AGV position and heading controller
First Claim
1. A method of controlling an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) comprising:
- measuring the AGV'"'"'s heading;
measuring the AGV'"'"'s location;
determining any error between the AGV'"'"'s measured heading and a desired heading;
determining any error between the AGV'"'"'s measured location and a desired location; and
steering said AGV to simultaneously attempt to reduce said error between the AGV'"'"'s measured heading and desired heading and said error between the AGV'"'"'s measured location and a desired location.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling the steering of an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) includes simultaneously correcting the vehicle'"'"'s heading and position errors. The vehicle may include first and second steering control loops that determine the vehicle'"'"'s position and heading errors, respectively. Separate commands are generated from these control loops to steer the vehicle in a manner that tends to reduce these errors. The vehicle may include a forward and a rearward pair of wheels. For correcting position errors, the first control loop issues the same steering command to both the forward and rearward pair of wheels. For correcting heading errors, the second control loop issues a steering command to the rearward pair of wheels that is summed together with the first control loop'"'"'s steering command prior to being applied to the rearward pair of wheels.
57 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of controlling an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) comprising:
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measuring the AGV'"'"'s heading;
measuring the AGV'"'"'s location;
determining any error between the AGV'"'"'s measured heading and a desired heading;
determining any error between the AGV'"'"'s measured location and a desired location; and
steering said AGV to simultaneously attempt to reduce said error between the AGV'"'"'s measured heading and desired heading and said error between the AGV'"'"'s measured location and a desired location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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13. A method of controlling an automatic guide d vehicle (AGV) comprising:
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measuring the AGV'"'"'s heading;
measuring the AGV'"'"'s location;
providing a first control loop that generates a first steering command based upon any difference between said measured AGV position and a desired AGV position; and
providing a second control loop that generates a second steering command based upon any difference between said measured AGV heading and a desired AGV heading.
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19. A method of controlling an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) comprising:
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measuring the AGV'"'"'s position;
determining a desired position for the AGV;
comparing the AGV'"'"'s measured position to the desired position for the AGV; and
generating a steering command for the AGV based upon any difference between the measured position of the AGV and the desired position of the AGV, said steering command causing the AGV to reduce any difference between the AGV'"'"'s measured position and the AGV'"'"'s desired position without altering the AGV'"'"'s orientation as the AGV moves.
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24. An apparatus for controlling an AGV comprising:
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a first controller, said first controller determining any difference between the vehicle'"'"'s measured position and a desired position, said first controller adapted to output a first command that tends to reduce any said difference; and
a second controller, said second controller determining any difference between the vehicle'"'"'s measured heading and a desired heading, said second controller adapted to output a second command that tends to reduce any said difference between the measured and desired heading.
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Specification