TWI764069B - Automatic guided vehicle positioning system and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic guided vehicle positioning system includes one or more positioning areas and an automatic guided vehicle. The positioning areas are disposed in a ceiling, wall, or a shelf of a room, wherein the positioning areas has a positioning pattern. The automatic guided vehicle includes a beam emitter, a beam receiver, and a processor. The beam emitter is configured to emit a light beam to scan the positioning areas. The beam receiver is configured to be spaced apart from the beam emitter by a specific distance, wherein the beam receiver receives the light beam scattered by an area other than the corresponding positioning pattern of the positioning regions and does not receive the light beam retro-reflected by the corresponding positioning pattern. The processor is configured to identify the corresponding positioning pattern based on the light beam received by the beam receiver and the retro-reflected light beam not received by the beam receiver and to position the automatic guided vehicle according to the corresponding positioning pattern.

Description

Automatic guided vehicle positioning system and operation method thereof

The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle positioning system, in particular to an automatic guided vehicle positioning system which can locate the automatic guided vehicle by scanning a positioning pattern.

The existing automatic guided vehicle (AGV) technology has certain requirements for the environment, and the positioning method based on the physical contour of the environment is an existing mature technology. For example, conventional automated guided vehicles may use lidar to detect the contours of the surrounding environment to determine or locate the automated guided vehicle.

However, when the environment is similar (that is, the contours of the surrounding environment of multiple locations are similar to each other), additional reflectors or target objects are usually added to the environment, so that similar environments can have different characteristics and achieve identification and positioning. And if there are a lot of similar environments, in addition to adding reflectors or target blocks, there are also methods to change their size and outline. However, in addition to the complex construction methods, these methods are also very difficult to achieve hundreds of differences, and it is impossible to expand to thousands of differences.

The purpose of the present invention is to improve the reliability of automatic guided vehicle positioning technology.

The invention provides an automatic guided vehicle positioning system. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system includes multiple positioning areas and automatic guided vehicles. A plurality of positioning regions are arranged in space, wherein the positioning regions have positioning patterns. An automated guided vehicle includes a beam transmitter, a beam receiver, and a processor. The beam transmitter is configured to emit a beam to scan one of the location areas. The beam receiver is configured to be spaced a certain distance from the beam transmitter, wherein the beam receiver receives the light beam scattered by areas other than the corresponding positioning pattern in one of the positioning areas. The processor is configured to identify a corresponding positioning pattern based on the light beam received by the light beam receiver, and to position the automated guided vehicle according to the corresponding positioning pattern.

The invention provides an operation method of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system. A method of operation of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system includes setting a plurality of positioning areas in space, wherein the positioning areas have a positioning pattern; scanning one of the positioning areas; and receiving light beams scattered by areas other than the corresponding positioning pattern in the one of the positioning areas ; and according to the received light beam, identify the corresponding positioning pattern, and position the automatic guided vehicle according to the corresponding positioning pattern.

Through the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, positioning patterns with various differences can be easily produced, so as to produce differences in spaces with more similar environments.

The present invention provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing the different features of the present invention. The following disclosure describes specific examples of various components and their arrangements to simplify the description. Of course, these specific examples are not intended to be limiting. For example, if the present specification describes that a first feature is formed on or above a second feature, it means that it may include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are in direct contact, and may also include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are in direct contact There are embodiments in which additional features are formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, different examples of the following disclosure may reuse the same reference symbols and/or signs. These repetitions are for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and are not intended to limit the specific relationship between the various embodiments and/or structures discussed.

For the purpose of this detailed description, unless specifically denied, the singular includes the plural and vice versa. And the word "comprising" means "includes without limitation." In addition, approximation terms such as "about," "almost," "substantially," "approximately," etc., may be used in embodiments of the present invention in the sense of "at, near, or near" or "at," Within 3 to 5%" or "within acceptable manufacturing tolerance" or any logical combination.

Furthermore, it is a spatially related term. Words such as "below", "below", "lower", "above", "upper" and similar terms are used to facilitate the description of one element or feature in the figures with another element(s) or relationship between features. These spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as "below" or "beneath" other elements or features would also be oriented "above" the other elements or features. Thus, the example word "below" will cover both upside and downside readings. In addition, the device may be turned in different orientations (rotated 90 degrees or other orientations), and the spatially related terms used herein are to be interpreted in the same way.

