Patent ID: 6345217
Filing Date: 2002-02-05
Classification: G05D

Abstract:
An automated-guided vehicle system, comprising:at least one automated-guided vehicle including a body, a plurality of wheels for transporting said body across a surface, a navigation and guidance system and a sensor assembly; a pathway for said at least one automated-guided vehicle defined by a surface and including a plurality of magnet assemblies positioned along said surface and generating magnetic fields; said sensor assembly made up of a plurality of magnetic sensors arranged generally transverse to said pathway, said sensor assembly positioned at said body for sensing the magnetic field of each said magnet assembly as said body is transported over that magnet assembly by said wheels, said sensor assembly producing an output indicative of intensity of respective portions of the magnetic field sensed by said magnetic sensors; said navigation and guidance system receiving said output from said sensor assembly and determining from said output a location of the substantially maximum magnitude of the magnetic field sensed by said sensor assembly at each said magnet assembly, wherein said navigation and guidance system determines a position of said body with respect to a magnet assembly as said sensor assembly passes over that magnet assembly from the substantially maximum magnitude of the magnetic field; and wherein said navigation and guidance system determines the location of the substantially maximum magnitude of the magnetic field by mathematically fitting a curve to the intensity of portions of the magnetic field sensed by said magnetic sensors and evaluating at least one feature of the fitted curve.