Returned goods processing method, server, warehousing robot and warehousing system

Abstract

The invention relates to a returned goods processing method, a server, a storage robot and a storage system. The method comprises the steps of determining a target goods location of a raw material box for storing to-be-warehoused returned goods according to goods information of the to-be-warehoused returned goods; and the first transfer robot is dispatched to run to the work station to obtain the to-be-warehoused and returned goods, the to-be-warehoused and returned goods are conveyed to the target goods allocation, and the to-be-warehoused and returned goods are goods subjected to goods returning processing. According to the scheme provided by the invention, the to-be-warehoused returned goods can be more efficiently and conveniently stored to the target goods allocation, rapid warehousing of the to-be-returned goods is realized, compared with a manual processing mode, more time and labor are saved, and the processing efficiency of the returned goods is effectively improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of intelligent logistics technology, and in particular to a method for processing returned goods, a server, a warehousing robot, and a warehousing system. Background Art

[0002] Return refers to the process in which the buyer returns unsatisfactory goods to the seller. After receiving the returned goods, the seller needs to carry out return processing operations before re-entering the warehouse, such as quality inspection, changing labels, changing tags, ironing, stacking and cleaning. After that, the returned goods need to be sorted before they can be re-entered into the warehouse and sold again.

[0003] In related technologies, the return processing, sorting and re-warehousing of returned goods are generally completed manually by operators. However, the manual processing of returned goods is time-consuming and labor-intensive. For returned goods with a high resale rate, it is difficult to quickly put them on the shelves, which affects the resale progress of the returned goods. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve or partially solve the problems existing in the related art, the present application provides a returned goods processing method, server, warehousing robot and warehousing system, which can realize the efficient processing of returned goods.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for processing returned goods, the method being executed by a server and comprising: determining a target storage location for a raw material box for storing the returned goods based on information about the returned goods to be received; dispatching a first transport robot to a workstation to retrieve the returned goods to be received, and transporting the returned goods to the target storage location. The returned goods to be received are goods that have undergone return processing.

[0006] A second aspect of the present application provides a server for a warehousing system, comprising: a first processor and a first memory. The first memory stores executable code, and when the executable code is executed by the first processor, the first processor executes the method applied to the server as described above.

[0007] A third aspect of the present application provides a method for processing returned goods, performed by a warehouse robot, the method comprising: receiving a dispatch instruction, the dispatch instruction including a pickup location and a target location, the pickup location including a workstation, and the target location including a target cargo location determined based on cargo information of returned goods to be received; operating to the workstation according to the dispatch instruction to retrieve the returned goods to be received, and transporting the returned goods to be received to the target cargo location. The returned goods to be received are goods that have undergone return processing.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a warehouse robot for use in a warehouse system, comprising: a chassis, a carrying device, and a controller. The chassis is used for walking on a support surface. The carrying device is arranged on the chassis, and the carrying device includes a carrying member and a transfer mechanism. The carrying member is used to carry goods or a container containing goods. The transfer mechanism is used to move goods or a container containing goods to or from the carrying member. The controller includes a second processor and a second memory. Executable code is stored on the memory, and when the executable code is executed by the second processor, the second processor executes the method applied to the warehouse robot as described above.

[0009] A fifth aspect of the present application provides a warehousing system comprising the server as described above and at least one warehousing robot as described above.

[0010] The technical solution provided by this application may have the following beneficial effects:

[0011] By determining the target cargo location for the raw material box for storing the returned goods to be warehoused, dispatching the first handling robot to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be warehoused, and transporting the returned goods to be warehoused to the target cargo location, the server cooperates with the first handling robot to more efficiently and conveniently store the returned goods to be warehoused at the target cargo location, realizing the rapid warehousing of the returned goods. Compared with manual processing methods, it saves time and effort, and effectively improves the processing efficiency of returned goods.

[0012] It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present application will become more apparent by describing in more detail exemplary embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals generally represent like components in the exemplary embodiments of the present application.

[0014] Figure 1 This is one of the regional layout diagrams of the warehouse shown in the embodiment of the present application;

[0015] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of a sorting workstation in an embodiment of the present application;

[0016] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the layout of the sorting workstation and the inventory area in an embodiment of the present application;

[0017] Figure 4 This is one of the flow charts of the operation control process of the conveyor belt robot in the embodiment of the present application;

[0018] Figure 5 This is the second flow chart of the operation control process of the conveyor belt robot in the embodiment of the present application;

[0019] Figure 6 1 is a flow chart of the operation control process of the tilting robot in an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 7 This is a schematic structural diagram of a push-plate robot in an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] Figure 8 1 is a flow chart of the operation control process of the push-plate robot in an embodiment of the present application;

[0022] Figure 9 This is a structural diagram of a single-layer flip-plate sorting robot in an embodiment of the present application;

[0023] Figure 10 This is a structural diagram of a multi-layer flip-plate sorting robot in an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 11 This is one of the flow charts of the operation control process of the flip-plate robot in the embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 12 This is the second flow chart of the operation control process of the flip-plate robot in the embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 13 1 is a flow chart of a method for releasing inventory according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the order collection and delivery process of the airport duty-free shop in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 15 This is a flow chart of a method for sorting goods in a batch order scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 16 This is a flow chart of a method for processing returned goods executed by a server in a return scenario in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 17 This is the second schematic diagram of the regional layout of the warehouse shown in the embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of the cargo handling process in the cargo handling mode in the embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 19 This is a schematic diagram of the cargo processing flow in the first-in, last-out mode in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 20This is a schematic diagram of the cargo handling process in the first-arrange-then-entry mode in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 21 It is a flow chart of the method for handling returned goods executed by a warehouse robot in a return scenario in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The following describes embodiments of the present application in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the present application, it should be understood that the present application can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to make the present application more thorough and complete, and to fully convey the scope of the present application to those skilled in the art.

[0036] The terms used in this application are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit this application. The singular forms of "a", "said" and "the" used in this application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0037] It should be understood that although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used in this application to describe various information, this information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this application, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0038] References herein to "embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor does it constitute an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is understood, both explicitly and implicitly, by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0039] In the related art, traditional warehouses used for goods storage generally have independent storage areas, picking areas, and sorting areas. The warehouse occupies a large area, and the sorting area generally uses a seeding wall. Since the seeding wall can provide limited storage slots for order boxes, the number of order boxes that can be placed on the wall is small, resulting in unreasonable warehouse layout and low storage efficiency.

[0040] An embodiment of the present application provides a warehouse, see Figure 1 The warehouse includes an incoming storage area 11, an incoming replenishment workstation 12, an inventory area 13, a sorting workstation 14, a collection area 15 and an outgoing packaging workstation 16.

[0041] The incoming goods storage area 11 is primarily used to receive incoming goods. The goods are then delivered to the incoming goods replenishment station 12. After inspection and repackaging at this station, the goods are packed into raw material boxes and stored in the inventory area 13. When an order is received, the raw material boxes are moved to the sorting station 14 for selection and sorting. After sorting, the goods are delivered to the corresponding order boxes. Once the sorting task is completed, the order boxes are moved to the collection area 15 for collection. When it's time to ship out, the order boxes are transported from the collection area 15 to the outbound packaging station 16 for packaging and shipment.

[0042] At least one shelf is provided in the inventory area 13. In one embodiment, the shelf has a raw material box storage area and an order box storage area. The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area can be arranged in various ways, as follows:

[0043] The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on the same shelf, and the order box storage area is located below the raw material box storage area; or,

[0044] The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on the same shelf, and the order box storage area and the raw material box storage area are alternately arranged in the height direction or in the horizontal direction; or,

[0045] The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on different shelves, and the order box storage area is closer to the sorting workstation than the raw material box storage area.

[0046] It is understood that, considering that the task of transporting sorted goods is heavier than that of transporting raw material boxes, the order box storage area can be located below the raw material box storage area on the same shelf. Alternatively, the order box storage area and the raw material box storage area can be arranged alternately on the same shelf. For example, when alternating vertically, they can be arranged with the same number of intervals or different numbers of intervals. For another example, when alternating horizontally, they can be arranged with the same number of columns or different numbers of storage locations. Alternatively, the order box storage area and the raw material box storage area can be located on different shelves, with the order box storage area located on a shelf closer to the target sorting workstation, thereby ensuring efficient transportation of sorted goods.

[0047] The collection area 15 is mainly used to collect goods that have been sorted and are ready for shipment. The collection area 15 can be located outside the storage area 13, in which case the collection area 15 and the storage area 13 are independent of each other. The collection area 15 can also be located within the storage area 13, in which case the collection area 15 occupies some shelves or shelves in the storage area 13.

[0048] In one embodiment, the collection area 15 in the warehouse can be set on the shelf, that is, the shelf can also be provided with the collection area 15. There are also multiple layout methods when the collection area 15 is provided on the shelf, which is specifically reflected in the difference in the regional division of the shelf where the collection area 15 is located. In actual application, the shelf where the collection area 15 is located can be arranged according to the following scheme:

[0049] The shelf where the collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the collection area and the raw material box storage area partially overlap; or,

[0050] The shelf where the collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the collection area and the raw material box storage area do not overlap; or,

[0051] The shelf where the goods collection area is located does not have a raw material box storage area, and the goods collection area is closer to the outbound packaging workstation of the warehousing system than the raw material box storage area.

