AdvancedSensingandControlTechniquesforMultiAGVSystemsinSharedIndustrialEnvironmentsLorenzoSabattini,ElenaCardarelli,ValerioDigani,CristianSecchi,CesareFantuzziandKayFuerstenbergAbstract—Thispaperdescribesinnovativesensingtechnolo-giesandcontroltechniques,thataimatimprovingtheperfor-manceofgroupsofAutomatedGuidedVehicles(AGVs)usedforlogisticsoperationsinindustrialenvironments.WeexplicitlyconsiderthesituationwheretheenvironmentissharedamongAGVs,manuallydrivenvehicles,andhumanoperators.Inthissituation,safetyisamajorissue,thatneedsalwaystobeguaranteed,whilestillmaximizingtheefficiencyofthesystem.ThispaperdescribessomeofthemainachievementsofthePAN-RobotsEuropeanproject.I.INTRODUCTIONGoodsproductionflowinmanufacturingplantshavebeenlargelyanddeeplyautomatedinthelastdecades,inordertomainlyreducecostsandavoidunsafeworkcondition.Manufacturingplantsoftenneedwarehousesforrawmaterialsandfinalproductsatthebeginningandattheendoftheproductionline.Despitetheautomationofproduction,logisticsisstillmarginallyautomatedandtillnowrequiresmanualoperationsperformedbyhumanworkersandhand-operatedforklifts.Thereforelogisticswhichisnotfullyintegratedinmanufacturingprocessesarousesinefficienciestogetherwithhighriskyworkingconditionsforworkers[1].Factorylogisticsiscrucialfortheoverallproductionflowanditsweaknessesaffecttheproductionefficiencyandthequalityofgoodsde-livery,expeciallyintermsofproducttraceability.Bottlenecksandproblemsinwarehouselogisticsheavilyimpactonfactorycompetitivenessonmarket.WarehousinginfactoriesofthefuturecanrelyonAuto-matedGuidedVehicles(AGVs)andintegratedsystemsforthecompletehandlingoflogisticoperations(Fig1).Nowadaystheseautonomoussystemshaveamarketshareofaboutfewthousandsvehiclessoldeveryyearandtheyarenotstillreadytobewidespreadinmanufacturingplants.Infactsafety,efficiencyandplantinstallationcostsarestillopenproblemsandtechnologiesarenotmatureenoughtofullysupportapervasivediffusionofAGVs.Therefore,innovationstoaddressweaknessesofAGVsandautomatedwarehousesystemswillboostcapabilitiesoftheselogisticsolutionsbringingthemtowardapervasivediffusioninmodernfactories.L.Sabattini,E.Cardarelli,V.Digani,C.SecchiandC.FantuzziarewiththeDepartmentofSciencesandMethodsforEngineering(DISMI),UniversityofModenaandReggioEmilia,Italy{lorenzo.sabattini,elena.cardarelli,valerio.digani,cristian.secchi,cesare.fantuzzi}@unimore.itK.FuerstenbergiswithSICKAGAppliedResearch,Hamburg,Germanykay.fuerstenberg@sick.deThispaperiswrittenwithinPAN-Robotsproject.TheresearchleadingtotheseresultshasreceivedfundingfromtheEuropeanUnionSeventhFrameworkProgramme(FP7/2007-2013)undergrantagreementn.314193.Website:www.pan-robots.euFig.1:AutomatedwarehousewithAGVsInthispaperweanalyzetechnologiesdevelopedwiththepurposeofenhancingthediffusionofAGVsystemsforfactorylogistics[2],[3].AGVsystemshavebeenextensivelystudiedintheliterature:acomprehensivesurveyispresented[4],whereauthorsdescribethemaintechnologiesadoptedforlocalizationandguidanceofAGVsinindustrialenvironments.Theworkin[5]describestheuseofmultipleAGVsforcooperativetransportationofhugeandheavyloads.Generallyspeaking,AGVsystemsareusedforautom-atizingthemovementofgoodsamongdifferentlocationsinanindustrialenvironment[6],[7].Typically,anAGVisexploitedforpickingupapalletofgoodsfromtheendofanautomatedproductionline,andbringittothewarehouse,orfromthewarehousetotheshipment.Ea...
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