Robot scheduling system and method and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a robot scheduling system and method and a storage medium, relates to the technical field of logistics, and is used for solving the problem of low logistics efficiency of a warehousing system. The system comprises dispatching equipment and a goods shelf, wherein the goods shelf corresponds to a plurality of transfer robots; the dispatching equipment is in communication connection with the plurality of transfer robots; the dispatching equipment is configured to control the carrying robot corresponding to the target goods shelf area to work when an order instruction for indicating carrying of goods on the target goods shelf area is received; the target goods shelf area is one of a plurality of goods shelf areas obtained by dividing the goods shelf in the length direction of the goods shelf according to attribute information of the goods shelf and / or a placement rule of goods on the goods shelf; one goods shelf area at least corresponds to one transfer robot.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of logistics technology, and in particular to a robot scheduling system, method and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the rise of emerging industries such as e-commerce, in order to build high-efficiency and high-flow automated logistics, enterprises currently often use warehousing systems to realize automatic handling and storage of goods through robots. The existing robot handling solutions in warehousing systems include: carton transfer unit (CTU) handling solution, four-way shuttle handling solution, and single sky transfer unit (STU) handling solution. However, these handling solutions all have certain defects, which will affect the overall logistics efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present application provides a robot scheduling system, method and storage medium for solving the problem of low logistics efficiency in warehousing systems.

[0004] In order to achieve the above technical objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0005] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot scheduling system, including a scheduling device, a shelf, and multiple handling robots corresponding to the shelf; the scheduling device is communicatively connected to the multiple handling robots; the handling robot includes: a column gantry, a handling mechanism and a guide rail; wherein the column gantry is installed along the vertical direction of the shelf; the handling mechanism is arranged on the column gantry, and is used to move vertically on the column gantry to carry goods of different heights on the shelf; the column gantry is movably connected to the guide rail so that the column gantry and the handling mechanism move horizontally along the guide rail to carry goods on the shelf in the length direction; the scheduling device is configured to control the handling robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work when receiving an order instruction instructing to carry goods on the target shelf area; the target shelf area is one of the multiple shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf; one shelf area corresponds to at least one handling robot.

[0006] The technical solution provided by the present application brings at least the following beneficial effects: In the robot scheduling system adopted by the present application, the shelf is divided into multiple shelf areas according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf, and one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot. In this way, the transport robots can move in their respective corresponding shelf areas when performing transport operations, ensuring that multiple transport robots can work together on one shelf while avoiding conflicts. Therefore, the technical solution of the present application can ensure the concurrency of the operating tasks in the warehousing system and improve the logistics efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0007] In one possible implementation, the scheduling device is specifically configured to, upon receiving an order instruction instructing the transport of goods on a target shelf area, determine the position of the goods on the shelf; determine the horizontal moving distance and the vertical moving distance of the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area based on the position of the goods on the shelf; the horizontal moving distance does not exceed the length of the target shelf area; send a moving instruction to the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work; the moving instruction includes the horizontal moving distance and the vertical moving distance.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of the shelf and / or whether the shelf carries a cache location.

[0009] In a possible implementation, when the attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of a shelf, the plurality of shelf areas are obtained by dividing according to the storage capacity of the shelf and the number of the plurality of transport robots.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the storage capacity of a shelf includes the dimensions of the target shelf in the length, height, and depth directions; different shelf areas have the same storage capacity, or different shelf areas have the same dimensions in the length direction.

[0011] In a possible implementation, when the attribute information is used to characterize whether the shelf carries cache bits, the portion of the shelf carrying cache bits is divided into a first shelf area, and the portion of the shelf not carrying cache bits is divided into a second shelf area.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the attribute information includes the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground; when the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, the shelf does not carry a cache position; when the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is less than a preset threshold, the shelf carries a cache position.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the placement rules are used to characterize the attribute conditions satisfied by the goods in each area of ​​the shelf, and the attribute conditions include: the category of the goods and / or the access frequency of the goods.

[0014] In a possible implementation, when the attribute condition includes the category of goods, the plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the types of goods.

[0015] In a possible implementation, when the attribute condition includes the storage frequency of goods, a plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the access frequency of goods, and one shelf area corresponds to a preset numerical range of the access frequency.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the scheduling device is also configured to, when there is an overlapping area between two adjacent shelf areas, determine that the first transport robot is responsible for the overlapping area based on the task completion time and / or distance priority; the first transport robot is one of the two transport robots corresponding to the two adjacent shelf areas.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the scheduling device is also configured to control the third transport robot to work in the shelf area corresponding to the second transport robot when a failure of the second transport robot is detected; the shelf area of ​​the third transport robot is adjacent to the shelf area of ​​the second transport robot.