[0052] It can be understood that the collection area and the raw material box storage area can be set up on the same shelf. In this case, some of the cargo positions in the raw material box storage area can be used as part of the collection positions in the collection area, so that the raw material box storage area and the collection area partially overlap; the collection area can also be arranged in the area outside the raw material box storage area on the same shelf, so that the raw material box storage area and the collection area do not overlap.

[0053] In this embodiment, the collection area and the raw material box storage area partially overlap or do not overlap. The overlap can be understood as at least part of the cargo locations in the collection area are the same as at least part of the cargo locations in the raw material box storage area, that is, at least part of the cargo locations in the collection area adopt the cargo locations in the raw material box storage area.

[0054] In actual applications, the collection area and the raw material box storage area can also be set on different shelves. In this case, in order to make the subsequent outbound process more efficient, the collection area can be set on the shelf of the outbound packaging workstation of the warehousing system closer to the raw material box storage area.

[0055] In some embodiments, the shelf is further provided with a climbing rail for the robot to climb, so that the robot can move to the target location on the shelf by climbing to pick up and place goods.

[0056] In the warehouse provided in this embodiment, the sorting workstation 14 may be located on one side of the inventory area 13. In one embodiment, the sorting workstation 13 may specifically include a sorting position, and a first channel and a second channel located on both sides of the sorting position, wherein:

[0057] The first docking position is located in the first channel, the second docking position is located in the second channel, and the sorting position is located between the first docking position and the second docking position.

[0058] It is understood that the first and second channels can be used for different robots to travel on. For example, in the sorting process, the first channel is used for the transport robot that transports raw material boxes, and the second channel is used for the sorting robot that transports sorted goods or order boxes containing sorted goods.

[0059] By setting up the first channel and the second channel, the driving trajectories of different robots can be separated so that different robots do not interfere with each other during work. For example, the transport robot and the sorting robot will not interfere with each other during the sorting process, ensuring the orderly progress of the sorting process.

[0060] In one embodiment, the first channel and the second channel may be spaced apart from each other, the sorting position is located in the space between the first channel and the second channel, and the first parking position and the second parking position are both adjacent to the sorting position.

[0061] The first channel and the second channel are both U-shaped channels, and the openings of the U-shaped channels are both facing the storage area. One side of the opening is the entrance of the U-shaped channel, and the other side is the exit of the U-shaped channel.

[0062] The entrances and exits of the first channel and the second channel are both toward the inventory area.

[0063] It is understood that the first channel and the second channel can be spaced apart from each other, for example, the first channel and the second channel can be symmetrically arranged on either side of the sorting station. The first channel and the second channel can be arranged in the same or different directions, for example, the first channel and the second channel can be arranged in parallel or in two different directions, such as in an "eight" shape.

[0064] In a specific implementation, the U-shaped channel has two parallel branch channels, and there is an opening between the ends of the two branch channels. The end of the branch channel on one side of the opening forms the entrance of the U-shaped channel, and the end of the branch channel on the other side of the opening forms the outlet of the U-shaped channel.

[0065] In some embodiments, the first channel and the second channel can also adopt other curved structure channels similar to the U-shaped channel, mainly having entrances and exits for corresponding robots to enter and exit the station, so as to meet the entry and exit work needs of different robots. At the same time, in order to facilitate the sorting link, the handling robots and the sorting robots can efficiently transport goods between the inventory area and the sorting workstation, the entrances and exits of the channels can be facing the inventory area.

[0066] Figure 2 The structure of the first channel 31 and the second channel 32 is shown as an example. Figure 2 , the first channel 31 and the second channel 32 are both U-shaped channels.

[0067] Among them, the first channel 31 includes a first branch channel 311, a second branch channel 312 and a first connecting portion 313. There is an opening between the ends of the first branch channel 311 and the second branch channel 312. The end of the first branch channel 311 forms the entrance of the U-shaped channel, and the end of the second branch channel 312 forms the exit of the U-shaped channel. The first docking position A is provided at the first connecting portion 313. In actual applications, taking the sorting link as an example, the transport robot can load the raw material box from the first cargo position according to the received first scheduling instruction and then transport the raw material box to the first docking position A through the first branch channel 311. After the current round of sorting is completed, the transport robot drives away from the target sorting workstation through the second branch channel 312.

[0068] The second channel 32 includes a third branch channel 321, a fourth branch channel 322 and a second connecting portion 323. There is an opening between the ends of the third branch channel 321 and the fourth branch channel 322. The end of the third branch channel 321 forms the entrance of the U-shaped channel, and the end of the fourth branch channel 322 forms the exit of the U-shaped channel. The second docking position B is provided at the second connecting portion 323. Taking the sorting link as an example, the sorting robot can move to the second docking position B via the third branch channel 321 according to the received second scheduling instruction, and the operator at the sorting position C takes the target goods from the raw material box on the transport robot and places it on the sorting robot, so that the goods become sorted goods. After this round of sorting is completed, the sorting robot transports the sorted goods to the second cargo position via the fourth branch channel 322.

[0069] It is understood that when the transport robot moves on the first channel 31, it is not limited to entering the first branch channel 311 and leaving the second branch channel 312. It can also enter the second branch channel 312 and leave the first branch channel 311. During the sorting process, it is necessary to ensure that the two robots each occupy a channel so that the movement paths of the two robots do not intersect during the sorting process.

[0070] In one embodiment, the storage area may include a plurality of shelves, with adjacent shelves forming lanes, and the entrance and exit of the U-shaped passage may correspond to the lanes, respectively.

[0071] Understandably, during the warehousing process, cargo-handling robots need to navigate aisles to retrieve and place goods from designated shelves. To facilitate efficient robot travel between shelves and target sorting stations, the entrances and exits of the first and second branch aisles can be arranged to correspond to the entrances of multiple aisles. This allows the robots to move more linearly, with fewer turns, while completing sorting tasks while traveling shorter and more efficiently.

[0072] In a specific implementation, the specific orientations of the entrances and exits of the two branch passages of the first and second passages can be determined based on the storage areas corresponding to the goods being transported by the robots traveling thereon. For example, if a transport robot is traveling in the first passage and is carrying raw material boxes, the orientations of the entrances and exits of the two branch passages of the first passage can be determined based on the storage areas of the raw material boxes. For example, if the raw material boxes are stored on three of a plurality of shelves, forming two lanes between the three shelves, the entrances and exits of the two branch passages of the first passage can correspond to the entrances of the two lanes.

[0073] For another example, raw material boxes and sorted goods are not stored on specific shelves. Instead, the same shelf can have both storage areas for raw material boxes and sorted goods. In this case, the entrances and exits of the two branch aisles of the first and second aisles can correspond to the aisle entrances near the middle of all shelf areas, so that the distance from each shelf to the first or second aisle is closer when the robot transports goods.

[0074] In practical applications, multiple sorting stations can be set up, each of which can include a sorting position and a first channel and a second channel located on either side of the sorting position. In scenarios with multiple sorting stations, corresponding sorting tasks can be assigned to each sorting station. For example, each sorting station can be assigned a corresponding pending order. Based on the assigned pending order, handling robots and sorting robots are dispatched to the first channel and second channel of the corresponding sorting station to perform sorting tasks.

[0075] When assigning sorting tasks to each sorting station, sorting tasks corresponding to pending orders with shorter delivery routes can be assigned based on the cargo information on both sides of the laneway entrances corresponding to the entrances and exits of the two branch channels of the first and second channels. For example, if the laneway entrances corresponding to the two branch channels of the first and second channels of a sorting station contain Class D and Class E cargo on both sides of the laneway entrances, and the cargo information of the target pending order only contains a certain number of Class D and Class E cargo, the target pending order can be assigned to this group of first and second channels.

[0076] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the layout of the aisles and shelves 20 is shown as an example when there are two sorting workstations. Figure 3 Taking one of the sorting workstations as an example, the exit of the branch channel of the first channel 31 corresponds to the lane formed between the third and fourth rows of shelves arranged from left to right, and the entrance of the branch channel of the first channel 31 corresponds to the lane formed between the fourth and fifth rows of shelves arranged from left to right. The exit of the branch channel of the second channel 32 corresponds to the lane formed between the second and third rows of shelves arranged from left to right, and the entrance of the branch channel of the second channel 32 corresponds to the lane formed between the first and second rows of shelves arranged from left to right.

[0077] Taking the transport robot driving on the first channel 31 and the sorting robot driving on the second channel 32 as an example, the driving directions of the transport robot and the sorting robot can be seen in Figure 3 As shown by the arrow in the middle, see Figure 3 After receiving the first scheduling instruction, the handling robot takes out the raw material box from the first cargo position of the designated layer on the fifth row of shelves arranged from left to right, and transports the raw material box to the first docking position through a side branch channel of the first channel 31.

[0078] After receiving the second dispatch instruction, the sorting robot arrives at the second docking position through the branch channel on one side of the second channel 32, loads the sorted goods, and transports the sorted goods through the branch channel on the other side of the second channel 32 to the second cargo position on the designated layer of the third row of shelves arranged from left to right.