Conventional automated guided vehicles can locate by scanning the contours of the surrounding environment to create a map. This technique may be referred to as Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). For example, the automatic guided vehicle can scan the environment contour in a space (such as a warehouse) with suitable beams such as lasers and infrared rays during operation, and establish a map of the space, so as to locate the automatic guided vehicle in the space. .

However, a space can have many areas of similar environment. For example, with the stacking of objects (eg, goods) in the space, locations in the space such as walkways or intersections may be similar to each other. When the AGV travels through these locations with similar environments, the AGV may lose its navigation and misjudge its correct location on the map.

Therefore, marking objects (eg, reflectors, target blocks, etc.) can be additionally placed at these places with similar environments, so that the environments of these places have environmental differences. In general, the number, size, shape profile, etc. of the marked objects can be designed to increase the number of environmental differences. However, as the space increases, so does the number of locations with similar environments, and the number of environmental differences caused by designing marker objects is no longer sufficient. In addition, manufacturing marking objects with different numbers, sizes, and shape profiles also requires higher costs.

FIG. 1A is a partial schematic diagram of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a schematic top view of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The automated guided vehicle positioning system 100 includes an automated guided vehicle 102 . The automated guided vehicle 102 is provided on the floor SP1 of the space SP, and is movable along the floor SP1. The automatic guided vehicle 102 includes a detection module 104 and a processor 106 . As described above, the automatic guided vehicle 102 can detect (scan) the environmental contour of the space SP through the detection module 104 to create a map of the space SP for positioning.

The automated guided vehicle 102 may carry one or more items, and the automated guided vehicle 102 may include other devices or components, such as displays, anti-collision sensors, or other components for an automated guided vehicle, or combinations thereof.

The detection module 104 can be a depth camera, a contour scanner, a laser rangefinder, a laser radar, or other suitable devices that can detect the contours of the environment. More specifically, the detection module 104 may have a beam transmitter 104-1 (not shown) and a beam receiver 104-2 (not shown), so that the beam transmitter 104-1 emits a beam to the surrounding environment (using the beam transmitter 104-1). The light beam scans the surrounding environment), and receives the surrounding environment reflection (scattering) back to the beam receiver 104-2, so that the processor 106 can obtain the outline of the surrounding environment from the received light beam and build a map of the space SP to locate the automated guided vehicle 102. The beam transmitter 104-1 may emit a beam, such as a laser beam, an infrared beam, or other suitable beam for scanning the surrounding environment. Beam receiver 104-2 may receive reflected laser beams, infrared beams, or other suitable beams emitted by beam transmitter 104-1 for scanning the surrounding environment.

The processor 106 may be substantially a fully self-contained computing system and include a single-core processor or a multi-core processor, a bus, a memory controller, a cache or other electronic device, or a combination thereof. Multi-core processors can be symmetric or asymmetric processors. In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 106 may perform calculation, judgment and simulation according to the light beam received by the light beam receiver 104-2.

In some embodiments, the processor 106 may be independent of the automated guided vehicle 102 (ie, the processor 106 is in an external device (eg, a computer)), and the automated guided vehicle 102 may include a transmission device (eg, a wireless transmission device) The result of the beam received by the beam receiver 104-2 is transmitted to the processor 106 for calculation, judgment and simulation.

If the space SP has many areas with similar environments (eg: locations A, B, and C in Fig. 1B have similar environments), marker objects can be additionally set in these areas to make environmental differences. For example, Fig. 1A can also be a schematic diagram corresponding to the location A in Fig. 1B. In Fig. 1A, a positioning area 108 is set on the ceiling SP2 of the space SP, and the positioning area 108 has one or more marking objects 110 on it. -1 (for example, as Fig. 1A shows a marker object 110-1), so that the area of this space SP and other areas with a similar environment (eg: locations B, C individually have a different number than the marker object 110-1) , shape or size of the marker objects 110-2, 110-3) to make environmental differences (ie, the contour of the ceiling 104-2 changes). It should be understood that the marker object 110-1 may be located elsewhere (eg, a wall or a shelf of the space SP). In this embodiment, the marking object 110-1 is disposed on the ceiling SP2, so that the marking object 110-1 is less likely to occupy the floor space of the space SP or be affected by the stacking of goods (eg, blocked by the goods).

