CN110703774A

CN110703774A - Navigation of an automated guided vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN110703774A
Application number: CN201910855060.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨坤; 倪菲; 黄润; 周喆颋
Original assignee: Shanghai Quicktron Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Quicktron Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-10
Filing date: 2019-09-10
Publication date: 2020-01-17
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-10
Also published as: CN110703774B

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a navigation method, a navigation apparatus, a server, and a computer-readable storage medium for automatically guiding a vehicle. The method comprises the following steps: receiving that a navigation mark corresponding to a position passed by or stopped by an AGV has navigation mark abnormality reported by the AGV; when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, planning a path for the AGV again, wherein the path is firstly re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction, and when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined, the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV; and issuing the re-planned path to the AGV. According to various embodiments of the disclosure, when identifying that the AGV faces the risk of losing the code in the operation process, the path can be re-planned for the AGV, so that the error accumulation of the AGV in re-advancing and/or reversing is avoided, and the risk of deviation is reduced.

Description

Navigation of an automated guided vehicle

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) navigation, and more particularly, to a navigation method, a navigation apparatus, a server, and a computer-readable storage medium for an AGV.

Background

In the current logistics storage field, Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) are increasingly used to replace or supplement manual labor, and meanwhile, the transportation efficiency is effectively improved. An AGV is a transport vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic or optical automatic guide device, capable of traveling along a predetermined guide path, and having safety protection and various transfer functions. The current mainstream navigation mode of the AGV is a navigation method based on two-dimensional code positioning and assisted by inertial navigation. The two-dimension code labels are uniformly or nonuniformly distributed on the planned walking path of the ground AGV in the application place of the AGV, when the AGV travels, the camera is used for acquiring and identifying the two-dimension code labels on the ground, the AGV is controlled to travel according to the position information in the two-dimension code labels, and the navigation of the AGV is realized. The inertial navigation is implemented by utilizing a gyroscope and other sensors of the AGV to acquire the running state of the vehicle, and determining or calibrating the pose of the vehicle by combining the image information of the two-dimensional code label supplemented by the camera. For example, the positional relationship between the AGV and a known position (generally referred to as a code point) where a two-dimensional code tag is laid can be calculated from the traveling speed and the heading of the AGV, and thus the position where the AGV is located can be calculated.

Chinese patent documents CN104142683A and CN206627826U both disclose such navigation methods based on two-dimensional code positioning and assisted with inertial navigation.

In such a navigation mode, the AGV reads the ground two-dimensional code tag information through the downward-looking camera, but if the ground code is damaged or shielded, the camera cannot recognize the code. At this time, if the vehicle moves forward again, reverses (such as turns), and the like, errors are accumulated, and a great risk exists, so that the lost code deviates and collides.

The statements in the background section are merely prior art as they are known to the inventors and do not, of course, represent prior art in the field.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

In view of the above, one of the objectives of the embodiments of the present disclosure is to solve one or more of the foregoing problems, and provide a processing scheme, so that when an AGV is at risk of losing a code (losing a navigation mark), the AGV can move back, thereby avoiding accumulation of errors of re-advancing and/or reversing, and reducing the risk of deviation.

In a first aspect, the disclosed embodiments provide a navigation method for an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV), comprising: receiving that a navigation mark corresponding to a position passed by or stopped by an AGV has navigation mark abnormality reported by the AGV; when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, planning a path for the AGV again, wherein the path is firstly re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction, and when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined, the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV; and issuing the re-planned path to the AGV.

In one embodiment, said re-planning a path for the AGV further comprises: and when determining that the path cannot be planned along the direction of the head, re-planning the path along the direction reversed by the AGV head.

In one embodiment, prior to the step of re-planning a path for the AGV, the method may further comprise: when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, the position corresponding to the abnormal navigation mark reported by the AGV is set to be in a locking state, or the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark is set to be in the locking state, wherein the position marked to be in the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV.

In one embodiment, when the navigation mark reported by the AGV is received to be abnormal, an alarm may be sent to the operation and maintenance staff.

In one embodiment, the navigation markers used by the method according to an embodiment of the present invention are navigation markers at strategic locations of the currently planned path of the AGV.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a navigation apparatus for an automatic guided vehicle AGV, comprising: the receiving device is used for receiving that the navigation mark corresponding to the position passed by or stopped by the AGV has navigation mark abnormity; the path planning device is used for re-planning a path for the AGV when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, wherein the path is re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction firstly, and the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined; and the issuing device is used for issuing the re-planned path to the AGV.

