Path Planning of a Material Handling Agent With Novel Locomotion

Abstract

This work proposes the application of a recently developed locomotion system to material handling for a flexible manufacturing layout. The “swing-and-dock” (SaD) model for realizing displacements has been invented for and is used by the mobile robotic fixtures developed in the SwarmItFix European project. This form of locomotion can be a valuable capability for material handling agents, enabling simultaneous handling in a non-linear fashion and increasing manufacturing flexibility. The paper focuses on the design of SaD path planning algorithms for the motion of a single agent. Several possible strategies and solutions are presented, elaborated, and tested via simulations. The results suggest that a Nearest Neighbor with a Random Insert Heuristic approach allows the generation of good solution sequences for a single agent with SaD locomotion visiting a varied size of destinations with stationary obstacles in its path.