As described above, if the space SP has more areas with similar environments, the number of environmental differences that can be caused by marker objects disposed in these areas may not be sufficient, and the manufacturing cost may be increased. Therefore, in embodiments of the present invention, the lower surface of the marked object may have a positioning pattern to further create environmental differences in similar environments. FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of a positioning pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention. The marking object 110-1 has a positioning pattern 112-1 on the lower surface (the surface facing the floor SP1). The automatic guided vehicle 102 can scan the positioning pattern 112-1 by the detection module 104, so that the processor 106 can identify the positioning pattern 112-1 to locate the automatic guided vehicle 102. For example, the positioning pattern 112-1 is "A", so after the detection module 104 scans the positioning pattern 112-1, the processor 106 recognizes that the positioning pattern 112-1 is "A", and an automatic guided vehicle can be obtained 102 is location A in space SP.

Similarly, the positioning pattern (not shown) of the marker object 110-2 at site B and the positioning pattern (not shown) of the marker object 110-3 at site C may be "B" and "C", respectively, when automatically guided The vehicle 102 passes through point B or point C, and the position (or coordinates) of the automatic guided vehicle 102 in the space SP can be located by recognizing the corresponding positioning pattern.

It should be understood that in some embodiments, in the space SP, the marker objects may be omitted, and different positioning patterns are individually set in areas with similar environments to make environmental differences. For example, the marked objects 110-1 to 110-3 of FIG. 1B can be omitted, and the positioning can be directly set on the corresponding positioning areas of the ceiling SP2 of the places A, B, and C (eg, the positioning area 108 of the place A) Patterns 112-1 to 112-3. In this way, the cost of manufacturing the marking object can be reduced.

The positioning pattern can be various characters, symbols, numbers or other geometric patterns. The positioning pattern can be a plane object, and the positioning pattern is one side formed by a retroreflective material, and the other side is adhesive. Therefore, the positioning pattern can be easily manufactured and easily placed in any area, and a similar environment in space can be manufactured with a variety of above differences for distinction.

The automatic guided vehicle 102 further includes a storage device (not shown), and the storage device has a coordinate look-up table corresponding to the positioning pattern. After the processor recognizes the corresponding positioning pattern, the automatic guided vehicle 102 can be positioned using the coordinate look-up table. Coordinate look-up tables have been recorded and stored in the storage device in advance, including location patterns or SLAM maps and so on. In one embodiment, the corresponding positioning pattern 112-1 at the location A of FIG. 1B may be a equilateral triangle pattern, and the coordinate lookup table in the storage device of the automated guided vehicle 102 has spatial SP coordinate information of the corresponding equilateral triangle pattern . When the automatic guided vehicle 102 passes through the location A and scans the positioning pattern 112 - 1 to identify the equilateral triangle pattern, the coordinate lookup table can be used to obtain the spatial SP coordinate information of the corresponding equilateral triangle pattern to locate the automatic guided vehicle 102 .

In other embodiments, the positioning pattern may be a QR code, and the QR code has coordinate information or positioning information related to the space SP. For example, the coordinate information or positioning information of the locations A, B and C in the space SP in Fig. 1B is encoded into a QR code, and the pattern of the QR code is used as the positioning pattern. When the automatic guided vehicle passes through location A, B or C, the corresponding QR code can be scanned and decoded to obtain corresponding coordinates or positioning information.

