Materials handling vehicle obstacle scanning tools

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10450001-B2
Application number	US-201715686606-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2017
Priority date	Aug 26, 2016
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A materials handling vehicle comprises an obstacle scanning tool and steering mechanism, materials handling hardware, vehicle drive mechanism, and user interface that facilitate movement of the materials handling vehicle and materials handled along a travel path. The tool establishes a scan field, a filter field, and a performance field, and is configured to indicate the presence of obstacles in the filter field and the performance field. The tool executes logic to establish the performance field in response to an input performance level, scan for obstacles in the filter field and the performance field, execute obstacle avoidance for obstacles detected in the filter field, and execute a performance level reduction inquiry for obstacles detected in the performance field wherein outcomes of the inquiry comprise reduction of the performance level when a performance level reduction is available and execution of obstacle avoidance when a performance level reduction is not available.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A materials handling vehicle comprising
a steering mechanism,
materials handling hardware,
a vehicle drive mechanism,
a user interface, and
an obstacle scanning tool, wherein:
the steering mechanism, materials handling hardware, vehicle drive mechanism, and user interface facilitate movement of the materials handling vehicle and materials handled by the materials handling vehicle along a travel path in a warehouse at a vehicle speed S C towards a destination;
the obstacle scanning tool comprises obstacle scanning hardware establishing a scan field, a path filter establishing a filter field, and a performance filter establishing a performance field P i , and is configured to indicate the presence of obstacles in the filter field and the performance field P i ; and
the obstacle scanning tool executes obstacle scanning logic to
establish the filter field using the path filter,
establish the performance field P i in response to an input performance level L i using the performance filter,
scan for obstacles in the filter field and the performance field P i ,
execute obstacle avoidance for obstacles detected in the filter field, and
execute a performance level reduction inquiry for obstacles detected in the performance field P i wherein outcomes of the performance level reduction inquiry comprise reduction of the performance level L i when a performance level reduction is available and execution of obstacle avoidance when a performance level reduction is not available.

2. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:
the performance level reduction inquiry comprises a current vehicle speed query to confirm that a current speed S c of the materials handling vehicle along the travel path is not greater than a maximum speed S i Max associated with the performance level L i ; and
the obstacle scanning tool conditions reduction of the performance level L i on a determination that the current speed S c is not greater than a maximum speed S i Max.

3. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:
the performance level reduction inquiry comprises a current performance level query to confirm that the performance level L i is greater than a minimum performance level associated with the materials handling vehicle; and
the obstacle scanning tool conditions reduction of the performance level L i on a determination that the performance level L i is greater than the minimum performance level.

4. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:
the performance level reduction inquiry comprises a current vehicle speed query to confirm that a current speed S c of the materials handling vehicle along the travel path is not greater than a maximum speed S i Max associated with the performance level L i ;
the performance level reduction inquiry comprises a current performance level query to confirm that the performance level L i is greater than a minimum performance level associated with the materials handling vehicle; and
the obstacle scanning tool conditions reduction of the performance level L i on determinations that the current speed S c is not greater than a maximum speed S i Max and the performance level L i is greater than the minimum performance level.

5. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle avoidance is executed using the steering mechanism, the vehicle drive mechanism, or both.

6. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the performance level is input at the user interface or in response to an external stimulus.

7. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the filter field is disposed within the performance field P i .

8. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle scanning tool comprises a plurality of performance filters establishing a respective plurality of performance fields.

9. The materials handling vehicle of claim 8 , wherein a performance field P (i-1) comprises a maximum speed S (i-1) Max associated with the performance level L (i-1) and is disposed within the performance field P i .

10. The materials handling vehicle of claim 9 , wherein:
the performance level reduction inquiry further comprises a current vehicle speed query to confirm that a current speed Sc of the materials handling vehicle along the travel path is not greater than the maximum speed S (i-1) Max associated with the performance level L (i-1) ;
the performance level reduction inquiry comprises a current performance level query to confirm that the performance level L i is greater than a minimum performance level associated with the materials handling vehicle;
the obstacle scanning tool conditions reduction of the performance level L i to the performance level L (i-1) on determinations that the current speed S c is not greater than a maximum speed S (i-1) Max and the performance level L i is greater than the minimum performance level; and
reduction of the performance level L i to the performance level L (i-1) comprises corresponding reduction in the performance field P i to the performance field P (i-1) .

11. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the filter field is an area along the travel path and within the scan field in which the obstacle scanning tool processes scan data from the obstacle scanning hardware to identify obstacles along the travel path and in the filter field.

12. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle scanning tools comprise an anticipated path filter configured to bound to the travel path outside of the scan field at a distance from the travel path.

13. The materials handling vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the distance is a fixed distance from the travel path.

14. The materials handling vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the distance is configured to vary based on at least one of an anticipated travel direction along the travel path, an anticipated travel speed, and an anticipated steer angle at a destination along the travel path.

15. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the filter field is configured to adapt a field shape based on a determination that the materials handling vehicle is approaching an intersection and a current speed Sc of the materials handling vehicle.

16. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle scanning tool comprises one or more overlay filters establishing one or more overlay fields configured to overlay one or more zones of an intersection, and the filter field is configured to adapt a field shape to include the one or more overlay filters based on a determination that the materials handling vehicle is approaching the intersection.

17. The materials handling vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle scanning tool executes obstacle scanning logic to execute a performance level increase inquiry comprising an outcome of an increase of the performance level L i when obstacles are not detected in the performance field P i .

18. A materials handling vehicle comprising
a steering mechanism,
materials handling hardware,
a vehicle drive mechanism,
a user interface, and
an obstacle scanning tool, wherein:
the steering mechanism, materials handling hardware, vehicle drive mechanism, and user interface facilitate movement of the materials handling vehicle and materials handled by the materials handling vehicle along a travel path in a warehouse at a vehicle speed S C towards a destination;
the obstacle scanning tool comprises obstacle scanning hardware establishing a scan field, and a path filter establishing a filter

Assignees

• Crown Equip Corp

Inventors

• Stewart Alan
• Mai Yuan

Classifications

• B66F9/24

  Electrical devices or systems · CPC title

• B66F9/0755 Primary

  Position control; Position detectors · CPC title

• B62D6/10 Primary

  characterised by means for sensing {or determining} torque · CPC title

• B66F9/063

  Automatically guided · CPC title

• B60W30/09 Primary

  Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering · CPC title