A real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method

Abstract

The application is suitable for the technical field of stacking, and particularly relates to a real-time online mixed stacking optimization method. Compared with the prior art, the application obtains first product information of a plurality of products to be stacked; obtains second product information corresponding to products already stacked in a current pallet; calculates the first product information and the second product information according to a preset stacking constraint condition to obtain an optimal stacking scheme of the products to be stacked; and controls a manipulator to stack the products to be stacked according to the optimal stacking scheme. In this way, the application can give a stacking scheme on a pallet in real time on a stacking and sorting line with less product information known in advance, the stacking scheme has high pallet utilization and stable stacking shape, and can be widely used in e-commerce, material, beverage, daily chemical and other industries.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of palletizing technology, and in particular to a real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method. Background Technology

[0002] In the process of palletizing products in industries such as e-commerce, logistics, food, beverage, and daily chemicals, the limitations of palletizing and sorting line space and cost, as well as the high degree of randomness in the order and size of products arriving at the palletizing and sorting line, result in workers having little prior knowledge of the products and being unable to adjust the product order. If workers lack palletizing experience, it is easy to cause low pallet utilization and unreasonable palletizing schemes. Poor pallet utilization leads to increased pallet usage, and unreasonable product stacking on pallets poses a risk of products tipping over during transportation.

[0003] Therefore, a new real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method is urgently needed to solve the above-mentioned technical problems. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention proposes a real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method, which solves the problems of low pallet utilization and unreasonable palletizing schemes in the prior art during real-time online palletizing. It can provide reasonable palletizing schemes and support the issuance of palletizing commands to the robot.

[0005] The hybrid palletizing optimization method includes the following steps:

[0006] S1. Obtain first product information for multiple products to be palletized; wherein, the first product information includes the length, width, height, weight, code, sequence, batch number, and order number of the products to be palletized;

[0007] S2. Obtain the second product information corresponding to the palletized products in the current pallet; wherein, the second product information includes the length, width, height, X-axis coordinate, Y-axis coordinate, Z-axis coordinate, and weight of the palletized products;

[0008] S3. Calculate the first product information and the second product information according to the preset palletizing constraints to obtain the optimal palletizing scheme for the product to be palletized.

[0009] S4. Control the robotic arm to palletize the products to be palletized according to the optimal palletizing scheme.

[0010] Preferably, step S3 includes the following sub-steps:

[0011] S31. Calculate the possible space combinations for the products to be palletized on the pallet based on the first product information and the second product information, and take all the space combinations as the first space set.

[0012] S32. Sort the placement space combinations in the first space set according to the preset sorting rules to obtain the second space set;

[0013] S33. Filter the second space set to obtain the third space set;

[0014] S34. Perform a product loading depth search on the third space set to obtain multiple palletizing schemes and corresponding remaining space sets;

[0015] S35. Perform fitness calculations on all the palletizing schemes and the corresponding set of remaining space, and select the palletizing scheme with the highest fitness as the optimal palletizing scheme.

[0016] Preferably, the sorting rule is as follows: sort in ascending order according to the Z-axis of the placement space combination; if the Z-axis is the same, sort in ascending order according to the Y-axis of the placement space combination; if both the Z-axis and the Y-axis are the same, sort in ascending order according to the X-axis of the placement space combination.

[0017] Preferably, step S34 includes the following sub-steps:

[0018] S341. Load the product to be palletized to obtain a first space, a second space and a third space respectively divided along the x-axis, y-axis and z-axis after loading the product to be palletized.

[0019] S342. Update the first space, the second space, and the third space according to the situation where they are blocked by the palletized products;

[0020] S343. The updated first space, second space, and third space are merged with the third space set to obtain the remaining space set.

[0021] Preferably, in step S35, the adaptability of the palletizing scheme is calculated based on the number of products in the palletizing scheme, the maximum palletizing height, and the corresponding set of remaining space.

