pre-planned routes to dynamic adaptive routing, where the path validation tool constantly evaluates and adjusts the trajectory to avoid obstacles while maintaining navigation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the path validation tool receives real-time data about obstacles and vehicle position, then feeds back modified path instructions to the vehicle control system. This closed-loop feedback ensures collision avoidance while maintaining efficient navigation through continuous path optimization.
2Reliability
If the vehicle boundary is enlarged to ensure clearance from obstacles, then safety is improved, but the valid travel space is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamic boundary adjustment where the effective vehicle boundary for path validation is adaptively modified based on actual operational conditions. Rather than using a fixed enlarged boundary that reduces travel space, the system dynamically adjusts the boundary representation to match real-time safety requirements, maximizing usable travel space while maintaining adequate clearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters of the vehicle boundary representation dynamically. The path validation tool modifies boundary characteristics based on vehicle speed, acceleration, and environmental factors, allowing the boundary to shrink or expand as needed rather than maintaining a conservative fixed size that would unnecessarily reduce travel space.
3Measurement precision
If the path validation tool accounts for dynamic vehicle boundary changes, then collision detection accuracy is improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the path validation process into discrete computational steps: boundary determination, path sampling, intersection testing, and modification. By dividing the complex validation task into manageable segments, the system achieves high collision detection accuracy without overwhelming computational complexity at any single processing stage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculations of the dynamic vehicle boundary before path validation begins. By pre-computing boundary characteristics and storing them for rapid access during validation, the system reduces real-time computational complexity while maintaining high detection accuracy through readily available boundary data.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C~1D
AI summary
A materials handling vehicle comprises a path validation tool, drive unit, steering unit, localization module, and a navigation module that cooperate to navigate the vehicle along a travel path in a warehouse. The tool comprises warehouse layout data, a proposed travel path and vehicle kinematics as well as a dynamic exterior boundary and a dynamic clearance boundary which approximate the physical vehicle periphery and an enlarged boundary respectively. The tool executes path validation logic to determine vehicle pose along the proposed travel path; determine whether the dynamic clearance boundary is likely to intersect obstacles represented in the layout data based on the determined vehicle pose at candidate positions along the proposed travel path and build a list of potentially intersecting candidates; determine a degree of potential impingement at the candidate positions by referring to the list of candidates, dynamic exterior boundary and obstacle data; and modify the proposed travel path to mitigate the degree of potential impingement. The vehicle further comprises a tugger and one or mor trailers coupled to the tugger. The dynamic vehicle boundary approximates a physical periphery of the tugger, and a potentially intersecting obstacle is a trailer of the one or more trailers coupled to the tugger. Alternatively, the dynamic vehicle boundary approximates a physical periphery of a trailer of the one or more trailers, and a potentially intersecting obstacle is another trailer of the one or more trailers.