The technology of the automatic guided vehicle scanning the positioning pattern will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an automatic guided vehicle scanning positioning pattern in an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The automated guided vehicle 202 is in the space SP', and a positioning area 208 is provided on the ceiling SP2' of the space SP'. The positioning area 208 has a positioning pattern 210 . As mentioned above, one side of the positioning pattern is made of retro-reflective material (this side faces the floor SP1'), so the positioning pattern 210 in the positioning area 208 can also be called a retro-reflective area, and the positioning pattern 210 in the positioning area 208 is outside the positioning pattern 210. The area may be referred to as the non-retroreflective area 212 . The automated guided vehicle 202 further includes a detection module 204, the surface 206 of the detection module 204 includes a beam transmitter 204-1 and a beam receiver 204-2, and the beam transmitter 204-1 and the beam receiver 204-2 are separated from each other by a certain distance d within the range where the reflected or scattered light beam (emitted by the beam transmitter 204-1) can be received by the beam receiver 204-2, and the retroreflection is received at the beam receiver 204-2 outside the range of the beam. Similarly, it should be understood that the locating area 208 (the locating pattern 210 ) may be positioned elsewhere.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the automated guided vehicle 202 scans the positioning area 208 (as indicated by the arrow) by the beam transmitter 204 - 1 to detect and identify the positioning pattern 210 . When the light beam emitted by the light beam emitter 204-1 reaches the positioning area 208, the positioning pattern 210 will reflect the light beam in a direction opposite to the incident direction of the light beam, while the non-retro-reflection area 212 will scatter the light beam in all directions. Since the beam transmitter 204-1 and the beam receiver 204-2 are separated from each other by a certain distance d, the beam reflected by the positioning pattern 210 is retroreflected back to the beam transmitter 204-1, but not to the beam receiver 204-2. , and beam receiver 204 - 2 receives the light scattered by non-retroreflective region 212 . In other words, beam receiver 204-2 may receive beams scattered by regions outside of positioning pattern 210 (eg, non-retroreflective regions 212). Therefore, the detection module 204 can obtain an image 214 including a dark area 214-1 and a bright area 214-2. The dark area 214-1 is caused by the light beam that is not reflected back to the light beam receiver 204-2 (ie, the positioning pattern 210), the bright area 214-2 is caused by the light scattered by the non-retroreflective area 212 (the light actually received by the beam receiver 204-2). In this way, the processor of the automated guided vehicle 202 can identify the positioning pattern 210 according to the dark area 214-1 and the bright area 214-2 of the image 214 (ie, the received light beam).

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a retroreflection principle according to an embodiment of the present invention. The non-retroreflective material 302 has a rough surface 304, and when incident light reaches the non-retroreflective material 302 along the direction 306, the reflected light is scattered (diffuses) to the surrounding environment. Non-retroreflective materials can be paper, cloth, cement, tiles, plastic, general materials, or other materials that do not retroreflect light. The retroreflective material 308 has a retroreflective surface 310 made of retroreflective material. When incident light reaches the retroreflective material 308 in the direction 312 , the reflected light is retroreflected in a direction 314 opposite to the direction 306 . Retroreflective materials can be materials with special structures, such as glass, acrylic, or other materials that refract light beams. In the above-described embodiment, the marking objects 110-1 to 110-3, the ceilings SP1 and SP1' may be non-retroreflective materials. In some embodiments, the non-retroreflective material and the retroreflective material together form a planar object, and a portion of the retroreflective material serves as a positioning pattern.

As shown in FIG. 3B , the retroreflective material may be a bead structure 316 , a diamond structure 318 , or other structures that can reflect incident light in a direction opposite to the incident direction of the incident light (multiple structures may occur in the structure). reflection and/or refraction).

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a detection module detecting a surface having a retroreflective material and a non-retroreflective material according to an embodiment of the present invention. The detection module 402 has a beam transmitter 404 and a beam receiver 406, wherein the beam transmitter 404 and the beam receiver 406 are separated by a certain distance d. Beam emitter 404 emits a beam to scan surface 408 having retroreflective areas 410 and non-retroreflective areas 412 . In this embodiment, direction 414 is used as an example of the direction of the light beam to the retroreflective area 410 and direction 416 is used as an example of the direction of the light beam to the non-retroreflective area 416 . The retro-reflective area 410 is formed of a retro-reflective material, and the non-retro-reflective area 412 is formed of a non-retro-reflective material. As described above, the light beam emitted to the retroreflective region 410 is retroreflected back to the beam emitter 404 (along direction 418 opposite direction 414), while the light beam emitted to the non-retroreflective region 412 is scattered (along the direction 418). multiple directions 420). Since the beam transmitter 404 and the beam receiver 406 are separated by a certain distance d, the beam reflected by the retroreflective area 410 is not received by the beam receiver 406, while a portion of the beam scattered by the non-retroreflective area 412 is received by the beam receiver 406 take over. In other words, beam receiver 204-2 may receive light beams scattered by regions other than retroreflective region 410 (non-retroreflective region 412). Additionally, it should be understood that the specific distance d is designed so that the beam receiver 406 does not receive the beam reflected by the retroreflective zone 410 .

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an image obtained by scanning the surface 408 of FIG. 4A by the detection module 402 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The detection module 402 scans the surface 408 to obtain an image 422 . As described above, since the beam receiver 406 does not receive the beam reflected by the retro-reflective area 410 , the image 422 obtained by the detection module 402 has a dark area 424 that is scattered by the non-retro-reflective area 412 to the beam receiver 406 The light beams form bright areas 426 in image 422 . In this way, the automated guided vehicle's processor can recognize the pattern formed by the dark areas 424 and bright areas 426 of the image 422 (ie, the light beams received by the beam receiver 406).