[0022] Preferably, the product includes the already palletized product and the product to be palletized, and the preset palletizing constraint is:

[0023] The products need to maintain a preset distance;

[0024] There is no limit to the number of pallets. When a pallet is full, replace it with the next pallet and continue stacking.

[0025] The product must not exceed the length and width limits of the pallet;

[0026] The stacking height of the product must not exceed the preset maximum stacking height;

[0027] The products must not overlap;

[0028] The lower support area of ​​the product needs to be larger than the preset area.

[0029] Compared with existing technologies, this invention obtains first product information of multiple products to be palletized, including the length, width, height, weight, code, sequence, batch number, and order number of the products to be palletized; it also obtains second product information corresponding to the products already palletized in the current pallet, including the length, width, height, X-axis coordinate, Y-axis coordinate, Z-axis coordinate, and weight of the already palletized products; it calculates the optimal palletizing scheme for the products to be palletized based on preset palletizing constraints; and it controls a robotic arm to palletize the products to be palletized according to the optimal palletizing scheme. Thus, this invention can provide a real-time online palletizing scheme on pallets on palletizing and sorting lines where product information is limited in advance. The provided palletizing scheme has high pallet utilization and stable stacking shape, and can be widely used in e-commerce, materials, beverage, and daily chemical industries. Attached Figure Description

[0030] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The above and other aspects of the present invention will become clearer and more readily understood through the detailed description following the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

[0031] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in the embodiments of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 2 This is a detailed schematic diagram illustrating the steps of the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in this embodiment of the invention;

[0033] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the three spaces partitioned in the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in this embodiment of the invention;

[0034] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the merging space situation of the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in this embodiment of the invention. Detailed Implementation

[0035] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the invention.

[0036] Please refer to Figures 1-4 This invention proposes a real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method, which includes the following steps:

[0037] S1. Obtain first product information for multiple products to be palletized; wherein, the first product information includes the length, width, height, weight, code, sequence, batch number, and order number of the products to be palletized;

[0038] S2. Obtain the second product information corresponding to the palletized products in the current pallet; wherein, the second product information includes the length, width, height, X-axis coordinate, Y-axis coordinate, Z-axis coordinate, and weight of the palletized products;

[0039] In this embodiment of the invention, obtaining information on the currently palletized products includes reading information about the current pallet and information about the products already palletized on the pallet. The information about the current pallet includes the pallet length, pallet width, pallet height, and pallet weight.

[0040] S3. Calculate the first product information and the second product information according to the preset palletizing constraints to obtain the optimal palletizing scheme for the product to be palletized.

[0041] In this embodiment of the invention, the product includes the already palletized product and the product to be palletized, and the preset palletizing constraint is:

[0042] The products need to maintain a preset distance;

[0043] There is no limit to the number of pallets. When a pallet is full, replace it with the next pallet and continue stacking.

[0044] The product must not exceed the length and width limits of the pallet;

[0045] The stacking height of the product must not exceed the preset maximum stacking height;

[0046] The products must not overlap;

[0047] The lower support area of ​​the product needs to be larger than the preset area to prevent it from falling due to insufficient support area after being stacked by the robotic arm.

[0048] In this embodiment of the invention, step S3 includes the following sub-steps:

[0049] S31. Calculate the possible space combinations for the products to be palletized on the pallet based on the first product information and the second product information, and take all the space combinations as the first space set; specifically, obtain the current feasible space set based on the current pallet size information and the product information on the pallet, and obtain the space in the following way:

[0050] Assume the pallet has a length of L, a width of W, and a height of H, with a maximum height of Hmax. The product has a length of l, a width of w, a height of h, and coordinates x / y / z, with rotation information r.

[0051] If there are no palletized products on the current pallet, there is only one feasible space. The XYZ coordinates and length, width and height of this space are (0, 0, 0), length: L, width: W, height: Hmax, respectively. Add this space to the space set spaces.

