1. AGV Navigation and Traffic Control
Michael Morgan
October 24, 2012

2. 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

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

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

5. Primary Vendors and Supporting Technology

6. 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.

7. 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

8. Integration with automation process
Transportation
Closely integrated with AS/RS

9. 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

10. 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

11. References http://www.agvsystems.com/?page_id=17