Path Planning and Navigation of Overhead Traveling Crane with Three-Dimensional Transport Based on a Diffusion Equation Strategy

Abstract

In order to heighten the effectiveness and flexibility of factory automation, the optimization of automatic transportation systems is vital. The overhead travelling crane, with its high flexibility and potential for moving freely in three-dimensional space, has been a staple of most such transportation systems. Although there has been a substantial body of research into these systems, no prior studies have addressed the present topic; namely, the development of an autonomous mobile overhead travelling crane of complex transfer trajectory with and without hoisting or lowering motions on a straight and curved transfer path system [1]~[5].In multi-item, small-sized production systems, the start and goal points of crane transfer are frequently various. The first step in realizing an autonomous mobile crane system is to establish the motion path planning as such to compute a precisely specified path between the start and the goal based on a given geometrical map, and to compute the motion control with respect to both the tracking control and the sway-suppression control for off-line application, although on-line motion planning and execution in changing indoor environments will be a succeeding problem.