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IJAT Vol.6 No.6 pp. 792-801
doi: 10.20965/ijat.2012.p0792
(2012)

Paper:

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Motion Planning Method for Two Stacker Cranes in an Automated Storage and Retrieval System

Hisato Hino*, Yoshimasa Kobayashi**, Toshimitsu Higashi**,
and Jun Ota*

*Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering (RACE), The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8568, Japan

**Murata Machinery, Ltd., 2 Nakajima, Hashizume, Inuyama-shi, Aichi 484-0076, Japan

Received:
June 27, 2012
Accepted:
October 2, 2012
Published:
November 5, 2012
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
AS/RS, cooperative operation, control, trajectory generation, warehouses
Abstract
In this paper, a motion planning method for two stacker cranes in an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) is proposed. For the cranes to operate cooperatively, they must perform tasks while avoiding collisions. In addition, the requirements, which include fast operation and short calculation time, must be satisfied, along with a specific mechanical constraint on the motion of the stacker cranes. For these problems, an approach is proposed in which a motion is generated on two levels. On the first, collision is avoided by using constraint on trajectories. A trajectory generated on this level ensures the shortest travel time. If a collision cannot be avoided on the first level, the system shifts to the second, in which heuristics are used for collision avoidance. The proposal is for highspeed heuristics based on a binary search. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is shown through simulations. The simulation results indicate that, in a layout of 60 racks in the horizontal direction and 10 in the vertical direction under standard task conditions, the method has an efficiency of 1.91 with respect to a single crane system and 1.66 seconds for the motion planning of one task when a computer with a 3.0 GHz CPU is used.
Cite this article as:
H. Hino, Y. Kobayashi, T. Higashi, and J. Ota, “Motion Planning Method for Two Stacker Cranes in an Automated Storage and Retrieval System,” Int. J. Automation Technol., Vol.6 No.6, pp. 792-801, 2012.
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