A palletizing method, palletizing equipment and computer storage medium for materials

Abstract

The present invention discloses a material palletizing method, palletizing equipment, and computer storage medium. The method comprises: determining a palletizing request; based on the palletizing request, determining a program layer within the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with a regularly occurring pallet pattern; determining the placement points of the pallet pattern within the program layer; and controlling a robot arm to palletize materials according to the placement points. This method can meet more complex palletizing requirements, eliminating the need for installation engineers to use the robot manufacturer's own palletizing program package to set complex palletizing parameters. Instead, installation engineers can simply teach a few robot points to complete the palletizing program setup, reducing the workload of on-site engineers and improving work efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of palletizing, and in particular to a palletizing method, palletizing equipment and computer storage medium for materials. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, robots have been widely used across various industries. They replace manual palletizing and unpalletizing, significantly improving production efficiency and freeing workers from the arduous lifting tasks of handling items. A typical robot consists of a robotic arm, a reducer, a servo motor, an electrical control cabinet, and a fixture. To address different applications, robots have different programs and fixtures. Some applications require the robot to position certain layers differently than others, and these differences can occur regularly within the same stack.

[0003] Robot manufacturers typically include built-in palletizing and depalletizing packages within their robot systems. These packages can help field engineers quickly develop palletizing programs for simple palletizing applications (e.g., consistent placement direction, single-pick-and-place, and consistent palletizing conditions for each layer).

[0004] However, different application scenarios require different palletizing types. In some more complex palletizing processes (such as single grabbing and multiple releases, inconsistent placement directions, different palletizing types on different layers, etc.), the palletizing program packages provided by the robot manufacturer often cannot meet the palletizing requirements. On-site engineers are required to use the palletizing program packages provided by the robot manufacturer to set more complex palletizing parameters, which increases the workload of on-site engineers and reduces work efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present invention aim to provide a material palletizing method, palletizing equipment, and computer storage medium, which can solve the problem that in some existing more complex palletizing processes, the palletizing program packages provided by robot manufacturers cannot meet the palletizing requirements, requiring on-site engineers to use the palletizing program packages provided by the robot manufacturers to set more complex palletizing parameters, which increases the workload of on-site engineers and reduces work efficiency.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a palletizing method for materials, the method comprising:

[0007] Determine palletizing request;

[0008] Determining, according to the palletizing request, a program layer in the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with a regularly occurring pallet pattern;

[0009] Determining a stack placement point for a layer within the program;

[0010] Control the robot arm to stack the materials according to the stack placement points.

[0011] Optionally, the step of determining the palletizing request includes: receiving a palletizing request sent by an external controller, and determining the palletizing request.

[0012] Optionally, the step of determining a program layer in the palletizing request according to the palletizing request includes: analyzing a program layer from the received palletizing request.

[0013] Optionally, the step of determining a stack placement point of a layer in the program includes:

[0014] Determining a teach point for a layer within the program;

[0015] Determining the placement points of the stacking pattern of one layer in the program according to the teaching points of one layer in the program;

[0016] The spatial coordinates corresponding to the stack placement points of one layer in the program are passed to the class pointer variable of the program;

[0017] The class pointer variable is sent to the robot arm.

[0018] Optionally, the step of controlling the robot arm to stack materials according to the stacking points includes:

[0019] The robot arm is controlled to pick up the material, move to the pre-placement point according to the class pointer variable, and then move to the stack placement point, and code the material into the stack placement point.

[0020] Optionally, the method further includes: when controlling the robot to complete the placement of the material at the current placement point, automatically adding one to the current number of pieces variable, and pushing the class pointer variable to point to the next placement point.

[0021] Optionally, the method further includes: determining whether the current stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed based on the current number of pieces variable, and when the current number of pieces variable is greater than or equal to a preset number of pieces, determining that the stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed.

[0022] Optionally, the method further comprises: after the stacking of one layer of the pallets in the program is completed, giving a stacking completion signal, requesting that the stacked pallets be transported away, and resetting all variables.

[0023] Accordingly, the second aspect of the present invention provides a palletizing device, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, performs the steps of the material palletizing method described in the first aspect of the present invention.

