The article transport vehicles are equipped with wireless tags that transmit tag information, and an article transport facility includes: a transport control apparatus that controls the entrance of the vehicles into the control area such that the number of vehicles that are present in one control area is no greater than a control number; a plurality of access points; and a position detection apparatus that detects the respective positions of the vehicles with an accuracy with which a plurality of positions in the control area are distinguishable, based on the same tag information that has been received by the access points. The transport control apparatus permits a number of vehicles, the number being greater than the control number, to enter the control area if a predetermined permission condition is satisfied, based on the positional information that indicates the position of each vehicle.

According to one embodiment, a travel planning system for a plurality of mobile objects which travel in a travel network including a plurality of traveling paths includes first processing circuitry and second processing circuitry. The first processing circuitry generates a plurality of traveling timing schedules including timings of traveling on the traveling paths for the plurality of mobile objects under a condition that conflict among the mobile objects does not occur on the traveling paths, based on: position information of the plurality of mobile objects; structure information of the travel network; and a plurality of route plans which designates order of passing through one or more designated areas in the travel network for the plurality of mobile objects. The second processing circuitry transmits movement command data for the plurality of mobile objects on a basis of the plurality of traveling timing schedules.

Disclosed herein is a travel method of an intelligent robot cleaner. According to the present disclosure, it is possible to minimize a cleaning travel path in a cleaning target region and thus reduce a cleaning time by accumulating a plus unit point when the cleaner travels along a plurality of cleaning travel paths, accumulating a minus unit point when the cleaner travels along an overlapped cleaning travel path among the plurality of cleaning travel paths, and determining a final cleaning travel path by learning the accumulated unit point. The intelligent robot cleaner can be associated with an artificial intelligence module, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, devices related to 5G services, and the like.

Sufficient safety is ensured even when workers and machines coexist and work in cooperation. A safety management assistance system 20 includes: an acquisition unit 221 that acquires position information of a worker working and/or a machine operating, in a work area; a generation unit 223 that generates a predicted flow line of the worker 80 on the basis of a history of the position information of the worker 80, and generates a predicted flow line of the machine 30 on the basis of a history of the position information of the machine 30 and/or a set operating range; a determination unit 224 that predicts positions of the worker 80 and the machine 30 from positions of the worker 80 and the machine 30 at present, in the work area 90, acquired by the acquisition unit 221, and the predicted flow line of the worker 80 and the predicted flow line of the machine 30, generated by the generation unit 223, and determines whether or not the predicted positions establish a predetermined positional relationship on the basis of a determination criterion; and a notification unit 225 that performs notification of information indicating that the predetermined positional relationship is established when the determination unit 224 determines that the predetermined positional relationship is established.

Systems and methods are provided herein for mitigating contentions between mobile drive units (MDUs) within a workspace. A schedule may be generated that identifies execution steps associated with respective tasks to be performed by each of a plurality of mobile drive units (MDUs) within the workspace. A contention related to a first execution step associated with a first mobile drive unit (MDU) and a second execution step associated with a second MDU may be identified. The schedule may be altered to include an indication of the contention. It may be determined that the first MDU is at the location of the contention. Accordingly, the contended space may be reserved for the first MDU, and the schedule may be modified to restrict the second MDU from executing the second execution step until the first MDU has completed the execution of the first execution step.

In a workplace where a work is performed based on a previously-optimized work schedule, a decrease in productivity can be prevented while interference between a plurality of work subjects is avoided. A schedule management unit is configured to calculate a first margin time from an end time of a first work to a start time of a second work, the first work being allocated to a time period including a current time in the work schedule of a first work subject, the second work being scheduled next to the first work in the work schedule. When an interference condition is satisfied and the first margin time is longer than a specific reference time, the schedule management unit instructs the first work subject to take action of avoiding the second work subject.

An automated transporting, storage and retrieval system is provided and includes a control center, and an automated guided mobile unit, a picking spot and a delivery spot in an area; the automated guided mobile unit is connected to the control center; plural storage and retrieval shelves deployed within the area with one of them located on the picking spot containing an inventory item; the control center is configured to: transmit a task command including the inventory item and the delivery spot to the automated guided mobile unit; the automated guided mobile unit is configured to: determine whether it is engaged with the shelf; if yes, the automated guided mobile unit receives the task command and approaches the shelf located on the picking spot to retrieve the inventory item to deliver it to the delivery spot; if no, the automated guided mobile unit approaches one of the shelves and engages therewith.

Systems and methods are provided herein for utilizing controller device within a workspace. The controller device may operate in a first state to monitor a light curtain associated with an interaction area of the workspace and to cause an indication of the first state to be presented at an indicator device associated with the interaction area. While operating in the first state, the controller device may detect a breach of the light curtain. The controller device may perform at least one remedial action based at least in part on detecting the breach of the light curtain while operating in the first state.

Disclosed herein is a travel method of an intelligent robot cleaner. According to the present disclosure, it is possible to minimize a cleaning travel path in a cleaning target region and thus reduce a cleaning time by accumulating a plus unit point when the cleaner travels along a plurality of cleaning travel paths, accumulating a minus unit point when the cleaner travels along an overlapped cleaning travel path among the plurality of cleaning travel paths, and determining a final cleaning travel path by learning the accumulated unit point. The intelligent robot cleaner can be associated with an artificial intelligence module, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, devices related to 5G services, and the like.

Disclosed are a mobile robot, a control method therefor, and a terminal. The mobile robot according to the present disclosure comprises: a driving unit for moving a main body; a communication unit for communicating with a plurality of location information transmitters installed within an area and transmitting signals; and a control unit for calculating positioning-related information from at least one of a first signal transmitted between the location information transmitters and a second signal transmitted between the main body and the location information transmitters, detecting an entry of a moving body into the area in response to the amount of a change in the calculated positioning-related information being outside of a reference range, and performing an operation corresponding to the detection.