[0018] In a second aspect, the present application provides a robot scheduling method, the method comprising: receiving an order instruction; when the order instruction indicates the transport of goods on a target shelf area, controlling a transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to perform work; the target shelf area is one of a plurality of shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to attribute information of the shelf and / or placement rules of goods on the shelf; one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot.

[0019] In a third aspect, the present application provides a computing device comprising: one or more processors; one or more memories; wherein the one or more memories are used to store computer program codes, the computer program codes include computer instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the computer instructions, the computing device executes any one of the robot scheduling methods provided in the second aspect above.

[0020] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer execution instructions. When the computer execution instructions are run on a computer, the computer executes any one of the robot scheduling methods provided in the second aspect above.

[0021] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a computing device, the computing device executes the robot scheduling method as described in the second aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0022] For the specific description of the second to fifth aspects and their various implementations in the present application, reference may be made to the detailed description in the first aspect and its various implementations; and for the beneficial effects of the second to fifth aspects and their various implementations, reference may be made to the analysis of the beneficial effects in the first aspect and its various implementations, which will not be repeated here.

[0023] These and other aspects of the present application will become more apparent from the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the composition of a robot scheduling system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a robot scheduling method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a shelf area provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a scenario 1 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a scenario 2 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a scenario 3 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a scenario 4 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a scenario 5 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the composition of a robot scheduling device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the composition of a computing device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0035] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way. The terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

[0036] To facilitate understanding, the basic concepts of some terms or technologies involved in the embodiments of the present application are first briefly introduced and explained.

[0037] Lurking robot: An automated guided robot that can carry crates.

[0038] Turnover box: also known as logistics box or material box, it can be used to hold goods and is easy to stack and manage.

[0039] CTU robot: A fully automatic unmanned picking and handling robot consisting of a chassis, shelf layers and a picking mechanism. It can carry multiple items at one time, improving picking efficiency and storage capacity.

[0040] Four-way shuttle: a handling robot that can realize automatic handling equipment that can move freely in four directions (front, back, left, and right) within a plane.

[0041] STU robot: A rail-mounted material box handling robot, comprising: a column gantry, a handling mechanism and a guide rail. The column gantry is installed along the vertical direction of the shelf; the handling mechanism is arranged on the column gantry and is used to move vertically on the column gantry to handle goods at different heights on the shelf. The column gantry is movably connected to the guide rail so that the column gantry and the handling mechanism move horizontally along the guide rail to handle goods on the shelf in the length direction.

[0042] Elevator: It is an important equipment for realizing vertical movement. Its main purpose is to realize cross-layer vertical transportation of goods and layer change of four-way shuttle vehicles.

[0043] Cache position: The reserved position at the bottom of the shelf for temporary storage of turnover boxes. The STU robot can pick up the goods to be shipped from the shelf and place them in the cache position for the lurking robot and other robots to carry them out of the warehouse. The lurking robot can also place the incoming goods in the cache position for the STU robot to put them on the shelf for storage.

[0044] The above is an introduction to some concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated below.

[0045] The current robot handling solutions in the warehousing system include: CTU handling solution, four-way shuttle handling solution and single STU handling solution.

[0046] Among them, the CTU handling solution: the CTU robot uses the chassis to perform linear motion in the aisle, and then uses the lifting device to perform the storage and outbound operations of the turnover boxes. Usually one CTU robot is responsible for one CTU warehouse area (usually one aisle), allowing the CTU robot to operate across warehouse areas.

[0047] Four-way shuttle handling solution: The four-way shuttle uses a lift to transport various types of goods in warehouse orders using multi-layer shelves or pallets for inbound storage or outbound picking.

[0048] Single STU handling solution: The STU robot moves left and right on the three-dimensional plane with the help of guide rails and moves up and down with its own lifting mechanism, so as to pick up and put down the turnover boxes at the designated position on the three-dimensional plane shelf. After putting a box off the shelf to the cache position, take a box from the nearest cache position to put it on the shelf.