[0024] Accordingly, an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention provides a computer storage medium, on which is stored a program for a material stacking method. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the material stacking method described in the embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention are implemented.

[0025] Compared to the prior art, embodiments of the present invention provide a material palletizing method, palletizing equipment, and computer storage medium. The method comprises determining a palletizing request; determining a program layer within the palletizing request based on the palletizing request; wherein the program layer comprises a continuous layer with a regularly occurring pallet pattern; determining the placement points of the pallet pattern within the program layer; and controlling a robot arm to place the material according to the placement points. This method can meet more complex palletizing requirements (e.g., single-grab multiple placement, different placement directions within a layer, and inconsistent pallet patterns between layers). Installation engineers no longer need to use the robot manufacturer's palletizing program package to set complex palletizing parameters. Instead, they can simply teach a few robot points to complete the palletizing program setup, reducing the workload of on-site engineers and improving work efficiency. This method addresses the problem in some existing complex palletizing processes where the robot manufacturer's palletizing program package cannot meet the palletizing requirements, requiring on-site engineers to use the robot manufacturer's palletizing program package to set complex palletizing parameters, increasing the workload of on-site engineers and reducing work efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] One or more embodiments are exemplarily illustrated by pictures in the corresponding drawings. These exemplifications do not constitute limitations on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings are represented as similar elements. Unless otherwise stated, the figures in the drawings do not constitute proportional limitations.

[0027] Figure 1 This is a schematic flow chart of a material palletizing method provided by the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 This is another flow chart of an automatic conveying method for a plastic frame provided by the present invention;

[0029] Figure 3 1 is a schematic flow chart of step S3 in a material palletizing method provided by the present invention;

[0030] Figure 4 This is another schematic flow chart of a material palletizing method provided by the present invention;

[0031] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a specific process of a material palletizing method provided by the present invention;

[0032] Figure 6It is a structural schematic diagram of a palletizing equipment provided by the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] For ease of understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that when an element is described as being "fixed to" another element, it can be directly on the other element, or there can be one or more centered elements therebetween. When an element is described as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element, or there can be one or more centered elements therebetween. The orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "bottom" etc. used in this specification is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0034] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this specification have the same meanings as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The terms used in this specification and in the description of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The term "and / or" as used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the relevant listed items.

[0035] In addition, the technical features involved in different embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0036] In one embodiment, Figure 1 As shown, the present invention provides a palletizing method for materials, the method comprising:

[0037] S1. Determine the palletizing request;

[0038] S2. Determine, according to the palletizing request, a program layer in the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with regularly occurring pallet types;

[0039] S3, determining the stacking point of one layer in the program;

[0040] S4. Control the robot arm to stack the materials according to the stack placement points.

[0041] In this embodiment, a method for palletizing materials is provided, the method comprising determining a palletizing request; determining a program layer within the palletizing request based on the palletizing request; wherein the program layer comprises a continuous layer with a regularly occurring pallet pattern; determining the placement points of the pallet pattern within the program layer; and controlling a robot arm to place the materials according to the placement points. This method can thus meet more complex palletizing requirements (e.g., single-grab multiple placement, different placement directions within a layer, and inconsistent pallet patterns between layers). This eliminates the need for installation engineers to use the robot manufacturer's own palletizing program package to set complex palletizing parameters. Instead, installation engineers can simply teach a few robot points to complete the palletizing program setup, reducing the workload of on-site engineers and improving work efficiency. This method can address the problem in some existing more complex palletizing processes where the robot manufacturer's own palletizing program package cannot meet the palletizing requirements, requiring on-site engineers to use the robot manufacturer's own palletizing program package to set complex palletizing parameters, increasing the workload of on-site engineers and reducing work efficiency.

[0042] In one embodiment, in step S1, determining the palletizing request specifically includes: receiving a palletizing request sent by an external controller, and determining the palletizing request.

[0043] Specifically, before the robot performs the palletizing work, it is in a state of waiting for a palletizing request. The palletizing request is sent to the robot by an external controller, and the robot performs the palletizing work after receiving the palletizing request.

