Traffic control of multiple robot vehicles

The author addresses the control of traffic when there are large numbers of automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) in a factory. Several possible policies for managing AGVs to minimize the impact of traffic jams were analyzed. In a grid-iron network of roads, it is shown that traffic contention can have a large effect on the collective performance of AGVs. It is shown that a particular traffic policy permits the AGVs to be autonomous and independent while avoiding deadlocks. This policy is shown to be close to optimal, even for large numbers of vehicles. It is also shown under what conditions it is beneficial to modify the factory to have highways and superhighways. >