In one embodiment, the navigation device further comprises: and the locking device is used for setting the abnormal position reported by the AGV into a locking state when the reported navigation mark is abnormal, or setting the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark into a locking state, wherein the position marked as the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a server, including: a memory configured to store program code, and a processor configured to execute the program code to perform the aforementioned methods.

In a fourth aspect, the disclosed embodiments provide a computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform the foregoing method.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, when a navigation mark of an AGV stop or route reported by the AGV is abnormal, a path can be re-planned for the AGV. When the path is re-planned, firstly, the path is planned for the AGV by trying to make the AGV return from the current position in the return direction, and preferably, when it is determined that the AGV cannot return, the path is planned for the AGV by trying to make the AGV advance from the current position in the direction of the vehicle head. The navigation mark is used for calibrating the position and the posture of the AGV, and the AGV can directly return when encountering the abnormal navigation mark, so that the running deviation of the AGV can be furthest prevented from being accumulated. Furthermore, when the AGV cannot return, the AGV is guided to plan a path along the direction of the vehicle head, so that larger error accumulation and larger deviation risk caused by the reversing of the AGV are avoided.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure and are not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a basic application scenario for an automatic guided vehicle AGV navigation method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a navigation method for an automatic guided vehicle AGV according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3-6 schematically illustrate operational views of a navigation method for an automatic guided vehicle AGV according to an embodiment of the present disclosure in several example application scenarios;

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a navigation device for an AGV according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system suitable for use in implementing various methods according to embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 9 schematically shows a block diagram of a computer program product according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art can appreciate, the described embodiments can be modified in various different ways, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "straight", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the present disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection: may be mechanically connected, may be electrically connected or may be in communication with each other; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In the present disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise the first and second features being in direct contact, or may comprise the first and second features being in contact, not directly, but via another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser level than the second feature.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of the disclosure. To simplify the disclosure of the present disclosure, specific example components and arrangements are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Moreover, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or reference letters in the various examples, which have been repeated for purposes of simplicity and clarity and do not in themselves dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present disclosure provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or use of other materials.

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are merely for purposes of illustrating and explaining the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a basic application scenario 100 for an AGV navigation method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which may be, for example, a logistics warehousing system. The application scenario includes one or more shelves 110 of the storage area, one or more shelves 112 of the pick-up area, one or more automated guided vehicles 120, a server 130, and a plurality of navigation markers 140. The racks 110 of the storage area may include fixed racks as well as movable racks that may be moved by the automated guided vehicle AGV. The locations around and/or below the shelf 110, where the navigation markers 140 are continuously or discretely distributed, may be used to plan the travel route of the AGV. For example, in one application scenario where an automated guided vehicle is used to pick up goods, the AGV receives scheduling instructions from the central control server 130 that include a planned travel path, is able to autonomously move a first rack location under program control, pick up the goods, then travels to a second location (e.g., a rack in a pick-up area), and unloads the goods. The picking personnel can complete picking operation according to the order information of the customer in the picking area.

The automated guided vehicle 120 may be a rack handling robot or a bin handling robot, which handles racks or bins containing goods moving within the warehouse. For example, the goods shelf transporting robot is provided with a lifting mechanism capable of supporting the goods shelf to lift, and the goods shelf adopts a square shelf body with a space for automatically guiding the vehicle to pass at the bottom; when lifting the goods shelf, the automatic guiding vehicle can automatically travel to the position right below the target goods shelf, and the target goods shelf is lifted off the ground by using the lifting mechanism, and then the automatic guiding vehicle can automatically travel to the target position (such as a picking area) by holding the goods shelf. Different from a goods shelf carrying robot, the material box carrying robot is a robot taking material boxes as carrying and operating units, one or more layers of material box storage spaces are arranged on a main body of the robot, and one or more material boxes can be stored in each layer of material box storage space. The bin handling robot may be provided with a robot arm for moving the target bin to the bin storage space under program control.

The navigation markers 140 are used to provide coordinate information of the location where the marker is located (i.e., the location to which the marker corresponds) or information related to the coordinate information from which the corresponding coordinate information can be calculated for pose determination and calibration by the AGV. The distribution of the navigation marks 140 may be a checkerboard distribution on the ground of a specific application scene, and may be a uniform distribution or a non-uniform distribution, and the navigation marks may be in the form of two-dimensional codes in the form of QR codes or DM codes, or may further include auxiliary graphic marks. The present disclosure is not limited with respect to the distribution and type of navigation markers.

