Unmanned vehicle guidance system e.g. for assembly plant - determines vehicle position and course using way point markers to support autonomous navigation system

摘要

The system for guiding a steerable vehicle along a defined path contains a memory (32) in the vehicle contg. the stored path, an autonomous navigation system (20), a controller (34) which corrects positional errors and a vehicle steering system (24) controlled by the controller. The navigation system determines the vehicle's position and course. Markers are placed at discrete points along the path. They are detected from the vehicle and used to support the navigation system's position measurement. USE/ADVANTAGE - For transporting assembly parts in large scale manufacturing. The guide system can be installed and modified without great cost.