Adaptive Autonomous Towing for MObile robots (AATOM)

The transport of equipment, material, parts and waste within a controlled environment is a common requirement across a wide array of sectors. While the environment and payload may change, the underlying challenge remains the same. This task is often labour-intensive, making automation an ideal solution to enhance efficiency. Towing offers an effective way to extend the carry capacity of vehicles and is a common practice across industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and aviation. In these sectors, tractor-trailer systems are frequently employed for transporting goods.

The challenge to automate this process, however, is that a trailer does not necessarily follow the same path that the vehicle does. The figure below illustrates this problem by highlighting (in orange) the areas where a small trailer deviates from the vehicle’s path. This problem is propagated when the size of the trailer is increased or when the system includes multiple trailers.

Moreover, towing enables additional benefits that could not be realised with a vehicle alone:

• Increased modularity by allowing one vehicle to tow many trailers with different usages

• Increased utilisation by allowing one vehicle to move multiple different trailers meaning that the vehicle does not need to wait for the trailers to be loaded or unloaded

• Minimised costs by being able to minimise the number of vehicles required

• Scalable solution by allowing for multiple trailers to be towed by 1 single vehicle

We are currently developing this technology for use within Agritech however this is the most challenging environment due to the weather and terrain involved. It will be possible to transfer the same technology and learnings to other simpler environments.