AGV Navigation and Traffic Control Michael Morgan October 24, 2012

Current State Navigation Wired – radio frequency Guide tape – colored or magnetic tape Laser target – modulated and pulsed Gyroscopic – transponders w/ gyroscopes Vision-guidance – cameras, 3D map Natural features – laser or gyroscopes

Current State Traffic Control Zone control – clear or stop signals Forward sensing control – sonic, optical, bumper Combination control

Where are AGV’s used? Aerospace Automotive Building materials Electronics Beverage Manufacturing Medical Newspaper Plastics Printing Special applications Warehouse

Primary Vendors and Supporting Technology

Costs Level 1: Simple  Manual Vehicle Dispatch, Load/Unload, No Central Controller, No Host Interface. Level 2: Medium   Automatic Vehicle Dispatch, Load/Unload, Central Controller, Product Tracking, Multiple Path Options. Level 3: More   Automatic Vehicle Dispatch, Load/Unload, automatic coupling/uncoupling (applies to tuggers only), Central Controller, Complex Host Interface, Ethernet Link, Product Tracking, Multiple Path Options Multiple Transfer Heights, etc.

Technical paper Zone design and control for vehicle collision prevention and load balancing in a zone control AGV system by Yin-Chin Ho and Ta-Wei Liao Calls for a dynamic zone system instead of fixed zones. This would allow AGV’s to ‘help’ each other http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036083520800137X

Integration with automation process Transportation Closely integrated with AS/RS

Class application ABC Company operates 24/5 and has 15 forklift drivers (5 per shift), each making $15 per hour. Employee benefits equal 30% of the base hourly rate. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the base hourly rate and each forklift driver is averaging 5 hours of overtime weekly. ABC Company has 6 forklifts and will not need 5 of them after the AGV system has been installed. ABC's forklifts have a life cycle of 4 years with each new forklift costing $25,000. Calculation inputs A = Total Number of Positions Replaced = 15 B = Annual Base Hourly Cost Per Position (burdened with benefits) = $40,560 C = Annual Overtime Cost Per Position = $5,850 D = Cost for New Forklifts (total every 4 years) = $125,000 E = Cost of AGV System = $2,000,000

Class application Calculation results Total Annual Position Savings (A(B + C)) = $696,150 Annual Forklift Cost Breakdown (D / 4 yrs) = $31,250 Total Annual Costs (total annual position savings + annual forklift cost) = $727,400 Years to Break Even (E/total annual costs) = 2.75 Years

References http://www.agvsystems.com/?page_id=17 http://www.jervisbwebb.com/Products/guidance_options.aspx?pid=308&qs=1_6_ http://www.transbotics.com/agvsteeringoptions.htm http://www.businessofautomation.com/AGVS.html http://www.mhia.org/industrygroups/agvs/costestimating http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036083520800137X