[0079] After completing this round of sorting, the transport robot departs the target sorting station via the branch channel on the other side of the first channel 31. At this point, if the material box on the transport robot is not empty, the transport robot moves the material box to a designated material box storage location for further storage. If the material box on the transport robot is empty, the transport robot moves the empty box to the recycling operation platform for recycling. During this movement, the transport robot can climb the shelves 20 or move on the ground.

[0080] In one embodiment, the U-shaped passage is a ramp, and the heights of the exit and entrance of the U-shaped passage are both lower than the height of the first docking position or the second docking position.

[0081] It is understandable that if the sorting process requires manual sorting, during the sorting process, the operator takes the goods from the raw material box on the handling robot at the sorting position and places them on the sorting robot. In this case, on the one hand, the height of the first channel and the second channel close to the sorting position (that is, the side away from the exit and the entrance) can be set to take into account the operating comfort of the operator. The height of the first stop and the second stop close to the sorting position can be set to a height that the operator can touch when standing or sitting, so that the operator can complete the sorting operation without performing complex body movements such as bending over.

[0082] On the other hand, when setting the heights of the exits and entrances of the first channel and the second channel, the driving safety of the robot needs to be considered. The heights of the exits and entrances can be set to the heights allowed for safe driving of the robot.

[0083] Taking the above two factors into consideration, the end of the ramp away from the sorting position is lower, and the end close to the sorting position is higher. This setting can take into account both the operator's work comfort and the robot's driving safety.

[0084] In one embodiment, the first channel and / or the second channel may be provided with an anti-slip structure, which may specifically include anti-slip strips and / or anti-slip bumps distributed according to the wheelbase of the corresponding robot.

[0085] It is understandable that when the first channel and the second channel are ramps, the robot may slip during the climbing process due to insufficient friction between the robot's running wheels and the ramp surface, affecting the robot's driving safety and stability. By adding an anti-slip structure, the risk of slippage can be reduced and the robot's driving safety and stability can be improved.

[0086] In a specific implementation, when the anti-slip structure is anti-slip strips distributed according to the robot's wheelbase, two or more anti-slip strips can be set, and the spacing between two adjacent anti-slip strips is equal to the robot's wheelbase or the difference between the two is within a specified numerical range, so as to ensure that the robot's walking wheels can accurately contact the anti-slip strips during ramp driving.

[0087] When the anti-slip structure comprises anti-slip bumps distributed according to the robot's wheelbase, the anti-slip bumps may be provided in two or more groups. Each group of anti-slip bumps may be arranged along the extension direction of the ramp. Adjacent anti-slip bumps in each group may be spaced apart by a specified spacing. The spacing between two adjacent groups of anti-slip bumps, or the spacing between two adjacent anti-slip bumps in the ramp width direction, may be equal to the robot's wheelbase, or the difference between the two may be within a specified range of values, to ensure that the robot's running wheels accurately contact the anti-slip bumps during ramp travel.

[0088] In actual applications, the anti-slip structure can also be other structural forms, such as one or more anti-slip layers laid on the surface of the first channel and / or the second channel, or one or more anti-slip mats fixed on the surface of the first channel and / or the second channel. The specific structure can be reasonably set according to actual conditions.

[0089] In one embodiment, the height of the first parking position is higher than the height of the second parking position.

[0090] It is understandable that during the sorting process, operators need to remove the goods to be sorted from the raw material box on the handling robot and place them on the sorting robot. Since the sorting robot can be a flip-plate type robot, if the flip plates are set up in multiple layers, the flip plates themselves have a certain height. In order to ensure that the operator can more conveniently place the goods on the sorting robot, the height of the second docking position for the sorting robot can be set slightly lower, thereby improving the operator's working comfort.

[0091] like Figure 2 and Figure 3 In the situation shown, for a sorting robot with a single-layer structure without a flap, there is no need to consider the impact of the flap height on the operator's working comfort. In this case, considering that the raw material box carried by the transport robot has a certain height, in order to facilitate the operator to easily take the goods from the raw material box, the height of the first docking position for the transport robot can be set slightly lower, so that the height of the first docking position is lower than the height of the second docking position, thereby improving the operator's working comfort.

[0092] In the warehouse provided in this embodiment, the outbound packaging workstation is mainly used to pack and ship out the sorted order boxes according to the outbound requirements. For example, the outbound order boxes corresponding to the same delivery address can be packed and shipped together.

[0093] To sum up, through the reasonable layout of the warehouse, the three-dimensional storage of goods can be realized through the shelves in the inventory area, and the inventory functions such as raw material box storage, order box storage and collection can be integrated into one, thereby improving the space utilization rate in the inventory area. Moreover, through the reasonable structural design of the sorting workstation, sorting and picking work can be carried out simultaneously, thereby improving the efficiency of goods sorting and picking and reducing the floor space occupied by the sorting area.

[0094] An embodiment of the present application also provides a storage system, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 The warehousing system specifically includes: shelves 20, a handling robot 21, and a sorting robot 22. Optionally, the shelves 20 have a storage area for raw material boxes and a storage area for order boxes. The handling robot 21 and the sorting robot 22 are respectively connected to the server via a network, and the corresponding instructions sent by the server can respectively control the handling robot 21 and / or the sorting robot 22 to perform corresponding actions. The network can be a wired network or a wireless network, which is not specifically limited here. It is understandable that the server can include one or more management terminals and / or one or more management servers.

[0095] The server is at least used to send the first scheduling instruction and the second scheduling instruction. It can be understood that the first scheduling instruction or the second scheduling instruction is not limited to a single instruction, and can also be a combination of multiple instructions.

[0096] The transport robot 21 is configured to receive a first dispatch instruction and transport the raw material box from the first cargo position to the first docking position A of the target sorting workstation according to the first dispatch instruction.

[0097] Sorting robot 22 is configured to receive the second dispatch instruction and, in accordance with the second dispatch instruction, to arrive at second docking position B of the target sorting station. This allows the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on handling robot 21 at first docking position A to be sorted by sorting robot 22 at second docking position B, where they become sorted goods. Sorting robot 22 is also configured to transport the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods from the second docking position to the second cargo position.

[0098] The first cargo location is a cargo location in the raw material box storage area, and the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0099] It can be understood that the transport robot 21 can be a first robot capable of performing a cargo transport task, and the sorting robot 22 can be a second robot capable of performing a cargo delivery task after sorting.

[0100] In actual applications, the server can determine the types and quantities of goods to be sorted based on the types and quantities of goods required by multiple orders involved in an order sorting task, and dispatch one or more handling robots 21 based on inventory information to transport the raw material boxes containing the corresponding goods to be sorted to the first docking position of the target sorting workstation for the next step of sorting.

[0101] It is understood that the number of goods in the raw material boxes transported by the transport robot 21 can be greater than or equal to the number of goods corresponding to the requirements of multiple orders. In addition, based on the load capacity of the transport robot 21, a transport robot 21 can be scheduled to retrieve multiple raw material boxes from the same or different storage locations and transport them to the first docking position of the target sorting workstation at one time, thereby reducing the number of transports and improving transportation efficiency.

[0102] In one specific implementation, the server generates a first dispatch instruction based on pre-stored inventory information, received information about the required goods for multiple orders involved in a single order sorting task, and the current status information of the transport robot 21. The first dispatch instruction includes location information of a first location, which is the location where the goods to be sorted are placed, determined based on the required goods information for the multiple orders. The current status information of the transport robot 21 includes, for example, its current location and whether it is currently idle.

[0103] On the other hand, the server generates a second dispatch instruction based on the second cargo location corresponding to the order with sorted goods among the multiple orders and the current status information of the sorting robot 22. The second dispatch instruction includes the location information of the second cargo location. The current status information of the sorting robot 22 includes, for example, the current location of the sorting robot 22 and whether it is currently idle.

[0104] In some embodiments, the storage system includes multiple transport robots 21 and / or multiple sorting robots 22. The multiple transport robots 21 move along the same first motion trajectory (e.g. Figure 3 The first motion trajectory includes a first entry trajectory and a first exit trajectory; multiple sorting robots 22 move along the same second motion trajectory (e.g. Figure 3 The second motion trajectory (indicated by the arrow in the middle) sequentially enters and exits the second docking position B of the target sorting station. The second motion trajectory includes a second entry trajectory and a second exit trajectory; the first motion trajectory and the second motion trajectory do not intersect. By setting fixed, non-intersecting first and second motion trajectories, the movement paths of the handling robot 21 and the sorting robot 22 during the dispatch process are optimized to improve efficiency, ensuring sorting accuracy while improving efficiency and avoiding confusion in cargo transportation within the warehousing system.

[0105] In an optional embodiment, when multiple transport robots 21 and multiple sorting robots 22 enter and exit the target sorting workstation along the first motion trajectory and the second motion trajectory, the scheduling of the multiple transport robots 21 and multiple sorting robots 22 can be controlled based on the specific cargo information required by the order box, the performance, work efficiency, cost, and other actual conditions of the transport robots 21 and sorting robots 22, so as to complete the sorting work of the cargo directly from the transport robots 21 to the sorting robots 22. The following are several examples, but are not limited to the following:

[0106] In the first case, when the goods to be sorted in the raw material box transported by the transport robot 21 located at the first docking position are more than the goods required for multiple orders involved in an order sorting task, the transport robot 21 can remain motionless at the first docking position A, and dispatch multiple sorting robots 22 to queue up and enter and exit the second docking position B in sequence, so as to sort the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the same transport robot 21 to different sorting robots 22, and enable the sorting robots 22 that obtain the sorted goods to move in sequence from the second docking position B to the second cargo position for storing the order boxes corresponding to the sorted goods.

