Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090194357 | MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE HAVING A STEER SYSTEM INCLUDING A TACTILE FEEDBACK DEVICE - A materials handling vehicle is provided comprising a frame comprising an operator's compartment, wheels supported on the frame, at least one of the wheels being a steerable wheel, and a steer-by-wire system associated with the steerable wheel to effect angular movement of the steerable wheel. The vehicle further comprises a control apparatus. | 08-06-2009 |
20090194363 | MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE HAVING A STEER SYSTEM INCLUDING A TACTILE FEEDBACK DEVICE - A materials handling vehicle is provided comprising: a frame comprising an operator's compartment; wheels supported on the frame, at least one of the wheels being a steerable wheel; a steer-by-wire system and control apparatus. The steer-by-wire system is associated with the steerable wheel to effect angular movement of the steerable wheel about a first axis. | 08-06-2009 |
20090198416 | MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE HAVING A CONTROL APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AN ACCELERATION VALUE - A materials handling vehicle is provided comprising: a frame; wheels supported on the frame; a traction motor coupled to one of the wheels to effect rotation of the one wheel; a speed control element operable by an operator to define a speed control signal corresponding to a desired speed of the traction motor; a system associated with a steerable wheel to effect angular movement of the steerable wheel; and control apparatus coupled to the speed control element to receive the speed control signal, and coupled to the traction motor to generate a drive signal to the traction motor in response to the speed control signal to control the operation of the traction motor. The control apparatus may determine an acceleration value for the traction motor based on at least one of an angular position of the steerable wheel, a speed of the traction motor and a current position of the speed control element as defined by the speed control signal. | 08-06-2009 |
20090276109 | SLIP CONTROL FOR A MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE - A vehicle is provided comprising: a main body; a plurality of wheels coupled to the main body; a traction motor associated with the main body and coupled to at least one of the wheels for driving the one wheel; control apparatus coupled to the traction motor and generating a motor drive signal to the traction motor; and a first sensor for generating a speed signal indicative of a speed of the driven wheel. The control apparatus may calculate acceleration of the one wheel using changes in the speed signal over time and calculate an acceleration of the vehicle using torque applied by the traction motor and a mass of the vehicle. | 11-05-2009 |
20100114405 | MULTIPLE ZONE SENSING FOR MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLES - A supplemental control system for a materials handling vehicle comprises one or more sensors capable of defining multiple contactless detection zones at least towards the front of the forward travel direction of a remotely controlled vehicle. The vehicle responds to the detection of objects within the designated zones based upon predetermined actions, such as to slow down or stop the vehicle, and/or to take other action, such as to perform a steer angle correction. | 05-06-2010 |
20130101166 | EVALUATING FEATURES IN AN IMAGE POSSIBLY CORRESPONDING TO AN INTERSECTION OF A PALLET STRINGER AND A PALLET BOARD - A programmable computer-implemented method is provided for finding possible corners of a pallet in an image. The method may comprise: acquiring a grey scale image including one or more pallets; determining, using a computer, horizontal cross correlations between the image and a first step-edge template to generate a set of horizontal cross correlation results; determining, using the computer, vertical cross correlations between the image and a second step-edge template to generate a set of vertical cross correlation results; and determining, using the computer, a first set of pixels, each such pixel respectively corresponding to a possible first corner of the one or more pallets, using a first corner template, the set of horizontal cross correlation results and the set of vertical cross correlation results. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101167 | IDENTIFYING, MATCHING AND TRACKING MULTIPLE OBJECTS IN A SEQUENCE OF IMAGES - A method of tracking scored candidate objects in a sequence of image frames acquired by a camera is provided. The scored candidate objects may comprise a set of existing scored candidate objects associated with a prior image frame and a set of new scored candidate objects associated with a next image frame. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101173 | CONTROLLING TRUCK FORKS BASED ON IDENTIFYING AND TRACKING MULTIPLE OBJECTS IN AN IMAGE SCENE - A method is provided for controlling forks of a vehicle. The method may comprise: while the forks of the vehicle are moving vertically, acquiring a series of images of a scene of a physical environment in which a plurality of pallets are visible; identifying in each image, by a computer system, one or more scored candidate objects, each potentially corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of pallets; for each of the one or more scored candidate objects, tracking, by the computer system, a respective location in each of at least two images of the series; determining for each of the one or more scored candidate objects a respective, associated height in the physical environment; and stopping, by the computer system, the forks of the vehicle at a height in the physical environment based on the height of a specific one of the scored candidate objects. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101201 | IDENTIFYING AND LOCATING POSSIBLE LINES CORRESPONDING TO PALLET STRUCTURE IN AN IMAGE - A computer-implemented method is provided for finding a Ro image providing data corresponding to possible orthogonal distances to possible lines on a pallet in an image. The method comprises: acquiring a grey scale image including one or more pallets; determining, using a computer, a horizontal gradient image by convolving the grey scale image and a first convolution kernel; determining, using the computer, a vertical gradient image by convolving the grey scale image and a second convolution kernel; and determining, using the computer, respective pixel values of a first Ro image providing data corresponding to a possible orthogonal distance from an origin point of the grey scale image to one or more possible lines on one or more possible pallets in the grey scale image. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101202 | IDENTIFYING, EVALUATING AND SELECTING POSSIBLE PALLET BOARD LINES IN AN IMAGE SCENE - A method is provided for determining which of a plurality of possible lines is most likely to be an actual line passing through a possible corner of a pallet. The method may comprise: providing a Ro image comprising pixels valued to generally correspond to an orthogonal distance from an origin point in the Ro image to one or more possible lines in a corresponding grey scale image; providing, using a computer, a location in the Ro image corresponding to a possible pallet corner; defining, using the computer, a plurality of possible lines passing through the possible pallet corner, each of the possible lines being respectively oriented at one angle within a range of angles to an axis of the Ro image; and determining, using the computer, which of the plurality of possible lines is most likely to be the actual line passing through the possible pallet corner. | 04-25-2013 |
20130124014 | METHOD FOR OPERATING A MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE UTILIZING MULTIPLE DETECTION ZONES - A multiple detection zone supplemental remote control system for a materials handling vehicle comprises one or more sensors capable of defining multiple contactless detection zones at least towards the front of the forward travel direction of a remotely controlled vehicle. The vehicle responds to the detection of objects within the designated zones based upon predetermined actions, such as to slow down or stop the vehicle, and/or to take other action, such as to perform a steer angle correction. | 05-16-2013 |
20130131895 | MULTIPLE ZONE SENSING FOR MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLES TRAVELING UNDER REMOTE CONTROL - A supplemental control system for a materials handling vehicle comprises one or more sensors capable of defining multiple contactless detection zones at least towards the front of the forward travel direction of a remotely controlled vehicle. The vehicle responds to the detection of objects within the designated zones based upon predetermined actions, such as to slow down or stop the vehicle, and/or to take other action, such as to perform a steer angle correction. | 05-23-2013 |
20130184960 | MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE HAVING A CONTROL APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AN ACCELERATION VALUE - A materials handling vehicle is provided comprising: a frame; wheels supported on the frame; a traction motor coupled to one of the wheels to effect rotation of the one wheel; a speed control element operable by an operator to define a speed control signal corresponding to a desired speed of the traction motor; a system associated with a steerable wheel to effect angular movement of the steerable wheel; and control apparatus coupled to the speed control element to receive the speed control signal, and coupled to the traction motor to generate a drive signal to the traction motor in response to the speed control signal to control the operation of the traction motor. The control apparatus may determine an acceleration value for the traction motor based on at least one of an angular position of the steerable wheel, a speed of the traction motor and a current position of the speed control element as defined by the speed control signal. | 07-18-2013 |
20140209406 | MATERIALS HANDLING VEHICLE HAVING A CONTROL APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AN ACCELERATION VALUE - A materials handling vehicle is provided comprising: a frame; wheels supported on the frame; a traction motor coupled to one of the wheels to effect rotation of the one wheel; a speed control element operable by an operator to define a speed control signal corresponding to a desired speed of the traction motor; a system associated with a steerable wheel to effect angular movement of the steerable wheel; and control apparatus coupled to the speed control element to receive the speed control signal, and coupled to the traction motor to generate a drive signal to the traction motor in response to the speed control signal to control the operation of the traction motor. The control apparatus may determine an acceleration value for the traction motor based on at least one of an angular position of the steerable wheel, a speed of the traction motor and a current position of the speed control element as defined by the speed control signal. | 07-31-2014 |