The server or central control server 130 is communicatively coupled to a plurality of automated guided vehicles, typically communicating wirelessly, such as over Wifi or other transmission links, for controlling the actions of the automated guided vehicles. In the server 130, the floor of the application scene is planned in a two-dimensional plane, for example, in a grid shape, the server stores logical coordinates of the grid, and schedules the AGV and plans the travel path of the AGV for one transfer task according to the logical coordinates. The main control functions of the server 130 in terms of navigation include, for example: global map management, AGV path planning, AGV navigation control, task allocation and the like. It should be understood that the ground of the application scene of the server 130 may not be necessarily planned in a grid shape, which depends on the traffic condition of the ground, for example, and the present disclosure does not limit the manner in which the ground of the application scene of the server 130 is planned.

It should also be understood that the central control server 130 is shown in fig. 1 as a separate device from the automated guided vehicle, shelf, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure is not so limited and that the central control server 130 may be integrated into other components, such as with a certain shelf, and remain within the scope of the disclosure. The central control server 130 may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, and may be implemented in a single computer, a single chip, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), etc., or other integrated formats, which are within the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a navigation method 200 for an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

In step S210, the navigation mark corresponding to the passing or stopping position reported by the AGV is received, and the navigation mark is abnormal.

In step S220, when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, a path is planned again for the AGV, wherein the path is firstly planned again for the AGV along the AGV returning direction, and when it is determined that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction, the path is planned again along the direction of the head of the AGV.

In step S230, the re-planned path is issued to the AGV.

In the basic application scenario of fig. 1, the method 200 may be performed at the server 130. When the camera of the AGV reads the navigation mark but cannot recognize the content of the navigation mark, it may be determined that the navigation mark is abnormal. For example, the AGV may learn from the server that a navigation tag exists at a location, but may not recognize the navigation tag, and may therefore recognize that a navigation tag anomaly exists. At this time, the AGV may report the navigation flag exception to the server. The cause of the navigation tag anomaly may be, for example, a navigation tag breakage, a navigation comparison being obscured, and other possible causes that may render the navigation tag unrecognizable to the AGV.

Further, the method may further include, at step S220, when it is determined that the path cannot be planned along the direction of the front of the AGV, re-planning the path along the direction of the direction change of the front of the AGV.

According to the embodiment of the invention, when the path is re-planned for the AGV after the abnormality of the current navigation marker reported by the AGV is received, whether the current path of the AGV is a one-way line or not, whether other AGVs exist behind the AGV or not, whether the current map supports rollback or not, and any other appropriate factors can be comprehensively considered to determine whether the current AGV can rollback or not.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method according to an embodiment of the present invention may be performed only for navigation markers at strategic locations of the currently planned path of the AGV. The critical position may be, for example, a turning position of the planned path of the AGV.

Further, before the step of re-planning the path for the AGV, the method may further comprise: when the navigation mark reported by the AGV is received to be abnormal, the abnormal position reported by the AGV is set to be in a locking state, or the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark is set to be in a locking state, wherein the position marked to be in the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV. At the server 130, a global map of the application scenario is maintained, including information such as identifiers, specific coordinates, and lock status of the respective navigation markers. The abnormal position of the navigation mark marked as the locked state means that when the AGV passes the position of the navigation mark, there is a risk of missing the code from the running, or the position of the navigation mark is in a state where the AGV cannot pass. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the locking of the navigation mark may include manual locking, path plan locking, and navigation mark exception locking. The positions marked as locked should be avoided when planning a path for one transport task of the AGV.

Here, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a new locking manner, that is, abnormal locking of the navigation mark is introduced. The navigation system (including the AGV and the server) can correctly distinguish between manual locking, path planning locking and navigation mark abnormal locking. Further, different types of locking position points may be displayed in different styles in the map viewing interface of the server.

Here, when it is determined that there is an abnormality in one of the navigation markers, the position corresponding to the navigation marker or the adjacent position to the position corresponding to the navigation marker is set to the locked state, so that it is possible to avoid passing through the peripheral area of the position corresponding to the navigation marker when planning the path of the subsequent AGV, and it is possible to avoid an abnormality or a collision that may occur when the AGV passes through the position adjacent position (for example, the AGV having a failure in the position and the AGV is carrying a rack), thereby improving the passing efficiency.

