Box-taking device and box-taking system

Abstract

This specification discloses a box picking device and a box picking system. The box picking device adjusts the telescopic length of the telescopic component so that the gripper component descends along the storage column with the main body of the box picking mechanism to reach the storage position of the target storage box. The gripper component opens when it reaches the storage position of the target storage box and fully opens at the engagement position with the target storage box. During the opening process, the centering component is driven by the link component to extend to push the target storage box so that the target storage box returns to the central position of the storage column. Then, by adjusting the length of the telescopic component, the target storage box is lifted. It is possible to push the storage box to the central position of the storage column through the centering component in the case of errors in the stacking of storage boxes, enabling the box picking device to smoothly pick out the target storage box through the gripper component.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification relates to the technical field of warehousing logistics, and particularly to box picking devices and box picking systems. Background Art

[0002] Currently, in order to store as many goods as possible in a limited space, there are various intensive storage methods. One of them is an intensive storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure.

[0003] This intensive storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure is composed of multiple vertical storage columns and tracks arranged at the tops of the multiple storage columns. Multiple storage boxes can be stacked and stored vertically in each storage column. The box picking device can run on the tracks at the top, and by vertically extending the box picking mechanism into the storage column, the goods in the storage column can be grabbed and lifted, so as to complete the process of transporting the target storage box from the storage column to the box picking device. Among them,

[0004] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic diagram of a box picking device and a storage rack in the prior art. This figure is a side view. Among them, the obliquely filled rectangle represents a storage box. It can be seen that in this storage rack, the storage boxes are stacked vertically in the storage columns, tracks are arranged at the tops of the multiple storage columns, the box picking device travels on the tracks, and the box picking device can be regarded as consisting of two parts. One part is the box picking mechanism, which can extend from the top of the storage column into the storage column to extract the target storage box to be transported. The other part is the moving mechanism, and the box picking device can move on the tracks through this moving mechanism.

[0005] Figure 2 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the positional relationship between the box picking mechanism and the storage box. This figure is a side perspective view. Among them, B represents the storage box stored in the storage rack, and the storage box has a groove. A represents the gripper of the box picking mechanism. It can be seen that when the box picking mechanism reaches the storage position where the storage box is located, the gripper will pop outwards. After the gripper is opened, it extends into the groove on the side of the storage box, so that the box picking device can extract the storage box from the storage rack through the gripper popped out in the box picking mechanism.

[0006] However, there may be errors in the stacking of storage boxes. When the deviation of the placement position of the storage box is relatively large, it may cause the gripper of the box picking mechanism to be unable to extend into the groove on the side of the storage box after popping out, making it difficult for the box picking device to pick up the box. Summary of the Invention

[0007] A box picking device and a box picking system provided in an embodiment of this specification are used to partially solve the problem in the prior art that when the deviation of the placement position of the storage box is relatively large, it may cause the gripper of the box picking mechanism to be unable to extend into the groove on the side of the storage box after popping out, making it difficult for the box picking device to pick up the box.

[0008] The embodiments of this specification adopt the following technical solutions:

[0009] The box-taking device provided in this specification is applied in a dense storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure. The dense storage warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns. The box-taking device at least includes a telescopic component and a box-taking mechanism. The box-taking device controls the telescopic component to move the box-taking mechanism vertically along the storage column to take out the storage box placed in the storage column. The box-taking mechanism includes: a box-taking mechanism main body, a centering component, a gripper component, and a connecting rod component. The centering component and the gripper component are respectively hinged to both ends of the connecting rod component. The gripper component is connected to the box-taking mechanism main body through a first rotating shaft. The box-taking mechanism main body is connected to the telescopic component;

[0010] The telescopic component is used to adjust the telescopic length to lower the box-taking mechanism main body along the storage column to the storage position of the target storage box, and after at least part of the gripper component is located at its engagement position with the target storage box, adjust the telescopic length to lift the box-taking mechanism main body upward so that the box-taking mechanism main body lifts the target storage box;

[0011] The gripper component is used to open along the first rotating shaft after the box-taking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so that the gripper component is fully opened at its engagement position with the target storage box;

[0012] The connecting rod component is used to pull the centering component to extend during at least part of the entire opening stroke of the gripper component;

[0013] The centering component is used to extend and push the side wall of the target storage box under the pull of the connecting rod component to return the target storage box to the central position of the storage column.

[0014] Optionally, the gripper component is further used to open along the first rotating shaft when the box-taking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box to be at least partially located at the engagement position, and when the telescopic component lifts the box-taking mechanism main body upward, under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box, continue to open along the first rotating shaft until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and pull the centering component to extend during the process of continuing to open along the first rotating shaft to full open;

[0015] The telescopic component is further used to adjust the telescopic length to lift the box-taking mechanism main body upward when at least part of the gripper component is located at its engagement position with the target storage box.

[0016] Optionally, the gripper assembly is further configured to open along the first rotation axis when the main body of the box picking mechanism reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so as to be at least partially located at the engagement position, and pull out the centering assembly during the opening process.

[0017] Optionally, when the telescopic assembly lifts the main body of the box picking mechanism upward, the gripper assembly is further configured to continue to open along the first rotation axis under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and continue to pull out the centering assembly when continuing to open along the first rotation axis.

[0018] Optionally, the hinge position of the link assembly and the gripper assembly is not at the same height as the first rotation axis;

[0019] Wherein, the farther the hinge position of the link assembly and the gripper assembly is from the first rotation axis, the faster the centering assembly extends during the opening process of the gripper assembly.

[0020] Optionally, the link assembly includes a driving link and a driven link. One end of the driving link is hinged to the gripper assembly, and the other end is slidably connected to the driven link. One end of the driven link is slidably connected to the driving link, and the other end is hinged to the centering assembly. The centering assembly is connected to the main body of the box picking mechanism through a second rotation axis;

[0021] When the gripper assembly is closed, the driving link, the driven link, and the centering assembly are received into the main body of the box picking mechanism, and there is a free stroke in the sliding connection between the driving link and the driven link.

[0022] Optionally, the hinge position of the driven link and the centering assembly is not at the same height as the second rotation axis;

[0023] Wherein, the farther the hinge position of the driven link and the centering assembly is from the second rotation axis, the faster the centering assembly extends during the opening process of the gripper assembly.

[0024] Optionally, the driving link is configured to move with the gripper assembly during the process of the gripper assembly opening from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, and complete the free stroke of the sliding connection with the driven link, and pull the driven link during the process of the gripper assembly continuing to open along the first rotation axis after the gripper assembly is at least partially located at the engagement position;

[0025] The driven link is configured to pull the centering assembly to open along the second rotation axis under the pull of the driving link, so that the centering assembly extends.

[0026] Optionally, the connecting rod assembly includes a driving connecting rod, a driven connecting rod, and a wedge-shaped connecting rod. One end of the driving connecting rod is hinged to the gripper assembly, and the other end is connected to the driven connecting rod. One end of the driven connecting rod is connected to the driving connecting rod, and the other end is hinged to the wedge-shaped connecting rod. One end of the wedge-shaped connecting rod is hinged to the driven connecting rod, and the other end is a protruding wedge-shaped block that is slidably connected to the notch of the centering assembly;

[0027] The wedge-shaped connecting rod moves up and down along the vertical track in the main body of the box-taking mechanism, and the centering assembly extends or retracts along the horizontal track in the main body of the box-taking mechanism;

[0028] When the gripper assembly is closed, the driving connecting rod, the driven connecting rod, the wedge-shaped connecting rod, and the centering assembly are received into the main body of the box-taking mechanism, and there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the driving connecting rod and the driven connecting rod.