Referring to the embodiments and descriptions in FIGS. 3A to 4B , the principle of scanning and recognizing the positioning pattern of the automated guided vehicle in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be understood. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method 500 of operating the automated guided vehicle positioning system of FIGS. 1 and 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In operation 502, a plurality of positioning regions are set in space, wherein the positioning regions each have a corresponding positioning pattern.

In operation 504, the emission beam scans one of the positioning regions. For example, the beam transmitter 204 - 1 of the detection module 204 of the automated guided vehicle 202 emits a beam to scan the positioning area 208 .

In operation 506, light beams scattered by regions outside the corresponding positioning patterns of the positioning regions are received. For example, the beam receiver 204-2 receives the beam emitted by the beam transmitter 204-1 scattered by the area outside the positioning pattern 210 of the positioning area 208 (eg, the non-retroreflective area 212).

In operation 508, according to the received light beam, a corresponding positioning pattern is identified, and the automated guided vehicle is positioned according to the corresponding positioning pattern. For example, the automated guided vehicle 202 recognizes the positioning pattern 210 according to the received light beam (image formed by the light beam scattered by the area other than the positioning pattern 210 ), and positions the automated guided vehicle 202 according to the positioning pattern 210 . Specifically, the automatic guided vehicle 202 can recognize the positioning pattern 210, and decode the coordinate information related to the space SP' possessed by the positioning pattern 210, so as to locate the automatic guided vehicle 202. Alternatively, the automated guided vehicle 202 includes a storage device with a coordinate look-up table corresponding to the positioning pattern. After the automatic guided vehicle 202 recognizes the corresponding positioning pattern, the automatic guided vehicle 202 can be located using the coordinate lookup table.

In the conventional automatic guided vehicle positioning system, the automatic guided vehicle uses a detection module (such as lidar) to scan the surrounding environment to locate the automatic guided vehicle, and by marking objects (reflectors, target blocks) to locate the automatic guided vehicle Create differences between similar environments in space to prevent automated guided vehicles from getting lost. However, manufacturing the marker objects is costly and difficult to create multiple differences to distinguish similar environments to prevent the automated guided vehicle from getting lost.

By using embodiments of the present invention, positioning patterns with more than a thousand differences can be easily fabricated to create differences in spaces with more similar environments. In addition, the positioning pattern is made of retro-reflective material. By using the beam transmitter and beam receiver separated by a certain distance, the automatic guided vehicle can quickly and efficiently obtain the image of the positioning pattern to identify the positioning pattern to locate the automatic guidance. car.

In addition, the embodiments of the present invention can avoid the influence of external ambient light on the conventional image recognition technology. Specifically, the conventional image recognition technology obtains an image by receiving external ambient light (eg, visible light) reflected by an object. Therefore, it is easy to be affected by changes in the external ambient light and it is difficult to obtain images. On the contrary, the embodiments of the present invention use a beam transmitter to emit a specific kind of light beam (laser, infrared light, etc.), and a beam receiver to receive the reflected specific kind of light beam, so that it may not be imaged by external ambient light. In some embodiments, the automated guided vehicle positioning system of embodiments of the present invention can operate in a dark environment and still locate the automated guided vehicle.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and does not limit the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, to the extent that the terms "include", "include", "have", "have", "including" or variations thereof are used in the detailed description and/or in the claims, these terms are intended to be used in a similar manner. Inclusive in terms of "includes".

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, terms such as those defined in general dictionaries should be construed to have the same meanings as they have in the context of the relevant field, and should not be construed as idealized or overly formal, unless expressly so stated herein definition.

The foregoing summary has outlined the features of the many embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the invention in its various aspects. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that other processes and structures can be easily designed or modified on the basis of the present invention to achieve the same purpose and/or to achieve the same as the embodiments described herein. advantages. Those of ordinary skill in the art should also realize that such equivalent structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention. Various changes, substitutions or modifications can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventions.

