CPS-Based Smart Control Model for Shopfloor Material Handling

TLDR

Automated guided vehicles are widely used in manufacturing, yet material handling efficiency remains a bottleneck that can be improved with sensing, cloud computing, and wireless communication technologies. The paper designs a cyber‑physical system–based smart control model for shopfloor material handling. The model enables AGVs and intersection base stations to exchange real‑time data, and incorporates car‑following, overtaking, and collision warning/avoidance modules. Simulations and experiments show that the model improves overall task completion efficiency and road utilization.

Abstract

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have been widely used in manufacturing and supply chain management for material handling. The efficiency of the material handling process has been the bottleneck of the production manufacturing. By applying maturing technologies such as sensing, cloud computing, and wireless communication, the efficiency and the reliability of the material delivery could be enhanced. In this paper, a cyber-physical system-based smart control model for shopfloor material handling is designed. In contrast to the traditional vehicle control methods, AGVs and base stations at intersections can communicate and interact with each other and share the real-time information online. Then, the smart control model, which consists of car-following model, overtaking model, and collision warning and avoidance model, is designed and developed. The presented model is demonstrated by a set of simulations and an experiment, which proved that the overall task completion efficiency and the utilization of the road are improved.