[0029] Optionally, the driving connecting rod is configured to move with the gripper assembly and complete the free travel of the sliding connection with the driven connecting rod during the process of the gripper assembly opening from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, and to pull the wedge-shaped connecting rod to move downward along the vertical track during the process of the gripper assembly continuing to open along the first rotation axis after at least partially located at the engagement position;

[0030] The wedge-shaped connecting rod is configured to push out the centering assembly along the horizontal track through the inclined surface of the wedge-shaped block when moving downward.

[0031] Optionally, there is at least one matching contact surface between the wedge-shaped block and the notch of the centering assembly;

[0032] The wedge-shaped connecting rod is configured to push out the centering assembly along the horizontal track through the contact surface when moving downward;

[0033] The wedge-shaped connecting rod is further configured to cancel the thrust applied to the centering assembly through the contact surface when moving upward.

[0034] Optionally, the gripper assembly is further configured to retract from the engagement position into the main body of the box-taking mechanism when the box-taking device needs to put down the target storage box;

[0035] The centering assembly is further configured to retract into the main body of the box-taking mechanism under the drive of the connecting rod assembly when the gripper assembly retracts.

[0036] Optionally, the box-taking mechanism further includes: a return spring;

[0037] The reset spring is used to be compressed when the centering component extends, and when the gripper component retracts, reset the centering component into the main body of the box picking mechanism.

[0038] Optionally, the telescopic component, the centering component included in the box picking mechanism, the gripper component, the main body of the box picking mechanism, and the link component are all arranged in pairs.

[0039] The box picking system provided in this specification includes a dense storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure and the box picking equipment provided in the above-mentioned specification. The dense storage warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns, and storage boxes are stacked and placed in the storage columns.

[0040] The above-mentioned at least one technical solution adopted in the embodiments of this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects: The box picking equipment adjusts the telescopic length of the telescopic component to make the gripper component descend along the storage column with the main body of the box picking mechanism to reach the storage position of the target storage box. The gripper component opens when it reaches the storage position of the target storage box and fully opens at the engagement position with the target storage box. During at least part of the entire opening stroke, the centering component is driven to extend through the link component to push the target storage box so that the target storage box returns to the central position of the storage column. Then, by adjusting the length of the telescopic component, the target storage box is lifted. It can push the storage box to the central position of the storage column through the centering component in the case of errors in the stacking of storage boxes, enabling the box picking equipment to smoothly pick out the target storage box through the gripper component. Description of the Drawings

[0041] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of this specification, constitute a part of this specification, and the schematic embodiments of this specification and their descriptions are used to explain this specification and do not constitute an improper limitation to this specification. In the drawings:

[0042] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a box picking device and a storage rack in the prior art;

[0043] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the positional relationship between the box picking mechanism and the storage box;

[0044] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a dense storage warehouse provided in this specification;

[0045] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a situation where the gripper does not pop out in place provided in this specification;

[0046] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the box picking device provided in this specification;

[0047] Figure 6a WithFigure 6b Schematic diagrams of several forms of storage boxes provided in this specification;

[0048] Figure 7 Partial enlarged schematic diagram of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification;

[0049] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of the centering process of a storage box provided in this specification;

[0050] Figure 9 Schematic diagram of the centering process of a storage box provided in this specification;

[0051] Figure 10 Partial schematic diagram of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification;

[0052] Figure 11 Partial schematic diagram of a box-taking device provided in this specification;

[0053] Figure 12 Schematic diagram of the opening process of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification;

[0054] Figure 13 Schematic diagram of a box-taking system provided in this specification;

[0055] Figure 14 Schematic diagram of a box-taking method provided in this specification. Specific embodiments

[0056] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this specification clearer, the technical solutions of this specification will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with specific embodiments of this specification and the corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this specification, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this specification, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of this specification.

[0057] Currently, this box-taking device can be applied in a dense storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure. The dense storage warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns and tracks provided at the tops of the plurality of storage columns. As Figure 3 shown, Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a dense storage warehouse provided in this specification. This figure is a top view, where the dark area represents the tracks provided at the tops of the plurality of storage columns, and the diagonally filled rectangles are storage boxes stacked and stored in the storage columns. A plurality of storage boxes are stacked vertically in the storage columns of the dense storage warehouse. The box-taking device can move on the tracks of the dense storage warehouse to move to different positions to extract storage boxes in different storage columns.

[0058] In this specification, the box-taking mechanism is used to extract the target storage box from the storage column where it is located. When the box-taking device moves to the specified position, the box-taking mechanism is above the storage column where the target storage box is located. The box-taking device can probe the box-taking mechanism into the storage column where the target storage box is located and lift the target storage box from the storage position where the target storage box is located.

[0059] However, when the box-taking mechanism in the prior art extracts the storage box from the storage column through the gripper, it is required that the storage boxes in the storage column are neatly placed and concentrated at the central position of the storage column so that the gripper of the box-taking mechanism can smoothly extend into the groove of the storage box. But in fact, there will be errors in the positions of the multiple stacked storage boxes in the storage column. For example, the storage boxes are placed too far to one side of the storage column. When the deviation of the stacking position of the storage boxes is large, it may cause the gripper of the box-taking mechanism to fail to extend into the groove of the storage box after popping out (that is, the gripper does not pop out in place), making it difficult for the box-taking device to take out the storage box.

[0060] Figure 4 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the gripper not popping out in place provided in this specification. Two situations where the gripper does not pop out in place are shown in the figure. As shown in the figure, the gripper circled by the circle is the gripper that does not pop out in place. In case A1, due to the placement error of the storage box, the storage box is too close to the left gripper, so that when the left gripper is opened, it touches the side wall of the storage box before extending into the groove of the storage box, resulting in the left gripper not popping out in place. In case A2, due to the placement error of the storage box, the storage box is too far from the left gripper, so that after the left gripper is opened, it cannot extend into the groove of the storage box, resulting in the left gripper not popping out in place.

[0061] To solve the current problem that when the deviation of the placement position of the storage box is large, it may cause the gripper of the box-taking mechanism not to pop out in place, making it difficult for the box-taking device to take the box, this specification provides a box-taking device and a box-taking system.

[0062] The following will describe in detail the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this specification with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] Figure 5 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the box-taking device provided in this specification. Figure 5Fig. 0 is the front view of the box-taking device. The box-taking device at least includes a box-taking mechanism 200 and a telescopic component 201, and may also include a moving mechanism. The box-taking device can move the box-taking mechanism 200 in the vertical direction along the storage column of the intensive storage warehouse by controlling the telescopic component 201 to take out the storage box placed therein. The box-taking mechanism 200 includes: a centering component 202, a gripper component 203, a connecting rod component 204, and a box-taking mechanism main body 207. And, the centering component 202 and the gripper component 203 are in an open state. It can be seen that the centering component 202 and the gripper component 203 are respectively hinged to both ends of the connecting rod component 204, and the telescopic component 201 is connected to the box-taking mechanism main body 207.

[0064] In this specification, the moving mechanism is used to move to the designated position when extracting the target storage box. The moving mechanism and the box-taking mechanism 200 can be connected through the telescopic component 201. Among them, the specific positional relationship, volume size between the box-taking mechanism 200 and the moving mechanism, and the position where the telescopic component 201 connects the moving mechanism and the box-taking mechanism 200 can be set as needed, and this specification does not limit it here.

[0065] In this specification, since the moving mechanism needs to move based on the track and reach the designated position corresponding to the position of the storage column where the target storage box is located, the moving mechanism at least includes a driving structure for traveling on tracks in different directions, such as a driving mechanism similar to the moving mechanism of a four-way shuttle car in the prior art. And, the moving mechanism can be arranged at the bottom of the main structure of the box-taking device and in contact with the track.