[0044] In one embodiment, in step S2, a program layer in the palletizing request is determined according to the palletizing request.

[0045] Wherein, the one layer in the program is composed of a continuous layer of regularly appearing pallet types. According to the received palletizing request, the one layer in the program is analyzed from the palletizing request.

[0046] For example, consider a nine-layer palletizing operation. The first layer is type A, the second is type B, the third is type C, the fourth is type A, the fifth is type B, the sixth is type C, the seventh is type A, the eighth is type B, and the ninth is type C. The nine-layer palletizing operation consists of the following types: ABCABCABC, with a cycle occurring every three layers. The three connected layers containing type ABC are called one layer within the program.

[0047] As an example, Figure 2 As shown, at the physical level, the pallet has four layers, with each two layers consisting of one gray pattern and one diagonal pattern. Therefore, in the program, these two layers, consisting of one gray pattern and one diagonal pattern, can be considered as one layer within the program. Different layers within the program only vary in height, thus meeting the requirement for different pallet patterns between different physical layers.

[0048] In this embodiment, by determining a program layer in the palletizing request based on the palletizing request, the physical layer and program layer of the palletizing are separated, and continuous layers with regularly occurring pallet types are regarded as a program layer. This can meet the situation where the pallet types between different physical layers are different, and can meet more complex pallet type requirements (such as single grasping and multiple releases, different placement directions within a layer, and inconsistent pallet types between different layers).

[0049] In one embodiment, Figure 3 As shown, in step S3, determining the stack placement point of a layer in the program includes:

[0050] S31, determining a teaching point of a layer in the program.

[0051] S32, determining the stack placement points of one layer in the program according to the teaching points of one layer in the program.

[0052] The program contains points that need to be taught. The number of stack placement points that need to be taught is the same as the number of stack placement points on one layer of the program.

[0053] Therefore, according to the number of teaching points of one layer in the program, the placement points of the stacking type of one layer in the program can be determined.

[0054] S33. The spatial coordinates corresponding to the stack placement points of one layer in the program are transferred to the class pointer variable of the program, where the class pointer variable is a position variable.

[0055] S34. Send the class pointer variable to the robot arm.

[0056] As an example, Figure 2 As shown, this stacking type consists of four teaching points in one layer within the program.

[0057] In the program, the number of times the stack type has been stacked is determined based on the "current number of pieces" variable, and the placement point for the next stacking is calculated and inferred.

[0058] When the next palletizing location is determined, the spatial coordinates of that location are passed to a pointer-like variable (similar to a pointer in C). The palletizing program simply moves the pointer to place the material at a different location. This pointer-like variable significantly reduces the workload for field engineers.

[0059] For example, some complex stacking configurations require a point several tens of millimeters above each placement point, at which a cylinder on the fixture opens or closes. Using the traditional method, field engineers would need to set a point above each placement point. However, this method reduces the engineer's workload by simply adding a height to the class pointer variable. The class pointer variable allows for simple setup of the stacking action, then assigning different teach points to the class pointer variable to complete the stacking action for all locations.

[0060] In this embodiment, by determining the teaching points of a layer in the program, the pallet placement points of a layer in the program are determined according to the teaching points of a layer in the program, and the spatial coordinates corresponding to the pallet placement points of a layer in the program are passed to the class pointer variables of the program. The program instruction object is the class pointer variable rather than the teaching point itself, thereby reducing the workload of on-site engineers through the class pointer variable. For different pallet types, only different points need to be taught to complete the setting of the palletizing program, thereby meeting more complex palletizing requirements.

[0061] In one embodiment, in step S4, controlling the robot arm to stack materials according to the stacking points includes:

[0062] The robot arm is controlled to pick up the material, move to the pre-placement point according to the class pointer variable, and then move to the stack placement point, and code the material into the stack placement point.

[0063] In this embodiment, the class pointer variable allows one to complete the stacking action by simply setting up the stacking action and then assigning different teaching points to the class pointer variable. The robot arm is then controlled to grab the material, move to the pre-placement point according to the class pointer variable, and then move to the stack placement point, and stack the material on the stack placement point, thereby completing the stacking operation and improving work efficiency.