[0049] However, these robot handling solutions all have certain defects: in the CTU handling solution, the lifting speed of the CTU robot is slower than that of the STU robot. In addition, the lifting height of the CTU robot is limited. When storing and retrieving high-rise turnover boxes, a secondary gantry is required to expand the lifting height, which will affect the efficiency of loading and unloading goods.

[0050] In the four-way shuttle transportation solution, since the four-way shuttle itself does not have the ability to operate at high altitudes, it is necessary to rely on elevators when storing and retrieving high-altitude goods, which affects the operating efficiency.

[0051] In the single STU robot handling solution, the operating efficiency of a single device is low and it is difficult to meet the requirements of high throughput. In addition, since the STU robot relies on rails to operate, if multiple STU robots are set to operate at the same time, they need to operate on the same rail, which will cause conflicts and affect operating efficiency.

[0052] To sum up, the current robot handling solutions have certain defects, which will affect logistics efficiency.

[0053] In this regard, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot scheduling system. In the robot scheduling system adopted by the present application, the shelf can be divided into multiple shelf areas according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf, and one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot. In this way, when performing a transport operation, the transport robots can move in their respective corresponding shelf areas, ensuring that multiple transport robots can work together on one shelf while avoiding conflicts. Therefore, the technical solution of the present application can ensure the concurrency of the operating tasks in the warehousing system and improve the logistics efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0054] Please refer to Figure 1 , which shows a schematic diagram of the composition of the robot scheduling system (also called a warehousing system) provided by the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the robot scheduling system includes: a shelf 101, and a plurality of transport robots 102 corresponding to the shelf (the specific number can be determined according to the specific scenario, Figure 1 Two transport robots are used as an example).

[0055] The shelf 101 may be a fixed shelf or a mobile shelf. The shelf 101 has multiple layers, each layer has multiple storage spaces, and each storage space can be used to store turnover boxes loaded with goods.

[0056] The transport robot includes: a column gantry 102a, a transport mechanism 102b and a guide rail 102c.

[0057] The column gantry 102a is installed along the vertical direction of the shelf 101. The transport mechanism 102b is arranged on the column gantry 102a, and is used to move vertically on the column gantry 102a to transport goods at different heights on the shelf. The column gantry 102a is movably connected to the guide rail 102c, so that the column gantry 102a and the transport mechanism 102b move horizontally along the guide rail 102c to transport goods on the shelf in the length direction.

[0058] It should be noted that the transport robot can be configured with at least one guide rail (such as one guide rail or two guide rails). Figure 1 Guide rails are arranged above and below the middle shelf, so that the upper part of the column gantry of the handling robot is movably connected to the upper guide rail, and the lower part of the column gantry of the handling robot is movably connected to the lower guide rail, thereby ensuring the stability of the column gantry when it moves horizontally along the guide rail.

[0059] In one embodiment, one guide rail can be fixedly installed on two opposite shelves at the same time, that is, the transport robot on one guide rail can be responsible for the operation tasks on two shelves at the same time.

[0060] In some embodiments, the guide rails may be fixedly mounted on a shelf, or may be fixedly mounted on the ground or ceiling, and this is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0061] In some embodiments, multiple transport robots responsible for the same shelf may share a guide rail or use different guide rails. Figure 1 It should be understood that when multiple transport robots share one guide rail, the lanes between the shelves can be set narrower, thereby effectively reducing the distance between the shelves in the storage system, thereby increasing the storage capacity of the storage system. The embodiment of the present application is described by taking multiple transport robots responsible for the same shelf sharing one guide rail as an example.

[0062] For ease of description, the handling robots used in this application will be collectively referred to as STU robots hereinafter.

[0063] In addition, the robot scheduling system also includes a scheduling device 103 ( Figure 1 (not shown), the scheduling device 103 is used to control the operation of the entire warehousing system. For example, the scheduling device 103 can be connected to the STU robot via wire or wirelessly to send instructions to the STU robot to instruct it to perform cargo handling operations. The scheduling device can be a server, or other equipment with data processing and communication capabilities. Among them, the server mentioned here can be a server cluster composed of multiple servers, or a single server, or a computer. The scheduling device can specifically be a processor or processing module in the server. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific device form of the above-mentioned server.

[0064] The implementation of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0065] The robot scheduling method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed by the scheduling device in the above-mentioned robot scheduling system.

[0066] like Figure 2 As shown, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot scheduling method, which includes the following steps:

[0067] S201, receiving order instructions.

[0068] Among them, the order instruction is used to indicate that a certain product needs to be shipped out or received in.