[0107] It is understandable that the sorting robot 22 may move to the second cargo location after obtaining part of the required goods for the corresponding order, or may move to the second cargo location after obtaining all the required goods for the corresponding order.

[0108] In the second case, for example, when the cargo required for multiple orders involved in a sorting task exceeds the cargo capacity of a single transport robot 21, or when multiple transport robots 21 are most efficient in transporting the raw material boxes, multiple transport robots 21 can be dispatched to transport the raw material boxes based on demand. For example, if two transport robots (a first transport robot and a second transport robot) are required to transport the raw material boxes, the two transport robots enter the first channel in sequence. The first transport robot arrives at the first docking position, followed by the second transport robot. The sorting robot is then dispatched to the second docking position. After the first transport robot sorts the required cargo and transfers it to the sorting robot, the first transport robot is dispatched to move out of the first docking position, and the second transport robot is dispatched to move to the first docking position. After the second transport robot sorts additional required cargo and transfers it to the sorting robot, the sorting robot is dispatched from the second docking position to the second cargo position. As for the second transport robot, the server can determine whether the second transport robot has the required cargo based on the next order demand. If so, the second transport robot can remain in the first docking position and the next sorting robot in the queue can be dispatched to the second docking position to complete the sorting. Otherwise, the second transport robot is dispatched to move out of the first docking position.

[0109] In the third case, based on the second case, the sorting robot 22 may also include a first sorting robot and a second sorting robot. The first sorting robot is queued in front of the second sorting robot. When the first sorting robot obtains the sorted goods and moves to the second cargo position, the second sorting robot enters the second docking position in sequence. If the transport robot currently located at the first docking position cannot meet the needs of the order corresponding to the second sorting robot, but the transport robot can still meet the order needs of the sorting robot queued behind the second sorting robot, in order not to affect the sorting of subsequent orders, the second sorting robot is dispatched to go out along the second exit track and then turn to the sorting robot at the tail and re-queue until it obtains the goods to be transported and moves to the second cargo position.

[0110] In some embodiments, the sorting robot 22 detects whether the sorted goods being transported match the target goods according to the sorting detection instruction. The sorting detection instruction can be sent by the server or generated by the sorting robot 22 after detecting and obtaining the sorted goods.

[0111] In a specific implementation, the second scheduling instruction or sorting detection instruction may include the target cargo type and / or quantity. After the sorting robot 22 obtains the sorted cargo, it can detect the type and / or quantity of the obtained sorted cargo, and compare it with the target cargo type and / or quantity in the second scheduling instruction to determine whether the obtained sorted cargo matches the target cargo. The sorting robot 22 can take an image to determine the type and / or quantity of the obtained sorted cargo, or it can detect it through a sensing device, such as a weight sensor. If the obtained sorted cargo matches the target cargo, the sorted cargo will be transported to the second cargo location; if it does not match, for example, feedback can be sent to the server. The server makes the next decision, such as allowing the sorting robot 22 located at the second docking position to continue moving to the second cargo location, or return to the end to queue again, or move to a preset fault handling position, etc.

[0112] It is understood that the raw material boxes transported by the transport robots 21 can be determined based on the quantity and / or type of goods to be sorted required by the multiple orders involved in a single order sorting task, and the quantity of goods to be sorted in the raw material boxes must not be less than the order requirements. That is, when the transport robots 21 transport the goods to be sorted, information such as the quantity and type of goods required by the order can be obtained in advance. Based on the order requirements, one or more transport robots 21 are instructed to go to the corresponding first storage location according to the corresponding first dispatch instruction to retrieve the corresponding type of goods to be sorted, in a quantity that is not less than the order requirements.

[0113] In one specific implementation, at the target sorting workstation, an operator standing at a sorting position can sort the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the transport robot 21 located next to them, and directly sort the goods from the transport robot 21 to the sorting robot 22. This allows the sorting work of the goods to be sorted to be carried out conveniently and quickly according to the corresponding order requirements of the sorting robot 22.

[0114] In some embodiments, the warehousing system can also be configured for automated sorting. The warehousing system includes at least one sorting mechanism, with a target sorting workstation located within the sorting mechanism's work area. The sorting mechanism replaces the manual sorting described above, enabling the sorting mechanism to be controlled to retrieve the goods required for an order from the raw material bin of the transport robot 21 and transfer them to the sorting robot 22.

[0115] It should be noted that the transport robot 21 and the sorting robot 22 can be robots of the same or different structures. When picking up and placing goods, the first and / or second cargo locations can be storage locations on a shelf. The transport robot 21 and / or the sorting robot 22 can climb the shelf to move to the target cargo location to pick up and place the goods. In this case, the transport robot 21 and / or the sorting robot 22 has a climbing wheel train that is compatible with the climbing track of the shelf. The climbing wheel train can freely move on the climbing track of the shelf to achieve the function of climbing the shelf to pick up and place goods.

[0116] In one embodiment, a transport robot may include: a first chassis for traveling on a support surface, a first carrying device disposed on the first chassis, and a first controller. The first carrying device specifically includes: a first carrier for carrying a raw material box, and a first transfer mechanism for moving the raw material box to or from the first carrier. The first controller may be electrically connected to the first chassis, the first carrier, and the first transfer mechanism. The first controller may control the precise movement of the first chassis, the first carrier, and the first transfer mechanism to complete the corresponding transport task.

[0117] For example, during the sorting process, the first controller can be configured to receive a first dispatch instruction and, based on the first dispatch instruction, control the first transfer mechanism to move the raw material box from the first storage location to the first carrier. The first controller can be configured to control the movement of the first chassis to transport the raw material box from the first storage location to the first docking position of the target sorting workstation, so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box are sorted by a sorting robot at the second docking position of the target sorting workstation at the target sorting workstation, becoming sorted goods, and then transported by the sorting robot to the second storage location. The first storage location is a storage location in the raw material box storage area of ​​the shelf, and the second storage location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelf according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0118] In some embodiments, the first transfer mechanism of the transport robot may be a double-holding fork, a suction cup, a hook, etc.

[0119] In one embodiment, the sorting robot specifically includes: a second chassis for traveling on a support surface, a second carrying device disposed on the second chassis, and a second controller. The second carrying device specifically includes: a second carrying member and a second transfer mechanism. The second carrying member is used to carry target goods or target containers, such as sorted goods or target order boxes; the second transfer mechanism is used to move the target goods or target containers to or from the second carrying member, such as sorted goods or target order boxes; and the second controller is used to control the actions of the second chassis, the second carrying member, and the second transfer mechanism to complete the corresponding transportation task.

[0120] For example, during the sorting process, the second controller can be configured to receive a second dispatch instruction and, based on the second dispatch instruction, control the second chassis to move to the second docking position of the target sorting station, so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the handling robot at the first docking position of the target sorting station can be sorted onto the second carrier to become sorted goods. The second controller can be configured to control the movement of the second chassis to transport the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods from the second docking position to the second cargo position. The first cargo position is a cargo position in the raw material box storage area of ​​the shelf, and the second cargo position is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelf according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0121] In practical applications, the sorting robot may be a robot with a single-layer flip plate or a multi-layer flip plate structure, and the second transfer mechanism may be a conveyor belt, a flip plate or a push plate.

[0122] Conveyor robots can be further categorized into two structural types. In the first structural type, the conveyor belt can only perform translational motion. In this case, taking a sorting robot as an example, the second transfer mechanism may include a conveyor belt that is sleeved onto a second carrier, jointly carrying the sorted goods and capable of rotating relative to the second carrier to move the sorted goods on the conveyor belt to the second storage location.

[0123] See also Figure 4 When there is a cargo delivery task and the conveyor belt can only move in translation, the operation control process of the conveyor belt robot is as follows:

[0124] S410, controlling the chassis of the conveyor robot to move to the target cargo location, and aligning the conveyor belt with the target cargo location.

[0125] S420: Control the conveyor belt to move toward the target cargo location to move the cargo on the conveyor belt or the container containing the cargo to the second cargo location.

[0126] In the second structural form, the conveyor belt can perform both translational and flipping motions. In this case, taking a sorting robot as an example, the second transfer mechanism can include a conveyor belt and a drive member. The conveyor belt is mounted on a second carrier and can rotate relative to the second carrier, that is, move along the carrier's surface. The drive member is connected to the second carrier and is used to drive the second carrier and the conveyor belt to flip relative to the second chassis. The sorted goods are delivered to the second storage location through the movement of the conveyor belt and the tilting of the conveyor belt and the second carrier.

[0127] See also Figure 5 When there is a task of transporting goods, and the conveyor belt can move in translation and flipping, the operation control process of the conveyor belt robot is as follows:

[0128] S510, controlling the chassis of the conveyor robot to move to the target cargo location, and aligning the conveyor belt with the target cargo location.

[0129] S520, controlling the conveyor belt to move toward the target cargo location, and controlling the driving member to drive the conveyor belt and the second carrier to flip relative to the chassis, so as to deliver the cargo on the conveyor belt to the container in the second cargo location.

