Material box warehouse returning method and device and warehousing system

Abstract

The invention discloses a material box warehouse returning method and device and a warehousing system.The material box warehouse returning method aims at a warehouse returning instruction of a target material box, firstly, a transfer robot executing the warehouse returning instruction needs to be determined, and then the warehouse returning storage position of the target material box is determined according to the operation height range of the transfer robot; and finally, the carrying robot is driven to execute a warehouse returning instruction of the target material box. Therefore, it can be understood that the height of the storage position layer where the warehouse returning storage position is located is within the operation height range of the transfer robot, that is, it can be guaranteed that the transfer robot executing the target material box warehouse returning instruction can smoothly place the target material box in the warehouse returning storage position; the situation that the operation height range of the carrying robot is not matched with the height of the warehouse returning storage position is avoided, and the situation that the material box cannot return to the warehouse due to the fact that the operation height range of the carrying robot is not matched with the height of the warehouse returning storage position can be effectively avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of warehousing technology, and in particular to a material box return method, device and warehousing system. Background Art

[0002] At present, smart warehouses are increasingly being used.

[0003] Among them, the basic operation in the smart warehouse is to use a handling robot to transfer material boxes. The handling robot generally includes a walking chassis, a lifting gantry and a material box handling mechanism. The material box handling mechanism is set up and down along the lifting gantry, so that the handling robot can obtain material boxes from any storage location on the shelf or place the material boxes on any storage location on the shelf, that is, the material boxes are taken out of the warehouse and returned to the warehouse.

[0004] In the related scheme, for the return operation of the material box, it is usually necessary to first determine the return storage location of the material box, and then drive the transport robot to transport the material box to the determined return storage location.

[0005] However, considering that there are usually multiple types of handling robots in smart warehouses, the different types or structures of the handling robots will lead to differences in their operating height ranges. When transporting the material box to a determined return storage location, there may be a situation where the operating height range of the handling robot does not match the height of the return storage location, which makes it impossible for the material box to return to the warehouse. Summary of the invention

[0006] In response to at least one aspect of the above-mentioned technical problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a material box return method, device and warehousing system. In response to the return instruction of a target material box, the material box return method first determines the handling robot that executes the return instruction, and then determines the return storage location of the target material box based on the determined operating height range of the handling robot. This can ensure that the handling robot can successfully complete the return of the target material box, and can effectively avoid the situation where the material box cannot be returned to the warehouse due to the mismatch between the operating height range of the handling robot and the height of the return storage location, thereby solving the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0007] The present application provides a method for returning a material box to a warehouse, and the method for returning a material box to a warehouse comprises:

[0008] For a return instruction of a target material box, a handling robot that executes the return instruction is determined; wherein the handling robot comprises a walking chassis, a lifting gantry fixedly mounted on the walking chassis, and a material box handling mechanism arranged to be lifted along the lifting gantry;

[0009] Determine the return storage position of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage position is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism along the lifting gantry;

[0010] The transport robot is driven to transport the target material box to the determined return storage location.

[0011] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of determining the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the transport robot so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage location is located is within the determined operating height range of the transport robot includes:

[0012] Acquire the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different operating height ranges;

[0013] Determine the storage location type corresponding to the acquired robot type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage locations according to the heights of the storage locations being located in different working height ranges, and the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type;

[0014] The return storage location is allocated according to the determined storage location type.

[0015] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of allocating the return storage location according to the determined storage location type includes:

[0016] Among all the storage locations in the shelf unit that are vacant and meet the determined storage location type, the return storage location is allocated in descending order of the number of classified storage location types.

[0017] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of allocating the return storage location according to the determined storage location type includes:

[0018] Among all the vacant storage locations in the shelf unit that meet the determined storage location type, a storage location whose classification attribute is the same as the classification attribute of the items carried by the target bin is selected as the return storage location; wherein the classification attribute includes one or more of the category attribute, production batch attribute and production date attribute of the item.

[0019] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of determining the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the transport robot so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage location is located is within the determined operating height range of the transport robot includes:

[0020] Obtaining the operating height range of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction;

[0021] Among the storage locations whose storage location heights are within the acquired working height range, one is allocated as the return storage location.

[0022] In one embodiment, preferably, the robot types include at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and the storage location types include at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot.