[0069] S202: When the order instruction instructs to transport goods on the target shelf area, control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work.

[0070] The target shelf area is one of a plurality of shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf, and one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot.

[0071] As mentioned above, due to the limitation of the rails, for a single STU handling solution, generally one STU robot is responsible for the operation tasks on a shelf. To improve efficiency, multiple STU robots can be set up at the same time to be responsible for the operation tasks (handling tasks) on the shelf. In order to avoid conflicts when multiple STU robots run on the same rail, the shelf can be divided into different shelf areas, so that each STU robot can perform the operation tasks in the shelf area it is responsible for to avoid conflicts.

[0072] In the process of dividing the shelf area, the shelf can be divided according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf, so as to adapt to various scenarios. For specific instructions, please refer to the following scenarios 1 to 5.

[0073] For example, Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a shelf area provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 As shown in the figure, a shelf is evenly divided into two shelf areas (area A and area B) along the length of the shelf. The height of each shelf area is consistent with the height of the shelf, and the length is a part of the length of the shelf. Through this division method, the STU robot can move on a part of the guide rail to complete the task on the shelf area without affecting other STU robots. Figure 3 In the figure, STU robot 1 can move in section A to complete the relevant tasks in area A, and STU robot 2 can move in section B to complete the relevant tasks in area B. As can be seen from the figure, the movable areas of STU robot 1 and STU robot 2 do not overlap, the two sides will not cross-operate, and there will be no conflict.

[0074] In some embodiments, the above S202 may be implemented as follows:

[0075] S202a: upon receiving an order instruction instructing to move goods on a target shelf area, determining the position of the goods on the shelf.

[0076] S202b, according to the position of the goods on the shelf, determine the horizontal moving distance and vertical moving distance of the handling robot corresponding to the target shelf area, wherein the horizontal moving distance does not exceed the length of the target shelf area.

[0077] S202c, sending a movement instruction to the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work, wherein the movement instruction includes a horizontal movement distance and a vertical movement distance.

[0078] It can be seen that in the technical solution of the present application, when the dispatching system receives an order instruction, it first determines the shelf area to which the goods indicated by the order belong, and then determines the STU robot corresponding to the shelf area according to the pre-configured correspondence. Then, according to the current position of the STU robot and the shelf position, the horizontal moving distance and the vertical moving distance are determined, and then the moving distance information is sent to the STU robot by wired or wireless means, so as to control the STU robot to move based on the horizontal and vertical dimensions to realize the transportation of goods into the warehouse or the selection of goods out of the warehouse.

[0079] It should be understood that since the horizontal moving distance of the STU robot does not exceed the length of the shelf area corresponding to itself, it can be ensured that the STU robot moves within a limited range, avoiding the problem of cross-conflict when multiple STU robots move.

[0080] It should be noted that the above S202a-S202c is only a specific implementation method of S202, and S202 can also be implemented in other ways. For example, the scheduling device first configures the responsible shelf area for each STU robot. When receiving the order instruction, the scheduling device determines the location of the goods, and then sends the location of the goods to each STU robot respectively. Each STU robot determines whether the location of the goods is located in the shelf area it is responsible for. If so, the STU robot performs the handling operation according to the location of the goods, otherwise no action is performed. It should be understood that the implementation of S202 includes but is not limited to the above two implementation methods, and other feasible implementation methods can also be used, which will not be repeated here one by one.

[0081] The following describes in detail the division method of the shelf area in conjunction with specific embodiments and drawings of the specification.

[0082] In some embodiments, during the division process, the scheduling device may divide the shelf along the length direction of the shelf into a plurality of shelf areas according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf.

[0083] In a possible implementation, the attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of the shelf and / or whether the shelf carries a cache location.

[0084] The storage capacity mentioned here includes the dimensions of the target shelf in the length, height and depth directions; different shelf areas have the same storage capacity, or different shelf areas have the same dimensions in the length direction.

[0085] Whether the shelf carries a cache position can be determined based on the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground in a possible implementation. When the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, it means that the shelf does not carry a cache position. When the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is less than a preset threshold, the shelf carries a cache position. There is no specific limitation.

[0086] In a possible implementation, the placement rule represents the attribute conditions satisfied by the goods in each area of ​​the shelf, and the attribute conditions include: the category of the goods and / or the access frequency of the goods.

