A Comprehensive Review of Wireless Charging Systems for Automated Guided Vehicles

The growing demand for sustainable transportation has accelerated innovations in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs).Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) has become a key technology for overcoming battery range and charging limitations. This paper presents a focused review of WPT advancements for AGV applications, covering recent developments in coupling mechanisms, magnetic coupler designs, and compensation topologies that maintain high efficiency under dynamic operating conditions. The review also examines the role of Machine Learning (ML), organizing prior work into four functional domains: sensorless parameter estimation, adaptive impedance control, fault and anomaly detection, and coupling-geometry optimization. By mapping these domains to corresponding WPT challenges, the paper establishes a structured framework linking ML techniques with the underlying physical parameters governing power transfer.To ensure methodological rigor, this review is based on a structured literature search across IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and MDPI databases for publications between 2015 and 2024. Studies were included only if they (i) focused on WPT for mobile platforms, (ii) provided FEM-based modeling or experimental validation, and (iii) reported quantifiable performance metrics such as efficiency, coupling coefficient, misalignment tolerance, switching frequency, or ML accuracy. More than 180 papers were screened, and 112 studies meeting these criteria were included in the final analysis. Despite considerable progress, key challenges persist, including efficiency degradation under misalignment, electromagnetic field (EMF) leakage, compensation detuning with load variation, and the lack of AGV-specific interoperability standards. Addressing these issues requires coordinated advances in magnetic design, adaptive compensation, power electronics, and ML-assisted control. This paper summarizes major performance trends and outlines practical research directions to support the development of intelligent, self-optimizing WPT systems for future AGV platforms.Unlike prior WPT surveys primarily focused on electric vehicles, this review explicitly targets AGV-specific charging constraints—including low-voltage operation, compact pad geometries, dynamic misalignment during docking, narrow air-gap operation, and opportunity charging in indoor industrial environments—highlighting design requirements unique to AGV wireless charging and not addressed in EV-oriented literature.