[0066] In this specification, the storage box stored in the intensive storage warehouse can be provided with grooves. The specific form of the storage box can be various. For example, it can be a rectangular storage box with grooves, or an inverted trapezoidal storage box with grooves, or a storage box with a baffle above, etc., as Figure 6a and Figure 6b shown.

[0067] Figure 6a and Figure 6b are schematic diagrams of several forms of storage boxes provided in this specification. Figure 6a Fig. 21 is a rectangular storage box with grooves on all four sides. The gripper component 203 can extract the storage box by extending into the grooves provided on the four sides of the rectangular storage box. Goods are placed in the rectangular storage box, and intensive storage of the goods is realized by stacking the rectangular storage boxes in the storage shelves. Figure 6b Fig. 23 is an inverted trapezoidal storage box with grooves. The gripper component 203 can extract the storage box by extending into the grooves of the inverted trapezoidal storage box.

[0068] Of course, in addition to the storage boxes in the above - introduced forms, it can also be storage boxes in other forms, which can be specifically set according to needs.

[0069] In this specification, the telescopic assembly 201 is used to connect the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism and the moving mechanism. By adjusting the telescopic length, the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism can be extended into the storage column where the target storage box is located.

[0070] In this specification, since the intensive storage warehouse includes multiple vertical storage columns in which multiple storage boxes can be stacked, and the positions of the target storage boxes extracted by the box - taking device from different storage columns may be at different depths in the storage columns. When extracting a storage box from a storage column, the box - taking device can adjust the telescopic length of the telescopic assembly 201 according to the storage position of the target storage box, so that the gripper assembly 203 connected to the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism reaches the storage position of the target storage box.

[0071] During the process of the box - taking device lifting the target storage box, the telescopic assembly 201 is used to adjust the telescopic length according to the storage position of the target storage box, so that the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism descends along the storage column where the target storage box is located to the storage position of the target storage box, so that the gripper assembly 203 can reach the storage position of the target storage box along with the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism. After at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at its engagement position with the target storage box, the telescopic length is adjusted to lift the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism upward, so that the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism lifts the target storage box. Since the gripper assembly 203 connected to the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism needs to be opened and at least a part of it is located at the engagement position with the target storage box so that the gripper assembly 203 can "grip" the target storage box, when the telescopic assembly 201 adjusts the telescopic length to make the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism descend to the storage position of the target storage box, it can target the engagement position of the target storage box in this storage position, so that after the gripper assembly 203 is opened, at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 can be located at this engagement position.

[0072] Among them, the specific form of the telescopic assembly 201 can be various. For example, it can be in the form of a chain, a rubber belt, a telescopic rod, etc. Of course, it can also be in other forms, which can be set according to needs. This specification does not limit it here.

[0073] In this specification, the gripper assembly 203 is connected to the main body 207 of the box - taking mechanism through a first rotating shaft.

[0074] The gripper assembly 203 is used to open along the first rotation axis after the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so that the gripper assembly 203 is fully opened at its engagement position with the target storage box. Wherein, the engagement position of the gripper assembly 203 with the target storage box may be the engagement position of the gripper assembly 203 with the groove of the target storage box, and specifically, this engagement position can be the position where the gripper assembly 203 contacts the groove of the target storage box and can enable the gripper assembly 203 to lift the target storage box. That is, on the premise that the gripper assembly 203 can lift the target storage box, the positions within the contactable range between the gripper assembly 203 and the groove of the target storage box can all be regarded as the engagement positions. After the gripper assembly 203 is opened, as long as the position where the gripper assembly 203 contacts the groove falls within the contactable range, it is determined that the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box. Subsequently, taking the engagement position of the gripper assembly 203 with the target storage box as the engagement position of the gripper assembly 203 with the groove of the target storage box as an example for description.

[0075] Since there are multiple storage boxes stacked in the storage column, there may be errors in the stacking of each storage box, and there may be other storage boxes stacked on the target storage box that the box-taking device needs to extract. Moreover, the part of the box-taking mechanism 200 extending into the storage column has a certain volume. Therefore, when the box-taking device adjusts the telescopic length of the telescopic assembly 201 and the gripper assembly 203 moves along with the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism, the gripper assembly 203 can move along the two vertical surfaces of the storage column to avoid colliding with the storage boxes with large stacking errors during the movement of the gripper assembly 203. When the gripper assembly 203 reaches the storage position of the target storage box, the gripper assembly 203 can be opened along the first rotation axis, so that at least part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box.

[0076] In this specification, when the gripper assembly 203 is opened and at least part of it is located at the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box, the gripper assembly 203 points to the center of the storage column where the target storage box is located.

[0077] Currently, the gripper assemblies 203 of the box-taking device are usually set to two, and the two gripper assemblies 203 extend into the grooves of the storage box from opposite sides respectively to lift the storage box. In this specification, the telescopic assembly 201, the box-taking mechanism main body 207, and each component included in the box-taking mechanism 200 can all be set in pairs. That is, the telescopic assembly 201, the centering assembly 202, the gripper assembly 203, the box-taking mechanism main body 207, and the connecting rod assembly 204 can all be set in pairs. For example, taking the gripper assembly 203 as an example, when the shape of the storage box is a quadrangular prism, the number of gripper assemblies 203 can be 2, 4, etc. Of course, when the shape of the storage box is other prisms (such as pentagonal prism, hexagonal prism, triangular prism, etc.) or other shapes, the number of the gripper assemblies 203 can be adjusted accordingly. For example, assuming the shape of the storage box is a triangular prism, the number of gripper assemblies 203 can be 3. Assuming the shape of the storage box is a hexagonal prism, the number of gripper assemblies 203 can be 2, 3, 6, etc., which can be specifically set according to needs. The number of the box-taking mechanism main body 207, the telescopic assembly 201, and other components included in the box-taking mechanism 200 can be adjusted accordingly, and this specification does not make any restrictions. Subsequently, an example will be given with the number of each component included in the box-taking mechanism main body 207, the telescopic assembly 201, and the box-taking mechanism 200 all being 2.

[0078] For the convenience of understanding, this specification also provides a partial enlarged schematic diagram of a box-taking mechanism 200, as Figure 7 shown. Figure 7 This is a partial enlarged schematic diagram of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification. As shown in the figure, the centering assembly 202 and the gripper assembly 203 are respectively hinged to both ends of the connecting rod assembly 204. The gripper assembly 203 is connected to the box-taking mechanism main body 207 through the first rotating shaft 205. Among them, the dotted circle represents the cross-section of the first rotating shaft 205. The arc arrow in the figure represents the opening direction of the gripper assembly 203 and the centering assembly 202.

[0079] It can be seen that the hinged position of the connecting rod assembly 204 and the gripper assembly 203 is not at the same height as the first rotating shaft 205. When the gripper assembly 203 is opened, it will drive the connecting rod assembly 204 to move downward. Moreover, the connecting rod assembly 204 is also hinged to the centering assembly 202. Therefore, as long as the gripper assembly 203 starts to open, it will drive the centering assembly 202 to move through the connecting rod assembly 204. That is to say, during the process of controlling the opening of the gripper assembly 203, the centering assembly 202 can be pulled out of the box-taking mechanism main body 207 by the connecting rod assembly 204.

[0080] Moreover, the farther the hinged position of the link assembly 204 and the gripper assembly 203 is from the first rotating shaft 205, the faster the link assembly 204 is driven to move downward during the opening process of the gripper assembly 203, resulting in a faster speed of finally pulling the centering assembly 202 to extend. Similarly, the farther the hinged position of the link assembly 204 and the gripper assembly 203 is from the first rotating shaft 205, the larger the formed lever arm is, and the greater the force of the link assembly 204 pulling the centering assembly 202 is. Of course, the distance between the hinged position of the link assembly 204 and the gripper assembly 203 and the first rotating shaft 205 can be set as needed, and this specification does not limit it here.

