The Research On Path Planning Of Automated Guided Vehicle System

Along with the development of automated logistics systems, flexible manufacture systems and stereoscopic warehouses, AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicle system) have been widely accepted as one of the key subsystems. AGVs are considered to be adopted for transporting the cargoes and products. AGVs are expected to provide significant convenience and flexibility in such tasks, and thus great promote the efficiency in such conditions. The design and implementation of AGVs are challenging which demands lots research efforts. Among the challenges, path planning is one of the key issues of AGVs in theory and practical applications.The research work presented in this disseration is explored based on the research project "Laser Guided Automated Forklift System", which aims to design and implement a prototype of guided automated forklift system. The key aspects and contributions made in this dissertation are described as follows:1,The architecture of the AGV control system includes the models of upper and lower computers was designed in a centralized fashion. AGV is the lower system, which mainly includes the navigation subsystem, motor subsystem, control subsystem, battery charging and obstacle-avoidance subsystem. The upper system and lower system are expected to communicate among each other based on wireless WIFI technology.2, The map model was described using graph theory model in the process of AGV path planning. The Dijkstra based shortest-path algorithm was adopted in single AGV's path planning, and the number and the angle of AGV turns were taken into count during the algorithm design to improve the algorithmic performance. The improved Dijkstra algorithm was confirmed through assessment that it is more effective and feasible in practical applications.3,In the case of path planning for multiple AGVs, the time windows method was proposed to avoid potential conflicts and deadlocks. The method of time windows and Dijkstra was adopted for multi-AGVs path planning can well address the problem of multi-AGVs path planning problem indicated by the evaluations through simulation experiments and practical applications.4,The AGV system control software was developed and all the function modules were implemented. The assessment of AGV software and hardware design was carried out in the realistic factory environment to validate the practical applicability and effectiveness of the designed algorithm and control strategies.