[0023] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of determining a handling robot to execute the return instruction for the target container includes:

[0024] Acquire the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the return-to-warehouse instruction includes the initial storage location of the target material box, and the initial storage location is the storage location where the target material box is stored before returning to the warehouse;

[0025] The transport robot is determined according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located, so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located.

[0026] In one embodiment, preferably, the step of determining the transport robot according to the height of the reservoir layer where the initial reservoir is located so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the reservoir layer where the initial reservoir is located comprises:

[0027] Obtaining the storage location type of the initial storage location; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage location according to the height of the storage location being in different operating height ranges;

[0028] Determine the robot type corresponding to the acquired storage location type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different working height ranges;

[0029] The transport robot is allocated according to the determined robot type.

[0030] In one embodiment, preferably, the robot types include at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and the storage location types include at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot.

[0031] The present application provides a material box return device, which includes:

[0032] A robot determination module is used to determine a handling robot that executes a return instruction of a target material box; wherein the handling robot includes a walking chassis, a lifting gantry fixedly mounted on the walking chassis, and a material box handling mechanism arranged to be lifted along the lifting gantry;

[0033] A return storage location determination module is used to determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage location is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism along the lifting gantry;

[0034] The return-to-warehouse execution module is used to drive the transport robot to transport the target material box to the determined return-to-warehouse storage location.

[0035] In one embodiment, preferably, the return storage location determination module includes:

[0036] A robot type acquisition unit, used to acquire the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different working height ranges;

[0037] A storage location type determination unit, configured to determine the storage location type corresponding to the acquired robot type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage locations according to the heights of the storage locations being located in different operating height ranges, and the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type;

[0038] The first return storage location allocation unit is used to allocate the return storage location according to the determined storage location type.

[0039] In one embodiment, preferably, the first return storage location allocation unit includes:

[0040] The first storage location allocation subunit is used to allocate the return storage locations in the descending order of the number of classified storage location types among all the storage locations that are vacant in the shelf unit and meet the determined storage location type.

[0041] In one embodiment, preferably, the first return storage location allocation unit includes:

[0042] The second storage location allocation subunit is used to select a storage location with the same classification attribute as the classification attribute of the items carried by the target bin as the return storage location from all the storage locations that are vacant in the shelf unit and meet the determined storage location type; wherein the classification attribute includes one or more of the category attribute, production batch attribute and production date attribute of the item.

[0043] In one embodiment, preferably, the return storage location determination module includes:

[0044] An operating height range acquisition unit, used to acquire the operating height range of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction;

[0045] The second return storage location allocation unit is used to allocate one of the storage locations whose storage location heights are within the acquired operating height range as the return storage location.

[0046] In one embodiment, preferably, the robot determination module includes:

[0047] An initial storage location acquisition submodule is used to acquire the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the return-to-warehouse instruction includes the initial storage location of the target material box, and the initial storage location is the storage location where the target material box is stored before returning to the warehouse;

[0048] The robot determination submodule is used to determine the transport robot according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located, so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located.

[0049] In one embodiment, preferably, the robot determination submodule includes:

[0050] An initial storage location type acquisition unit, used to acquire the storage location type of the initial storage location; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage location according to whether the height of the storage location is in different operating height ranges;

[0051] A robot type determination unit, configured to determine the robot type corresponding to the acquired storage location type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different operating height ranges;

[0052] The robot allocation unit is used to allocate the transport robot according to the determined robot type.

[0053] An embodiment of the present application provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the steps in the material box return method as described above.

[0054] The present application provides a storage system, which includes:

[0055] The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges;

[0056] A shelf unit, comprising a storage location within the operating height range of the first handling robot and a storage location within the operating height range of the second handling robot;

[0057] A control unit, used for driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit;

[0058] Wherein, the control unit executes the above-mentioned material box returning method when driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit.

[0059] The present application provides a storage system, which includes:

[0060] The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges;

[0061] The shelf unit comprises at least a first shelf unit and a second shelf unit, wherein the first shelf unit comprises storage locations within the operating height range of the first transport robot, and the second shelf unit comprises storage locations within the operating height range of the first transport robot and storage locations within the operating height range of the second transport robot;

[0062] A control unit, used for driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit;

[0063] Wherein, the control unit executes the above-mentioned material box returning method when driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit.