[0064] In one embodiment, Figure 4 As shown, the method further includes:

[0065] S5. When the control robot completes the placement of the material at this placement point, the current number of pieces variable is automatically increased by one, and the class pointer variable is pushed to point to the next placement point.

[0066] Specifically, the number of times the stack has been stacked is determined based on the current number of pieces variable, the placement point of the stack next time is determined, and then steps S3 and S4 are repeated.

[0067] S6. Determine whether the stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed based on the current number of pieces variable. When the current number of pieces variable is greater than or equal to a preset number of pieces, determine that the stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed.

[0068] S7: After the stacking of one layer of pallets in the program is completed, a stacking completion signal is given to request that the stacked pallets be transported away, and all variables are reset to start another stacking cycle.

[0069] In this embodiment, the "current number of pieces" variable is used to determine the number of times a pallet has been stacked. After the current stacking operation is completed, the "current number of pieces" variable is incremented by one, and the class pointer variable is pushed to point to the placement point for the next stacking operation. The class pointer variable allows the stacking operation to be completed at all points by simply setting the stacking action and assigning different teaching points to the class pointer variable. The robot arm is then controlled to move according to the class pointer variable (class pointer variable) to stack the materials at the placement points, completing the stacking operation and improving work efficiency.

[0070] In order to facilitate understanding of the above inventive concept of the present invention, the above inventive concept of the present invention is described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0071] like Figure 5 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a palletizing method for materials, the method comprising:

[0072] S501. Determine whether the palletizing height is safe. If the palletizing height is not safe, go to step S502; otherwise, go to step S503.

[0073] S502: Raise the palletizing height to a safe palletizing height, and go to step S503.

[0074] S503: Control the robot arm to return to the origin.

[0075] S504: Control the robotic arm to open and reset various variables.

[0076] S505: Wait for palletizing request.

[0077] S506: Receive a palletizing request, and analyze a program layer from the palletizing request according to the received palletizing request.

[0078] S507: Determine the teaching points of one layer in the program, and determine the placement points of the stacking type of one layer in the program according to the teaching points of one layer in the program.

[0079] S508: The spatial coordinates corresponding to the stack placement points of one layer in the program are transferred to the class pointer variable of the program.

[0080] S509: Send the class pointer variable to the robot arm.

[0081] S510: Control the robot arm to grab materials.

[0082] S511, controlling the robot to first move to the pre-placement point according to the class pointer variable, and then move to the stack placement point, and stack the materials into the stack placement point.

[0083] S512. When the control robot completes the placement of the material at this placement point, the current number of pieces variable is automatically increased by one, and the class pointer variable is pushed to point to the next placement point.

[0084] S513. Determine whether the current stacking of the stack type of one layer in the program is completed based on the current number of pieces variable; if completed, go to step S514; if not, go to step S505.

[0085] When the current piece number variable is greater than or equal to the preset piece number, it is determined that the stacking of one layer in the program is completed; otherwise, it is not completed.

[0086] S514: After the stacking of one layer of the stack is completed in the program, a stacking completion signal is given to request that the stacked stack be transported away, and all variables are reset.

[0087] Based on the same concept, in one embodiment, Figure 6 As shown, the present invention provides a palletizing device, the palletizing device 900 comprising: a memory 902, a processor 901, and one or more computer programs stored in the memory 902 and executable on the processor 901. The memory 902 and the processor 901 are coupled together via a bus system 903. When the one or more computer programs are executed by the processor 901, the following steps of a material palletizing method provided in an embodiment of the present invention are implemented:

[0088] S1. Determine the palletizing request;

[0089] S2. Determine, according to the palletizing request, a program layer in the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with regularly occurring pallet types;

[0090] S3, determining the stacking point of one layer in the program;

[0091] S4. Control the robot arm to stack the materials according to the stack placement points.

