Visualization of AGV in Virtual Reality and Collision Detection with Large Scale Point Clouds

Virtual reality (VR) will play an important role in the factory of the future. In this paper, an immersive and interactive VR system is presented for3D visualization of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) moving in a warehouse. The environment model consists of a large scale point cloud obtained through a Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) survey. Realistic AGV animation is achieved thanks to the extraction of an accurate model of the ground. Visualization of AGV safety zones is also supported.Moreover, the system enables real-time collision detection between the 3D vehicle model and the point cloud model of the environment. Collision detection is useful for checking the feasibility of a specified vehicle path. Efficient techniques for dynamic loading of massive point cloud data have been developed to speed up rendering and collision detection. The VR system can be used to assist the design of automated warehouses and to show customers what their future industrial plant would look like.