[0064] One or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application have at least the following technical effects or advantages:

[0065] The embodiments of the present application provide a material box return method, device and storage system, wherein, for the return instruction of a target material box, the material box return method first needs to determine a handling robot that executes the return instruction, and then determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, and finally drive the handling robot to execute the return instruction of the target material box; it can be understood that in this way, the height of the storage location layer where the return storage location is located can be within the operating height range of the handling robot, that is, it can ensure that the handling robot that executes the return instruction of the target material box can smoothly place the target material box in the return storage location, and there will be no situation where the operating height range of the handling robot does not match the height of the return storage location.

[0066] That is to say, unlike the existing situation of first determining the return storage location of the material box and then determining the transport robot, the embodiment of the present application first determines the transport robot, and then determines the return storage location of the target material box based on the determined operating height range of the transport robot. This can effectively avoid the situation where the material box cannot be returned to the warehouse due to the mismatch between the operating height range of the transport robot and the height of the return storage location, thereby solving the above-mentioned technical problems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0067] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other accompanying drawings can be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without paying creative labor.

[0068] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the process of the material box return method described in the embodiment of the present application.

[0069] Figure 2 Schematic diagram comparing the operating height ranges of the low-position robot and the high-position robot described in the embodiments of the present application.

[0070] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the storage layer in the embodiment of the present application at different heights of the shelf units.

[0071] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the workstation shelf described in an embodiment of the present application.

[0072] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the material box return device described in the embodiment of the present application.

[0073] Wherein, the reference numerals are:

[0074] 10- handling robot, 11- walking chassis, 12- lifting gantry, 13- material box handling mechanism, 14- buffer storage location,

[0075] 20-shelf unit, 21-return storage location,

[0076] 30-workstation shelf, 31-initial storage location,

[0077] 40- Reservoir layer,

[0078] 50-target bin,

[0079] 61-robot determination module, 62-return storage location determination module, 63-return execution module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0080] In order to better understand the above technical solution, the example embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described here.

[0081] Please combine Figure 1 to Figure 4 , a material box return method, the material box return method comprising:

[0082] S1. Determine the transport robot 10 that executes the return instruction for the target material box 50; wherein the transport robot 10 includes a walking chassis 11, a lifting gantry 12 fixedly mounted on the walking chassis 11, and a material box transport mechanism 13 that is lifted and lowered along the lifting gantry 12;

[0083] S2. Determine the return storage location 21 of the target material box 50 according to the operating height range of the handling robot 10, so that the height of the storage layer 40 where the return storage location 21 is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot 10; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism 13 along the lifting gantry 12;

[0084] S3 , driving the transport robot 10 to transport the target material box 50 to the determined return storage location 21 .

[0085] In general, the material box return method of this embodiment is to first determine the transport robot, and then determine the return storage position of the target material box according to the determined operating height range of the transport robot.

[0086] Among them, in step S1, after obtaining the return instruction of the target material box, it is necessary to first determine the transport robot that executes the return instruction; it can be understood that the determined transport robot is usually a transport robot without a task or with free buffer storage locations 14.

[0087] Regarding the transport robot 10, it can be combined with Figure 2 The handling robot 10 generally includes a walking chassis 11, on which a lifting gantry 12 extending in the height direction is fixedly installed, and then, one side of the lifting gantry 12 is provided with a material box handling mechanism 13 which can be lifted up and down along the lifting gantry 12, and the other side of the lifting gantry 12 is fixedly provided with a multi-layered buffer storage location 14; it can be understood that in this way, the material box handling mechanism 13 can be lifted up and down along the lifting gantry 12, so as to obtain the material box from the storage layer 40 at different heights of the shelf unit 20, or transfer the material box to the storage layer 40 at different heights of the shelf unit 20, and the buffer storage location 14 provided for the handling robot 10 enables the handling robot to carry multiple material boxes at the same time.

[0088] Among them, in step S2, it is necessary to determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the determined operating height range of the transport robot; for example, please combine Figure 2 , Figure 2 Two different transport robots are shown, wherein the operating height ranges of the two transport robots are different, possibly due to differences in structure or model.

