無人搬運車是一種具有彈性的物料搬運系統，是在工業界被廣泛應用的自動化物料搬運系統。協力式無人搬運車系統最早是由Bozer與Srinivasan （1989）所提出的，其主要特色為軌道佈置分為幾個區域，且區域間互不交錯，每個區域只有一台AGV，因此車輛的交通控制問題較簡單；缺點則是需要另外考慮在區域間設立轉運站的問題和區域間工作量不平衡的問題。而無人搬運車的軌道佈置設計與工廠的物料搬運效率有很大的相關，甚至影響工廠的生產力。所以本研究將在工廠機器位置已知且固定的情況下，針對協力式無人搬運車系統軌道佈置設計提出一設計方法。 本研究所提出的方法分為四個部份，分別為分群方法、迴圈軌道連接方法、轉運站設置方法以及改善迴圈設計解。分群方法為在機器位置固定且迴圈數已知的情況下將機器分成數群，接著以迴圈軌道連接方法將分群後的機器連接成互不交錯的迴圈，連接完成後使用轉運站設置方法在迴圈之間設置轉運站，如此便完成一協力式無人搬運車迴圈設計；但此設計還須考量到可接受的總工作量與可接受的總工作量差異，所以若當迴圈設計解不被接受時則需要用到改善迴圈設計解的方法，以滿足可接受的總工作量與可接受的總工作量差異的限制。最後，將以舉例說明的方式使大家能夠更清楚了解本研究所提出的方法，並證明此方法的可行性與績效。 Tandem Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) systems are easy-implemented material handling system for warehouse and manufacturing. It requires only a relatively easy traffic control management, e.g., prevention for collision and vehicle dispatching rule, since each loop requires only one vehicle. Moreover, tandem AGV systems offer more flexibility in future expansion since one or more loops could be added in the original system with minimal disruptions. In this research, we assume that the machine positions are given and cannot be changed. We propose a method to construct a tandem AGV system for this given configuration. In our method, we provide a way to assign machines to loops, connect guided paths to machines in each loop, choose transfer stations between loops, and find a possible improving design solution from the existing design solution with consideration of two measures, total work loads and total difference of work loads. In the end, we apply our method step by step on an example to show how our method works.