[0052] If the current pallet contains palletized products, directly read the previously recorded feasible space and add it to the space set;

[0053] S32. Sort the placement space combinations in the first space set according to a preset sorting rule to obtain a second space set; the sorting rule is as follows: sort in ascending order according to the Z-axis of the placement space combination; if the Z-axis is the same, sort in ascending order according to the Y-axis of the placement space combination; if both the Z-axis and the Y-axis are the same, sort in ascending order according to the X-axis of the placement space combination.

[0054] S33. Filter the second space set to obtain the third space set;

[0055] Specifically, assuming the length, width, and height of the space are Ln, Wn, and Hn respectively, and the length, width, and height of the first product are 1, w1, and h1 respectively, several spaces are selected from the currently sorted second space set. The selection principle is that the first product to be stacked can be placed in the space, i.e., Ln≥l1, Wn≥w1, Hn≥h1, or Wn≥l1, Ln≥w1, Hn≥h1. If no suitable space is selected, if this is the first solution, the current second space set is cleared, the feasible second space set is obtained based on the pallet size, and the information of pallet replacement is recorded to obtain the third space set.

[0056] S34. Perform a product loading depth search on the third space set to obtain multiple palletizing schemes and corresponding remaining space sets; step S34 includes the following sub-steps:

[0057] S341. Load the product to be palletized to obtain a first space, a second space and a third space respectively divided along the x-axis, y-axis and z-axis after loading the product to be palletized.

[0058] S342. Update the first space, the second space, and the third space according to the situation where they are blocked by the palletized products;

[0059] S343. The updated first space, second space, and third space are merged with the third space set to obtain the remaining space set.

[0060] Specifically, there are two ways to load the first product in a single space. The first way is the default loading method for the product (which must satisfy Ln≥l, Wn≥w1). The second way is to swap the length and width of the product (which must satisfy Wn≥l1, Ln≥w1). The loading methods are similar.

[0061] After placing a product in the current space, remove the current space from the third space set, and simultaneously remove the first product from the products to be palletized. The XYZ coordinate axes of the current product are exactly the same as the XYZ axes of the current space. The current space is divided into three new spaces: First Space 1, Second Space 2, and Third Space 3. The information of the currently placed product is added to the palletizing scheme (including XYZ axis coordinate information). The three new spaces are as follows: Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the three spaces partitioned by the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in this embodiment of the invention.

[0062] The three newly created spaces need to determine whether they are blocked by other products already stacked on the pallet in the X and Y directions. If they are blocked in the X direction, the length of the new space is equal to the X-axis of the blocking product minus the X-axis of the new space. If they are blocked in the Y direction, the width of the new space is equal to the Y-axis of the blocking product minus the X-axis of the new space.

[0063] After determining occlusion in three new spatial sets, each spatial set is first checked to see if it can be merged with any of the spaces in the third spatial set along the X-axis or Y-axis. Figure 4 As shown, Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the merging space situation of the real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method provided in this embodiment of the invention. Two situations can be merged into one space; for example, if a single space cannot be merged with a space in the third space set, it is directly added to the third space set.

[0064] S35. Perform fitness calculations on all the palletizing schemes and the corresponding set of remaining space, and select the palletizing scheme with the highest fitness as the optimal palletizing scheme.

[0065] In this embodiment of the invention, the fitness of the palletizing scheme is calculated based on the number of products in the palletizing scheme, the maximum palletizing height, and the corresponding set of remaining space. The fitness of the set of remaining space is the sum of the fitness of each space in the set, and the fitness of a single space is the minimum number of products that can be placed in that space.

[0066] At the same time, it can be determined whether a new pallet needs to be replaced. If a new pallet needs to be replaced, the current full pallet will be replaced with a brand new pallet (a pallet without any palletized products on it).

[0067] S4. Control the robotic arm to palletize the products to be palletized according to the optimal palletizing scheme.