The first preset range may be, for example, a range marked by a first-degree neighbor and a second-degree neighbor of one navigation mark in the distribution of all navigation marks, or the first preset range may be, for example, a certain distance range in a specific application scene, for example, a circular range with a certain size as a radius and a center at a position corresponding to the navigation mark, or a certain rectangular range determined with a position corresponding to the navigation mark as a center, for example, a "squared box" region with a position corresponding to the navigation mark as a center, or any other feasible range.

Further, the system sends an alarm to the operation and maintenance personnel while or after the navigation mark is set to the locked state. The operation and maintenance personnel can check and/or repair the navigation mark in time after receiving the alarm.

In one embodiment, the navigation tag includes a lock attribute, the lock attribute including: lock type, AGV identifier, and lock time. The locking type can be manual locking, path planning locking, navigation mark abnormal locking and current non-locking. After the server receives a report of navigation mark abnormity, a record is added under the locking attribute, wherein the locking type is 'navigation mark abnormity locking', 'AGV identifier' is a vehicle identifier of the AGV reporting the abnormity, and 'locking time' is system time when the server receives the report of the navigation mark abnormity.

Based on the flag exception lock attribute and the lock attribute, the server may determine the time at which the lock was triggered and the scope of the lock. When or after the position corresponding to the navigation mark is set to be in a locking state, or the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark is set to be in a locking state, an alarm can be sent to operation and maintenance personnel. After the operation and maintenance personnel solve the abnormal situation of the navigation mark, the locking state of the position corresponding to the navigation mark can be manually intervened, for example, the locking is released, namely the locking type of the locking attribute of the navigation mark is "currently unlocked", and the records of all items under the locking attribute can be obtained.

One reason for the navigation mark abnormality or risk of the AGV may be that the ground code is damaged/blocked, and the like, so that the AGV camera cannot identify the code. Therefore, according to the embodiment of the disclosure, when determining that the navigation mark of the AGV stopping or approach is abnormal, planning the path for the AGV again, it may be determined whether the AGV can plan the path along the backward direction first, and it may be determined whether the AGV can plan the path along the forward direction of the vehicle head second best. The navigation mark is used for the AGV to carry out position and posture calibration, when the navigation mark is abnormal, the AGV directly returns, then continues to advance along a new path to reach a target position, and the accumulation of the running deviation of the AGV can be avoided to the maximum extent. Furthermore, in the situation that the AGV cannot return, the planned path is tried to guide the AGV to pass through the abnormal navigation mark along the direction of the head of the vehicle, and the AGV continues to reach the target position along the new planned path, so that larger error accumulation and larger deviation risk caused by the AGV steering are avoided.

An operational schematic of a navigation method for an automatic guided vehicle AGV according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below in conjunction with fig. 3-6 in several example application scenarios. FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a current planned path of the AGV, the current planned path being in a dashed path direction, the planned travel path of the AGV being a turn, and the navigation marker abnormal position being a turn stop point, as shown in FIG. 3. Several example application scenarios are described below, under this assumption of the current position of the AGV and the currently planned path.

Application scenario one

As shown in fig. 4, it is determined that the navigation mark corresponding to the turning position that the AGV is passing through is abnormal, and a path is planned for the AGV again. When the path is planned for the AGV, the fact that the AGV returning route is not locked is confirmed, for example, the route is not a one-way road, an on-line vehicle is not occupied, and/or a map supports the movement in the returning direction, so that the planned path for firstly guiding the AGV to move in the returning direction can be formulated. After receiving the re-planned path from the server, the AGV may first return to the previous position and then continue along the new planned path.

Under the application scene, when the AGV navigation mark is identified to be abnormal, the back-off path is confirmed to be capable of being back-off, and the path is re-planned along the back-off direction of the AGV, so that the errors of the AGV continuing to advance and the steering action are prevented from being accumulated, and the deviation risk is avoided.

Application scenario two

As shown in fig. 5, it is determined that the navigation mark corresponding to the turning position that the AGV is passing through is abnormal, and a path is planned for the AGV again. When planning a path for the AGV, it is determined that the AGV back-off route is locked, for example, a one-way road, an on-line vehicle is occupied, and/or a map does not support movement in a back-off direction, so that it is less preferable to make a planned path that first guides the AGV to move along the AGV head side. After receiving the re-planned path issued by the server, the AGV can move forward along the direction of the vehicle head and continue to move forward along the new planned path.

Under the application scenario, under the condition that the AGV navigation mark is identified to be abnormal and the planning path cannot be formulated along the AGV returning direction, the path is preferably planned according to the direction of the vehicle head, so that the deviation risk possibly brought by steering and the risk of collision with a goods shelf and/or other vehicles are avoided.

