Deep lane navigation system for automatic guided vehicles
First Claim
1. A method for automatically guiding a vehicle relative to a centerline extending along at least a first of a plurality of navigatable rows, each row comprising predefined centerlines, at least a second of said rows comprising a number of movable objects positioned at locations along the centerline of at least a second of said rows, the method comprising:
- scanning from the vehicle the movable objects positioned at locations along the at least second of said rows;
generating a set of data points representative of the locations of the movable objects relative to the vehicle;
analyzing the data points to determine the true location of the first row being traveled by the vehicle;
determining a sensed position and heading of the vehicle relative to the centerline of the first row;
comparing the sensed position and heading of the vehicle to a position and direction of the first row centerline;
generating offset and heading errors for the vehicle based on differences between the sensed position and heading of the vehicle and the position and direction of the first row centerline; and
based on the generated offset and heading errors, altering the direction of travel of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for automatically guiding a vehicle along at least a first of a plurality of rows comprising predefined centerlines. At least a second of the rows comprises a number of objects of known dimensions positioned at known locations along the centerline thereof. The method comprises the steps of scanning the objects from the vehicle, generating a set of data points representative of the locations of the objects relative to the vehicle, determining a sensed position and heading of the vehicle from the data points, comparing the sensed position and heading of the vehicle to a position and direction of the first row centerline, and generating offset and heading errors for the vehicle based on differences between the sensed position and heading of the vehicle and the position and direction of the first row centerline.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A method for automatically guiding a vehicle relative to a centerline extending along at least a first of a plurality of navigatable rows, each row comprising predefined centerlines, at least a second of said rows comprising a number of movable objects positioned at locations along the centerline of at least a second of said rows, the method comprising:
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scanning from the vehicle the movable objects positioned at locations along the at least second of said rows; generating a set of data points representative of the locations of the movable objects relative to the vehicle; analyzing the data points to determine the true location of the first row being traveled by the vehicle; determining a sensed position and heading of the vehicle relative to the centerline of the first row; comparing the sensed position and heading of the vehicle to a position and direction of the first row centerline; generating offset and heading errors for the vehicle based on differences between the sensed position and heading of the vehicle and the position and direction of the first row centerline; and based on the generated offset and heading errors, altering the direction of travel of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification