Vehicle guidance and control system
First Claim
1. A vehicle guidance and control system including a vehicle having motive power and steering and means for transmitting a directional laser beam which is scanned in a predetermined sense;
- a plurality of reflectors spaced apart from each other, each reflector incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and each reflector being located to intercept said laser beam; and
means utilising light reflected back to said vehicle by at least two reflectors for controlling the movement and heading of the said vehicle.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle guidance and control system has a number of trucks whose movement is controlled by a base station. Each truck periodically fixes its own position in relation to marker boards consisting of patterns of reflective coded stripes by scanning a narrow laser beam in a predetermined direction across the stripes. Using at least two boards its position can be determined by triangulation, and because the beam scans in a fixed direction, the positional accuracy can be determined by a particular stripe or edge of a stripe, and not by the size of a marker board as a whole.
92 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A vehicle guidance and control system including a vehicle having motive power and steering and means for transmitting a directional laser beam which is scanned in a predetermined sense;
- a plurality of reflectors spaced apart from each other, each reflector incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and each reflector being located to intercept said laser beam; and
means utilising light reflected back to said vehicle by at least two reflectors for controlling the movement and heading of the said vehicle.
- a plurality of reflectors spaced apart from each other, each reflector incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and each reflector being located to intercept said laser beam; and
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2. A vehicle guidance and control system including a plurality of controllable vehicles each having individually controllable motive power and steering and having means for transmitting a directional laser beam which is continuously scanned in azimuth in a predetermined sense which is the same for the laser beams of all of said vehicles;
- a base station for allocating destinations for the vehicles;
a plurality of reflectors spaced apart from each other, each incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and which is located so as to be capable of intercepting said continuously scanning laser beam of each said vehicle; and
means utilizing light reflected back to each said vehicle by at least two reflectors for controlling the movement and heading of said vehicles towards their respective destinations. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- a base station for allocating destinations for the vehicles;
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11. A vehicle guidance and control system including a vehicle having motive power and being arranged to navigate freely within a predetermined area and means for transmitting a directional laser beam which is scanned in a predetermined sense;
- a plurality of reflections spaced apart from each other, each reflector incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and each reflector being located to intercept said laser beam; and
means utilising light reflected back to said vehicle by at least two reflectors for controlling the movement of the said vehicle within said area.
- a plurality of reflections spaced apart from each other, each reflector incorporating an optical code which identifies that reflector, and each reflector being located to intercept said laser beam; and
Specification