[0087] In this application, a certain commodity and its related products, or main and subordinate products, can be referred to as a class of goods, that is, belonging to a category of goods, such as wine, perfume, etc. The access frequency of goods can reflect, for example, the shipment volume or storage volume of a certain commodity per unit time, and can reflect whether the goods are hot-selling commodities.

[0088] It should be understood that the database of the dispatching device stores information about the shelves and goods, and records information about the flow of goods (outbound / inbound) at all times. Therefore, the dispatching device can obtain this information from the database to reasonably divide the shelves into shelf areas based on this information to adapt to various operating scenarios, as described in Scenario 1 to Scenario 5 below.

[0089] Scenario 1

[0090] In the case where the attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of a shelf, the plurality of shelf areas are obtained by dividing according to the storage capacity of the shelf and the number of the plurality of transport robots.

[0091] The storage capacity of the target shelf includes the dimensions of the target shelf in the length direction, the height direction and the depth direction. Different shelf areas have the same storage capacity, or different shelf areas have the same dimensions in the length direction.

[0092] For example, if the shelf is pre-configured with two STU robots in charge, taking the example that the dimensions of different shelf areas in the length direction are the same, the target shelf can be divided into two shelf areas of equal length (equal within a certain error range), so that the storage capacity of the two shelf areas obtained by division is close.

[0093] For example, Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a scenario 1 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, taking the existence of two STU robots as an example, the shelf is evenly divided into two shelf areas with equal lengths, namely area A and area B. One STU robot is responsible for the operation tasks in area A, and the other STU robot is responsible for the operation tasks in area B.

[0094] When there is a warehousing task, the lurking robot will transport the goods to the cache location ( Figure 4 The STU robot then moves the goods from the cache to the shelf for storage. When there is a warehouse outbound task, the STU robot transports the goods on the shelf to the cache at the bottom layer, and then the lurking robot moves the goods from the cache to the warehouse out.

[0095] It should be understood that scenario 1 can be applied to the case where the work tasks are evenly distributed on the shelves. Each STU robot is responsible for the work tasks of the same range of shelves, which can avoid duplication of work and prevent multiple STU robots from interfering with each other. In addition, it can avoid overloading a single STU robot and ensure load balancing. Moreover, planning the movement range of the STU robot in a fixed area can improve the STU robot's familiarity with the shelves and perform work tasks with higher accuracy.

[0096] Scenario 2

[0097] In the case where the attribute information is used to characterize whether the shelf carries cache locations, the portion of the shelf carrying cache locations is divided into a first shelf area, and the portion of the shelf not carrying cache locations is divided into a second shelf area.

[0098] It should be understood that for shelves without cache positions, the height of each place of the bottom layer from the ground is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, so that the lurking robot can move horizontally under the shelf without being blocked by the shelf. In this way, the lurking robot does not need to bypass the shelf when carrying goods, thereby improving the carrying efficiency.

[0099] For example, Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a scenario 2 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As described, there is no cache position at the bottom of shelf area A (that is, the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is greater than or equal to a preset threshold), and it is separately divided into the first shelf area. There is a cache position at the bottom of shelf area B (that is, the height of each point on the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is less than a preset threshold), and it is divided into the second shelf area. The STU robot responsible for the operation tasks in area A can be called a STU robot without a cache position. When performing the transport task, the STU robot without a cache position transports the goods in area A to area B. The remaining STU robots can perform work tasks normally in area B, such as transporting goods to the cache position, or transporting goods from the cache position to the shelf.

[0100] By dividing the work area, multiple STU robots can be divided into different tasks to effectively improve work efficiency. In addition, since the cache position is set at the bottom of the shelf in the current storage system environment, when the lurking robot is carrying goods, it needs to bypass the shelf to achieve horizontal passage due to the obstruction of the cache position. In the embodiment of the present application, there is no cache position at the bottom of area A, so the lurking robot can move horizontally under area A without obstacles, thereby improving the efficiency of cargo handling.

[0101] It should be understood that scenario 2 is suitable for scenarios with a large number of warehouses and many tasks. By dividing the part without cache positions into a shelf area, the lurking machine can directly pass under the part without cache positions when carrying goods during the entire logistics process, avoiding detours and thus improving logistics efficiency.

[0102] Scene 3

[0103] In the case where the attribute condition includes the category of goods, the plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the category of goods. That is, the present application can divide the shelf areas according to the principle that goods of the same category (or similar) are placed in the same shelf area.

[0104] In some scenarios, goods on the shelves are generally stored according to the categories of goods, and goods of the same category (or similar categories) are stored in the same row of shelves or adjacent shelves. Therefore, the shelf area can be divided according to the category of goods, that is, one shelf area corresponds to one category of goods or multiple categories of goods.

[0105] The present application embodiment takes a category of goods being divided into a shelf area as an example, for example, Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a scenario 3 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the shelves store three categories of goods, namely wine, daily necessities and perfume. Therefore, the shelves are divided into three shelf areas (the lengths of the shelf areas can be the same or different, Figure 6 Each STU robot corresponds to a shelf area.

[0106] It should be understood that one order may correspond to the purchase of a large number of goods of the same category (or similar categories). The division method of scenario 3 can realize that one STU robot can complete the delivery task of one order, which can reduce the scheduling complexity when simultaneously scheduling multiple STU robots to complete orders.

[0107] Scene 4

[0108] In the case where the attribute condition includes the storage frequency of the goods, the plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the access frequency of the goods, and one shelf area corresponds to a preset numerical interval of the access frequency. That is, the present application can divide the shelf areas according to the principle that goods with similar access frequencies are placed in the same shelf area.

[0109] In some scenarios, hot goods may be placed in the same shelf area, and cold goods may be placed in the same shelf area. The dispatching equipment of the warehousing system will record the historical access frequency of each item on the shelf, so the shelf area can be divided according to the access frequency of the goods.

[0110] Exemplarily, the first access frequency threshold is used as the division, and the access frequency greater than or equal to the first access frequency threshold is divided into one shelf area, and the access frequency less than the first access frequency threshold is divided into another shelf area. Another exemplary division is based on the second access frequency threshold and the third access frequency threshold (the second access frequency threshold is greater than the third access frequency threshold), and the access frequency greater than or equal to the second access frequency threshold is divided into shelf area 1, the access frequency less than the second access frequency threshold and greater than or equal to the third access frequency threshold is divided into shelf area 2, and the access frequency less than the third access frequency threshold is divided into shelf area 3.

[0111] For example, Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a scenario 4 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 As shown in the figure, the goods are stored in hot and cold zones. Goods A has high requirements for the speed and efficiency of entering and leaving the warehouse due to its high demand and high temperature. Therefore, the part storing goods A is divided into a shelf area, and the STU robot is specially assigned to be responsible for the operation of goods A to ensure that the STU robot moves within a limited range, achieves rapid response, and reduces the waiting time for goods handling.

[0112] Scene 5

[0113] When there is an overlapping area between two adjacent shelf areas, the scheduling device determines that the first handling robot is responsible for the overlapping area according to the task completion time and / or distance priority, wherein the first handling robot is one of the two handling robots corresponding to the two adjacent shelf areas.

[0114] That is to say, in this scenario, the shelf areas that adjacent STU robots are responsible for may have overlapping parts. In this case, the scheduling method of the STU robots needs to be adjusted for the overlapping parts to avoid conflicts caused by two STU robots working in the overlapping parts at the same time.

[0115] For example, Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a scenario 5 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8As shown, taking two STU robots as an example, the shelf is divided into two shelf areas, namely area A and area B, each accounting for 60%. Among them, there is an overlapping area between area A and area B (such as accounting for 20%). The 40% part of area A defaults to the shelf area of ​​STU robot 1, and the 40% part of area B defaults to the shelf area of ​​STU robot 2.

[0116] Since the overlapping area is the joint responsibility of the two STU robots, in order to avoid conflicts, when there is a task in the overlapping area, if the current task of STU robot 1 is completed earlier, the task is assigned to STU robot 1. Alternatively, if the current position of STU robot 1 is closer to the overlapping area, the task is assigned to STU robot 1. Alternatively, the two factors of task completion time and distance priority can be comprehensively considered, and the weighted sum is performed to determine the weight result, and then the task is assigned according to the weight result.

[0117] It should be understood that scenario 5 can avoid the situation where one STU robot moves to a far location to perform operations, and there will be no situation where two STU robots perform operations on one side at the same time, nor will there be a situation where one STU robot in operation blocks the operation of another STU robot. Moreover, scenario 5 can achieve the use of a smaller number of STU robots to be responsible for a larger number of shelf areas at the same time, reducing the investment cost of STU robots.

[0118] It should be noted that for overlapping areas, since STU robots are assigned based on task completion time and / or distance priority, overlapping areas may correspond to different STU robots in different time periods. However, at any time, the overlapping area corresponds to at least one STU robot.