[0081] In this specification, the gripper assembly 203 needs to be at least partially located at the joint position with the target storage box, that is, at least partially extend into the groove of the target storage box to be at least partially located at this joint position. And the centering assembly 202 does not need to extend into the groove, but contacts the side wall of the target storage box.

[0082] In this specification, the link assembly 204 is used to move downward during at least part of the entire opening stroke of the gripper assembly 203 and pull the centering assembly 202 to extend, as described in the description of Figure 7 That is, during the entire opening stroke of the gripper assembly 203, the centering assembly 202 can be pulled to extend through the link assembly 204, or during part of the entire opening stroke, the centering assembly 202 can be pulled to extend through the link assembly 204.

[0083] In this specification, the centering assembly 202 is used to extend under the pull of the link assembly 204. If, under the pull of the link assembly 204, the centering assembly 202 touches the side wall of the target storage box during the extension process, the centering assembly 202 can push the side wall of the target storage box to make the target storage box return to the central position of the storage column. Therefore, during the opening process of the gripper assembly 203, the extension distance of the centering assembly 202 can center the target storage box.

[0084] In addition, it should be noted that the centering mentioned above means that after pushing the target storage box, the distance between the center of the target storage box and the center line of the storage column is within a preset distance. That is, after centering, the target storage box does not have to be exactly at the center of its corresponding storage column, but is in a position range that allows the gripper assembly 203 to extend into the groove of the target storage box.

[0085] In this specification, the gripper assembly 203 can further be used to open along the first rotation axis 205 when the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so as to be at least partially located at the engagement position, and pull out the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204 during the opening process. That is, when the gripper assembly 203 reaches the storage position of the target storage box following the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism and opens along the first rotation axis 205, it pulls out the centering assembly 202. At this time, the gripper assembly 203 does not need to be fully opened, and the specific degree of opening of the gripper assembly 203 can be set as needed, so that the gripper assembly can at least partially extend into the groove of the target storage box and be at least partially located at the engagement position with the target storage box.

[0086] The telescopic assembly 201 is further used to adjust the telescopic length after the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at the engagement position, and lift the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward, so that the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism lifts the target storage box.

[0087] In this specification, after the gripper assembly 203 is opened and at least partially located at the engagement position, the gravity of the target storage box can also be utilized to open the gripper assembly 203 to the maximum extent (i.e., fully opened), so as to pull the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204 to push the target storage box to be centered.

[0088] Therefore, in this specification, the gripper assembly 203 can further be used to continue to open along the first rotation axis 205 under the reaction force of the gravity of the target storage box when the telescopic assembly 201 lifts the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and continue to pull out the centering assembly 202 when continuing to open along the first rotation axis.

[0089] The process of the centering assembly 202 pushing the target storage box back to the center position of the storage column is as Figure 8 shown Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the storage box centering process provided by this specification. Among them, the long dashed line represents the center line of the storage column where the target storage box is located, and the short dashed line represents the center line of the target storage box. It can be seen that due to the groove in the target storage box, the distance between the centering assembly 202 and the target storage box is different from the distance between the gripper assembly 203 and the target storage box, and the centering assembly 202 is closer to the side wall of the target storage box.

[0090] Figure 8The figure shows two stages of the centering process of the storage box from top to bottom. In the first stage, when the gripper assembly 203 is opening, it can be seen that due to the placement error of the target storage box, the target storage box deviates from the center of the storage column, being closer to one side gripper of the box picking mechanism 200 and farther from the other side gripper of the box picking mechanism 200. The centering assembly 202 is opened under the pull of the connecting rod assembly 204 of the gripper assembly 203 and touches the side wall of the storage box. In the second stage, the gripper assembly 203 is opened to the maximum at the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box. Under the pull of the connecting rod assembly 204, the centering assembly 202 is also fully opened and pushes the target storage box to the center position of the storage column. Among them, Figure 8 Within the range circled by the solid line circle in the schematic diagram of the second stage, the position where the gripper assembly 203 contacts the upper end of the target storage box is the engagement position.

[0091] As mentioned above, due to the existence of a groove in the target storage box, and the centering assembly 202 contacts the side wall of the target storage box when it is opened, while the gripper assembly 203 contacts the groove after it is opened. Obviously, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 driving the centering assembly 202 to open through the connecting rod assembly 204, the distances between the centering assembly 202 and the gripper assembly 203 and the target storage box are different. That is, the centering assembly 202 is closer to the target storage box. Then, during the opening process of the gripper assembly 203, before the gripper assembly 203 is opened to at least partially extend into the groove of the target storage box and the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially in the engagement position, the centering assembly 202 may have been opened to a certain extent by the pull rod, resulting in a situation where the centering assembly 202 contacts the side wall of the target storage box before the gripper assembly 203 extends into the groove of the target storage box.

[0092] In this case, it is necessary to rely on the torque of the motor to continue opening the gripper assembly 203. Since the weights of the items stored in different storage boxes are different, if the things stored in the storage box are heavier, the friction force generated between the box picking mechanism 200 and the storage box is greater, resulting in a need for a motor with a greater power to open the gripper assembly 203 to at least partially be in the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box. This requires installing a motor with a larger volume in the box picking mechanism 200, making the box picking mechanism 200 extending into the storage column have a larger volume. And the storage boxes in each storage column are densely stored, and the space between the storage box and the storage column is usually very limited. Therefore, the volume of the part of the box picking mechanism 200 extending into the storage column is restricted. In addition, even if a motor with a smaller volume and sufficient power can be installed in the box picking mechanism 200, and the gripper assembly 203 is driven by the motor to open, the energy consumption caused by the centering assembly 202 pushing the target storage box to be centered is also relatively high, resulting in a shorter battery life and lower working efficiency of the box picking device.

[0093] Therefore, in this specification, the gripper assembly 203 can further be used to open along the first rotation axis 205 when the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so as to be at least partially located at the engagement position. And when the telescopic assembly 201 lifts the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward, under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box, it continues to open along the first rotation axis 205 until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and during the process of continuing to open along the first rotation axis 205 to the fully opened state, the centering assembly 202 is pulled out by the link assembly 204.

[0094] That is, in order to avoid the centering assembly 202 opening too early, such that when the gripper assembly 203 has not yet extended into the groove of the target storage box, the centering assembly 202 has already contacted the side wall of the target storage box. When the gripper assembly 203 reaches the storage position of the target storage box along with the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism and opens along the first rotation axis 205, it does not first pull out the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204. Instead, after opening to a certain extent, during the process of continuing to open along the first rotation axis 205 under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box, the centering assembly 202 is pulled out.

[0095] The telescopic assembly 201 can further be used to adjust the telescopic length when the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at its engagement position with the target storage box, lift the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward, so that the gripper assembly 203 continues to open along the first rotation axis 205 under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box until it is fully opened at the engagement position.

[0096] Specifically, to solve the above problems, this specification also provides another box-taking device. In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, the link assembly 204 of the box-taking device may further include a driving link 2041 and a driven link 2042. One end of the driving link 2041 is hinged to the gripper assembly 203, and the other end is slidably connected to the driven link 2042. One end of the driven link 2042 is slidably connected to the driving link 2041, and the other end is hinged to the centering assembly 202. The centering assembly 202 is connected to the box-taking mechanism main body 207 through a second rotating shaft. When the gripper assembly 203 is closed, the driving link 2041, the driven link 2042, and the centering assembly 202 are received into the box-taking mechanism main body 207, and there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the driving link 2041 and the driven link 2042. That is, when the gripper assembly 203 is opened or retracted, it will first drive the driving link 2041 to move. However, due to the free travel between the driving link 2041 and the driven link 2042, the driven link 2042 will not move before the end of the free travel, so that the centering assembly 202 will not move accordingly. When the free travel ends, the driving link 2041 will drive the driven link 2042 to move, so that the driven link 2042 drives the centering assembly 202 to open or retract.

