AGV path planning in docking situations

Current automated guided vehicles (AGVs) normally depend on electrical wires buried in the floor, or reflecting lines painted on it, for their navigation. This makes adaptation to changes in production or warehousing processes elaborate and costly. Some recent AGV systems already use beacons, but are not yet capable of avoiding obstacles. Practical limitations between central computer and on-board computer mean that a certain autonomy is demanded of the vehicle. For computational simplicity, the basic paths in the most general path planning problems considered in the project consist of straight lines or 'lanes'. To enable the vehicles to change lanes without stopping to turn while staying on the planned path, curves with a continuous curvature are needed, for example clothoids. Algorithms to compute clothoids were presented by van der Molen (Euriscon '91, June 1991). Their application to changes between lanes are discussed, and enveloping boundaries that encompass the 'swipe-out' area occupied by the vehicle during motion are presented.<
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