Warehouse scheduling management method, warehouse control system and warehouse system

Abstract

This application discloses a warehouse scheduling management method, a warehouse control system, and a warehouse system. The warehouse scheduling management method includes acquiring the box-grabbing status information of a failed box-grabbing trolley; determining the type of box-grabbing failure and the location of the target box based on the box-grabbing status information, and generating a pending rescue task information; judging whether the current execution conditions for the rescue task are met based on the pending rescue task information and the execution information of tasks with higher execution priority than the rescue task priority; if the execution conditions for the rescue task are met, controlling the failed box-grabbing trolley to switch to an idle running track via a track-changing trolley, locking the rescue track, and controlling the target rescue trolley to enter the rescue track via the track-changing track; controlling the target rescue trolley to move to the location of the target box, and executing the rescue task according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information of the target box, so as to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the box-grabbing failure of the target box.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of warehousing technology, and in particular to a warehousing scheduling and management method, a warehousing control system, and a warehousing system. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, warehouse goods sorting refers to the process of retrieving goods from the warehouse area according to the requirements of the outbound order or the delivery plan, and then classifying and consolidating them in a certain way. At present, the entire warehouse management process, including storing goods, picking goods from the warehouse area based on orders, sorting by item type in the order, and packaging and shipping the sorted items, is gradually moving towards intelligent management of the entire process.

[0003] However, during the intelligent management of the entire warehousing system, due to the complexity and diversity of business in actual scenarios, it is difficult to avoid abnormalities in picking up and placing boxes, that is, failures in picking up and storing items. At this time, manual intervention is required to resolve the faults, which greatly affects the level of intelligence of management and reduces work efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, embodiments of this application propose a warehouse scheduling and management method, a warehouse control system, and a warehouse system with a higher degree of intelligent management and improved warehouse work efficiency.

[0005] Firstly, a warehouse scheduling and management method is provided. The warehouse system includes a warehouse control system and a warehouse area. The warehouse area is equipped with multiple layers of running tracks for heavy-duty trolleys to travel back and forth, a track-switching track corresponding to the running tracks to allow the heavy-duty trolleys to switch between different running tracks, a track-switching trolley traveling back and forth on the track-switching track, and a rescue waiting track for placing rescue trolleys. The method is applied to the warehouse control system and includes:

[0006] Obtain the box grabbing status information when the load-bearing trolley fails to grab a box;

[0007] Based on the box grabbing status information, determine the category of box grabbing failure and the location of the target box that failed to grab the box, and generate a task information to be rescued;

[0008] Based on the information of the task to be rescued, it is determined whether the current execution conditions for the rescue task are met according to the information of the tasks currently being executed with a higher priority than the rescue task. The execution conditions for the rescue task include: the existence of at least one idle running track and the existence of an idle track-changing trolley that allows the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle running track.

[0009] Under the condition that the rescue mission is performed, the loaded trolley that failed to grab the box is controlled to switch to the idle running track by the track-changing trolley, the rescue track is locked, and the target rescue trolley is controlled to enter the rescue track through the track-changing track.

[0010] The target rescue trolley is controlled to move to the position of the target material box. Based on the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to be rescued, the rescue task is executed according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box.

[0011] In a second aspect, a warehouse control system is provided, including a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it performs the steps of the warehouse scheduling and management method described in any embodiment of this application.

[0012] Thirdly, a warehousing system is provided, including a warehousing control system and a warehousing area. The warehousing area is provided with multiple layers of running tracks for heavy-duty trolleys to travel back and forth, a track-changing track corresponding to the running tracks to allow the heavy-duty trolleys to switch between different running tracks, a track-changing trolley that travels back and forth on the track-changing track, and a rescue waiting track for placing rescue trolleys.

[0013] Below each layer of the running track is a load-bearing platform, on which storage bins are stacked and placed. The load-bearing trolley travels back and forth along the running track to access the storage bins on the load-bearing platform.

[0014] The track-changing track is respectively set up with the running track of each layer. The track-changing track is equipped with a track-changing trolley. The track-changing trolley is configured to receive the load trolley and switch the load trolley between different running tracks along the track-changing track.

[0015] The rescue waiting track is located on the edge track that connects with the track switching track;

[0016] The warehouse control system is used to execute the steps of the warehouse scheduling and management method described in any embodiment of this application.

[0017] The warehouse scheduling and management method provided in the above embodiments includes a rescue waiting track within the warehouse system for placing rescue trolleys. The warehouse control system uniformly tracks and manages the storage and retrieval operations of the trolleys within the warehouse area. These operations rely on the trolleys grabbing and transferring containers containing items. When a trolley fails to grab a container, the warehouse control system determines the cause of the failure and whether a rescue trolley can resolve the issue. Correspondingly, it generates a rescue task information, and subsequently, the warehouse control system determines whether to initiate a rescue operation based on the set priority order of system scheduling tasks. The task is monitored, and under the premise of effectively ensuring that high-priority system scheduling tasks can always proceed smoothly, the rescue vehicle is intelligently activated to resolve the failure of the corresponding load-bearing vehicle to grab a box. In this way, the rate of manual intervention in warehouse management can be greatly reduced, the level of intelligent management of the warehouse system can be significantly improved, and the efficiency of warehouse work can be increased. It has been verified that the average rate of manual intervention in the intelligent scheduling management of current warehouse systems exceeds 0.4%, while the warehouse scheduling management method provided in this application can achieve a success rate of 99.99% in resolving manual intervention scenarios for box grabbing anomalies, which can effectively improve the intelligent management performance of the warehouse system. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an application scenario of a warehouse scheduling and management method in one embodiment;