[0089] For example Figure 2 The container handling mechanism 13 of the handling robot on the left side of the figure can be lowered to a height close to the walking chassis 11, but the height of the lifting mechanism 13 may not be high enough; Figure 2 For the transport robot on the middle right, on the contrary, its material box transport mechanism 13 can rise to a higher height, but due to structural limitations, its material box transport mechanism 13 cannot descend to a lower height, such as the height close to the walking chassis 11. This results in different operating height ranges of the two transport robots. It can be understood that the difference in the operating height ranges of the transport robots will lead to different docking storage layers 40.

[0090] In step S2, since the return storage location is determined based on the operating height range of the transport robot, the height of the storage layer 40 where the return storage location 21 is located is within its operating height range, thereby ensuring that the determined transport robot can smoothly transport the returned material box to the return storage location of the shelf unit.

[0091] Among them, in step S3, after the transport robot and the return storage location are determined, the determined transport robot can be driven to transport the target material box to the determined return storage location.

[0092] For example, Figure 2 The transport robot on the left side of the center can dock with the storage locations on the 1st to 13th layers of the shelf unit. Figure 2 The transport robot on the right side of the center can dock with the storage locations on the 3rd to 15th layers of the shelf unit. In this embodiment, for example, the transport robot that executes the return instruction is determined to be Figure 2 For the transport robot on the right side, the return storage location of the target material box is determined according to the operating height range of the transport robot, that is, the return storage location is determined among the storage locations on the 3rd to 15th floors of the shelf unit.

[0093] The embodiments of the present application provide a material box return method and a material box return device, wherein, for the return instruction of a target material box, the material box return method first needs to determine a handling robot that executes the return instruction, and then determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, and finally drive the handling robot to execute the return instruction of the target material box; it can be understood that in this way, the height of the storage location layer where the return storage location is located can be within the operating height range of the handling robot, that is, it can ensure that the handling robot that executes the return instruction of the target material box can smoothly place the target material box in the return storage location, and there will be no situation where the operating height range of the handling robot does not match the height of the return storage location.

[0094] That is to say, unlike the existing situation of first determining the return storage location of the material box and then determining the transport robot, the embodiment of the present application first determines the transport robot, and then determines the return storage location of the target material box based on the determined operating height range of the transport robot. This can effectively avoid the situation where the material box cannot be returned to the warehouse due to the mismatch between the operating height range of the transport robot and the height of the return storage location, thereby solving the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0095] In a possible implementation manner, step S2 includes:

[0096] S201, obtaining the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to different operating height ranges;

[0097] S202, determining the storage location type corresponding to the acquired robot type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage locations according to the heights of the storage locations being in different operating height ranges, and the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type;

[0098] S203. Allocate a storage location back to the warehouse according to the determined storage location type.

[0099] In general, the step S2 can determine the storage location type according to a pre-set correspondence table regarding the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and then allocate the storage location back to the warehouse according to the storage location type.

[0100] Specifically, after determining the transport robot that executes the return instruction, it is necessary to first obtain the robot type of the transport robot; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robots according to the operating height range of the transport robots; for example, the two transport robots described above can be combined to Figure 2 The transport robot on the left can be identified as a low-position robot. Figure 2The transport robot on the right side of the middle can determine its robot type as a high-position robot, that is, in step S201, it is necessary to obtain whether the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction is a high-position robot or a low-position robot.

[0101] Then, in step S202, a correspondence table is preset, which reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type.

[0102] Among them, it can be understood that for a certain storage location of the shelf unit, its height is different due to the different storage layers it is located in. The storage location type of this embodiment is to classify the storage locations according to the different operating height ranges of the storage layer where the storage location is located. For example, according to the operating height ranges of the high-position robot and the low-position robot described above, the storage locations on the 1st to 13th floors can be classified as low-position storage locations, and the storage locations on the 3rd to 15th floors can be classified as high-position storage locations. The high-position storage locations correspond to the high-position robots mentioned above, that is, the storage locations with which the material box handling mechanism of the high-position robots can be docked. The low-position storage locations correspond to the low-position robots mentioned above, that is, the storage locations with which the material box handling mechanism of the low-position robots can be docked.