[0130] For a tilting robot, the tilting plate can be tilted relative to the chassis to dump the goods to the target storage location. Taking a sorting robot as an example, the second carrier can include a tilting plate, and the second transfer mechanism is connected to the tilting plate and is used to drive the tilting plate to tilt relative to the second chassis to dump the sorted goods to the second storage location.

[0131] See also Figure 6 ,When there is a cargo delivery task, the operation and control process of the tilting robot is as follows:

[0132] S610, controlling the chassis of the tilting robot to move to the target cargo location, and aligning the tilting robot with the target cargo location.

[0133] S620: Control the second transfer mechanism to drive the tilting plate to tilt relative to the chassis, so as to dump the goods on the tilting plate to the target cargo location.

[0134] For push-plate robots, the goods can be pushed to the target location by pushing the plate. Figure 7 The second transfer mechanism may include a push plate 41 provided on the second carrier, and the push plate 41 may be translated relative to the second carrier to push the sorted goods on the second carrier to the second cargo position.

[0135] See also Figure 8 ,When there is a cargo delivery task, the operation control process of the push-plate robot is as follows:

[0136] S710, control the chassis of the push-plate robot to move to the target cargo location, and align the push plate with the target cargo location.

[0137] S720: Control the push plate to move toward the target cargo location to push the cargo on the second carrier to the second cargo location.

[0138] For a single-layer flip-plate or multi-layer flip-plate robot, the goods can be dropped onto the carrier by flipping the flip-plate, and then the goods on the carrier are moved to the target cargo position by the transfer mechanism. Taking a single-layer flip-plate sorting robot as an example, in one embodiment, see Figure 9 The second carrying device further includes a flap 51 disposed above the second carrying member. The flap 51 is used to carry the sorted goods, and the flap 51 can be flipped relative to the second carrying member so that the sorted goods on the flap 51 fall onto the second carrying member.

[0139] It is understandable that for scenarios with lower requirements for cargo handling efficiency or smaller sorting tasks, the flap can be set to a single layer. Figure 9 The figure shows the robot structure with a single-layer flap. For scenarios requiring high cargo handling efficiency or large sorting workloads, the flaps can be arranged in multiple layers. When using multiple layers, the flaps can be arranged in parallel and spaced a certain distance apart to ensure that each layer can accommodate a sufficient number of items to be sorted.

[0140] Figure 10 The structure of a multi-layer flip-plate sorting robot is shown as an example. Figure 10 As shown, the sorting robot includes a second chassis 52 and a second carrying device provided on the second chassis 52. The second carrying device specifically includes a second carrying member 53, a multi-layer flap 51 and a second transfer mechanism (not shown). Among them, the second carrying member 53 is used to carry the order box.

[0141] Taking the sorting process as an example, at the operating position, the operator can sort the goods required for the order corresponding to the order box on the second carrier 53 into sorted goods and place the sorted goods in the order box on the second carrier 53. The operator continues sorting and places the sorted goods on any layer of the flap 51. In other embodiments, the second carrier 53 can directly carry goods instead of order boxes.

[0142] It is understandable that the sorting robot adopts a single-layer or multi-layer flip-plate structure. The flip-plate and the second transfer mechanism can cooperate to transport multiple sorted goods simultaneously, and complete the delivery task of multiple order boxes in one transportation link, thereby improving the sorting efficiency of goods.

[0143] When there is a cargo delivery task, the operation control process of the flip-plate robot is divided into two situations, one is the situation where cargo is placed directly on the carrier, and the other is the situation where a container is placed on the carrier.

[0144] See also Figure 11 When goods are placed directly on the carrier, the operation and control process of the flip-type robot is as follows:

[0145] S810, controlling the chassis of the flip-plate robot to move to the target cargo location, and aligning the carrier with the container on the target cargo location.

[0146] S820, controlling the transfer mechanism to move the current goods on the carrier to the container on the target cargo location.

[0147] S830, controlling the bottom flap to open, so as to drop the cargo on the flap onto the empty carrier.

[0148] S840: Control the chassis to move to another target cargo location, and align the carrier with the container on the other target cargo location.

[0149] S850: Control the transfer mechanism to move the current goods on the carrier to a container on another target cargo location.

[0150] Step S830 may be executed before, after, or during the execution of step S840.

[0151] See also Figure 12 When a container is placed on the carrier, the operation and control process of the flip-type robot is as follows:

[0152] S910, control the chassis of the flip-plate robot to move to the target cargo location.

[0153] S920: Control the transfer mechanism to move the container on the carrier to the target cargo location.

[0154] S930: Control the chassis to move to another target cargo location, and align the carrier with the container on the other target cargo location.

[0155] S940, controlling the transfer mechanism to take out the container from another target cargo location and place it on the empty carrier.

[0156] S950, controlling the bottom flap to open so that the goods on the flap fall into the current container on the carrier.

[0157] S960: Control the transfer mechanism to move the current container containing the goods to another target cargo location.

[0158] Step S950 may be executed before, after, or during the execution of step S960.

[0159] In one embodiment, the transport robot may reach the first cargo location by climbing the shelves and obtain the raw material box from the first cargo location; and / or, the sorting robot may transport the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods to the second cargo location by climbing the shelves.

[0160] In some embodiments, the transporting robot and / or the sorting robot may also have two sets of wheel train structures, one set of wheel train structures is used for the transporting robot or the sorting robot to walk on the ground, and the other set of wheel train structures is used for the transporting robot or the sorting robot to climb shelves.

[0161] In one specific implementation, the robot may further include: a climbing assembly and a traveling assembly. Specifically, the climbing assembly includes a climbing wheel train and a climbing drive component for driving the climbing wheel train. Driven by the climbing drive component, the climbing wheel train can drive the chassis to climb along the shelf. The traveling assembly includes a traveling wheel train and a traveling drive component for driving the traveling wheel train. Driven by the traveling drive component, the traveling wheel train drives the chassis to move along a supporting surface. The supporting surface may be the ground or a horizontal guide rail on a shelf.

[0162] It should be noted that the robot mentioned in this specific implementation can be a transport robot or a sorting robot, and accordingly, the chassis can be the first chassis or the second chassis.

[0163] In practical applications, the handling robot and sorting robot can be configured to match the same shelf for lifting and lowering. This allows for flexible adjustment or change of the role of each shelf, without being restricted by the handling robot's ability to lift, load, and unload. Alternatively, the handling robot and sorting robot can be configured to match any shelf for climbing.

[0164] In this embodiment, the transport robot can transport raw material boxes. Before the sorting process, the raw material boxes need to be placed in the first cargo position in the raw material box storage area according to the raw material box storage strategy to ensure that the transport robot can accurately transport the required raw material boxes from the first cargo position according to the first scheduling instruction in the subsequent sorting process.

[0165] In actual applications, there are many ways to determine the first cargo location based on the raw material box warehousing strategy. This embodiment mainly implements the reasonable warehousing of raw material boxes based on the principle of evenly distributing raw material boxes corresponding to various types of goods to be sorted in each aisle, and / or the principle of placing hotter goods to be sorted on the lower shelves.

[0166] In one embodiment, determining the first storage location according to the raw material box entry strategy specifically includes calculating the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each lane based on current inventory data. Based on the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each lane, and with the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted across all lanes, the first storage location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be entered is determined.

[0167] In this embodiment, each raw material box can be stored in the corresponding storage location according to the principle of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted across each lane. In actual application, the storage tasks for goods to be sorted in the current lane can be swapped with the storage tasks for other goods to be sorted in other lanes, ultimately ensuring that the number of boxes of SKUs in stock in each lane is nearly balanced. In this embodiment, the goods to be sorted can be of various types of SKUs. It is understood that SKU is the smallest stock keeping unit, which is the basic unit of inventory in and out measurement.

[0168] In some embodiments, the process of warehousing raw material boxes can be divided into two steps, as follows:

[0169] The first step is to perform an initial sorting of incoming raw material boxes according to the principle that the number of incoming boxes in each lane is equal, to ensure that the incoming tasks of each lane are balanced after the initial sorting.

[0170] The second step is to calculate the number of boxes in stock in each lane based on the current inventory information. With the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each lane, fine-tune the warehousing tasks corresponding to at least some lanes after the initial sorting. During the fine-tuning process, the warehousing tasks obtained from the initial sorting in the current lane can be replaced with the warehousing tasks of other lanes, ultimately ensuring that the number of boxes in stock for each SKU in each lane is close to balanced.

[0171] The following uses the allocation of 100 boxes of raw materials to be stored in the first and second lanes as an example to illustrate the allocation process of the raw materials. In this embodiment, the 100 boxes of raw materials to be stored correspond to four storage tasks, namely the first storage task, the second storage task, the third storage task, and the fourth storage task. Among them, the first storage task requires 10 boxes of Class A SKUs, the second storage task requires 30 boxes of Class A SKUs, the third storage task requires 40 boxes of Class A SKUs, and the fourth storage task requires 20 boxes of Class A SKUs. The specific allocation process of the above-mentioned boxes of raw materials to be stored is as follows:

[0172] First, according to the principle that each lane has an equal number of incoming boxes, the first and third incoming tasks are assigned to the first lane, and the second and fourth incoming tasks are assigned to the second lane. After the initial division, it can be ensured that the first lane and the second lane are each allocated 50 boxes of Class A SKUs.