[0019] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a warehouse scheduling and management method in one embodiment;

[0020] Figure 3 Here is a flowchart of a warehouse scheduling management method in another embodiment;

[0021] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the warehouse control system. Detailed Implementation

[0022] Before describing the embodiments in detail, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the detailed structures or element arrangements described below or in the accompanying drawings. The present invention may be implemented in other ways. Furthermore, it should be understood that the wording and terminology used herein are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as limiting. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and similar expressions used herein mean to include the items listed thereafter, their equivalents, and other additional items. In particular, when describing "an element," the present invention does not limit the number of elements to one, but may include multiple elements.

[0023] Please see Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of a warehousing system used in a warehousing scheduling and management method according to an embodiment of this application. The warehousing system includes a warehousing control system 10 and a warehousing area 20. The warehousing area 20 includes multiple layers and columns of running tracks 21 for heavy-duty trolleys 24 to travel back and forth. Corresponding to the running tracks 21, a track-switching track 22 is provided for the heavy-duty trolleys 24 to switch between different running tracks 21. Track-switching trolleys 25 travel back and forth on the track-switching track 22, and a rescue waiting track 23 for placing rescue trolleys 26. The track-switching track 22 is equipped with track-switching trolleys 25 for transferring heavy-duty trolleys 24. The warehousing area 20 can refer to any area providing storage for goods, such as a warehouse for long-term storage, a warehouse for temporary storage, or a storage area for sorting goods. The multi-layer, multi-column running tracks 21 are used together to form a shelf. The storage bins containing items can be stacked and placed under each layer of running tracks 21. The load-bearing trolley 24 moves back and forth along the running tracks 21, can move to the top of the corresponding bin, grab the bin (grab the bin), and then move the bin to the location (station) where it is to be placed.

[0024] A bin is a container used to store items. Each bin can serve as an independent unit for picking, storing, and distributing items. Storing, picking, and distributing items by loading them into bins facilitates management. Each bin is uniquely identified, and the loading trolley 24 can identify each bin by scanning the identifier. For example, the bin identifier can be an electronic tag or other label. In some embodiments, the bin identifier can be a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) code. Bins can be used to hold different categories and varieties of goods. Preferably, a bin can hold a specified quantity of items of the same category and variety. For ease of management, items are counted in portions; each portion can include the same number of identical items, or each portion can include identical items of the same weight. A bin can hold a specified number of portions of items of the same category and variety. Optionally, the bin may also have internal storage grids, dividing the space inside the bin into multiple separate compartments. Each compartment contains one item, allowing for delivery in units of one item. The type and quantity of items in each bin are associated with its label. Thus, the warehouse control system can track the contents of each bin, its location, and the records of items being picked up, providing real-time information on the items in each bin. Based on business needs, the system can control a trolley to move back and forth along a track to pick up and place items from the bins.

[0025] Each trolley 24 is equipped with a unique identifier. The trolley 24 is communicatively connected to the warehouse control system 10 and can report specific types of information collected during task execution to the system. This includes information such as whether the trolley 24 successfully scanned the box label during box grabbing, whether the currently grabbed box matches the task issued by the warehouse control system 10, and whether the box-grabbing component of the trolley 24 extended normally to perform the grabbing action. By receiving the information carrying the trolley 24's identifier, the warehouse control system 10 can track and manage the working status of the trolley 24 in real time.

[0026] Each running track 21 is equipped with a structure that facilitates the positioning of the travel trajectory of the load-bearing trolley 24. For example, the running track 21 is equipped with regularly distributed positioning holes. During the movement of the load-bearing trolley 24 along the running track 21, the direction of travel can be controlled by the drive device of the load-bearing trolley 24, and the distance traveled can be determined by counting the positioning holes it passes through. In this way, the travel trajectory and current position of the load-bearing trolley 24 can be tracked and managed in real time.

[0027] A track-changing track 22 is located at one end of the running track 21. A track-changing trolley 25 is mounted on the track-changing track 22. The direction in which the track-changing trolley 25 travels back and forth along the track-changing track 22 is perpendicular to the direction in which the load-bearing trolley 24 travels back and forth along the running track 21. Multiple sets of running tracks 21 are arranged parallel to each other and spaced apart within the storage area 20. The track-changing track 22 connects the multiple sets of running tracks 21. The bottom end of the track-changing trolley 25 is aligned with the running track 21. The load-bearing trolley 24 can move to the end of the running track 21, then move to the track-changing trolley 25, and then move along the track-changing track 22 to the end of the next running track 21. Finally, the load-bearing trolley 24 moves to the next running track 21, thus realizing the switching from one running track 21 to the next via the track-changing track 22.

[0028] The rescue waiting track 23 is located on the edge track connected to the switching track 22. The edge track can be arranged in the edge area of ​​the storage area 20, which makes full use of the space of the storage area 20 without occupying the effective storage space of the items in the storage area 20. When the rescue trolley 26 has no rescue task, it can be provided for the rescue trolley 26 to stop; when the rescue trolley 26 receives a rescue task, it can move along the edge track to the switching track 22, and then be transported to the running track 21 to be rescued by the switching trolley 25. The rescue trolley 26 can be an upgraded version of the load trolley structure that is able to perform all the actions of the load trolley 24 and has a better ability to correct abnormal causes that cause the box grabbing failure. For example, if the abnormal cause of the box grabbing failure is that the mortar of the box is tilted, causing the load trolley to be unable to properly nest the box when grabbing it, the rescue trolley 26 is configured to have a larger extension range when grabbing the box, so as to be able to accommodate the box of the tilted mortar, correct it, and complete the nesting.

[0029] Please see Figure 2 This application provides a warehouse scheduling and management method, which can be applied to, for example... Figure 1 The warehouse control system shown includes the following steps in its method:

[0030] S101, obtain the box grabbing status information when the load trolley fails to grab a box.

[0031] The warehouse control system communicates with the trolley. During warehouse scheduling and management, the control system sends grabbing task commands to designated trolleys based on order information, controlling the trolleys to move along a track to grab specified boxes and transport them to designated locations. The trolleys report specific types of operational status information to the warehouse control system in real time, such as grabbing failure status information. In one optional example, grabbing failure status information could refer to a grabbing anomaly alarm triggered when the trolley, after receiving the grabbing task command from the warehouse control system, moves to the designated box but fails to successfully grab it. In another optional example, grabbing failure status information could refer to a situation where, after receiving the grabbing task command from the warehouse control system, the trolley moves to the designated box but fails to grab it, triggering sensors on the bottom of the trolley to collect various sensing information indicating the cause of the anomaly.

[0032] S102, based on the grabbing status information, determine the category of grabbing failure and the location of the target box that failed to grab, and generate a task information to be rescued.

[0033] The classification of box-grabbing failures refers to categorizing the failures based on the cause of the failure on the loading trolley. This allows for the distinction between categories requiring assistance from the rescue trolley and those not. For example, if the failure is due to a malfunction in the loading trolley's drive mechanism, the trolley should be repaired or replaced; this falls under the category of failures not requiring rescue. Conversely, if the failure is due to tilted box stacking, and the loading trolley is functioning normally, this falls under the category requiring rescue. Based on the box-grabbing status information, if the warehouse control system determines that the failure falls under the category requiring rescue, it generates a pending rescue task information based on the location of the target box where the failure occurred, along with the failure task details.

[0034] S103, based on the information of the task to be rescued, determine whether the current conditions for the execution of the rescue task are met according to the information of the currently executing tasks with higher execution priority than the priority of the rescue task; the conditions for the execution of the rescue task include: there is at least one idle running track and there is an idle track-changing trolley that can be used for the load-bearing trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle running track.

[0035] After the rescue task information is generated, the warehouse control system will determine whether the conditions for executing the rescue task are met based on the currently executing task information with a higher priority than the rescue task. If the conditions are met, the rescue task will be initiated. During the warehouse scheduling and management process, the warehouse control system handles various types of execution tasks, such as box grabbing tasks, rescue vehicle tasks, box return / inbound tasks, station outbound tasks, and warehouse outbound tasks. To optimize warehouse scheduling and management, the execution order of each type of task has been optimized by pre-setting task priority strategies. It should be noted that in the warehouse system, multiple tasks of the same type may exist simultaneously. These tasks can be ordered according to other rules, such as the order in which they are generated. Similarly, multiple rescue task information may exist simultaneously. The warehouse control system will select the rescue task information that is currently being assessed for initiation based on its generation time. Each task execution relies on the warehouse control system to identify the matching load-bearing trolley and send the corresponding task instruction to it. The warehouse control system determines whether the priority of the rescue task is the highest based on the information of the currently executing tasks with a higher priority than the rescue task, and determines the running track occupied by all online load-bearing trolleys (judging the availability of the track), the working status of the load-bearing trolley and the track-changing trolley, in order to determine whether the conditions for starting the rescue task execution information of the current pending rescue task are met.

[0036] S104, if the conditions for executing the rescue mission are met, control the loaded trolley that failed to grab the box to switch to the idle running track via the track-changing track, lock the rescue track, and control the target rescue trolley to enter the rescue track via the track-changing trolley.

[0037] For ease of description and understanding, the track where a box-grabbing failure occurs during a rescue mission is referred to as the rescue track. In a warehousing system, there are multiple rescue trolleys, the specific number depending on the size of the storage area and the condition of the edge areas. The target rescue trolley is the one selected based on a specific rescue mission, considering the location of the target box, the real-time location of each rescue trolley, and its operational status. The execution process of a rescue mission includes: switching the failed box-grabbing trolley from the rescue track to an idle track, locking the rescue track, and then controlling the target rescue trolley to enter the rescue track.

[0038] S105, control the target rescue trolley to move to the position of the target material box, and according to the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to be rescued, execute the rescue task according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure of grabbing the target material box.

[0039] The failed task information corresponding to the target bin refers to the task information that should have been executed when the trolley failed to grab the target bin. For example, the failed grabbing occurred when the trolley was grabbing the target bin and preparing to transfer it to a designated workstation (target bin grabbing failure); or it occurred when the trolley was removing an obstacle bin above the target bin (obstacle bin removal failure); or it occurred when the trolley was grabbing the target bin and preparing to place it in a designated storage location during an inbound task (target bin grabbing failure). The generated pending rescue task information will include the failed task information corresponding to the target bin. Thus, when the warehouse control system controls the target rescue trolley to execute the rescue task, it will execute the rescue task according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information. For example, if the failed task information is that the trolley failed to grab the target bin and prepared to transfer it to a designated workstation, the corresponding task execution strategy is to control the target rescue trolley to grab the target bin and transport it to the designated workstation. The rescue mission is carried out by the target rescue vehicle, thereby restoring the fault dispatching service caused by the failure to grab the target bin.

[0040] In the above embodiments, the warehousing system is equipped with a rescue waiting track for rescue trolleys. The warehousing control system tracks and manages the storage and retrieval of goods by the trolleys within the warehousing area. The storage and retrieval operations of the trolleys rely on their ability to grab and transfer containers containing goods. When a trolley fails to grab a container, the warehousing control system determines the cause of the failure and whether a rescue trolley can resolve the issue. Correspondingly, a rescue task is generated. Subsequently, the warehousing control system monitors whether to initiate a rescue task based on the priority order of the system scheduling tasks. While ensuring that high-priority system scheduling tasks are always carried out smoothly, the system intelligently activates the rescue trolley to resolve the corresponding trolley's container grabbing failure. This significantly reduces the rate of manual intervention in warehousing management, significantly improves the level of intelligent management of the warehousing system, and increases warehousing efficiency.

[0041] Verification has shown that the average rate of manual intervention in the intelligent scheduling and management of current warehousing systems exceeds 0.4%. A large proportion of manual intervention scenarios involve resolving issues such as abnormal box grabbing and abnormal box placement. However, the warehousing scheduling and management method provided in this application allows the rescue vehicle to achieve a 99.99% success rate in resolving manual intervention scenarios related to abnormal box grabbing, effectively improving the intelligent management performance of the warehousing system.

[0042] In some embodiments, controlling the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target hopper, and executing the rescue task according to the failed task information corresponding to the target hopper in the task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target hopper, includes:

[0043] Control the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box;

[0044] When the failed task information of the target box in the rescue task information is that the target task box grabbing failed, the grabbing task execution strategy corresponding to the target task box grabbing failure is determined, the target rescue trolley is controlled to grab the target box, and the target box is moved to the target station of the task.

[0045] When generating information about tasks awaiting rescue, the warehouse control system records the task information that the target box should have performed when the trolley failed to grab the box, thus obtaining the failed task information for the target box. For a given task, the warehouse control system controls the target rescue trolley to execute the rescue task according to the corresponding failed task information for the target box. If the failed task information for the target box indicates a failure to grab the target box, the system controls the target rescue trolley to grab the target box and move it to the target station of the task, thereby restoring the fault-based scheduling service caused by the failed grab. It should be noted that the target rescue trolley performs the grabbing operation according to the corresponding grabbing task execution strategy. It can also be set to allow a certain number of retries after failure. If the target rescue trolley fails to grab the box after three retries and still cannot successfully grab it, a fault alarm is issued, allowing management personnel to manually intervene and resolve the issue.

[0046] In some embodiments, controlling the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target hopper, and executing the rescue task according to the failed task information corresponding to the target hopper in the task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target hopper, includes:

[0047] Control the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box;

[0048] When the failed task information of the target bin in the rescue task information is obstacle bin relocation failure, determine the relocation task execution strategy corresponding to the obstacle bin relocation failure, and determine whether the target bin is the task hit bin;

[0049] If so, control the target rescue vehicle to grab the target material box and move the target material box to the target station of the mission;

[0050] If not, control the target rescue vehicle to grab the target material box and move the target material box to an idle station.

[0051] For a specific rescue task, the warehouse control system, when controlling the target rescue trolley to perform the rescue task, adjusts the rescue task flow according to the corresponding failed task information of the target bin. If the failed task information of the target bin is "obstacle bin relocation failure," it determines whether the failed bin is a target bin that was successfully grabbed. If it is confirmed to be a target bin, the system controls the target rescue trolley to grab the target bin and move it to the target station of the task. If it is not a target bin, the system controls the target rescue trolley to grab the target bin and temporarily store it in an empty station.

[0052] In some embodiments, before moving the target bin to an idle station, the method further includes:

[0053] Based on the site selection instruction, determine the available site to which the target material box in the rescue task information needs to be moved; or,

[0054] Based on the current distribution of available sites, an available site matching the target material box is determined based on the location of the target material box in the information of the task to be rescued.

[0055] When the warehouse control system controls the target rescue vehicle to perform a rescue mission, if the obstacle box is not the target material box, the available station to which the obstacle box will be moved can be selected by the manager, or the warehouse control system can intelligently match stations based on their current occupancy status and distance. In a specific example, the manager can select a station by clicking the button representing a station on the warehouse control system's display interface.

[0056] In some embodiments, determining whether the conditions for executing a rescue mission are met based on the information of the mission to be rescued and the information of currently executing missions with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission includes:

[0057] Based on the location of the target hopper in the information of the task to be rescued, and according to the information of the currently executing tasks with higher priority than the priority of the rescue task, if it is determined that the priority of the rescue task meets the requirements, then the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys are determined, and it is determined whether there is at least one idle running track.

[0058] If there is at least one idle operating track, determine whether there is an idle track-switching trolley that can be used for the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle operating track;

[0059] If the aforementioned idle track-changing trolley exists, then it is determined that the conditions for executing the rescue mission are currently met;

[0060] If no available track-changing trolley exists, wait for the track-changing trolley to complete its current task, and then return to the step of determining whether there is an available track-changing trolley for the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the available running track.

[0061] In this embodiment, when determining whether the conditions for executing a rescue mission are met based on information about a specific rescue task, the system first determines whether there is an available running track for the load-bearing trolley to switch to, based on the position of the target material box in the rescue task information. Then, it determines whether there is an available track-changing trolley that can switch the original load-bearing trolley from the rescue track to the available running track. Track-changing trolleys typically have high efficiency in performing a single track change. If a track-changing trolley is currently performing a track-changing task, the warehouse control system can control the load-bearing trolley to first move to the end of the running track, wait for the track-changing task to be completed, and then quickly complete the track change for the load-bearing trolley in the rescue mission using the track-changing trolley. Thus, by performing multiple tasks in parallel on sections that do not require track changing, and only staggering the sections that require track changing, track-changing efficiency can be improved.

[0062] In some embodiments, based on the position of the target hopper in the rescue task information, and according to the information of currently executing tasks with a higher priority than the rescue task, if it is determined that the priority of the rescue task meets the requirements, then the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys are determined, and it is determined whether there is at least one idle running track, including:

[0063] The task categories with higher priority than rescue tasks are determined according to the preset task priority strategy; wherein, in the task priority strategy, the priority of tasks based on business scheduling and execution is higher than the priority of rescue tasks, and the priority of return box tasks, warehouse entry tasks, site exit box tasks, and warehouse exit box tasks is lower than the priority of rescue tasks.

[0064] The priority of the rescue mission is determined based on the information of currently executing missions belonging to the aforementioned mission category;

[0065] If the rescue mission has the highest priority, based on the location of the target hopper in the rescue mission information and the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys, it is determined whether there is at least one idle running track.

[0066] To optimize warehouse scheduling management, the execution order of various task types is pre-set to form a task priority strategy. In this embodiment, the task priority strategy prioritizes tasks currently in business scheduling, which have higher priority than rescue tasks. All other tasks have lower priority than rescue tasks. For a specific rescue task, when determining whether the conditions for execution are met, the task information defined by the task priority strategy refers to currently executing business-scheduled tasks such as box grabbing, box moving, and / or box placing. Based on the status of these higher-priority, currently executing business-scheduled tasks, the priority of the current rescue task is determined. If so, the occupancy or idle status of each track is determined by identifying the running tracks of all online trolleys. This allows for the determination of whether there is an available track for the trolley in the rescue task to switch tracks. If no idle track is available, the rescue task must wait until an idle track becomes available and the rescue task has the highest priority before initiating. This maximizes the efficiency of the warehouse system's business scheduling tasks.

[0067] In some embodiments, the warehouse scheduling management method further includes:

[0068] After completing the current rescue mission, based on the information of ongoing missions with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission, it is determined whether the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met. The conditions for executing a new rescue mission include: the existence of a rescue mission with a required execution priority, the existence of at least one idle running track, and the existence of an idle track-changing trolley that allows the loaded trolley to switch from the corresponding rescue track to the idle running track.

[0069] If so, control the target rescue vehicle to enter the execution process of a new rescue mission;

[0070] If not, the target rescue vehicle will be controlled to enter the process of reversing back to the rescue waiting track.

[0071] After each rescue mission is completed based on a pending rescue mission information, the system determines whether the conditions for a new rescue mission are met according to the mission priority strategy. This determines whether the target rescue trolley should immediately enter the execution process of the new rescue mission or enter the execution process of returning to the rescue waiting track. The determination of whether the conditions for a new rescue mission are met is basically the same as the previous determination, with the main difference being that the new rescue mission execution conditions are based on the new pending rescue mission information to determine the position of the target hopper, and the selection of the rescue trolley is based on the target rescue trolley that has completed its current rescue mission. This is used to filter idle running tracks and idle track-changing trolleys that match the new rescue mission.

[0072] Optionally, after completing the current rescue mission, based on the information of ongoing tasks with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission, it is determined whether the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met, including:

[0073] After completing the current rescue mission, determine whether there are any other pending rescue missions.

[0074] If there are other pending rescue task information, select the pending rescue task information whose execution priority meets the requirements based on the current execution priority of the task information that is higher than the priority of the rescue task, the position of the corresponding target hopper in the pending rescue task information, and the running track information involved by all currently online load trolleys.

[0075] If there is an idle track-changing trolley that can be switched to an idle running track for the target material box, it indicates whether the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met.

[0076] In a warehousing system, multiple rescue task information may exist simultaneously within the same time period. The warehousing control system can poll whether the current time meets the conditions for executing a rescue task based on the order in which the rescue task information is generated. At the same time, after each rescue task is completed, the warehousing control system immediately performs a judgment on whether the conditions for executing a rescue task are met for the next rescue task information as the rescue target. If there is an idle running track that can be used to switch the target bin in the new rescue task information, it indicates whether the conditions for executing the new rescue task are met.

[0077] The execution process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to enter a new rescue mission includes:

[0078] Based on the rescue mission information associated with the new rescue mission, the loaded trolley in the rescue mission information is controlled to switch from the target rescue track to the idle running track via the idle track-changing trolley.

[0079] Lock the target rescue track, control the target rescue trolley to enter the target rescue track via the idle track-changing trolley, and return to the target rescue trolley to move to the position of the target material box. According to the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to be rescued, execute the rescue task according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box.

[0080] The warehouse control system controls the target rescue trolley to execute a new rescue task. It removes the load trolley from the target rescue track, locks the target rescue track, and controls the target rescue trolley to enter the target rescue track. Then, based on the failure task information corresponding to the failure task information of the target material box when the load trolley fails to grab the box, it controls the rescue task process of the target rescue trolley accordingly.