SP: Space SP1: Floor SP2: Ceiling 100: Automatic Guided Vehicle Positioning System 102: Automated Guided Vehicles 104: Detection module 106: Processor 108:Location area 110-1, 110-2, 110-3: Marking objects A, B, C: Location 112-1: Positioning Pattern SP': space SP1’: Floor SP2’: Ceiling 202: Automated Guided Vehicles 204: Detection Module 204-1: Beam Emitter 204-2: Beam Receiver d: specific distance 206: Surface 208:Location area 210: Positioning Pattern 212: Non-retroreflective area 214: Video 214-1: Dark Zone 214-2: Bright area 302: Non-retroreflective material 304: Rough Surface 306, 312, 314: Directions 308: Retro Reflective Material 310: Retroreflective Surface 316: Ball structure 318: The structure of the sky 402: Detection Module 404: Beam Emitter 406: Beam Receiver 408: Surface 410: Retroreflective area 412: Non-retroreflective area 414, 416, 418, 420: Directions 422: Image 424: Dark Zone 426: Bright area 500: How to operate 502-508: Operations

In order to enable the description of the present invention to cover the above-mentioned examples, other advantages and features, the principles of the above-mentioned brief description will be described in more detail through specific examples in the drawings. The drawings shown here are only examples of the present invention and do not limit the scope of the present invention. The principles of the present invention are described and explained with additional features and details through the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1A is a partial schematic diagram of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a schematic top view of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of a positioning pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an automatic guided vehicle scanning positioning pattern in an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a retroreflection principle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of a retroreflective material and structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a detection module detecting a surface having a retroreflective material and a non-retroreflective material according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an image obtained by scanning a surface by a detection module according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an operation method of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

SP': space

SP1’: Floor

SP2’: Ceiling

202: Automated Guided Vehicles

204: Detection Module

204-1: Beam Emitter

204-2: Beam Receiver

d: specific distance

206: Surface

208:Location area

210: Positioning Pattern

212: Non-retroreflective area

214: Video

214-1: Dark Zone

214-2: Bright area

Claims (12)

An automatic guided vehicle positioning system, comprising: one or more positioning areas arranged in a space, wherein the positioning areas have a positioning pattern; an automatic guided vehicle, comprising: a beam transmitter configured to emit a A beam receiver is configured to be spaced apart from the beam transmitter by a certain distance, so that the beam receiver will not receive the light beam retroreflected by the corresponding positioning pattern, and receive the corresponding said light beams scattered by areas other than said positioning pattern; and a processor configured to respond to said light beams scattered by said beam receivers in areas other than said positioning patterns and inverses of said beam receivers that are not received by said beam receivers In a dark area formed by the reflected light beam, the corresponding positioning pattern is identified, and the automatic guided vehicle is positioned according to the corresponding positioning pattern. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to claim 1, wherein the positioning pattern has a retro-reflection structure, so that the positioning pattern reflects the light beam in a direction opposite to an incident direction of the light beam. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in claim 2, wherein the retro-reflective material is glass or acrylic material, and the retro-reflective structure includes a bead structure or a sapphire structure. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in item 2 of the scope of the application, A structure of the positioning area corresponding to the area other than the positioning pattern is a non-retro-reflective material, and the non-retro-reflective material is paper, cloth, cement, tile, plastic or other materials that do not retro-reflect light. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to claim 1, wherein the positioning pattern is a QR code with coordinate information related to the space. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system according to claim 1, wherein the positioning area is set on a ceiling, wall or shelf of the space. The automatic guided vehicle positioning system of claim 1, wherein the automatic guided vehicle further comprises: a storage device having a coordinate lookup table corresponding to the positioning pattern, wherein the processor identifies the corresponding positioning pattern Then, use the coordinate lookup table to locate the automatic guided vehicle. An operation method of an automatic guided vehicle positioning system, comprising: setting one or more positioning areas in a space, wherein the positioning areas have a positioning pattern; scanning the positioning areas; receiving the positioning areas other than the corresponding positioning patterns The above-mentioned light beams scattered by the area, and will not receive the above-mentioned light beams that are retroreflected by the corresponding positioning patterns; In a dark area of the device, the corresponding positioning pattern is identified, and an automatic guided vehicle is positioned according to the corresponding positioning pattern. The operating method of the automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in claim 8, wherein the positioning pattern has a retroreflective structure. The operation method of the automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in claim 8, wherein the positioning pattern is a QR code with coordinate information related to the space. The operation method of the automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in claim 8, wherein the positioning area is set on a ceiling, a wall or a shelf of the space. The operation method of the automatic guided vehicle positioning system as described in item 8 of the scope of the patent application further comprises: after identifying the corresponding positioning pattern, using a coordinate look-up table to locate the automatic guided vehicle.

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