Hierarchical control system for automatically guided vehicles
US5367456A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 24, 1991 |
| Grant date | Nov 22, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 24, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05D1/0274
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The invention is a modular and hierarchically organized set of computer programs which comprise methods for controlling a system of semi-autonomous automatically guided vehicles, such as mobile robots. The methods include control programs which: execute in stationary control computers; communicate between the stationary control computer programs and corresponding programs which execute in mobile control computers aboard the vehicles; operate independently in mobile control computers aboard the vehicles. The invention allows the system executive program to command the mobile vehicles to start, to stop, to transfer material to or from the vehicles, to change batteries in the vehicles, to park the vehicles at specific points in a factory, to move the vehicles from point to point in a factory, and to remove the vehicles from the factory. The invention improves the performance of conventional automatically guided vehicle systems by maximizing the autonomy of individual vehicles while retaining sufficient supervisory control at the system executive level to provide the maximum flexibility in routing and scheduling the activity of the vehicles. The invention "closes the loop" in an automa…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.