[0081] Optionally, the execution process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to enter the reversal to the rescue waiting track includes:

[0082] Determine if an idle track-changing trolley exists;

[0083] If not, wait for the track-changing trolley to complete the track-changing task it is currently performing;

[0084] If so, the target rescue vehicle exits the current rescue track through the track-changing vehicle and releases the lock on the rescue track.

[0085] Based on the tasks currently being executed in the system and their priorities, and while ensuring optimal business scheduling efficiency within the warehouse system, the warehouse control system determines that the target rescue vehicle needs to be returned to the rescue waiting track. In this case, the target rescue vehicle is switched off the current rescue track via a track-switching mechanism, and the lock on the rescue track is released, so that the operating track can resume normal operation to support business scheduling tasks within the warehouse system.

[0086] Optionally, the step of determining the category of failed grabbing and the location of the target bin based on the grabbing status information, and generating a task information to be rescued, includes:

[0087] Receive abnormal alarm information reported by the load-bearing trolley for failed box grabbing. The abnormal alarm information includes the task type currently being performed by the load-bearing trolley, the task location, and the status information detected by the specified sensors during the box grabbing state.

[0088] Based on the abnormal alarm information, determine whether the failure of the load-bearing trolley to grab the box belongs to a preset abnormal category;

[0089] If so, generate a rescue task information corresponding to the location of the target bin that failed to grab the bin.

[0090] In this embodiment, when the trolley fails to grab a box, it reports an abnormal alarm message to the warehouse control system. The warehouse control system can then identify whether the failure falls under a preset category that can be resolved by a rescue trolley. Optionally, the trolley is equipped with sensors that can detect the status of its box-grabbing components, such as sensors that can detect whether the grab handle is properly extended. This allows for differentiation of box-grabbing failures caused by trolley malfunctions, enabling the implementation of alternative strategies to resolve the problem.

[0091] Please see Figure 3 To provide a more comprehensive understanding of the warehouse scheduling management method provided in this application, a specific example is given below. The warehouse scheduling management method includes:

[0092] S11, the trolley failed to grab the box; among them, the failure to grab the box belongs to the preset abnormal category, such as the guide column in the trolley guiding the box direction being pushed up, the trolley and the box failing to nest, and the platform under the trolley tilting.

[0093] S12, generate a task information to be rescued; each task information to be rescued shall include at least the location of the box that failed to grab the box and the task that the box is currently executing.

[0094] S13, when it is determined that there is an idle running track that can be switched to by the load-bearing trolley, a rescue mission is initiated; wherein, according to the preset task priority strategy, the tasks that are being executed above the rescue mission are determined, and the priority of the rescue mission is determined based on these tasks that are being executed with higher priority, and the running track information involved by the online load-bearing trolley is determined to screen whether there is an idle running track.

[0095] S14, determine if there is an idle track-changing trolley; if not, execute S141; if yes, execute S15.

[0096] S141, wait for the track-changing trolley to complete the task it is currently performing. After the track-changing trolley has completed its task, proceed to S15.

[0097] S15, control the load-bearing trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle running track via the track-changing trolley control;

[0098] S16, lock onto the rescue track;

[0099] S17, control the rescue trolley to move from the waiting rescue position into the rescue track via the track-changing trolley;

[0100] If the failed grabbing bin is the target task bin, execute S181 to S185; if the failed grabbing bin is an obstacle bin, execute S186 to S189; after the current rescue task is completed, execute S19.

[0101] S181, control the rescue trolley to grab the target material box;

[0102] S182, determine whether the capture was successful; if not, proceed to S183; if yes, proceed to S184.

[0103] S183, retry the crawling, and determine whether the crawling count has reached the preset number; if not, return to S181; if yes, execute S185.

[0104] S184, move the target bin to the station corresponding to the task;

[0105] S185 triggers a fault alarm, prompting manual intervention.

[0106] S186, Determine if the obstacle box is the target box for the mission; if yes, proceed to S187; otherwise, proceed to S189.

[0107] S187, Determine if the task priority of the obstacle box is greater than the task priority of the target box below the obstacle box; if yes, execute S188; if no, execute S189.

[0108] S188, move the obstacle box to the target station;

[0109] S189, move the obstructed box to an idle station; the idle station can be selected manually or intelligently matched by the warehouse control system. After being moved to an idle station, the box can be put back on the shelf after system calculation.

[0110] S19, determine if there is an empty track for changing tracks; if not, execute S191; if yes, execute S192;

[0111] S191, wait for the track to complete the current track changing task, then execute S192;

[0112] S192, control the rescue trolley to exit the rescue track where the current rescue mission has been completed;

[0113] S193, Determine if there are other pending rescue missions; if not, proceed to S194; if yes, proceed to S195.

[0114] S194, control the rescue vehicle to return to the waiting rescue position;

[0115] S195, determine whether there are any idle running tracks; at this time, it is best to have two or more idle running tracks, so as to allow the material box that failed to grab the box in the new rescue mission to be moved in and the target rescue trolley to be moved in respectively.

[0116] S196, control the load trolley that failed to grab the box in the new rescue mission information to exit the corresponding rescue track, and switch to the idle running track through the track switching trolley control;

[0117] S197, control the rescue trolley to enter the corresponding rescue track, and return to step S17.