[0092] The methods disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention can be applied to or implemented by the processor 901. The processor 901 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method can be performed by hardware integrated logic circuits or software instructions in the processor 901. The processor 901 may be a general-purpose processor, a DSP, or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc. The processor 901 can implement or execute the various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention can be directly implemented and executed by a hardware decoding processor, or by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a storage medium located in the memory 902. The processor 901 reads information from the memory 902 and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0093] It can be understood that the memory 902 in the embodiment of the present invention may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic random access memory (FRAM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device; the volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), by way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous static random access memory (SSRAM), etc. Memory), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (ESDRAM), SyncLink Dynamic Random Access Memory (SLDRAM), Direct Rambus Random Access Memory (DRRAM).The memories described in the embodiments of the present invention are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0094] It should be noted that the above-mentioned palletizing equipment embodiment and method embodiment belong to the same concept, and their specific implementation process is detailed in the method embodiment, and the technical features in the method embodiment are correspondingly applicable in the palletizing equipment embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0095] In addition, in an exemplary embodiment, the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, specifically a computer-readable storage medium, for example, including a memory 902 storing a computer program, wherein the computer storage medium stores one or more programs of a material palletizing method, and when the one or more programs of the material palletizing method are executed by the processor 901, the following steps of a material palletizing method provided in an embodiment of the present invention are implemented:

[0096] S1. Determine the palletizing request;

[0097] S2. Determine, according to the palletizing request, a program layer in the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with regularly occurring pallet types;

[0098] S3, determining the stacking point of one layer in the program;

[0099] S4. Control the robot arm to stack the materials according to the stack placement points.

[0100] It should be noted that the program embodiment of a material stacking method on the above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium and the method embodiment belong to the same concept, and the specific implementation process is detailed in the method embodiment, and the technical features in the method embodiment are correspondingly applicable in the embodiment of the above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium, which will not be repeated here.

[0101] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "includes," or any other variations thereof are intended to encompass non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. In the absence of further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus comprising the element.

[0102] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Under the concept of the present invention, the technical features in the above embodiments or different embodiments can also be combined, the steps can be implemented in any order, and there are many other variations in different aspects of the present invention as described above. For the sake of simplicity, they are not provided in detail. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, ordinary technicians in this field should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the above embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A palletizing method for materials, characterized in that: The method comprises: S1, determine the palletizing request; S2, determining, according to the palletizing request, a program layer in the palletizing request; wherein the program layer is composed of a continuous layer with regularly occurring pallet patterns; S3, determining the placement points of the stacks of one layer in the program; the step of determining the placement points of the stacks of one layer in the program includes determining a teaching point of one layer in the program; determining the placement points of the stacks of one layer in the program according to the teaching point of one layer in the program; transferring the spatial coordinates corresponding to the placement points of the stacks of one layer in the program to a class pointer variable of the program; and sending the class pointer variable to a robot manipulator; S4, controlling the robot arm to stack the materials according to the stacking points; S5, when the control robot completes the placement of the material at this placement point, automatically increments the current number of pieces variable by one, and pushes the class pointer variable to point to the next placement point; determines the number of times the stack type has been stacked according to the current number of pieces variable, determines the placement point of the next stack type, and then repeats steps S3 and S4; S6, determining whether the stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed based on the current number of pieces variable, and when the current number of pieces variable is greater than or equal to a preset number of pieces, determining that the stacking of the pallet type of one layer in the program is completed.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of determining the palletizing request includes: receiving the palletizing request sent by the external controller, and determining the palletizing request.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of determining a program layer in the palletizing request according to the palletizing request includes: analyzing a program layer from the palletizing request according to the received palletizing request.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The step of controlling the robot arm to stack materials according to the stack placement points includes: The robot arm is controlled to pick up the material, move to the pre-placement point according to the class pointer variable, and then move to the stack placement point, and code the material into the stack placement point.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further comprises: S7, after the stacking of one layer of the stacks in the program is completed, giving a stacking completion signal, requesting that the stacked stacks be transported away, and resetting all variables.

6. A palletizing device, characterized in that: include: A memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the material palletizing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 are implemented.

7. A computer storage medium, characterized in that The computer storage medium stores a program for a material palletizing method, and when the program for the material palletizing method is executed by the processor, the steps of the material palletizing method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 are implemented.

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