[0103] In this way, after obtaining the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return to warehouse instruction, the storage location type of the return to warehouse storage location can be determined according to the correspondence table. For example, if the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return to warehouse instruction is a high-position robot, then the correspondence table can be used to determine that the storage location type of the return to warehouse storage location is a high-position storage location.

[0104] It can be seen that the number of storage location types corresponds to the number of robot types. There are several robot types for handling robots, and the storage locations of the shelf unit are classified into corresponding storage location types.

[0105] Finally, the return storage location can be directly allocated according to the determined storage location type, which is step S203. In this way, it can be ensured that the height of the storage layer of the allocated return storage location matches the determined operating height range of the transport robot, or in other words, it can be ensured that the height of the storage layer of the allocated return storage location is within the determined operating height range of the transport robot.

[0106] In a specific implementation, step S203 includes:

[0107] S2031. Among all the vacant storage locations in the shelf unit that meet the determined storage location type, the storage locations are allocated back to the warehouse in the order of the number of classified storage location types from high to low.

[0108] Continuing with the above example, we can understand that in the shelf unit, the storage locations on the 1st and 2nd layers are only classified as low-level storage locations, the storage locations on the 3rd to 13th layers are classified as both high-level storage locations and low-level storage locations, and the storage locations on the 14th and 15th layers are only classified as high-level storage locations.

[0109] At this time, if the robot type of the handling robot that executes the return to warehouse instruction is a high-position robot, according to the correspondence table, the determined storage location type should be a high-position storage location, and in the present embodiment, that is, among the vacant high-position storage locations (storage locations on the 3rd to 15th floors) of the shelf unit, the return storage locations are preferentially allocated among the storage locations on the 3rd to 13th floors; the effect is that since the number of storage location types classified for the storage locations on the 3rd to 13th floors is 2, it means that it can correspond to handling robots with two different operating height ranges. In this way, the return storage locations are preferentially allocated among the storage locations on the 3rd to 13th floors, which can ensure that more types of handling robots are available for selection when the target material box is subsequently shipped out of the warehouse.

[0110] In a specific implementation, step S203 includes:

[0111] S2032. Among all the vacant storage locations in the shelf unit that meet the determined storage location type, select a storage location whose classification attribute is the same as the classification attribute of the items carried by the target bin as the return storage location; wherein the classification attribute includes one or more of the category attribute, production batch attribute and production date attribute of the item.

[0112] That is, after the storage location type of the return storage location is determined as above, a storage location consistent with the storage location type can be allocated from the vacant storage locations in the shelf unit as the return storage location; and, for the allocated return storage location, its classification attribute for classifying items should preferably be consistent with the classification attribute of the items loaded in the target material box, so as to ensure the classified placement of the material boxes on the shelf unit.

[0113] For example, if the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction is a high-level robot, after determining through the above-mentioned correspondence table that the storage location type of the return-to-warehouse storage location is a high-level storage location, this embodiment can select, from the vacant high-level storage locations in the shelf unit, a high-level storage location whose classification attributes for classifying items are the same as the classification attributes of the items carried by the target material box as the return-to-warehouse storage location.

[0114] Here, it should be noted that each storage location of the shelf unit may be pre-assigned with one or more classification attributes of items, which means that the storage location is used to store items with the classification attributes.

[0115] For example, the classification attributes may include the category attributes of the items. For example, some storage locations are pre-allocated for storing "milk", and some storage locations are pre-allocated for storing "shampoo". When the item carried by the target bin is "milk", this embodiment will specifically select a high-level storage location pre-allocated for storing "milk" from the vacant high-level storage locations in the shelf unit as the return storage location.

[0116] To continue, the classification attributes may include the category attributes and production batch attributes of the items. For example, some storage locations are pre-allocated for storing "milk" and "first batch", and some storage locations are pre-allocated for storing "milk" and "second batch". When the items carried by the target bin are "milk" and "first batch", this embodiment will specifically select a high-level storage location pre-allocated for storing "milk" and "first batch" from the vacant high-level storage locations in the shelf unit as the return storage location.

[0117] In a specific implementation, step S2 includes:

[0118] S211, obtaining the operating height range of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction;

[0119] S212. Allocate one of the storage locations whose heights are within the acquired operating height range as a return storage location.