[0118] In this embodiment, the warehouse control system monitors whether to initiate a rescue task according to the priority order of the set system scheduling tasks. Under the premise of effectively ensuring that high-priority system scheduling tasks can always proceed smoothly, the rescue trolley is intelligently activated to resolve the failure of the corresponding load-bearing trolley to grab a box. In this way, the rate of manual intervention in warehouse management can be greatly reduced, the level of intelligent management of the warehouse system can be significantly improved, and the efficiency of warehouse work can be increased. It has been verified that the average rate of manual intervention in the intelligent scheduling management of current warehouse systems exceeds 0.4%, while the warehouse scheduling management method provided in this application can achieve a success rate of 99.99% in resolving manual intervention scenarios of box grabbing anomalies, which can effectively improve the intelligent management performance of the warehouse system.

[0119] Another aspect of the embodiments of this application, please refer to Figure 4 Furthermore, a warehouse control system is provided, including a processor 51 and a memory 52. ​​The memory 52 stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor 51, it performs the steps of the warehouse system item outbound control method provided in any embodiment of this application. The processor 51 and the memory 52 may each include one or more. The warehouse control system, as a platform for unified control of the processes such as item storage and allocation in the warehouse system, may include multiple physically separated servers, computer terminal devices, etc. It implements the steps of the warehouse scheduling and management method by installing computer programs for implementing the warehouse scheduling and management method provided in the embodiments of this application, and by communicating and interacting with each other between servers, between computer terminal devices, and between servers and computer terminal devices.

[0120] Another aspect of this application also discloses a warehousing system, including a warehousing control system and a warehousing area. The warehousing area is provided with a multi-layered, multi-column running track for heavy-duty trolleys to travel back and forth, a track-changing track corresponding to the running track to provide the heavy-duty trolleys to switch between different running tracks, a track-changing trolley that travels back and forth on the track-changing track, and a rescue waiting track for placing rescue trolleys.

[0121] Below each layer of the running track is a load-bearing platform, on which storage bins are stacked and placed. The load-bearing trolley travels back and forth along the running track to access the storage bins on the load-bearing platform.

[0122] The track-changing track is respectively set up with the running track of each layer. The track-changing track is equipped with a track-changing trolley. The track-changing trolley is configured to receive the load trolley and switch the load trolley between different running tracks along the track-changing track.

[0123] The rescue waiting track is located on the edge track that connects with the track switching track;

[0124] The warehouse control system is used to execute the steps of the warehouse scheduling and management method described in any embodiment of this application.

[0125] By making full use of the edge areas to set up rescue waiting tracks within the warehousing system, and designing rescue trolleys with a much lower failure rate for grabbing boxes than for heavy-duty trolleys, the system significantly reduces the probability of manual intervention when heavy-duty trolleys experience grabbing box failures. This not only saves a lot of labor costs but also greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of intelligent management of goods entering and leaving the warehousing system.

[0126] The concepts described herein may be implemented in other forms without departing from their spirit and characteristics. The specific embodiments disclosed should be considered illustrative rather than restrictive. Therefore, the scope of the invention is determined by the appended claims, and not by the foregoing description. Any modifications within the literal meaning and equivalent scope of the claims should fall within the scope of those claims.

Claims

1. A warehouse scheduling and management method, characterized in that, The warehousing system includes a warehousing control system and a warehousing area. The warehousing area is equipped with a multi-level, multi-column running track for heavy-duty trolleys to travel back and forth, a track-changing track corresponding to the running track to allow the heavy-duty trolleys to switch between different running tracks, a track-changing trolley that travels back and forth on the track-changing track, and a rescue waiting track for placing rescue trolleys. The method is applied to the warehouse control system, including: Obtain the box-grabbing status information when the load-bearing trolley fails to grab a box; Based on the box grabbing status information, determine the category of box grabbing failure and the location of the target box that failed to grab the box, and generate a task information to be rescued; Based on the information of the task to be rescued, it is determined whether the current execution conditions for the rescue task are met according to the information of the tasks currently being executed with a higher priority than the rescue task. The execution conditions for the rescue task include: the existence of at least one idle running track and the existence of an idle track-changing trolley that allows the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle running track. If the conditions for executing the rescue mission are met, the loaded trolley that failed to grab the box is controlled to switch to the idle running track via the track switching track, the rescue track is locked, and the target rescue trolley is controlled to enter the rescue track via the track switching track. The target rescue trolley is controlled to move to the position of the target material box. Based on the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to be rescued, the rescue task is executed according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box.

2. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box, and executing the rescue task according to the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box, includes: Control the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box; When the failed task information of the target box in the rescue task information is that the target task box grabbing failed, the grabbing task execution strategy corresponding to the target task box grabbing failure is determined, the target rescue trolley is controlled to grab the target box, and the target box is moved to the target station of the task.

3. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box, and executing the rescue task according to the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box, includes: Control the target rescue vehicle to move to the position of the target material box; When the failed task information of the target bin in the rescue task information is obstacle bin relocation failure, determine the relocation task execution strategy corresponding to the obstacle bin relocation failure, and determine whether the target bin is the task hit bin; If so, control the target rescue vehicle to grab the target material box and move the target material box to the target station of the mission; If not, control the target rescue vehicle to grab the target material box and move the target material box to an idle station.

4. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, Before moving the target bin to an idle station, the process also includes: Based on the site selection instruction, determine the available site to which the target material box in the rescue task information needs to be moved; or, Based on the current distribution of available sites, an available site matching the target material box is determined based on the location of the target material box in the information of the task to be rescued.

5. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The step of determining whether the conditions for executing a rescue mission are met based on the information of the mission to be rescued and the information of ongoing missions with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission includes: Based on the location of the target hopper in the information of the task to be rescued, and according to the information of the currently executing tasks with higher priority than the priority of the rescue task, if it is determined that the priority of the rescue task meets the requirements, then the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys are determined, and it is determined whether there is at least one idle running track. If there is at least one idle operating track, determine whether there is an idle track-switching trolley that can be used for the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle operating track; If the aforementioned idle track-changing trolley exists, then it is determined that the conditions for executing the rescue mission are currently met; If no available track-changing trolley exists, wait for the track-changing trolley to complete its current task, and then return to the step of determining whether there is an available track-changing trolley for the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the available running track.

6. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 5, characterized in that, Based on the location of the target hopper in the information of the task to be rescued, and according to the information of currently executing tasks with a higher priority than the rescue task, if it is determined that the priority of the rescue task meets the requirements, then the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys are determined, and it is judged whether there is at least one idle running track, including: The task categories with higher priority than rescue tasks are determined according to the preset task priority strategy; wherein, in the task priority strategy, the priority of tasks in business scheduling and execution is higher than that of rescue tasks, and the priority of return box tasks, warehouse entry tasks, site exit box tasks, and warehouse exit box tasks are all lower than that of rescue tasks. The priority of the rescue mission is determined based on the information of currently executing missions belonging to the aforementioned mission category; If the rescue mission has the highest priority, based on the location of the target hopper in the rescue mission information and the running tracks involved in all currently online load-bearing trolleys, it is determined whether there is at least one idle running track.

7. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: After completing the current rescue mission, based on the information of ongoing missions with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission, it is determined whether the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met. The conditions for executing a new rescue mission include: the existence of a rescue mission with a required execution priority, the existence of at least one idle running track, and the existence of an idle track-changing trolley that allows the loaded trolley to switch from the rescue track to the idle running track. If so, control the target rescue vehicle to enter the execution process of a new rescue mission; If not, the target rescue vehicle will be controlled to enter the process of reversing back to the rescue waiting track.

8. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 7, characterized in that, After completing the current rescue mission, based on the information of ongoing missions with higher execution priorities than the rescue mission, it is determined whether the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met, including: After completing the current rescue mission, determine whether there are any other pending rescue missions. If there are other pending rescue task information, select the pending rescue task information whose execution priority meets the requirements based on the current execution priority of the task information that is higher than the priority of the rescue task, the position of the corresponding target hopper in the pending rescue task information, and the running track information involved by all currently online load trolleys. If there is an idle track-changing trolley that can be used to switch the target hopper to an idle running track, it means that the conditions for executing a new rescue mission are met.

9. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The execution process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to enter a new rescue mission includes: Based on the rescue mission information associated with the new rescue mission, the loaded trolley in the rescue mission information is controlled to switch from the target rescue track to the idle running track via the idle track-changing trolley. Lock the target rescue track, control the target rescue trolley to enter the target rescue track via the idle track-changing trolley, and return to the target rescue trolley to move to the position of the target material box. According to the failed task information corresponding to the target material box in the task information to be rescued, execute the rescue task according to the task execution strategy corresponding to the failed task information to restore the fault scheduling service caused by the failure to grab the target material box.

10. The warehouse scheduling and management method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The execution process of controlling the target rescue vehicle to enter the retraction waiting track includes: Determine if an idle track-changing trolley exists; If not, wait for the track-changing trolley to complete the track-changing task it is currently performing; If so, the target rescue vehicle exits the current rescue track via the track-changing track and releases the lock on the rescue track.

11. The warehouse scheduling management method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The step involves determining the type of failed grabbing and the location of the target bin based on the grabbing status information, and generating a task information to be rescued, including: Receive abnormal alarm information reported by the load-bearing trolley for failed box grabbing. The abnormal alarm information includes the task type currently being performed by the load-bearing trolley, the task location, and the status information detected by the specified sensors during the box grabbing state. Based on the abnormal alarm information, determine whether the failure of the load-bearing trolley to grab the box belongs to a preset abnormal category; If so, generate a rescue task information corresponding to the location of the target bin that failed to grab the bin.

12. A warehouse control system, characterized in that, It includes a processor and a memory, the memory storing a computer program, which, when executed by the processor, performs the steps of the warehouse scheduling management method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A warehousing system, characterized in that, The system includes a warehouse control system and a warehouse area. The warehouse area is equipped with a multi-level, multi-column running track for heavy-duty trolleys to travel back and forth, a track-changing track corresponding to the running track to allow the heavy-duty trolleys to switch between different running tracks, a track-changing trolley that travels back and forth on the track-changing track, and a rescue waiting track for placing rescue trolleys. Below each layer of the running track is a load-bearing platform, on which storage bins are stacked and placed. The load-bearing trolley travels back and forth along the running track to access the storage bins on the load-bearing platform. The track-changing track is respectively set up with the running track of each layer. The track-changing track is equipped with a track-changing trolley. The track-changing trolley is configured to receive the load trolley and switch the load trolley between different running tracks along the track-changing track. The rescue waiting track is located on the edge track that connects with the track switching track; The warehouse control system is used to perform the steps of the warehouse scheduling management method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

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