Conflict-free routing of multi-stop warehouse trucks

Abstract

The recent interest in greater vehicular autonomy for factory and warehouse automation has stimulated research in conflict-free routing: a challenging network routing problem in which vehicles may not pass each other. Motivated by a real-world case study, we consider one such application: truck movements in a tightly constrained warehouse. We propose an extension of an existing conflict-free routing algorithm to consider multiple stopping points per route. A high level metaheuristic is applied to determine the route construction and assignment of vehicles to routes.