[0120] That is, in other embodiments, the operating height range of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction can also be directly obtained, and then a vacant storage location can be directly allocated from the storage locations within the operating height range as the return-to-warehouse storage location.

[0121] In a specific embodiment, the robot type includes at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and the storage location type includes at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot; of course, according to actual needs, the number of robot types and storage location types can be even greater.

[0122] In a possible implementation manner, step S1 includes:

[0123] S101, obtaining a return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the return-to-warehouse instruction includes an initial storage location of a target material box, and the initial storage location is a storage location where the target material box is stored before returning to the warehouse;

[0124] S102, determining a transport robot according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage location is located, so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage location is located.

[0125] That is, for the target material box that needs to be returned to the warehouse, it is usually located on the workstation shelf 30 at the workstation. The workstation shelf may also have storage layers of different heights like the shelf units in the warehouse area; that is to say, the initial storage position 31 of the target material box 50 also has different heights, which needs to be considered when determining the transport robot to ensure that the transport robot can smoothly obtain the material box from the workstation shelf.

[0126] In this embodiment, step S101 first obtains a return instruction including an initial storage location of a target material box.

[0127] Then, in step S102, the transport robot may be determined according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage location is located, so as to ensure that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage location is located.

[0128] In a specific implementation, step S102 includes:

[0129] S1021, obtaining the storage location type of the initial storage location; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage location according to the height of the storage location being in different operating height ranges;

[0130] S1022, determining the robot type corresponding to the acquired storage location type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to different operating height ranges;

[0131] S1023. Allocate a transport robot according to the determined robot type.

[0132] This embodiment provides a possible way to determine the transport robot in combination with the height of the initial storage location.

[0133] Among them, contrary to the above-mentioned determination of the storage location type according to the robot type, according to the above-mentioned correspondence table, this embodiment determines the robot type of the transport robot according to the storage location type of the initial storage location, and then determines the transport robot according to the determined robot type.

[0134] Specifically, in step S1021, it is necessary to first obtain the storage type of the initial storage location, for example, the storage type of the initial storage location is a low-level storage location.

[0135] Then, in step S1022, in the correspondence table described above, the robot type corresponding to the storage location type of the acquired initial storage location is determined. For example, the robot type can be determined to be a low-level robot based on the low-level storage location.

[0136] Finally, in step S1023, a transport robot may be allocated according to the determined robot type. For example, a low-position robot may be allocated as a transport robot for executing a return-to-warehouse instruction.

[0137] In a specific embodiment, the above-mentioned robot types include at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and correspondingly, the storage location types include at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot; of course, according to actual needs, the number of robot types and storage location types can be even greater.

[0138] Based on the above-mentioned material box return method, the present application also discloses a material box return device, which includes:

[0139] The robot determination module 61 is used to determine the handling robot that executes the return instruction for the target material box; wherein the handling robot includes a walking chassis, a lifting gantry fixedly mounted on the walking chassis, and a material box handling mechanism arranged to be lifted along the lifting gantry;

[0140] The return storage location determination module 62 is used to determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage location is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism along the lifting gantry;

[0141] The return-to-warehouse execution module 63 is used to drive the transport robot to transport the target material box to the determined return-to-warehouse storage location.

[0142] In a possible implementation manner, the return storage location determination module 62 includes:

[0143] A robot type acquisition unit, used to acquire the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to different operating height ranges;

[0144] A storage location type determination unit, for determining the storage location type corresponding to the acquired robot type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage locations according to the height of the storage locations being in different operating height ranges, and the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type;

[0145] The first return storage location allocation unit is used to allocate the return storage location according to the determined storage location type.

[0146] In a specific embodiment, the first storage location allocation unit includes:

[0147] The first storage location allocation subunit is used to allocate back-stock storage locations in the order of the number of classified storage location types from high to low among all the storage locations that are vacant in the shelf unit and meet the determined storage location type.

[0148] In a specific embodiment, the first storage location allocation unit includes:

[0149] The second storage location allocation subunit is used to select one of all the storage locations that are vacant in the shelf unit and meet the determined storage location type, whose classification attributes are the same as the classification attributes of the items carried by the target bin, as the return storage location; wherein the classification attributes include one or more of the category attributes, production batch attributes and production date attributes of the items.