[0097] In this way, the gripper assembly 203 can be opened to a greater extent before driving the centering assembly 202 to open, so as to avoid the situation that the centering assembly 202 touches the side wall of the target storage box before the gripper assembly 203 extends into the groove of the target storage box.

[0098] Among them, the hinged position of the driven link 2042 and the centering assembly 202 is not at the same height as the second rotating shaft. The farther the hinged position of the driven link 2042 and the centering assembly 202 is from the second rotating shaft, the faster the centering assembly 202 extends during the opening process of the gripper assembly 203.

[0099] In this specification, after the telescopic assembly 201 adjusts the telescopic length according to the storage position of the target storage box, the gripper assembly 203 is further configured to, when reaching the storage position of the target storage box, first open along the first rotating shaft 205, so that the gripper assembly 203 is opened from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position with the target storage box. Since there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the gripper assembly 203 and the driving link 2041, during the opening process of the gripper assembly 203, the gripper assembly 203 only drives the driving link 2041 to move, and the driven link 2042 is not driven to move. When the gripper assembly 203 is closed and completely received into the box-taking mechanism main body 207, the gripper assembly 203 is in the reset position.

[0100] In this specification, the degree to which the gripper assembly 203 is opened can be represented by the angle formed by the gripper assembly 203 and the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism, or alternatively, by the distance by which the gripper assembly 203 extends from the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism. This specification does not limit this here.

[0101] During the process in which the gripper assembly 203 is opened such that the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at the engagement position, during the process in which the gripper assembly 203 is opened from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, the active link 2041 moves along with the gripper assembly 203, travels through the idle stroke of the sliding connection with the driven link 2042, and after the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at the engagement position, during the process in which the gripper assembly 203 continues to open along the first rotation axis 205, the driven link 2042 is pulled, such that under the pull of the active link 2041, the driven link 2042 pulls the centering assembly 202 to open along the second rotation axis, causing the centering assembly 202 to extend.

[0102] Furthermore, in this specification, when the link assembly 204 includes the active link 2041 and the driven link 2042, the gravity of the target storage box can also be utilized to open the gripper assembly 203 to the maximum extent, so as to pull the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204 to push the target storage box to be centered.

[0103] Therefore, the telescopic assembly 201 is further configured to, when the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at its engagement position with the target storage box, adjust the telescopic length to lift the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward, such that when the telescopic assembly 201 lifts the main body 207 of the box picking mechanism upward, the gripper assembly 203 continues to open along the first rotation axis 205 under the reaction force of the gravity of the target storage box until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and during the process of continuing to open along the first rotation axis 205, the driven link 2042 is pulled by driving the driven link 2042 through the active link 2041 to open along the second rotation axis, causing the centering assembly 202 to extend.

[0104] In this way, the gravity of the target storage box can be utilized to fully open the gripper assembly 203 pre-opened at the engagement position, and when there is an error in the stacking of the target storage boxes, it can be pushed to the central position of the storage column by its own gravity. It can achieve the effect of enabling the box-taking device to smoothly take out the target storage box and cleverly utilizing the gravity of the target storage box to reduce additional energy consumption. The motor in this specification does not need to have the power to push the storage box, and only needs to be able to open the gripper assembly 203 to a position where the gripper assembly 203 at least partially extends into the groove of the target storage box, so that at least part of the gripper assembly is located at the engagement position. It can be seen that a relatively small-power motor can be used for the box-taking device in this specification, and the box-taking device in this specification can achieve the effects of energy conservation, improving the endurance of the box-taking device, and enhancing the working efficiency of the box-taking device.

[0105] In this specification, the gripper assembly 203 can also be opened along the first rotation axis when the box-taking mechanism main body 207 reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so as to be at least partially located below the engagement position.

[0106] The telescopic assembly 201 can also be used to adjust the telescopic length and lift the box-taking mechanism main body 207 when at least part of the gripper assembly 203 is located below the engagement position, so that at least part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position.

[0107] Figure 9 It is a schematic diagram of the process of centering the storage box provided in this specification. The long dashed line represents the center line of the storage column, the short dashed line represents the center line of the storage box, and e represents the distance between the two vertical dashed lines. Figure 9 Three stages of this process are shown from top to bottom. In the first stage, the gripper assembly 203, centering assembly 202, active link 2041, and driven link 2042 of the box-taking device are all closed. It can be seen that there is an error in the position of the storage box. In the second stage, the gripper assembly 203 of the box-taking device drives the centering assembly 202 to open through the active link 2041 and the driven link 2042, and the left centering assembly 202 of the box-taking mechanism 200 contacts the side wall of the target storage box during the opening process. The gripper assembly 203 is below the engagement position and has not yet contacted the upper end of the groove of the storage box. As Figure 9 The distance circled by the left circle in the middle image (i.e., the image corresponding to the second stage), that is, the distance between the two horizontal dashed lines, is the distance between the gripper assembly 203 and the upper end of the groove of the storage box.

[0108] At this time, the box-taking device can lift the gripper assembly 203 connected to the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism upward by adjusting the telescopic length of the telescopic assembly 201, so that at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position to contact the upper end of the groove of the target storage box. At this time, the gravity of the target storage box can be used to completely open the gripper assembly 203 at the engagement position. Figure 9 The horizontal dotted line circled by the left circle in the lower image (i.e., the image corresponding to the third stage) indicates that the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position and contacts the upper end of the groove of the target storage box. From Figure 9 The two horizontal dotted lines in the middle image are combined into Figure 9 One horizontal dotted line in the lower image. During the process of the gripper assembly 203 continuing to open and completely open by using the gravity of the target storage box, the centering assembly 202 is driven downward to continue to open through the active link 2041 and the driven link 2042, so that the centering assembly 202 pushes the target storage box to the center of the storage column. In the third stage, the box-taking device has utilized the gravity of the storage box to completely open the gripper assembly 203 to drive the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204, and center the storage box through the centering assembly 202.

[0109] In this specification, the box-taking mechanism 200 may further include: a return spring 206. The return spring 206 is used to be compressed when the centering assembly 202 extends, so that when the gripper assembly 203 retracts, the centering assembly 202 can be reset into the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism.

[0110] Figure 10 It is a partial schematic diagram of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification. Figure 10 It shows three stages of opening the gripper assembly 203 from top to bottom after the gripper assembly 203 reaches the storage position of the target storage box. In the first stage, the gripper assembly 203, the centering assembly 202, the active link 2041 and the driven link 2042 are all closed and retracted into the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism. In the second stage, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 opening to at least partially locate at the engagement position with the target storage box, during this process, the gripper assembly 203 only drives the active link 2041 to move. In the third stage, after the active link 2041 has completed the idle stroke with the driven link 2042, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 opening to the maximum extent (i.e., completely opening at the engagement position), the gripper assembly 203 drives the driven link 2042 to move again to drive the centering assembly 202 to open through the driven link 2042. It can be seen that the return spring 206 is in an open state in the first stage and in a compressed state in the third stage.

[0111] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, when the box picking device needs to put down the target storage box (for example, when the box picking device finishes picking a box from a storage column and stores the target storage box at other positions, or when putting the target storage box into another storage column, etc.), the gripper assembly 203 is further configured to retract from the fully open position at the engagement position into the box picking mechanism main body 207. The centering assembly 202 is further configured to retract into the box picking mechanism main body 207 under the drive of the link assembly 204 when the gripper assembly 203 retracts.