[0068] In this invention, the method can continuously palletize multiple batches of products to be palletized. After the robotic arm completes the palletizing action according to the palletizing command, it feeds back the palletizing completion information. After receiving the palletizing completion information, the system reads all the product information of a single batch and counts the product information that has been palletized. It checks whether all the product information of a single batch has been palletized. If all the product information of a single batch has been palletized to the pallet, the palletizing of a single batch ends. If there are still products that have not been palletized, the above steps are repeated to continue palletizing.

[0069] Compared with existing technologies, this invention obtains first product information of multiple products to be palletized, including the length, width, height, weight, code, sequence, batch number, and order number of the products to be palletized; it also obtains second product information corresponding to the products already palletized in the current pallet, including the length, width, height, X-axis coordinate, Y-axis coordinate, Z-axis coordinate, and weight of the already palletized products; it calculates the optimal palletizing scheme for the products to be palletized based on preset palletizing constraints; and it controls a robotic arm to palletize the products to be palletized according to the optimal palletizing scheme. Thus, this invention can provide a real-time online palletizing scheme on pallets on palletizing and sorting lines where product information is limited in advance. The provided palletizing scheme has high pallet utilization and stable stacking shape, and can be widely used in e-commerce, materials, beverage, and daily chemical industries.

[0070] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Unless otherwise specified, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element.

[0071] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosed embodiments are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many equivalent changes in form without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims of the present invention, and all such changes are within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method, characterized in that, The hybrid palletizing optimization method includes the following steps: S1. Obtain first product information for multiple products to be palletized; wherein, the first product information includes the length, width, height, weight, code, sequence, batch number, and order number of the products to be palletized; S2. Obtain the second product information corresponding to the palletized products in the current pallet; wherein, the second product information includes the length, width, height, X-axis coordinate, Y-axis coordinate, Z-axis coordinate, and weight of the palletized products; S3. Calculate the first product information and the second product information according to the preset palletizing constraints to obtain the optimal palletizing scheme for the product to be palletized. S4. Control the robotic arm to palletize the products to be palletized according to the optimal palletizing scheme; Step S3 includes the following sub-steps: S31. Calculate the possible space combinations for the products to be palletized on the pallet based on the first product information and the second product information, and take all the space combinations as the first space set. S32. Sort the placement space combinations in the first space set according to the preset sorting rules to obtain the second space set; S33. Filter the second space set to obtain the third space set; S34. Perform a product loading depth search on the third space set to obtain multiple palletizing schemes and corresponding remaining space sets; S35. Perform fitness calculations on all the palletizing schemes and the corresponding set of remaining space, and select the palletizing scheme with the highest fitness as the optimal palletizing scheme.

2. The real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The sorting rules are as follows: sort in ascending order according to the Z-axis of the placement space combination; if the Z-axis is the same, sort in ascending order according to the Y-axis of the placement space combination; if both the Z-axis and Y-axis are the same, sort in ascending order according to the X-axis of the placement space combination.

3. The real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Step S34 includes the following sub-steps: S341. Load the product to be palletized to obtain a first space, a second space and a third space respectively divided along the x-axis, y-axis and z-axis after loading the product to be palletized. S342. Update the first space, the second space, and the third space according to the situation where they are blocked by the palletized products; S343. The updated first space, second space, and third space are merged with the third space set to obtain the remaining space set.

4. The real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step S35, the fitness of the palletizing scheme is calculated based on the number of products in the palletizing scheme, the maximum palletizing height, and the corresponding set of remaining space.

5. The real-time online hybrid palletizing optimization method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The products include the already palletized products and the products to be palletized, and the preset palletizing constraints are: The products need to maintain a preset distance; There is no limit to the number of pallets. When a pallet is full, replace it with the next pallet and continue stacking. The product must not exceed the length and width limits of the pallet; The stacking height of the product must not exceed the preset maximum stacking height; The products must not overlap; The lower support area of ​​the product needs to be larger than the preset area.

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