No Need to Stop the Fleet: Localized Anomaly Isolation via Dead Zones in AGV Fleets

arXiv:2610.08524v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) fleets in production and logistics environments rely on a system-wide emergency stop to handle local anomalies such as malfunctions, hazards, or contaminated areas. While safe, this approach halts the entire fleet even when only a small area is affected, causing unnecessary downtime. This paper proposes dead zones --- a formally defined localized isolation approach that serves as an additional fail-operational mechanism for situations where a full system-wide halt is not strictly needed. Rather than shutting down the entire fleet, a dead zone isolates the anomalous area, allowing unaffected robots to continue operating normally. We introduce two operational strategies: basic dead zone handling, in which affected robots enter a dead zone and stop, and dead zone handling with escaping, in which robots that are sufficiently far from a dead zone reroute around it. For escaping on counterclockwise trajectories we prove collision-freedom with a bounded arrival delay for all escaping robots, provided a minimum pairwise separation is kept between robots. Experimental evaluation confirms the theoretical guarantees and characterizes the throughput tradeoffs between all three approaches: full emergency stop, basic dead zone handling, and dead zone handling with escaping.

Abstract:Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) fleets in production and logistics environments rely on a system-wide emergency stop to handle local anomalies such as malfunctions, hazards, or contaminated areas. While safe, this approach halts the entire fleet even when only a small area is affected, causing unnecessary downtime. This paper proposes dead zones --- a formally defined localized isolation approach that serves as an additional fail-operational mechanism for situations where a full system-wide halt is not strictly needed. Rather than shutting down the entire fleet, a dead zone isolates the anomalous area, allowing unaffected robots to continue operating normally. We introduce two operational strategies: basic dead zone handling, in which affected robots enter a dead zone and stop, and dead zone handling with escaping, in which robots that are sufficiently far from a dead zone reroute around it. For escaping on counterclockwise trajectories we prove collision-freedom with a bounded arrival delay for all escaping robots, provided a minimum pairwise separation is kept between robots. Experimental evaluation confirms the theoretical guarantees and characterizes the throughput tradeoffs between all three approaches: full emergency stop, basic dead zone handling, and dead zone handling with escaping.

Robotics (cs.RO)

arXiv:2610.08524 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2610.08524v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.08524 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

analiza aiqbench

No Need to Stop the Fleet: Localized Anomaly Isolation via Dead Zones in AGV Fleets

Subiecte conexe