ABSTRACT
One of the simplest forms of autonomous platform control is guidepath following, where the vehicle reacts to the sensed position of some external continuous-path reference track. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have found extensive use in factories and warehouses for material transfer, in modem office scenarios for supplies and mail delivery, and in hospitals for distribution of meals and medication to nursing stations. In 1989 about 500 AGVs were sold in the United States, compared to approximately 3000 vehicles purchased by European companies, and an estimated 5000 more by Japanese corporations in the same time period (Cahners, 1990).