[0173] Then, based on the current inventory information, it is calculated that the number of boxes of Class A SKUs in stock in the first lane is 10 boxes, and the number of boxes of Class A SKUs in stock in the second lane is 30 boxes. At this time, in order to ensure that the number of boxes of Class A SKUs in stock in the two lanes is balanced, the first warehousing task assigned to the first lane can be replaced with the fourth warehousing task assigned to the second lane, and finally the number of boxes of Class A SKUs in stock in the first lane and the second lane are both 70 boxes.

[0174] In actual applications, it is allowed for the same type of goods to be sorted to have N boxes in a single aisle that is higher than the number of boxes in other aisles. However, it is necessary to ensure that the N value does not exceed a specified threshold. The specified threshold can be determined by the order structure and is not specifically limited here.

[0175] In another embodiment, determining the first cargo location according to the raw material box warehousing strategy specifically includes:

[0176] Based on the current inventory data and the historical sales popularity data of various types of goods to be sorted, with the goal of placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves, the first cargo location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined.

[0177] In this embodiment, the raw material boxes can be stored in corresponding storage locations, with the most popular items to be sorted being placed on the lower shelves. In practical applications, items with a history of high sales popularity have a relatively high probability of being sorted and shipped out later. Placing these items on the bottom shelves can reduce the height distance the transport robot must travel when picking up items, shortening the robot's transport path and improving cargo delivery efficiency.

[0178] In practical applications, various types of goods to be sorted can be ranked by popularity based on historical sales popularity. Based on the ranking results, the storage shelves for each type of goods can be determined based on the principle that popularity is negatively correlated with shelf height. Specific shelf locations and storage areas can be allocated based on the number of raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted. For example, if the number of raw material boxes corresponding to a certain type of goods to be sorted can occupy the first level of the shelf and this type of goods has historically been popular, all storage spaces on the lowest level of the shelf can be used as the storage area for this type of goods to be sorted.

[0179] In another embodiment, determining the first cargo location according to the raw material box warehousing strategy specifically includes:

[0180] Based on current inventory data, the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle, and the historical sales popularity data of each type of goods to be sorted, the first storage location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined according to the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle and placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves.

[0181] In this embodiment, each raw material box can be stored in the corresponding storage location according to the principle that the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted are evenly distributed in each aisle and the hotter goods to be sorted are placed on the lower level of the shelf. The above-mentioned raw material box warehousing method can take into account the two factors of even distribution of raw material boxes in each aisle and storage of high-temperature raw material boxes on the bottom level of the shelf. Determining the first storage location according to this strategy can not only ensure the convenience of the raw material box retrieval process in the subsequent sorting link, but also ensure the efficiency of the handling robot in transporting goods in the sorting link.

[0182] In practical applications, the number of boxes of goods corresponding to each aisle can be determined based on the principle of evenly distributing the boxes of raw materials corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle. Then, the storage locations of the boxes of raw materials corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted can be determined based on the principle of placing the hotter goods to be sorted on the lower shelves, thereby allocating more reasonable storage locations for the boxes of raw materials for each type of goods to be sorted.

[0183] It should be noted that the lanes mentioned in the above embodiments are formed by the gap between two adjacent shelves. Since multiple shelves for storing raw material boxes can be set up in the inventory area, multiple lanes can be formed through the gap between every two shelves in the multiple shelves.

[0184] For order boxes containing sorted goods, a second cargo location can be determined from multiple cargo locations in the order box storage area in the inventory area according to the order box allocation strategy, so that during the sorting process, the sorting robot can accurately transport the sorted goods to the second cargo location.

[0185] In one embodiment, the order box allocation strategy may specifically include:

[0186] Based on the data of the current outbound order set and the principle that each order box corresponds to a unique order, the number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times required for the current outbound order set is determined. The data of the current outbound order set includes at least the SKU and quantity required for each order.

[0187] According to the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple aisles.

[0188] When allocating empty order boxes to each lane, this embodiment allocates them according to the goal of balancing the sorting task load of the robots in each lane, ensuring that after the order boxes are allocated, the sorting task load of the robots in each lane is basically the same. This can avoid the problem of robots being congested in these lanes and affecting transportation efficiency due to a large amount of sorting tasks in one or several lanes.

[0189] In actual applications, it is allowed that the robot sorting task volume of a certain lane is higher than that of other lanes. However, there is a specified upper limit for the robot sorting task volume of each lane, and the robot sorting task volume of each lane should not exceed the specified upper limit. For example, the specified upper limit can be set to 1.1 times the average of the robot sorting task volume of each lane. In this case, the robot sorting task volume of a single lane is not allowed to exceed 10% of the average. If the robot sorting task volume of a lane exceeds the average by more than 10%, the order boxes can be replaced between lanes to ensure the balance of the robot sorting task volume between lanes. The replacement method of the order boxes can refer to the replacement method of the raw material boxes mentioned above.

[0190] In some embodiments, determining the required number of order boxes specifically includes:

[0191] Multiply the quantity of goods corresponding to each order by the unit volume of the goods to obtain the total volume of goods corresponding to each order.

[0192] The required number of order boxes for each order is obtained by dividing the total volume of the goods in each order by the unit volume of the order box.

[0193] It's understood that the number of boxes required for each order can be determined based on the total volume of the goods corresponding to the order and the unit volume of the order box. If the quotient of the total volume of the goods for each order and the unit volume of the order box is not an integer, a slightly larger integer should be used as the required number of boxes. For example, if the quotient is 8.3, the required number of boxes should be 9 to ensure that all goods corresponding to the order can be packed into the corresponding order box.

[0194] The number of sorting times for each order can be determined based on the number of sorting times for each order box corresponding to the order. The number of sorting times for an order box can be determined based on the quantity and type of goods required in the order box and the maximum number of each type of goods that the sorting robot can transport at one time.

[0195] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple lanes, in the step of determining the second cargo location from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple lanes, order boxes corresponding to the same SKU do not appear on the same shelf layer in the same lane.

[0196] It is understandable that when determining the second cargo location, we can first determine the order box corresponding to each aisle, that is, determine the aisle where each order box is located. This process needs to be aimed at balancing the sorting task load of the robots in each aisle. The following example explains it in detail:

[0197] For example, there are eight lanes in the inventory area of ​​the current warehouse system, each lane is denoted by R1 to R8; the currently generated robot sorting tasks are denoted by A(n), B(n)…H(n). When assigning robot sorting tasks, tasks A(1) to A(8) are first assigned to lanes R1 to R8. At this time, each lane corresponds to a group of robot sorting tasks, and when shipping out, each lane also corresponds to a group of shipping out tasks.

[0198] According to the above allocation method, tasks B(1) to B(8), tasks C(1) to C(8), and tasks D(1) to D(8) are allocated to lanes R1-R8 in turn. At this time, each lane corresponds to 4 groups of tasks, and the number of tasks in each lane is balanced.

[0199] For tasks E(1) to E(6) and tasks F(1) to F(6), they need to be assigned to lanes R1 to R6 in order. At this time, lanes R1 to R6 correspond to 6 groups of tasks, and lanes R7 and R8 only correspond to 4 groups of tasks.

[0200] For the unassigned tasks G(1) and G(2) and tasks H(1) and H(2), we can first summarize the number of tasks corresponding to lanes R1 to R8, sort them in reverse order, and assign tasks G(1) and G(2) and tasks H(1) and H(2) to lanes R7 and R8 respectively. At this point, the number of tasks in all lanes is balanced, and each corresponds to 6 groups of robot sorting tasks, thus achieving a balanced distribution of robot sorting tasks.

[0201] After determining the aisle where each order box is located, the corresponding shelf location of each order box in the determined aisle can be determined based on the condition that the order boxes corresponding to the same SKU do not appear in the same aisle and the same layer of the shelf, and the order boxes corresponding to the same SKU that have been allocated to the same aisle can be allocated to different layers of the aisle.

[0202] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting operations, and in accordance with the goal of balancing robot traffic in each of the designated aisles, determining the second location from the order box storage areas of the shelves corresponding to the designated aisles includes:

[0203] Based on the required number of order boxes and / or number of sorting times, combined with the currently allocated task volume of each aisle, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each aisle in the specified multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the specified multiple aisles.

[0204] In some embodiments, when a large number of order boxes are required, the order box allocation process can be divided into two steps, as follows:

[0205] The first step is to perform an initial sorting of the first set of order boxes, ensuring that order boxes corresponding to the same SKU do not appear on the same shelf wall in the same aisle and on the same level. After this initial sorting, the order boxes matching the SKU are aggregated by aisle, and the sorting workload for each aisle after the initial sorting of the first set of order boxes is calculated.

[0206] In the second step, the second set of order boxes that don't meet the wall placement requirements are distributed to shelves on each level within each aisle according to the card-issuing principle. After the distribution is complete, the sorting workload for each aisle is calculated again to obtain the average sorting workload for each aisle. If the sorting workload for a particular aisle exceeds the average by more than 10%, order boxes can be swapped between aisles to ensure balanced sorting workloads across aisles.

[0207] It should be noted that if order boxes of the same SKU have been allocated to each floor of the same aisle, the other order boxes of the SKU are all the second group of order boxes that do not meet the conditions for wall mounting.