[0112] In addition, this specification also provides another box picking device. The link assembly 204 in the box picking device may further include a driving link 2041, a driven link 2042, and a wedge link 2043. The centering assembly 202 may also have a notch.

[0113] Wherein, one end of the driving link 2041 is hinged to the gripper assembly 203, and the other end is connected to the driven link 2042. One end of the driven link 2042 is connected to the driving link 2041, and the other end is hinged to the wedge link 2043. One end of the wedge link 2043 is hinged to the driven link 2042, and the other end of the wedge link 2043 is a protruding wedge block that is slidably connected to the notch of the centering assembly 202. There is at least one mating contact surface between the wedge block of the wedge link 2043 and the notch of the centering assembly 202.

[0114] Figure 11 It is a partial schematic diagram of a box picking device provided in this specification. Wherein, the box picking mechanism 200 includes: a box picking mechanism main body 207, a centering assembly 202, a wedge link 2043, a driven link 2042, a driving link 2041, a gripper assembly 203, and a return spring 206. It can be seen that one end of the driving link 2041 is hinged to the gripper assembly 203, and the other end is connected to the driven link 2042. One end of the driven link 2042 is connected to the driving link 2041, and the other end is hinged to the wedge link 2043. One end of the wedge link 2043 is hinged to the driven link 2042, and the wedge block of the wedge link 2043 is slidably connected to the notch of the centering assembly 202. The return spring 206 is in a compressed state.

[0115] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, the wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043 can move up and down along the vertical track in the box-taking mechanism main body 207, and the centering assembly 202 can extend or retract along the horizontal track in the box-taking mechanism main body 207. When the gripper assembly 203 is closed, the driving connecting rod 2041, the driven connecting rod 2042, the wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043, and the centering assembly 202 are received into the box-taking mechanism main body 207, and there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the driving connecting rod 2041 and the driven connecting rod 2042. Similarly, the free travel between the sliding connections of the driving connecting rod 2041 and the driven connecting rod 2042 allows the driven connecting rod 2042 to move after the gripper assembly 203 is opened to a greater extent, so that the driven connecting rod 2042 pulls the wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043 downward, causing the centering assembly 202 to extend, and avoiding the situation where the centering assembly 202 contacts the side wall of the target storage box before the gripper assembly 203 is opened to at least partially extend into the groove.

[0116] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, when the connecting rod assembly 204 includes a driving connecting rod 2041, a driven connecting rod 2042, and a wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043, the gripper assembly 203 is further configured to open along the first rotation axis 205 when reaching the storage position of the target storage box, so that at least part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position. The telescopic assembly 201 is further configured to adjust the telescopic length to lift the box-taking mechanism main body 207 upward when the gripper assembly 203 is opened from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, and under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box, cause the gripper assembly 203 to continue to open along the first rotation axis 205 to be fully opened at the engagement position. During the process of the gripper assembly 203 being opened from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, the driving connecting rod 2041 moves with the gripper assembly 203 and completes the free travel of the sliding connection with the driven connecting rod 2042. After the gripper assembly 203 drives the driving connecting rod 2041 to complete the free travel of the sliding connection with the driven connecting rod 2042, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 continuing to open along the first rotation axis 205 to be fully opened at the engagement position, the driving connecting rod 2041 continues to drive the driven connecting rod 2042 to move, and pulls the wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043 to move downward along the vertical track through the driven connecting rod 2042. When the wedge-shaped connecting rod 2043 moves downward, through the contact surface between the wedge block and the notch of the centering assembly 202, the centering assembly 202 is pushed out along the horizontal track.

[0117] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, a return spring 206 may be disposed between the centering component 202 and the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism. When the gripper assembly 203 retracts, the gripper assembly 203 can drive the active link 2041 to retract upward. After completing the idle stroke, the gripper assembly 203 drives the driven link 2042 to retract, causing the driven link 2042 to drive the wedge link 2043 to retract upward. The centering component 202 can be sprung back into the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism through the return spring 206.

[0118] In this specification, the wedge link 2043 and the centering component 202 may also be slidably connected through a guide rail. When the gripper assembly 203 closes, the active link 2041 can pull the centering component 202 back into the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism through the guide rail.

[0119] Figure 12 It is a schematic diagram of the opening process of a box-taking mechanism provided in this specification. Figure 12 It shows three stages of the gripper assembly 203 of the box-taking mechanism 200 being opened after reaching the storage position of the target storage box. In the first stage, the gripper assembly 203, the centering component 202, the active link 2041, the driven link 2042, and the wedge link 2043 are all closed and retracted into the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism. In the second stage, the gripper assembly 203 is in the process of opening so that the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at the engagement position. During this process, the gripper assembly 203 only drives the active link 2041 to move, and the centering component 202 is not opened. In the third stage, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 being opened to the maximum extent, after the gripper assembly 203 drives the active link 2041 to complete the idle stroke with the driven link 2042, the active link 2041 drives the driven link 2042 to move to drive the wedge link 2043 to move downward and push out the centering component 202.

[0120] In addition, in this specification, before the gripper assembly 203 is opened so that the gripper assembly 203 is at least partially located at the engagement position with the groove of the target storage box, the gripper assembly 203 may also first open along the first rotation axis 205 so that the gripper assembly 203 at least partially extends into the groove of the target storage box and is at least partially located below the engagement position.

[0121] That is, the gripper assembly 203 is also used to open along the first rotation axis 205 when reaching the storage position of the target storage box, so that the part of the gripper assembly 203 extending into the groove of the target storage box is located below the engagement position.

[0122] The telescopic assembly 201 is further configured to adjust the telescopic length and lift the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism upward when the part of the gripper assembly 203 extending into the groove of the target storage box is below the engagement position, so that at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position.

[0123] In this specification, the gravity of the target storage box can also be utilized. After at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 is located at the engagement position, it continues to open to the fully open state. In this way, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 opening to the fully open state, the centering assembly 202 can be continuously pulled to extend by the link assembly 204, that is, by utilizing the gravity of the target storage box, the centering assembly 202 centers the target storage box.

[0124] Since the groove of the target storage box has a certain height, when the gripper assembly 203 opens and a part of it is located below the engagement position of the groove of the target storage box, the gripper assembly 203 does not contact the upper end of the groove of the target storage box. At this time, the gripper assembly 203 cannot lift the storage box yet, and the box-taking mechanism 200 cannot utilize the gravity of the storage box to lift the storage box either. Therefore, the telescopic assembly 201 is further configured to adjust the telescopic length and lift the main body 207 of the box-taking mechanism upward when at least a part of the gripper assembly 203 is located below the engagement position, so that the part of the gripper assembly 203 extending into the groove reaches the engagement position, and under the reaction force of the gravity of the target storage box, it continues to open along the first rotation axis 205 to be fully opened at the engagement position. During the process of the gripper assembly 203 continuing to open along the first rotation axis 205 to the maximum extent, the gripper assembly 203 can drive the link assembly 204 to pull the centering assembly 202 through the link assembly 204, and push the target storage box back to the central position. The box-taking device can be provided with a limiting device, so that after the gripper assembly 203 is fully opened at the engagement position, it will not continue to open, avoiding difficulties in extracting the target storage box due to excessive opening of the gripper assembly 203.

[0125] During the process of the gripper assembly 203 opening to the maximum extent, the link assembly 204 continues to move with the gripper assembly 203 and pulls the centering assembly 202 to open, so that the centering assembly 202 extends, and the centering assembly 202 is pulled through the link assembly 204 to push the target storage box back to the central position.

