Warehouse Vehicle Path Validation With Dynamic Boundary Updates
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current path validation tools for materials handling vehicles in warehouses are inadequate in predicting and mitigating potential collisions with obstacles, as they fail to accurately account for dynamic vehicle boundaries and changes in speed and steering angles, leading to inefficiencies and potential hazards.
Innovation Solution
A path validation tool that integrates environmental layout data, vehicle kinematics, and dynamic vehicle boundaries to determine vehicle pose, update boundaries for speed and steering changes, and modify travel paths to avoid obstacles, using a combination of dynamic exterior and clearance boundaries to ensure safe navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If current path validation tools are used, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision of vehicle boundary and collision prediction deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by transitioning from static vehicle boundary representations to dynamic boundaries that adapt based on vehicle pose, speed, and steering angle. The vehicle boundary is continuously updated along the travel path to reflect actual vehicle configuration and motion state, enabling accurate collision prediction while maintaining computational efficiency through parameterized boundary definitions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by modifying vehicle boundary parameters (exterior boundary, clearance boundary, hazard boundary) based on varying vehicle pose, speed, and steering angle. These parameters are dynamically adjusted along the travel path to accurately represent the vehicle's physical extent and potential collision zones at different positions, improving measurement precision without requiring complex re-modeling.
2Reliability
If dynamic vehicle boundaries and path modification are implemented, then safety is improved, but computational time and processing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-defining boundary parameters (exterior boundary, clearance boundary, hazard boundary) and vehicle kinematic properties before path validation. The system pre-establishes the relationship between vehicle pose, speed, and boundary configuration, allowing rapid evaluation during actual path validation without real-time complex calculations, thus reducing processing time while maintaining safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the vehicle boundary into distinct layers (exterior boundary, clearance boundary, hazard boundary) with different safety margins and functions. This segmentation allows the system to evaluate different collision scenarios at different boundary levels, improving safety assessment efficiency by focusing computational resources on critical collision zones rather than uniformly processing the entire vehicle envelope.
3Measurement precision
If accurate vehicle pose determination and boundary updating are performed, then collision detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity and computational requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying by creating simplified geometric representations (copies) of the vehicle boundary at different safety levels rather than directly modeling the complex physical vehicle. The exterior boundary, clearance boundary, and hazard boundary are computational copies that approximate the vehicle's physical extent, allowing accurate pose determination and collision detection without requiring complex physical models or real-time sensor processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A materials handling vehicle comprising a path validation tool and a drive unit, steering unit, localization module, and navigation module that cooperate to navigate the vehicle along a warehouse travel path. The tool comprises warehouse layout data, a proposed travel path, vehicle kinematics, and a dynamic vehicle boundary that approximates the vehicle physical periphery. The tool executes path validation logic to determine vehicle pose along the proposed travel path, update the dynamic vehicle boundary to account for changes in vehicle speed and steering angle, determine whether the dynamic vehicle 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, determine a degree of potential impingement at the candidate positions by referring to the dynamic vehicle boundary and obstacle data, and modify the proposed travel path to mitigate the degree of potential impingement.