[0208] It is understandable that the second cargo location can be allocated based on the currently allocated task volume of each aisle to balance the sorting task volume of the robots between the aisles, thereby ensuring that the sorting robots will not cause congestion due to frequent appearances in one or more aisles during the transportation of goods, thereby improving the reliability and safety of the sorting process.

[0209] After the sorting process is completed, the sorted goods are loaded into the corresponding order boxes. When the outbound task is received later, the outbound process will be executed. In some embodiments, the task of transporting the order boxes during the outbound process can be performed by the fifth robot. The specific process can be as follows:

[0210] After receiving the fifth scheduling instruction, the fifth robot can transport the target order box that meets the outbound conditions from the second cargo location or the collection location in the collection area to the outbound packaging workstation according to the fifth scheduling instruction.

[0211] It is understood that the outbound conditions may be the arrival of a preset shipping time, or the completion of the collection of target order boxes. In this case, the target order boxes to be shipped can be transported to the outbound packaging workstation. In this embodiment, the outbound packaging workstation can pack the target order boxes to be shipped according to the shipping requirements and ship them out at the specified shipping time.

[0212] It is understood that the fifth robot may have the same structure as the transport robot or the sorting robot, or may have a different structure from the transport robot or the sorting robot. In some embodiments, the fifth robot has a shelf-climbing structure, capable of climbing the shelf to retrieve the target order box from the second location of a designated shelf and transporting the target order box to the target location.

[0213] In actual applications, the fifth robot can be directly dispatched to transport the target order box from the second storage location to the outbound packaging workstation, and then directly shipped out after the specified shipping time is reached. Alternatively, the fifth robot can be dispatched to transport the target order box to the collection location in the collection area for collection. When the outbound conditions are met, such as the outbound time is reached or all order boxes corresponding to the current order are packed, the fifth robot can be dispatched to transport the target order box from the collection location to the outbound packaging workstation for shipment.

[0214] It is understandable that the outbound packaging workstation is mainly used to pack and send out the goods in the outbound order boxes according to the outbound requirements, such as packing all the goods in the order placed by the ordering customer and sending them out at the same time.

[0215] In some embodiments, in order to ensure the balance of outbound tasks in each lane, the outbound link can be implemented according to a preset outbound strategy. When the warehousing system receives an outbound task, it will summarize the order picking number information in the outbound task, combine it with the inventory information of each SKU, count the number of boxes moved for each SKU, and evenly distribute the box retrieval tasks to each lane. Because the raw material boxes have been evenly distributed to each lane during the raw material box entry link, it can ensure that the handling robot has a high probability of retrieving the raw material box corresponding to the target SKU in other lanes. This reduces the probability of multiple handling robots retrieving the raw material box of the same SKU in the same lane, and avoids the problem of congestion during the operation of the handling robots affecting the operation efficiency.

[0216] Before shipping out, order boxes can be collected as needed. Specifically, completed sorting order boxes can be placed in the corresponding collection area for caching. For warehousing and logistics centers, the punctuality of the delivery process is an important indicator of warehouse operational capabilities, and the collection process is a key factor restricting delivery efficiency. In related technologies, the collection process is usually completed manually. The manual collection model adopts a top-down storage and bottom-down picking layout design. While ensuring inventory in the warehouse, zero-picking positions are set up on the bottom floor of the high-rise shelves, eliminating the need for separate picking areas. In addition, the installation of picking conveyor lines reduces the walking distance of pickers, and the use of aisle merging through the picking conveyor lines improves manual picking efficiency. However, the manual collection model also has significant drawbacks. For example, the conveyor lines rigidly divide the warehouse area into a forklift replenishment area and a manual picking area. On the one hand, it cannot form a forklift circulation path, which reduces the efficiency of incoming replenishment and zero-picking replenishment. On the other hand, the pick-up area is divided into individual lanes. If the traffic volume in a single lane or a few lanes increases, it is difficult to maintain warehouse efficiency, and tasks are prone to timeouts or warehouse overflow. Therefore, the traditional collection method has problems such as unreasonable collection area layout and low collection efficiency.

[0217] In some embodiments, a collection area for collecting goods may be provided on a shelf, and the collection task may be performed by a third robot. The specific process is as follows:

[0218] After receiving the third scheduling instruction, the third robot transports the order boxes that meet the preset conditions in the order box storage area to the collection locations in the collection area according to the third scheduling instruction and the collection strategy for collection, so as to free up the storage locations in the order box storage area.

[0219] It is understood that the third robot can be a handling robot distinct from the one used to handle raw material boxes, or it can be another type of handling robot. The third robot can have the same structure as the handling robot, or it can have a different structure. In some embodiments, when the collection location is located on a shelf, the third robot can be equipped with a shelf climbing mechanism.

[0220] By collecting goods in order boxes, the order boxes can be cached centrally according to certain rules after sorting is completed and before shipment. When the shipment conditions are met, the order boxes in the collection area can be shipped out quickly, which can improve the efficiency of goods shipment.

[0221] In one embodiment, the order boxes that meet the preset conditions include: order boxes that have completed order picking but have not yet reached the shipping time, or order boxes that have been filled but have not yet reached the shipping time, or order boxes that have completed designated tasks but have not yet reached the shipping time.

[0222] It should be understood that order boxes that meet the preset conditions primarily refer to those that have not yet reached their shipping date. If an order box that has not yet reached its shipping date has been picked, filled, or has completed its designated task, it can be placed in a collection area for buffering and can be shipped once it meets the shipping conditions. If an order includes multiple kits, each kit needs to be packaged separately. This order will then correspond to multiple order boxes, each for a kit. In this case, an order box fulfills its designated task when it contains all the necessary items for a kit. For example, if an order includes 10 kits consisting of a computer, mouse, and keyboard, the order requires 10 order boxes, each containing only one computer, mouse, and keyboard. In the shipping packaging area, the computer, mouse, and keyboard in each order box are first packaged into a small package, and then the 10 small packages are packaged into a large package. At this point, the order box fulfills its designated task when it contains one computer, mouse, and keyboard.

[0223] In one embodiment, the triggering conditions of the third scheduling instruction specifically include:

[0224] The storage spaces in the order box storage area are all occupied, and the order boxes on the storage spaces in the order box storage area cannot meet the shelving requirements of all order boxes in a single wave or a single day.

[0225] Understandably, if all available storage spaces in multiple pre-set order box storage areas are occupied and it's still impossible to ensure that all order boxes in a single wave or day are available, dynamic release will be necessary to add new empty order boxes multiple times to increase the number of order boxes available to meet the needs of all order boxes in a single wave or day. Dynamic release can alleviate the storage pressure in the order box storage areas and facilitate the efficient shipment of subsequent goods.

[0226] In one embodiment, the shelf where the goods collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the goods collection area and the raw material box storage area partially overlap; or,

[0227] The shelf where the collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the collection area and the raw material box storage area do not overlap; or,

[0228] The shelf where the goods collection area is located does not have a raw material box storage area, and the goods collection area is closer to the outbound packaging workstation of the warehousing system than the raw material box storage area.

[0229] In one embodiment, the collection strategy includes:

[0230] According to the order collection information of the order box that meets the preset conditions, a collection area and a collection position of the order box that meets the preset conditions are determined from multiple collection areas.

[0231] Among them, multiple collection areas correspond to different order collection information, and the multiple collection areas do not overlap. They are respectively located on shelves corresponding to different aisles, different columns of shelves corresponding to the same aisle, or different layers of shelves corresponding to the same aisle.

[0232] The order collection information includes at least one of store information, delivery route, delivery area, and delivery wave.

[0233] It is understandable that in the collection process, multiple independent collection areas can be set up, and the multiple collection areas can be divided according to different stores, different delivery routes, or different delivery areas. For example, the collection areas can be divided according to different stores, and the order boxes belonging to the same store are placed in the collection area corresponding to the store; or the collection areas can be divided according to different delivery routes, and the order boxes belonging to the same delivery route are placed in the collection area corresponding to the delivery route. During the division process, the collection areas with close delivery routes can be arranged adjacent to each other; or the order boxes belonging to the same delivery area can be divided into the same collection area according to different delivery areas.

[0234] By dividing the collection area in the above manner, the delivery efficiency of order boxes during shipment can be improved, and the probability of wrong or missed delivery of order boxes can be reduced.

[0235] In actual applications, different collection areas correspond to different order collection information. Different collection areas can be distinguished by different columns, different layers or different areas on the same shelf, or can also be distinguished by different shelves, for example, each collection area corresponds to one shelf.

[0236] In some embodiments, it may be necessary to collect goods along multiple routes, with multiple stores distributed along each route. In this case, a lane can be set as the collection area for the same route, a row can be set as the collection area for a store, or several rows can be set as the collection area for a route.

[0237] During the collection process, some storage spaces in the order box storage area are released and remain idle. To meet the demand for more order boxes to be put on the shelves, empty order boxes can be added to the released storage spaces to improve storage space utilization. In some embodiments, the task of adding empty order boxes can be performed by the fourth robot. The specific process is as follows:

[0238] After receiving the fourth scheduling instruction, the fourth robot replenishes the empty order boxes to the released cargo spaces in the order box storage area according to the fourth scheduling instruction and the order box allocation strategy.

