Towards Collision-Free Automated Guided Vehicles Navigation and Traffic Control

Abstract

Mobile robots, such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), are widely used in automated manufacturing systems for material and goods handling. In this context, it has to be ensured that collisions among mobile robots, other industrial equipment and people are avoided, specially if dealing with human safety. In this paper, a collision-free navigation and traffic control approach, based on coloured Petri nets and the D* Lite searching algorithm is proposed. The algorithm dynamically computes a sequence of safe and optimal movements of the AGVs to reach the desired marking. A validation example is also provided, where the navigation and traffic control of three AGVs in an industrial shop-floor is simulated.