Patent EP0236614A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0236614A2
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EP
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Automatic guided vehicle systems
Assignee: SI Handling Systems Inc
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Filing: 1986-04-23
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-04-23
Abstract
Abstract In an automatic guided vehicle system for guiding a driverless vehicle (10) over a predetermined path of travel without any tracks, wires or the like the vehicle is provided with an active optical navigation section (103) for determining vehicle position and bearing by scanning a plurality of beacons (12 to 24) distributed within the zone of travel of the vehicle, a passive ground navigation section (105) including a gyrocompass (58) for measuring changes in bearing of the vehicle and a wheel encoder (62) for measuring distance travelled by the vehicle's steering wheel. Memory onboard the vehicle contains a series of path vectors which define a predetermined path of travel for the vehicle. The ground navigation section updates vehicle position and bearing as determined by the optical navigation section. A programmed onboard computer (100) includes driver software for generating steering data so as to guide the vehicle over a corrective arc path from its position and bearing, as determined by the navigation sections, to the desired position and bearing as indicated by a stored path vector.
Inventors
- 👤 Nikolai Eberhardt
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 23:50
CPC Classifications
G; G05; G05D; G05D1/00; G05D1/02; G05D1/021; G05D1/0268; G05D1/0272; G05D1/0231; G05D1/0234; G05D1/027; G05D1/0276; G05D1/028
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
227 words
Automatic guided vehicle system for guiding a driverless vehicle within a predetermined zone divisible into coordinate positions, characterised by: a driverless vehicle (10) provided with a steering mechanism (74) and a drive controller (72) for controlling the steering mechanism so as to guide the vehicle over arc path segments within the zone, a plurality of beacons (12 to 24) distributed within the zone outboard the driverless vehicle, memory means onboard the vehicle for storing a series of coordinate positions representing the positions of the beacons and for storing a series of path vectors each comprising position and bearing data, said vectors together representing a predetermined path of travel for the vehicle, a first navigation section (103) onboard the vehicle including means for optically scanning said beacons and means for generating data signals indicating the position and bearing of the vehicle based on an optical scan of the beacons, a second navigation section (105) onboard the vehicle including means for generating data signals indicating changes in the vehicle position and bearing as indicated by said first navigation section data signals, and driver means onboard the vehicle and responsive to said data signals generated by said first and second navigation sections and to said stored path vectors for causing said drive controller (72) to control said steering mechanism (74) such that said vehicle follows said predetermined path of travel.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
227 words
Automatic guided vehicle system for guiding a driverless vehicle within a predetermined zone divisible into coordinate positions, characterised by: a driverless vehicle (10) provided with a steering mechanism (74) and a drive controller (72) for controlling the steering mechanism so as to guide the vehicle over arc path segments within the zone, a plurality of beacons (12 to 24) distributed within the zone outboard the driverless vehicle, memory means onboard the vehicle for storing a series of coordinate positions representing the positions of the beacons and for storing a series of path vectors each comprising position and bearing data, said vectors together representing a predetermined path of travel for the vehicle, a first navigation section (103) onboard the vehicle including means for optically scanning said beacons and means for generating data signals indicating the position and bearing of the vehicle based on an optical scan of the beacons, a second navigation section (105) onboard the vehicle including means for generating data signals indicating changes in the vehicle position and bearing as indicated by said first navigation section data signals, and driver means onboard the vehicle and responsive to said data signals generated by said first and second navigation sections and to said stored path vectors for causing said drive controller (72) to control said steering mechanism (74) such that said vehicle follows said predetermined path of travel.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 1, characterised in that said driver means includes means for causing said drive controller (72) to control said steering mechanism (74) such that said vehicle follows said predetermined path of travel in forward or reverse directions.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
72 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said driver means includes means for calculating a corrective arc path for said vehicle based on the data generated by said first and second navigation sections and the position and bearing data indicated by said stored path vectors, and means for causing said drive controller to control said steering mechanism such that said vehicle follows said corrective arc path.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 3, characterised in that said corrective arc path comprises a pair of arc segments.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
41 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to any preceding claim, characterised in that said first navigation section (103) includes means for measuring the ranges between the vehicle and at least three of said beacons based on an optical scan of the beacons.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, characterised in that said means for optically scanning said beacons includes a laser beam (32) and means (34,M) for rotating said laser beam over substantially 360° azimuth.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
68 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to any preceding claim, characterised in that said second navigation section (105) includes means comprising a gyrocompass (58) for measuring changes in bearing of the vehicle and means including a wheel encoder (62) for measuring distance travelled by the vehicle, and in that said second navigation section means for generating data signals is responsive to the measurements of bearing change and distance travelled.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
193 words
Automatic guided vehicle system for guiding a driverless vehicle within a predetermined zone divisible into coordinate positions, characterised by: a driverless vehicle (10) provided with a steering mechanism (74) and a drive controller (72) for controlling the steering mechanism so as to guide the vehicle over arc path segments within the zone, a plurality of beacons (12 to 24) distributed within the zone outboard the vehicle, memory means onboard the vehicle for storing a series of coordinate positions representing the positions of said beacons and for storing a series of path vectors each comprising position and bearing data, said vectors together representing a predetermined path of travel for the vehicle, navigation means (103,105) onboard the vehicle for generating data signals indicating vehicle position and bearing by electro-optically measuring the range of the vehicle with respect to a preselected number of said beacons and by measuring changes in bearing and distance travelled by the vehicle, and driver means onboard the vehicle for generating steering commands for said drive controller (72) based on said data signals and on said stored path vectors so as to cause said vehicle to follow said predetermined path of travel.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
193 words
Automatic guided vehicle system for guiding a driverless vehicle within a predetermined zone divisible into coordinate positions, characterised by: a driverless vehicle (10) provided with a steering mechanism (74) and a drive controller (72) for controlling the steering mechanism so as to guide the vehicle over arc path segments within the zone, a plurality of beacons (12 to 24) distributed within the zone outboard the vehicle, memory means onboard the vehicle for storing a series of coordinate positions representing the positions of said beacons and for storing a series of path vectors each comprising position and bearing data, said vectors together representing a predetermined path of travel for the vehicle, navigation means (103,105) onboard the vehicle for generating data signals indicating vehicle position and bearing by electro-optically measuring the range of the vehicle with respect to a preselected number of said beacons and by measuring changes in bearing and distance travelled by the vehicle, and driver means onboard the vehicle for generating steering commands for said drive controller (72) based on said data signals and on said stored path vectors so as to cause said vehicle to follow said predetermined path of travel.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
52 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 8, characterised in that said driver means includes means for determining whether said vehicle is within a predetermined range of a stored path vector, and means for calculating a corrective arc path for said vehicle based on said data signals and said stored path vector.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
20 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 9, characterised in that said corrective path comprises a pair of arc segments.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
60 words
Automatic guided vehicle system according to claim 9 or 10, characterised in that said navigation means includes a gyrocompass (58) for measuring changes in bearing of the vehicle and a wheel encoder - (62) for measuring distance travelled by said steering mechanism, and wherein said data signals are generated based in part on the measured bearing change and travel distance.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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