3 ways controls will save lives with automated guided vehicles

Pro-Face 5019T touch screen panel temp mounted in the cab of the automatic guided truck AGV Wendy Darling (now used for digital map systems) will show truck systems. Original instrument panel is on the left along with the Preco Electronics back-up camera display. Source: AIMing for Automated Vehicles blog in Control Engineering .

Three reasons why automated guided vehicles (AGVs) will save lives, according to the May 7 AIMing for Automated Vehicles blog posting, are because the U.S. Congress wants AGVs to help the U.S. armed forces, similar technologies can be applied on U.S. roads, and because companies are donating to dedicated volunteers to help make it so.Paul F. Grayson, chief engineer at American Industrial Magic LLC (AIM), in the Control Engineering blog suggests: 1) U.S. Congress has ordered the U.S. armed forces to convert one-third of its ground vehicles to driverless operation as soon as possible before 2015. That requires building and installing 333,333 systems just for the U.S. Army, and other branches of the US armed forces have similar numbers of vehicles. 2) Systems like what the AIM Team is working on may save as many as 5,000 lives a month on US roads (that is 166 lives a day). As a public health issue, preventing traffic fatalities is more important than curing cancer for the age group most affected by traffic accidents, ages 0-49. 3) Traditional research and development (R&D) channels are being augmented as organizations like AIM work beyond usual channels to see if volunteers can do what bigger companies, because of their size, have been unable or unwilling to do. Sponsors and team members, both local and distant, are donating their money, personnel, and materials, to demonstrate how the technology on an automatic guided robot truck can improve vehicle safety for both the military in war zones and for the rest of us on US roadways.

AIM’s demonstration vehicle, AGV Wendy Darling, showcases how sponsors’ products can be used to create a reliable, affordable, driverless system for an automatic guided robot truck.Read more about

saving lives and creating defense jobs with automation

, in this Control Engineering blog posting, which covers related issues from green energy developments to the future of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV).

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske , editor in chief

Control Engineering News Desk, www.controleng.com

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