Automated guided vehicle
June 22, 2008. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.Patent References 3010129 3713505 3789939 Hindered phenolic derivatives of norbornane thioalcohols Control circuitry for vehicle guidance mechanism Code circuitry for a vehicle guidance mechanism Robot movable in a group Guidance control system for self-propelled mobile sprinkler irrigation systems Floor treating machines Driverless vehicle autoguided by light signals and three non-directional detectors InventorsAssigneeApplicationNo. 07/222894 filed on 06/22/1988US Classes:180/169, Radiation, force, or waves reflected from external object or surface318/587, Land vehicles348/119, Program control (e.g., path guidance, etc.)356/139.07, With photodetection of reflected beam angle with respect to a unidirectional source beam701/25Storage or planning of route informationExaminersPrimary: Marmor, Charles A.Assistant: Mar, Michael Attorney, Agent or FirmInternational ClassesG05D 1/02 (20060101)G01S 17/00 (20060101) G01S 17/93 (20060101) AbstractAn unmanned, self-propelled vehicle in the nature of a mobile robot has an on-board computer that stores path and machine function instructions and activates the drive and steering systems so as to cause the machine to follow a desired path. A plurality of retroreflective targets are mounted along the desired path. They do not have to be mounted at a specific height or distance apart, nor need they be square to the path. An improved guidance system for keeping the vehicle on the prescribed path includes a laterally scanning laser transmitter-receiver mounted on the vehicle. An electromechanical tracking device controls the angle of elevation of the laser beam so as to keep it aimed at each target successively as the vehicle moves. The laser produces signals which steer the vehicle such that the laser transmitter and targets are kept aligned in a vertical plane. A positioning device can move the laser transmitter transversely on the vehicle so that the vehicle centerline may travel in the vertical plane of the laser or may travel in an offset line parallel to the vertical laser plane. Certain ones of the targets are bar coded and a target counter senses and counts them as the machine moves past them to keep track of where the vehicle is located along its desired path. A motion sensing system using reflective microwave sensors provides speed and distance information.Field of SearchWITH MEANS FOR CONTROLLING OPERATION RESPONSIVE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION, MAGNETIC FORCE, OR SOUND WAVES RECEIVED FROM SOURCE, OR REFLECTED FROM OBJECT OR SURFACE, LOCATED APART FROM VEHICLEHaving controlling means adapted to interact with stationary means which describes course of vehicle's travel | |