[0119] In some embodiments, the scheduling device also controls the third transport robot to work in the shelf area corresponding to the second transport robot when a failure of the second transport robot is detected; the shelf area of ​​the third transport robot is adjacent to the shelf area of ​​the second transport robot.

[0120] For example, in Figure 4 In the example, if the STU robot in area A fails, the STU robot in area B can take over the task of the failed robot, that is, the STU robot in area B is responsible for the task of the entire shelf. Figure 6 In the process, if the STU robot in the area corresponding to the daily necessities fails, the STU robots corresponding to the wine and beverage and perfume categories can be randomly selected to take charge of the operation tasks in the daily necessities area. Alternatively, based on the task load of the two STU robots, the STU robot with less task load can be selected to take charge of the new task.

[0121] It should be understood that through the above-mentioned fault detection-related operation strategies, it can be ensured that even if one STU robot fails, other STU robots can still operate normally, thereby ensuring the continuity of the overall operation process and reducing the impact of STU robot failures on the logistics efficiency of the entire warehousing system.

[0122] It should be noted that in a fault scenario, if one STU robot fails, another STU robot will be responsible for the shelf area corresponding to the failed robot. In this case, two adjacent shelf areas will correspond to the same STU robot (that is, one STU robot is responsible for two shelf areas at the same time), which still meets the description that each shelf area corresponds to at least one STU robot.

[0123] It should be noted that in some scenarios, the operation strategies of the above scenarios can be used in combination. For example, in scenario 4, the shelf area (A cargo storage area) divided according to the access frequency of goods is difficult to meet the efficiency requirements of one STU robot due to the large number of operation tasks. In this case, it can be combined with scenario 1 to divide the A cargo storage area into two sub-areas again, and set two STU robots to work simultaneously in each area to further improve efficiency. For another example, the three shelf areas divided according to the types of goods in scenario 3 can be combined with the operation strategy of scenario 5 to set daily necessities as overlapping areas. In this way, setting up two STU robots can realize the operation tasks of the three shelf areas, while ensuring the operation efficiency and reducing the investment cost of the STU robots.

[0124] It should be understood that the aforementioned scenarios are merely some example descriptions, and any changes and combinations made based on the situations described in the aforementioned examples should be included in the scope of protection of this application.

[0125] Figure 2 The technical solution shown brings at least the following beneficial effects: In the robot scheduling system adopted in the present application, the shelf can be divided into multiple shelf areas according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf, and one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot. In this way, the transport robots can move in their respective corresponding shelf areas when performing transport operations, ensuring that multiple transport robots can work together on one shelf while avoiding conflicts. Therefore, the technical solution of the present application can ensure the concurrency of the operating tasks in the warehousing system and improve the logistics efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0126] The embodiment of the present application adopts the STU robot, which can realize the vertical movement of the turnover box without using an additional lifting mechanism, reducing the investment cost while improving the handling efficiency. In addition, the volume of the STU robot is smaller than that of the CTU and the four-way shuttle, which can reduce the interval between the shelves in the storage system, so that the plane storage area is increased. Moreover, the STU robot is not limited by the height of the shelf, and the height of the three-dimensional storage capacity is increased, which can store more turnover boxes and increase the cargo capacity of the storage system.

[0127] In addition, the STU robot works on fixed shelves and does not need to move pallets and shelves. It can select the nearest storage location for unloading boxes without occupying its own storage space, which greatly shortens the unloading time.

[0128] The application scenarios of this application are wide, and different operation strategies can be formulated for different scenarios to meet the needs of warehousing operations under various conditions.

[0129] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of the method. In order to achieve the above functions, it includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easy to realize that the technical goals in this field are combined with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this article, and the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical goals can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0130] like Fig. 9 As shown, the embodiment of the present application also provides a robot scheduling device, which is used in the robot scheduling method shown in the above method embodiment. The robot scheduling device includes:

[0131] The receiving module 901 is used to receive order instructions;

[0132] The control module 902 is used to control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work when the order instruction indicates to transport the goods on the target shelf area; the target shelf area is one of the multiple shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf; one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot.

[0133] Another embodiment of the present application further provides a computing device, such as Fig.10As shown, the computing device 1000 includes a memory 1001 and a processor 1002; the memory 1001 and the processor 1002 are coupled; the memory 1001 is used to store computer program codes, and the computer program codes include computer instructions. When the processor 1002 executes the computer instructions, the computing device 1000 executes each step executed by the computing device in the method flow shown in the above method embodiment.

