An overview of path design and dispatching methods for automated guided vehicles

Automated guide vehicles (AGVs) are driverless vehicles that perform material handling operations in both flexible and conventional facilities. We provide here a review of recent work on the design of AGV guide paths and dispatching rules, including related issues such as idle vehicle location, and location of pickup and delivery stations. Different types of guide paths and related layouts, including optimal and heuristic approaches to the path design, are reviewed here. Dispatching rules and algorithms, including zone control, are also proposed and compared with commonly-used rules.