Coordinated Multi-Robotic Vehicles Navigation and Control in Shop Floor Automation

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Control Systems

Background:

• Autonomous mobile robots require efficient navigation strategies for complex environments like warehouses.
• Model Predictive Control (MPC) offers a powerful framework for robot motion planning but can be computationally intensive.
• Integrating global path planning with MPC is crucial for robust and efficient autonomous operation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel global navigation function for model predictive control (MPC) in autonomous mobile robots.
• To develop a collision-free trajectory generation method for warehouse automation applications.
• To enhance the computational efficiency and performance of robot navigation systems.

Main Methods:

• A global navigation function based on a potential field derived from an E* graph search and bicubic interpolation was developed.
• The navigation function was integrated with model predictive control (MPC) for trajectory generation.
• A hybrid optimization strategy combining discrete velocity candidates and particle swarm optimization (PSO) was employed.
• Adaptive horizon length was utilized within the MPC framework to improve performance.

Main Results:

• The proposed approach generates smooth, collision-free trajectories for autonomous mobile robots.
• The navigation function demonstrates convergent behavior from any starting point to the target.
• Pre-computation of the navigation function significantly enhances computational efficiency.
• Simulations and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed navigation and control strategies.

Conclusions:

• The integrated global navigation function and MPC provide an efficient and robust solution for autonomous mobile robot navigation in warehouse automation.
• The method effectively handles static and dynamic obstacles, ensuring safe and smooth path planning.
• The novel optimization strategy and adaptive horizon length contribute to improved navigation performance and computational efficiency.