[0134] In actual implementation, the receiving module 901 and the control module 902 can be composed of Fig.10 The processor 1002 shown is implemented by calling the computer program code in the memory 1001. The specific execution process can be referred to the description of the robot scheduling method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0135] Another embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a computing device, the computing device executes each step executed by the computing device in the method flow shown in the above method embodiment.

[0136] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is also provided. The computer program product includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a computing device, the computing device executes each step executed by the computing device in the method flow shown in the above method embodiment.

[0137] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer execution instruction is loaded and executed on the computer, the process or function according to the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instruction can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instruction can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by the computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more servers that can be integrated with the medium. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), etc.

[0138] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application. Those skilled in the art may conceive of changes or substitutions based on the specific implementation provided by the present application, which should all be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A robot scheduling system, characterized in that: It includes a dispatching device, a shelf, and the shelf corresponds to a plurality of transport robots; the dispatching device is communicatively connected with the plurality of transport robots; The transport robot comprises: a column gantry, a transport mechanism and a guide rail; Wherein, the column gantry is installed along the vertical direction of the shelf; the transport mechanism is arranged on the column gantry, and is used to move vertically on the column gantry to transport goods at different heights on the shelf; the column gantry is movably connected to the guide rail, so that the column gantry and the transport mechanism move horizontally along the guide rail to transport the goods on the shelf in the length direction; The scheduling device is configured to control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work when receiving an order instruction instructing to transport goods on the target shelf area; the target shelf area is one of a plurality of shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf; and one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The scheduling device is specifically configured as follows: When receiving an order instruction instructing to move goods on a target shelf area, determining the position of the goods on the shelf; According to the position of the goods on the shelf, determine the horizontal moving distance and the vertical moving distance of the handling robot corresponding to the target shelf area; the horizontal moving distance does not exceed the length of the target shelf area; A movement instruction is sent to the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to control the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area to work; the movement instruction includes the horizontal movement distance and the vertical movement distance.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of the shelf and / or whether the shelf carries a cache location.

4. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that In the case where the attribute information is used to characterize the storage capacity of the shelf, the plurality of shelf areas are obtained by dividing according to the storage capacity of the shelf and the number of the plurality of transport robots.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that The storage capacity of the shelf includes the dimensions of the target shelf in the length direction, the height direction and the depth direction; the storage capacities corresponding to different shelf areas are the same, or the dimensions of different shelf areas in the length direction are the same.

6. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that: In the case where the attribute information is used to characterize whether the shelf carries cache locations, the portion of the shelf that carries cache locations is divided into a first shelf area, and the portion of the shelf that does not carry cache locations is divided into a second shelf area.

7. The system according to claim 6, characterized in that The attribute information includes the height of each point of the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground; When the height from the ground to each location on the bottom layer of the shelf is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, the shelf does not carry a cache location; When the height of each location of the bottom layer of the shelf from the ground is less than a preset threshold, the shelf carries a cache location.

8. The system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The placement rules are used to characterize the attribute conditions satisfied by the goods in each area of ​​the shelf, and the attribute conditions include: the category of goods and / or the access frequency of goods.

9. The system according to claim 8, characterized in that In the case where the attribute condition includes the category of goods, the plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the category of goods.

10. The system according to claim 8, characterized in that In the case where the attribute condition includes the storage frequency of goods, the plurality of shelf areas are divided according to the access frequency of the goods, and one shelf area corresponds to a preset numerical range of the access frequency.

11. The system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The scheduling device is also configured to, when there is an overlapping area between two adjacent shelf areas, determine that the first transport robot is responsible for the overlapping area based on the task completion time and / or distance priority; the first transport robot is one of the two transport robots corresponding to the two adjacent shelf areas.

12. The system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The scheduling device is also configured to, when a failure of the second transport robot is detected, control the third transport robot to work in the shelf area corresponding to the second transport robot; the shelf area of ​​the third transport robot is adjacent to the shelf area of ​​the second transport robot.

13. A robot scheduling method, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive order instructions; When the order instruction indicates the transport of goods on a target shelf area, the transport robot corresponding to the target shelf area is controlled to work; the target shelf area is one of a plurality of shelf areas obtained by dividing the shelf along the length direction of the shelf according to the attribute information of the shelf and / or the placement rules of the goods on the shelf; one shelf area corresponds to at least one transport robot.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the robot scheduling method according to claim 13 .

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