Author(s)

B. Mehrdadi and S. Lockwood

Abstract

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) often share the same environment with humans. Unexpected obstacles placed in the guide path of the vehicles result in costly stoppages. The design of a modular navigation system which detects obstacles as they reflect a patterned light projected from the AGV onto the floor ahead of the vehicle is described. Distortion of the pattern sensed by a CCD camera, mounted under the front of the AGV, is processed to locate the obstacle and evasive action is taken to circumnavigate the obstruction. 1 Introduction The first Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) were developed in the 1950s by Barrett Electronics for use in warehouses. The early automated trucks were mainly used for towing trains of carts following a fixed wire system. This trend has continued to date where industrial AGVs follow a fixed guide path embedded in

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