[0126] In this way, the gravity of the target storage box can be utilized to open the pre-opened gripper assembly 203 to the maximum extent after reaching the engagement position, and when there is an error in the stacking of the target storage boxes, during the process of the gripper assembly 203 opening to the maximum extent, the self-gravity of the target storage box can be utilized to push it to the central position of the storage column. It can achieve the effect of enabling the box-taking device to smoothly take out the target storage box and skillfully utilizing the gravity of the target storage box to reduce additional energy consumption.

[0127] The present specification also provides a box picking system. The box picking system includes a densely stored warehouse with a three-dimensional network structure and the box picking device provided in the present specification above. Among them, the densely stored warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns, and storage boxes are stacked and placed in the storage columns.

[0128] Figure 13 It is a schematic diagram of a box picking system provided in the present specification. As shown in the figure, the box picking system includes a densely stored warehouse and a box picking device. The densely stored warehouse includes several storage columns, and storage boxes are stored in the storage columns. Among them, the rectangle filled with diagonal lines represents the storage box. A track is provided at the top of the densely stored warehouse, and the gray rectangle in the figure represents the track. The box picking device moves on the track through a moving mechanism. It can be seen that the box picking device includes a moving mechanism, a telescopic component 201, and the box picking mechanism 200. The moving mechanism and the box picking mechanism 200 are connected through the telescopic component 201. The ellipse and the circle connected by a dotted arrow in the figure respectively represent the schematic diagrams of the telescopic component 201 and the box picking mechanism 200 before and after magnification. Among them, the ellipse represents before magnification, and the circle represents after magnification. It can be seen from the schematic diagram after magnification that the telescopic component 201 is connected to the box picking mechanism main body 207 in the box picking mechanism 200. The box picking mechanism 200 includes: a box picking mechanism main body 207, a centering component 202, a gripper component 203, and a connecting rod component 204. The box picking mechanism main body 207 is connected to the gripper component 203 through a first rotating shaft 205.

[0129] Figure 14 It is a schematic diagram of a box picking method provided in the present specification, specifically including the following steps:

[0130] S100: According to the storage position of the target storage box, adjust the telescopic component so that the box picking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box.

[0131] In one or more embodiments provided in the present specification, the box picking method is executed by the box picking device. The box picking method is applied in a densely stored warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure. The densely stored warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns. The box picking device at least includes a box picking mechanism 200 and a telescopic component 201. The box picking device controls the telescopic component 201 to move the box picking mechanism 200 in the vertical direction of the storage column to lift the storage box placed in the storage column. The box picking mechanism 200 includes: a centering component 202, a gripper component 203, a box picking mechanism main body 207, and a connecting rod component 204.

[0132] Among them, the specific structure of the box picking device can refer to the foregoing description of the structure of the box picking device, and the present specification will not elaborate herein.

[0133] S102: Control the gripper assembly to open to at least partially locate at the engagement position with the target storage bin.

[0134] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, the bin picking mechanism 200 can control the gripper assembly 203 to open to at least partially locate at the engagement position with the target storage bin.

[0135] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, the bin picking device can be provided with a sensor for monitoring whether the gripper assembly 203 in the bin picking device is opened so that the gripper assembly 203 at least partially locates at the engagement position.

[0136] S104: During at least part of the entire stroke when the link assembly is pulled open by the gripper assembly, pull the centering assembly to extend, so that the centering assembly returns the target storage bin to the central position of the storage column.

[0137] S106: Readjust the telescopic assembly to lift the centered target storage bin.

[0138] In one or more embodiments provided in this specification, the specific process of extracting the target storage bin from the storage column where the target storage bin is located by the bin picking method in steps S100 - S106 can refer to the above embodiments, and this specification will not elaborate here.

[0139] Based on Figure 14 The shown bin picking process, according to the storage position of the target storage bin, adjust the telescopic length of the telescopic assembly 201 so that the gripper assembly 203 moves along two vertical surfaces of the storage column to reach the storage position of the target storage bin. The gripper assembly 203 opens when reaching the storage position of the target storage bin to at least partially locate at the engagement position with the target storage bin, and drives the centering assembly 202 to extend during the opening process to push the target storage bin so that the target storage bin returns to the central position of the storage column. Then, by adjusting the length of the telescopic assembly 201, the target storage bin is lifted. It can, in the case of errors in the stacking of storage bins, push the storage bin to the central position of the storage column through the centering assembly 202, enabling the bin picking device to smoothly pick out the target storage bin through the gripper assembly 203.

[0140] In the 1990s, improvements to a technology could be clearly distinguished as either hardware improvements (e.g., improvements to circuit structures such as diodes, transistors, switches, etc.) or software improvements (improvements to method flows). However, with the development of technology, many method flow improvements today can be regarded as direct improvements to hardware circuit structures. Designers almost always obtain the corresponding hardware circuit structure by programming the improved method flow into the hardware circuit. Therefore, it cannot be said that an improvement to a method flow cannot be implemented using a hardware entity module. For example, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) (such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)) is an integrated circuit whose logic function is determined by the user programming the device. Designers can program themselves to "integrate" a digital system onto a single PLD, without having to ask a chip manufacturer to design and fabricate a dedicated integrated circuit chip. Moreover, nowadays, instead of manually fabricating integrated circuit chips, this programming is mostly implemented using "logic compiler" software, which is similar to the software compiler used in program development and writing. The original code before compilation also has to be written in a specific programming language, which is called a Hardware Description Language (HDL). There is not just one type of HDL, but many types, such as ABEL (Advanced Boolean Expression Language), AHDL (Altera Hardware Description Language), Confluence, CUPL (Cornell University Programming Language), HDCal, JHDL (Java Hardware Description Language), Lava, Lola, MyHDL, PALASM, RHDL (Ruby Hardware Description Language), etc. The most commonly used ones currently are VHDL (Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) and Verilog. Those skilled in the art should also be aware that by simply performing a little logical programming on the method flow using the above-mentioned several hardware description languages and programming it into an integrated circuit, it is easy to obtain the hardware circuit that implements the logical method flow.

[0141] The controller can be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, the controller can take the form of, for example, a microprocessor or a processor and a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable program code (such as software or firmware) executable by the (micro)processor, logic gates, switches, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic controller, and an embedded microcontroller. Examples of the controller include, but are not limited to, the following microcontrollers: ARC 625D, Atmel AT91SAM, Microchip PIC18F26K20, and Silicone Labs C8051F320. The memory controller can also be implemented as part of the control logic of the memory. Those skilled in the art also know that in addition to implementing the controller in the form of pure computer-readable program code, it is entirely possible to logically program the method steps to enable the controller to be implemented in the form of logic gates, switches, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic controllers, and embedded microcontrollers to achieve the same function. Therefore, such a controller can be considered a hardware component, and the devices included therein for implementing various functions can also be regarded as the structures within the hardware component. Or even, the devices for implementing various functions can be regarded as either software modules for implementing the method or structures within the hardware component.

[0142] The systems, devices, modules, or units illustrated in the above embodiments can be specifically implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products with certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer. Specifically, the computer can be, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email device, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or any combination of these devices.

[0143] For the convenience of description, when describing the above devices, they are described separately as various units according to their functions. Of course, when implementing this specification, the functions of each unit can be implemented in the same or multiple software and / or hardware.

[0144] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present invention can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present invention can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk memories, CD-ROMs, optical memories, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0145] The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and / or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart Figure One for one or more flows and / or blocks Figure One or means for implementing the functions specified in one or more boxes or blocks.

[0146] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement the functions specified in the flowchart Figure One for one or more flows and / or blocks Figure One or means for implementing the functions specified in one or more boxes or blocks.

[0147] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart Figure One for one or more flows and / or blocks Figure One or means for implementing the functions specified in one or more boxes or blocks.

[0148] In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPUs), an input / output interface, a network interface, and memory.

