A construction algorithm for designing guide paths of automated guided vehicle systems

A construction algorithm is suggested to design guide path networks for automated guided vehicle systems. This study uses the total travel time, including waiting and interference time, of vehicles as the decision criteria for determining the direction of path segments on unidirectional guide path layouts. The Q-learning technique is applied to estimate the travel times of vehicles on path segments. Computational experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm is superior to Kim & Tanchoco's algorithm in terms of the average travel time, the interference time and the number of deliveries.