Systems and methods for using human-operated material-transport vehicles with fleet-management systems

1. A method of using a human-operated material-transport vehicle with a fleet-management system, comprising:

operating a driver-support system mounted to the human-operated material transport vehicle, the driver-support system comprising a processor, a task-input device for receiving one or more user inputs from an operator for providing a task-related data, a human-vehicle interface, and at least one sensor for determining at least one of a vehicle location and a vehicle velocity, the processor operable to:

receive a mission definition from the fleet-management system, wherein the mission definition comprises one or more tasks to be conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle;

plan a path based on the mission definition;

display the path via the human-vehicle interface to assist the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle to conduct the one or more tasks;

monitor and collect, using at least one of the task-input device and the at least one sensor, a vehicle-mission information associated with an operation of the human-operated material-transport vehicle by the operator within an industrial facility associated with the fleet-management system; and

transmit the vehicle-mission information to the fleet-management system during the operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

during the operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle for completing the one or more tasks:

operate the fleet-management system to:

monitor, based on the received vehicle-mission information, a task status of each task of the one or more tasks being conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

in response to detecting a change in a task status of at least one task, generate and transmit an updated mission definition to the human-operated material-transport vehicle based on the change in the task status; and

operate the driver-support system to:

in response to receiving the updated mission definition, update the path based on the updated mission definition; and

display the updated path via the human-vehicle interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle-mission information comprises at least one of:

one or more user inputs from the operator providing a task-related data via the task-input device; and

at least one of the vehicle location and vehicle velocity determined by the at least one sensor.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein operating the human-operated material-transport vehicle within the industrial facility is associated with the one or more tasks, and the vehicle-mission information further comprises mission information pertaining to a status of the one or more tasks.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein operating the human-operated material-transport vehicle within the industrial facility is associated with the one or more tasks, and the vehicle-mission information comprises mission information pertaining to the task status of the one or more tasks.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the driver-support system is operable to receive a broadcast stream from the fleet-management system comprising an aggregation of location and speed information pertaining to two or more other vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating the driver-support system to receive vehicle-mission information one or more other vehicles.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating the driver-support system to:

receive a destination location; and

plan the path for the human-operated material-transport vehicle based on the destination location.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising operating the driver-support system to receive fleet information, wherein operating the driver-support system to plan the path for the human-operated material-transport vehicle is based on a map provided by the driver-support system and the fleet information.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprises operating the processor to track a movement of the human-operated material-transport vehicle relative to the path.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating the driver-support system to determine vehicle-proximity information associated with the human-operated material-transport vehicle, and operating the driver-support system to perform collision-avoidance based on the vehicle-proximity information.

11. A system for using a human-operated material-transport vehicle with a fleet-management system, the system comprising:

the fleet-management system; and

a driver-support system mounted to the human-operated material-transport vehicle and in communication with the fleet-management system, the driver-support system comprising:

at least one sensor operable to determine at least one of a vehicle location and a vehicle velocity;

a task-input device for receiving one or more user inputs from an operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle for providing a task-related data;

a human-vehicle interface;

a transceiver for communicating with the fleet-management system; and

a processor operable to communicate with the at least one sensor, the task-input device, the human-vehicle interface and the transceiver, the processor of the driver-support system being operable to:

receive a mission definition from the fleet-management system, wherein the mission definition comprises one or more tasks to be conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle;

plan a path based on the mission definition;

display the path via a human-vehicle interface to assist the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle to conduct the one or more tasks;

monitor and collect, using at least one of the task-input device and the at least one sensor, a vehicle-mission information associated with an operation of the human-operated material-transport vehicle by the operator within an industrial facility associated with the fleet-management system; and

transmit the vehicle-mission information to the fleet-management system during operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

during the operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle for completing the one or more tasks, the fleet-management system being operable to:

monitor, based on the received vehicle-mission information, a task status of each task of the one or more tasks being conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

in response to detecting a change in a task status of at least one task, generate and transmit an updated mission definition to the human-operated material-transport vehicle based on the change in the task status; and

the processor of the driver-support system being further operable to:

in response to receiving the updated mission definition, update the path based on the updated mission definition; and

display the updated path via the human-vehicle interface.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to plan the vehicle path based on the mission definition by using a simultaneous localization and mapping (“SLAM”) application.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to provide a path-planning application for planning the vehicle path based on a destination location.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to provide a path-tracking application for tracking a movement of the vehicle relative to the vehicle path.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor further configured to provide a collision-avoidance application for predicting possible collisions between the vehicle and a second vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to provide a strategy management application for processing information pertaining to a vehicle mission.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a vehicle-control interface for at least one of sending vehicle control information to the vehicle, and receiving vehicle control information from the vehicle.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is operable to receive vehicle-mission information from one or more other vehicles within the industrial facility associated with the fleet-management system.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is operable to receive a broadcast stream from the fleet-management system comprising an aggregation of location and speed information pertaining to two or more other vehicles.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable media comprising one or more instructions executable on a processor for operating a fleet-management system and a driver-support system mounted to a human-operated material-transport vehicle and communicating with the fleet-management system, the driver-support system comprising a processor, a task-input device for receiving one or more user inputs from an operator for providing a task-related data, a human-vehicle interface, and at least one sensor for determining at least one of a vehicle location and a vehicle velocity, the processor operable to:

receive a mission definition from the fleet-management system, wherein the mission definition comprises one or more tasks to be conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle;

plan a path based on the mission definition;

display the path via the human-vehicle interface to assist the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle to conduct the one or more tasks;

monitor and collect, using at least one of the task-input device and the at least one sensor, a vehicle-mission information associated with an operation of the human-operated material-transport vehicle by the operator within an industrial facility associated with the fleet-management system; and

transmit the vehicle-mission information to the fleet-management system during operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

during the operation by the operator of the human-operated material-transport vehicle for completing the one or more tasks, the fleet-management system being operable to:

monitor, based on the received vehicle-mission information, a task status of each task of the one or more tasks being conducted by the human-operated material-transport vehicle; and

in response to detecting a change in a task status of at least one task, generate and transmit an updated mission definition to the human-operated material-transport vehicle based on the change in the task status; and

the processor of the driver-support system being further operable to:

in response to receiving the updated mission definition, update the path based on the updated mission definition; and

display the updated path via the human-vehicle interface.