Application scenario three

As shown in fig. 6, it is determined that the navigation mark corresponding to the turning position that the AGV is passing through is abnormal, and a path is planned for the AGV again. When the path is planned for the AGV, the AGV returning route is determined to be locked, for example, the AGV returning route is a one-way road, the online vehicle is occupied, and/or the map does not support movement in the returning direction, and then the AGV returning route is determined to be locked and cannot advance along the direction of the front of the AGV, for example, the AGV returns to the one-way road, the online vehicle is occupied, and/or the map does not support movement in the direction of the front, so that the planned path for guiding the AGV to move along the direction of the front in the first time can be. And sending a request message for re-planning the path to the dispatching server at the abnormal position of the navigation mark. And after receiving the re-planned path issued by the server, the AGV reverses the head of the vehicle and continues to move forward along the new planned path.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, when determining that a navigation mark of an AGV stopping or a route is abnormal, planning a path for the AGV again may first determine whether the AGV can plan the path in a backward direction, and less preferably may determine whether the AGV can plan the path in a forward direction of a vehicle head. The navigation mark is used for the AGV to carry out position and posture calibration, when the navigation mark is abnormal, the AGV directly returns, then continues to advance along a new path to reach a target position, and the accumulation of the running deviation of the AGV can be avoided to the maximum extent. Furthermore, in the situation that the AGV cannot return, the planned path is tried to guide the AGV to pass through the abnormal navigation mark along the direction of the head of the vehicle, and the AGV continues to reach the target position along the new planned path, so that larger error accumulation and larger deviation risk caused by the AGV steering are avoided. In addition, in the case that the AGVs are moving while carrying the racks, if the collision risk between the carried racks and other current fixed racks at the periphery or other racks carried by other AGVs at the periphery is increased due to the sudden turning, in the case that the navigation mark is recognized, the back-off is firstly tried, and then the forward movement is tried in the direction of the locomotive, so that any possible collision risk can be minimized.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure also provides a navigation apparatus 700 for an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV), as shown in fig. 7, the navigation apparatus 700 including:

the receiving device 710 is configured to receive that a navigation mark corresponding to a position where the AGV is passing through or stopping reported by the AGV is abnormal;

a path planning device 720, configured to plan a path for the AGV again when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, where the path is first re-planned for the AGV along an AGV returning direction, and when it is determined that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction, the path is re-planned along a direction of a vehicle head of the AGV; and

and the path issuing device 730 is used for issuing the re-planned path to the AGV.

Further, the navigation apparatus may further include: and the locking device is used for setting the abnormal position reported by the AGV into a locking state when the reported navigation mark is abnormal, or setting the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark into a locking state, wherein the position marked as the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV.

It should be understood that each module or sub-device recited in the apparatus 700 corresponds to the method 200 described with reference to fig. 2. Thus, the operations and features described above with respect to fig. 2 are equally applicable to the apparatus 700 and the modules or sub-devices included therein, and are not described in detail herein.

It should also be understood that the device 700 may generally be implemented at the server 130 described with reference to fig. 1. Which can be implemented in various ways. For example, in some embodiments, device 700 may be implemented using software and/or firmware modules. Furthermore, the device 700 may also be implemented using hardware modules. Other ways, now known or later developed, are also feasible, and the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure also provides a server comprising: a memory configured to store program code, and a processor configured to execute the program code to perform a method according to the foregoing. The server may be implemented at the server 130 described with reference to fig. 1.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system 800 suitable for implementing various methods according to embodiments of the invention, such as may be used to implement the server 130 mentioned in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As shown in fig. 8, computer system 800 may include: a CPU (central processing unit) 801, a RAM (random access memory) 802, a ROM (read only memory) 803, a system bus 804, a hard disk controller 808, a keyboard controller 806, a serial interface controller 807, a parallel interface controller 808, a display controller 809, a hard disk 810, a keyboard 811, a serial external device 812, a parallel external device 813, and a display 814. Among these components, connected to a system bus 804 are a CPU 801, a RAM 802, a ROM 803, a hard disk controller 805, a keyboard controller 806, a serial controller 807, a parallel controller 808, and a display controller 809. The hard disk 810 is connected to the hard disk controller 805, the keyboard 811 is connected to the keyboard controller 806, the serial external device 812 is connected to the serial interface controller 807, the parallel external device 813 is connected to the parallel interface controller 808, and the display 814 is connected to the display controller 809. The computer system 800 may also include a networking module (not shown) configured to enable the computer system 800 to transceive data with other mobile terminals or computer systems, for example, the networking module may include a network adapter, modem, or the like. It should be understood that the block diagram of the architecture depicted in fig. 8 is shown for purposes of illustration only and is not limiting of the invention. In some cases, some of the modules may be added or subtracted as desired.

Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the server can be deployed locally or remotely, and can be implemented using software and/or firmware modules, hardware modules, or a combination thereof. The hardware portion may be implemented using dedicated logic; the software portions may be stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system, such as a microprocessor or specially designed hardware. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the apparatus and methods described above may be implemented using computer executable instructions and/or embodied in processor control code, such code being provided on a carrier medium such as a disk, CD-or DVD-ROM, programmable memory such as read only memory (firmware), or a data carrier such as an optical or electronic signal carrier, for example. The apparatus and modules thereof of the present invention may be implemented by hardware circuits such as very large scale integrated circuits or gate arrays, semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic devices, etc., or by software executed by various types of processors, or by a combination of hardware circuits and software, such as firmware. These are all within the scope of the present invention.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a computer program product and a computer-readable storage medium. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. Fig. 9 schematically shows a block diagram of a computer program product 900 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method 200 described with reference to fig. 2 may be implemented by a computer program product 900. The signal bearing medium 902 may be embodied as or include a computer readable medium 906, a computer recordable medium 908, a computer communication medium 910, or a combination thereof, which stores programming instructions for all or some of the previously described processes performed by a configurable processor. By way of example only, in fig. 9, the instructions may include, for example, one or more executable instructions for causing one or more processors, including the server shown in fig. 1, to: receiving that a navigation mark corresponding to a position passed by or stopped by an AGV has navigation mark abnormality reported by the AGV; when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, planning a path for the AGV again, wherein the path is firstly re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction, and when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined, the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV; and issuing the re-planned path to the AGV. The computer program product may be stored in, for example, RAM 802, ROM 803, hard disk 810 and/or any suitable storage medium as shown in fig. 8, or downloaded over a network from a suitable location to computer system 850. The computer program product may comprise computer code portions comprising program instructions executable by a suitable processing device, such as the CPU 801 shown in fig. 8.

The present disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, perform a method according to the foregoing.

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or sub-devices of the apparatus are mentioned, this division is only not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more of the modules described above may be embodied in one module, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one module described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of modules.

Finally, it should be noted that: although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiments and/or equivalents thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A navigation method for an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV), comprising:

receiving that a navigation mark corresponding to a position passed by or stopped by an AGV has navigation mark abnormality reported by the AGV;

when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, planning a path for the AGV again, wherein the path is firstly re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction, and when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined, the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV; and

and issuing the re-planned path to the AGV.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said re-planning a path for the AGV further comprises:

and when determining that the path cannot be planned along the direction of the head, re-planning the path along the direction reversed by the AGV head.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein before the step of replanning the path for the AGV, the method further comprises:

when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, the position corresponding to the abnormal navigation mark reported by the AGV is set to be in a locking state, or the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark is set to be in the locking state, wherein the position marked to be in the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

and when the navigation mark reported by the AGV is received to be abnormal, sending an alarm to the operation and maintenance personnel.

5. The method of claim 1 or 2 wherein said navigation markers are navigation markers at strategic locations of the current planned path of the AGV.

6. A navigation apparatus for an automatically guided vehicle, AGV, comprising:

the receiving device is used for receiving that the navigation mark corresponding to the position passed by or stopped by the AGV has navigation mark abnormity;

the path planning device is used for re-planning a path for the AGV when the reported navigation mark is received to be abnormal, wherein the path is re-planned for the AGV along the AGV returning direction firstly, and the path is re-planned along the direction of the head of the AGV when the fact that the path cannot be planned along the AGV returning direction is determined; and

and the path issuing device is used for issuing the re-planned path to the AGV.

7. The navigation device of claim 6, further comprising:

and the locking device is used for setting the abnormal position reported by the AGV into a locking state when the reported navigation mark is abnormal, or setting the adjacent position in the first preset range of the position corresponding to the navigation mark into a locking state, wherein the position marked as the locking state is avoided when the subsequent path planning is carried out on the AGV.

8. A server, comprising:

a memory configured to store program code, an

A processor configured to execute the program code to perform the method of any of claims 1-5.

9. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, perform the method of any one of claims 1-5.