[0150] In a possible implementation manner, the return storage location determination module 62 includes:

[0151] An operating height range acquisition unit, used to acquire the operating height range of the handling robot executing the return-to-warehouse instruction;

[0152] The second return storage location allocation unit is used to allocate one of the storage locations whose storage location heights are within the acquired operating height range as a return storage location.

[0153] In a possible implementation manner, the robot determination module 61 includes:

[0154] The initial storage location acquisition submodule is used to acquire the return instruction; wherein the return instruction includes the initial storage location of the target material box, and the initial storage location is the storage location where the target material box is stored before returning to the warehouse;

[0155] The robot determination submodule is used to determine the transport robot according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located, so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located.

[0156] In a specific implementation, the robot determination submodule includes:

[0157] An initial storage location type acquisition unit is used to acquire the storage location type of the initial storage location; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage location according to the height of the storage location being in different operating height ranges;

[0158] A robot type determination unit, configured to determine the robot type corresponding to the acquired storage location type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different working height ranges;

[0159] The robot allocation unit is used to allocate a handling robot according to the determined robot type.

[0160] Based on the above-mentioned material box return method, the present application also discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the steps in the above-mentioned material box return method.

[0161] Based on the above-mentioned material box return method, the present application also discloses a warehousing system, which includes:

[0162] The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges;

[0163] The shelf unit includes a storage location within the operating height range of the first handling robot and a storage location within the operating height range of the second handling robot;

[0164] A control unit, used to drive the handling robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit;

[0165] The control unit executes the above-mentioned material box returning method when driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit.

[0166] That is, the first transport robot is, for example, the low-position robot mentioned above, and the second transport robot is, for example, the high-position robot mentioned above. At this time, the storage height of the shelf unit is, for example, 1 to 15 layers.

[0167] Based on the above-mentioned material box return method, the present application also discloses a warehousing system, which includes:

[0168] The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges;

[0169] The shelf unit includes at least a first shelf unit and a second shelf unit, the first shelf unit includes storage locations within the operating height range of the first handling robot, and the second shelf unit includes both storage locations within the operating height range of the first handling robot and storage locations within the operating height range of the second handling robot;

[0170] A control unit, used to drive the handling robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit;

[0171] In the process of driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit, the control unit executes the material box return method.

[0172] That is, the first handling robot is, for example, the low-position robot mentioned above, and the second handling robot is, for example, the high-position robot mentioned above. At this time, the storage height of the first shelf is, for example, 1 to 10 layers, and the storage height of the second shelf is, for example, 1 to 15 layers, or 1 to 14 layers.

[0173] The basic principles of the present application are described above in conjunction with specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the advantages, strengths, effects, etc. mentioned in the present application are only examples and not limitations, and it cannot be considered that these advantages, strengths, effects, etc. are required by each embodiment of the present application. In addition, the specific details disclosed above are only for the purpose of illustration and ease of understanding, not for limitation, and the above details do not limit the present application to being implemented by adopting the above specific details.

[0174] The block diagrams of the devices, apparatuses, equipment, and systems involved in this application are only illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that they must be connected, arranged, and configured in the manner shown in the block diagram. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, these devices, apparatuses, equipment, and systems can be connected, arranged, and configured in any manner. Words such as "including", "comprising", "having", etc. are open words, referring to "including but not limited to", and can be used interchangeably with them. The words "or" and "and" used here refer to the words "and / or" and can be used interchangeably with them, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The words "such as" used here refer to the phrase "such as but not limited to", and can be used interchangeably with them.

[0175] It should also be noted that in the apparatus, device and method of the present application, each component or each step can be decomposed and / or recombined. Such decomposition and / or recombination should be regarded as equivalent solutions of the present application.

[0176] The above description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present application. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application is not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but rather to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0177] The above description has been given for the purpose of illustration and description. In addition, this description is not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application to the forms disclosed herein. Although multiple example aspects and embodiments have been discussed above, those skilled in the art will recognize that some variations, modifications, changes, additions and sub-combinations thereof should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A material box return method, characterized in that: The material box return method comprises: For a return instruction of a target material box, a handling robot that executes the return instruction is determined; wherein the handling robot comprises a walking chassis, a lifting gantry fixedly mounted on the walking chassis, and a material box handling mechanism arranged to be lifted along the lifting gantry; Determine the return storage position of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage position is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism along the lifting gantry; The transport robot is driven to transport the target material box to the determined return storage location.