[0149] The memory may include non-permanent memory in the form of computer-readable media, random access memory (RAM), and / or non-volatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) or flash memory. Memory is an example of computer-readable media.

[0150] Computer readable media include permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. Information can be computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other non-transmission media that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, computer readable media does not include temporary computer readable media (transitory media), such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

[0151] It should also be noted that the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, commodity or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity or device. In the absence of more restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity or device including the elements.

[0152] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of this specification may be provided as methods, systems or computer program products. Therefore, this specification may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, this specification may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0153] This specification may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions executed by a computer, such as program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. This specification may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices connected through a communication network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and remote computer storage media, including storage devices.

[0154] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner. For the parts that are the same or similar among the embodiments, reference can be made to each other. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the system embodiments, since they are basically similar to the method embodiments, the description is relatively simple. For the relevant parts, reference can be made to the partial description of the method embodiments.

[0155] The above description is only for the embodiments of this specification and is not intended to limit this specification. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and changes can be made to this specification. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of this specification shall be included within the scope of the claims of this specification.

Claims

1. A box-taking device, characterized in that, The box-taking device is applied in a dense storage warehouse with a three-dimensional grid structure. The dense storage warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns and tracks arranged on the tops of the plurality of storage columns. The box-taking device runs on the tracks at the top of the dense storage warehouse. The box-taking device at least includes a moving mechanism, a telescopic assembly, and a box-taking mechanism. The box-taking device controls the telescopic assembly to move the box-taking mechanism in the vertical direction of the storage column to take out the storage box placed in the storage column. The box-taking mechanism includes: a box-taking mechanism main body, a centering assembly, a gripper assembly, and a connecting rod assembly. The centering assembly and the gripper assembly are respectively hinged to both ends of the connecting rod assembly. The gripper assembly is connected to the box-taking mechanism main body through a first rotating shaft. The box-taking mechanism main body is connected to the telescopic assembly; The telescopic assembly is used to adjust the telescopic length to lower the box-taking mechanism main body along the storage column to the storage position of the target storage box, and after at least part of the gripper assembly is located at its engagement position with the target storage box, adjust the telescopic length to lift the box-taking mechanism main body upward so that the box-taking mechanism main body lifts the target storage box; The gripper assembly is used to open along the first rotating shaft after the box-taking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box, so that the gripper assembly is fully opened at its engagement position with the target storage box; The connecting rod assembly is used to pull the centering assembly to extend during at least part of the entire opening stroke of the gripper assembly; The centering assembly is used to extend and push the side wall of the target storage box under the pull of the connecting rod assembly to return the target storage box to the central position of the storage column; The moving mechanism is used to travel on tracks in different directions.

2. The case-taking device according to claim 1, wherein The gripper assembly is further used to open along the first rotating shaft when the box-taking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box to be at least partially located at the engagement position, and when the telescopic assembly lifts the box-taking mechanism main body upward, continue to open along the first rotating shaft under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and continue to pull the centering assembly to extend during the process of continuing to open along the first rotating shaft until it is fully opened; The telescopic assembly is further used to adjust the telescopic length to lift the box-taking mechanism main body upward when at least part of the gripper assembly is located at its engagement position with the target storage box.

3. The case-taking device according to claim 1, wherein The gripper assembly is further used to open along the first rotating shaft when the box-taking mechanism main body reaches the storage position of the target storage box to be at least partially located at the engagement position, and pull the centering assembly to extend during the opening process.

4. The case-taking device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The gripper assembly is further used to continue to open along the first rotating shaft under the gravity reaction force of the target storage box when the telescopic assembly lifts the box-taking mechanism main body upward until it is fully opened at the engagement position, and continue to pull the centering assembly to extend when continuing to open along the first rotating shaft.

5. The box-taking device according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The hinged position of the link assembly and the gripper assembly is not at the same height as the first rotation axis; Among them, the farther the hinged position of the link assembly and the gripper assembly is from the first rotation axis, the faster the centering assembly extends during the opening process of the gripper assembly.

6. The box-taking device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The link assembly includes a driving link and a driven link. One end of the driving link is hinged to the gripper assembly, and the other end is slidably connected to the driven link. One end of the driven link is slidably connected to the driving link, and the other end is hinged to the centering assembly. The centering assembly is connected to the main body of the box-taking mechanism through a second rotation axis; When the gripper assembly is closed, the driving link, the driven link, and the centering assembly are received into the main body of the box-taking mechanism, and there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the driving link and the driven link.

7. The case-taking device according to claim 6, wherein The hinged position of the driven link and the centering assembly is not at the same height as the second rotation axis; Among them, the farther the hinged position of the driven link and the centering assembly is from the second rotation axis, the faster the centering assembly extends during the opening process of the gripper assembly.

8. The case-taking device according to claim 6, characterized in that, The driving link is configured to move with the gripper assembly during the process of the gripper assembly opening from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, and complete the free travel of the sliding connection with the driven link, and during the process of the gripper assembly continuing to open along the first rotation axis after the gripper assembly is at least partially located at the engagement position, pull the driven link; The driven link is configured to pull the centering assembly to open along the second rotation axis under the pull of the driving link, so that the centering assembly extends.

9. The box-taking device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The link assembly includes a driving link, a driven link, and a wedge-shaped link. One end of the driving link is hinged to the gripper assembly, and the other end is connected to the driven link. One end of the driven link is connected to the driving link, and the other end is hinged to the wedge-shaped link. One end of the wedge-shaped link is hinged to the driven link, and the other end is a protruding wedge-shaped block, which is slidably connected to the notch of the centering assembly; The wedge-shaped link moves up and down along the vertical track in the main body of the box-taking mechanism, and the centering assembly extends or retracts along the horizontal track in the main body of the box-taking mechanism; When the gripper assembly is closed, the driving link, the driven link, the wedge-shaped link, and the centering assembly are received into the main body of the box-taking mechanism, and there is a free travel in the sliding connection between the driving link and the driven link.

10. The case-taking device according to claim 9, wherein, The driving link is configured to move with the gripper assembly during the process of the gripper assembly opening from the reset position to at least partially located at the engagement position, and complete the free travel of the sliding connection with the driven link, and during the process of the gripper assembly continuing to open along the first rotation axis after the gripper assembly is at least partially located at the engagement position, pull the wedge-shaped link to move downward along the vertical track; The wedge-shaped link is configured to push out the centering assembly along the horizontal track through the inclined surface of the wedge-shaped block when moving downward.

11. The box-taking device according to claim 9, characterized in that, The wedge block and the notch of the centering component have at least one matching contact surface; The wedge-shaped connecting rod is configured to, when moving downward, push the centering component out along the horizontal track through the contact surface; The wedge-shaped connecting rod is further configured to, when moving upward, cancel the thrust applied to the centering component through the contact surface.

12. The box-taking device according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The gripper assembly is further configured to, when the box picking device needs to put down the target storage box, retract from the engagement position into the main body of the box picking mechanism; The centering component is further configured to, when the gripper assembly retracts, retract into the main body of the box picking mechanism under the drive of the connecting rod assembly.

13. The box-taking device according to claim 12, characterized in that, The box picking mechanism further includes: a return spring; The return spring is configured to be compressed when the centering component extends, and when the gripper assembly retracts, reset the centering component into the main body of the box picking mechanism.

14. The case-taking device according to claim 1, wherein The telescopic component, the centering component included in the box picking mechanism, the gripper assembly, the main body of the box picking mechanism, and the connecting rod assembly are all arranged in pairs.

15. A box-taking system, characterized in that, A dense storage warehouse including a three-dimensional grid structure and a box picking device according to any one of claims 1-14, the dense storage warehouse includes a plurality of vertical storage columns, and storage boxes are stacked and placed in the storage columns.

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