2. The material box return method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of determining the return storage position of the target material box according to the operating height range of the transport robot so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage position is located is within the determined operating height range of the transport robot comprises: Acquire the robot type of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different operating height ranges; Determine the storage location type corresponding to the acquired robot type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage locations according to the heights of the storage locations being located in different working height ranges, and the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type; The return storage location is allocated according to the determined storage location type.

3. The material box return method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The step of allocating the return storage location according to the determined storage location type comprises: Among all the storage locations in the shelf unit that are vacant and meet the determined storage location type, the return storage location is allocated in descending order of the number of classified storage location types.

4. The material box return method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The step of allocating the return storage location according to the determined storage location type comprises: Among all the vacant storage locations in the shelf unit that meet the determined storage location type, a storage location whose classification attribute is the same as the classification attribute of the items carried by the target bin is selected as the return storage location; wherein the classification attribute includes one or more of the category attribute, production batch attribute and production date attribute of the item.

5. The material box return method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of determining the return storage position of the target material box according to the operating height range of the transport robot so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage position is located is within the determined operating height range of the transport robot comprises: Obtaining the operating height range of the transport robot that executes the return-to-warehouse instruction; Among the storage locations whose storage location heights are within the acquired working height range, one is allocated as the return storage location.

6. The material box return method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The robot types include at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and the storage location types include at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot.

7. The material box return method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of determining a handling robot to execute a return instruction for a target material box includes: Acquire the return-to-warehouse instruction; wherein the return-to-warehouse instruction includes the initial storage location of the target material box, and the initial storage location is the storage location where the target material box is stored before returning to the warehouse; The transport robot is determined according to the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located, so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the storage layer where the initial storage position is located.

8. The material box return method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The step of determining the transport robot according to the height of the reservoir layer where the initial reservoir is located so that the operating height range of the transport robot includes the height of the reservoir layer where the initial reservoir is located comprises: Obtaining the storage location type of the initial storage location; wherein the storage location type is a classification of the storage location according to the height of the storage location being in different operating height ranges; Determine the robot type corresponding to the acquired storage location type according to a preset correspondence table; wherein the correspondence table reflects the correspondence between the robot type and the storage location type, and the robot type distinguishes the transport robot according to the different working height ranges; The transport robot is allocated according to the determined robot type.

9. The material box return method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The robot types include at least a high-position robot and a low-position robot, and the storage location types include at least a high-position storage location corresponding to the high-position robot and a low-position storage location corresponding to the low-position robot.

10. A material box return device, characterized in that: The material box return device comprises: A robot determination module is used to determine a handling robot that executes a return instruction of a target material box; wherein the handling robot includes a walking chassis, a lifting gantry fixedly mounted on the walking chassis, and a material box handling mechanism arranged to be lifted along the lifting gantry; A return storage location determination module is used to determine the return storage location of the target material box according to the operating height range of the handling robot, so that the height of the storage layer where the return storage location is located is within the determined operating height range of the handling robot; wherein the operating height range represents the height range of the material box handling mechanism along the lifting gantry; The return-to-warehouse execution module is used to drive the transport robot to transport the target material box to the determined return-to-warehouse storage location.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps in the container return method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

12. A storage system, characterized in that: The storage system comprises: The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges; A shelf unit, comprising a storage location within the operating height range of the first handling robot and a storage location within the operating height range of the second handling robot; A control unit, used for driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit; Wherein, the control unit executes the material box returning method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 in the process of driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit.

13. A storage system, characterized in that: The storage system comprises: The handling robot comprises at least a first handling robot and a second handling robot having different operating height ranges; The shelf unit comprises at least a first shelf unit and a second shelf unit, wherein the first shelf unit comprises storage locations within the operating height range of the first transport robot, and the second shelf unit comprises storage locations within the operating height range of the first transport robot and storage locations within the operating height range of the second transport robot; A control unit, used for driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit; Wherein, the control unit executes the material box returning method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 in the process of driving the transport robot to return the target material box to the shelf unit.

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