[0239] In a specific implementation, the empty order box to be added can be determined based on the order information, the information of the goods carried by the handling robot and / or the sorting robot currently at the target sorting workstation, etc. For example, if the required goods corresponding to the order associated with the order box that meets the preset conditions have not been sorted, the empty order box can be determined based on the order information corresponding to the unsorted order. For another example, if the sorted goods carried by the sorting robot currently at the target sorting workstation correspond to the type and quantity of goods required for a pending order, the empty order box can be determined based on the order information corresponding to the pending order. In addition, the empty order box can also be determined based on the order's delivery time and the urgency of the delivery, which is not specifically limited here.

[0240] It is understandable that the fourth robot can adopt the same or different structure as the third robot. In some embodiments, the third robot and / or the fourth robot can be a handling robot. When the order box storage location is set on the shelf, the fourth robot can be configured with a shelf climbing structure.

[0241] In actual applications, the outbound delivery strategy can be related to the division of the collection area. A single aisle can not only place the order boxes to be shipped corresponding to one route, but when the number of cargo spaces in a single aisle is much larger than the number of order boxes for the same route, order boxes corresponding to other outbound tasks not in this wave can be arranged to be stored in this aisle.

[0242] In some embodiments, the number of routes that can ship goods in the same time period is determined by the back-end intersection, with one intersection corresponding to one route. In actual applications, when the logistics center ships goods, it will generate a logistics batch table. Through this table, you can view different shipping time periods and the logistics routes covered within these time periods. For example, a logistics center warehouse that ships to stores in the East China region ships goods from Platform 4 to stores in the Ningbo area between 13:00 and 15:00. The time period described above is the wave, and the shipment from Platform 4 to the Ningbo area is the route. When collecting goods, the warehousing system allocates storage locations based on waves and routes, that is, goods from different waves and routes are distributed in a single aisle. For example, goods corresponding to wave 1 and route 1 are in aisle M1, goods corresponding to wave 1 and route 2 are in aisle M2, and goods corresponding to wave 2 and route 1 can be in both aisle 1 and aisle 2. At the same time, order boxes are stored according to the layout of the waves closer to the shipping and packaging workstations.

[0243] Based on waves and routes, outbound tasks can be evenly distributed across lanes using a licensing principle. For example, if Lane M1 sends out 100 boxes, and Lane M2 sends out 100 boxes, the handling robots will move boxes in a rhythmic pattern according to the lanes. This prevents multiple robots from concentrating on moving boxes in the same lane, which would affect the robots' delivery efficiency. If a lane is cleared early, the warehouse system can immediately fill the outbound tasks of other routes in the corresponding lane.

[0244] If the collection requirements are met, for example, if some order boxes have been sorted, a handling robot will remove the order boxes from the lower shelf order box storage area or certain upper shelf storage areas and transfer them to the collection area for temporary storage. When a delivery order is issued, the handling robot will move the order boxes to the delivery packaging workstation and then move them along the collection conveyor line to the collection temporary storage area. The collection conveyor line ends with multiple diversion gates, each of which corresponds to a specific logistics route. Order boxes flow out from different gates and are manually stacked on pallets corresponding to different stores, completing the collection operation according to logistics routes and stores.

[0245] Based on at least some of the related solutions in the above warehouse, storage system and storage process of raw material box storage, order box storage, outbound and collection process, this application also provides a method for outbound delivery, which can be executed by the server, see Figure 13 , the outbound method specifically includes:

[0246] S1010, sending a first scheduling instruction to the transport robot to enable the transport robot to perform a first type of task, the first type of task including: transporting the raw material box from the first cargo location to the first docking location of the target sorting workstation according to the first scheduling instruction.

[0247] S1020: Send a second dispatch instruction to the sorting robot to cause it to perform a second type of task. The second type of task includes: arriving at a second docking position of the target sorting workstation according to the second dispatch instruction, so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the handling robot at the first docking position can be sorted to the sorting robot at the second docking position to become sorted goods, and transporting the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods from the second docking position to a second cargo position. The first cargo position is a cargo position in the raw material box storage area of ​​the shelf, and the second cargo position is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelf according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0248] In some embodiments, the transport robot may reach the first cargo location by climbing a shelf and obtain the raw material box from the first cargo location; and / or,

[0249] The sorting robot can transport the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods to the second cargo location by climbing the shelves.

[0250] In some embodiments, the raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on the same shelf, and the order box storage area is located below the raw material box storage area; or,

[0251] The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on the same shelf, and the order box storage area and the raw material box storage area are alternately arranged in the height direction or in the horizontal direction; or,

[0252] The raw material box storage area and the order box storage area are located on different shelves, and the order box storage area is closer to the target sorting workstation than the raw material box storage area.

[0253] In one embodiment, the order box allocation strategy includes:

[0254] Based on the data of the current outbound order set and the principle that a single order box corresponds to a unique order, the number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times required for the current outbound order set is determined; wherein the data of the current outbound order set includes at least the SKU and quantity required for each order.

[0255] According to the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple aisles.

[0256] When allocating empty order boxes to each lane, this embodiment allocates them according to the goal of balancing the sorting task load of the robots in each lane, ensuring that after the order boxes are allocated, the sorting task load of the robots in each lane is basically the same, thereby avoiding the problem of robots being congested in these lanes due to a large amount of sorting tasks in one or several lanes, thereby affecting transportation efficiency.

[0257] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple lanes, in the step of determining the second cargo location from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple lanes, order boxes corresponding to the same SKU do not appear on the same shelf layer in the same lane.

[0258] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting operations, and in accordance with the goal of balancing robot traffic in each of the designated aisles, determining the second location from the order box storage areas of the shelves corresponding to the designated aisles includes:

[0259] Based on the required number of order boxes and / or number of sorting times, combined with the currently allocated task volume of each aisle, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each aisle among the specified multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the specified multiple aisles.

[0260] It is understandable that the second cargo location can be allocated based on the currently allocated task volume of each aisle to balance the sorting task volume of the robots between the aisles, thereby ensuring that the sorting robots will not cause congestion due to frequent appearances in one or more aisles during the transportation of goods, thereby improving the reliability and safety of the sorting process.

[0261] In one embodiment, before sending the first scheduling instruction to the transport robot, the method further includes:

[0262] The first cargo location is determined according to the raw material box storage strategy, so that the raw material boxes containing the goods to be sorted are stored in the first cargo location.

[0263] In one embodiment, determining the first cargo location according to the raw material box warehousing strategy includes:

[0264] Based on the current inventory data, calculate the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle.

[0265] According to the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle, and in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle, the first cargo location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined.

[0266] In one embodiment, determining the first cargo location according to the raw material box warehousing strategy includes:

[0267] Based on the current inventory data and the historical sales popularity data of various types of goods to be sorted, with the goal of placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves, the first cargo location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined.

[0268] In one embodiment, determining the first cargo location according to the raw material box warehousing strategy includes:

[0269] Based on current inventory data, the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle, and the historical sales popularity data of each type of goods to be sorted, the first storage location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined according to the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle and placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves.

[0270] In one embodiment, before sending the second scheduling instruction to the sorting robot, the method further includes:

[0271] According to the order box allocation strategy, the corresponding second cargo locations are determined for the multiple empty order boxes of the current outbound order set.

[0272] Send a sixth scheduling instruction to the sixth robot to enable the sixth robot to perform a sixth type of task. The sixth type of task includes: obtaining an empty order box from a designated box pickup location and transporting the empty order box to the corresponding second cargo location.

[0273] In actual applications, the function of the sixth robot can be realized by a handling robot. The handling robot is mainly used to carry raw material boxes. During idle periods, it can also be used to carry empty order boxes and perform empty order box warehousing tasks, thereby making full use of equipment resources and reducing overall equipment investment.

[0274] In a specific implementation, the sixth robot can first go to the designated box collection location in the empty order box storage area to obtain the empty order box. After manually scanning the code of the empty order box to bind the order information, it is placed on the box receiving conveyor line through the sixth robot. After the sixth robot receives the box from the conveyor line by relying on the transfer mechanism, it goes to the designated second cargo location. After arriving at the second cargo location, it relies on the transfer mechanism to unload the empty order box to the second cargo location. At this point, an empty order box shelving operation is completed, and the above operation process is repeated until all empty order box warehousing tasks are completed.

[0275] In actual application, the storage area for order boxes on the shelves will be cleared every day, indicating that all outbound tasks for the day have been completed so that more order boxes can be put on the shelves the next day.

[0276] In one embodiment, the above-mentioned method for issuing a warehouse further includes:

[0277] When the trigger conditions are met, a third scheduling instruction is sent to the third robot to enable the third robot to perform a third type of task. The third type of task includes: transporting the order boxes that meet the preset conditions in the order box storage area to the collection locations in the collection area according to the collection strategy for collection, so as to free up the storage locations in the order box storage area.

[0278] In some embodiments, the order boxes that meet the preset conditions include: order boxes that have completed order picking but have not yet reached the shipping time, or order boxes that have been filled but have not yet reached the shipping time, or order boxes that have completed designated tasks but have not yet reached the shipping time.

[0279] In some embodiments, the shelf where the collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the collection area and the raw material box storage area partially overlap; or,

[0280] The shelf where the collection area is located has a raw material box storage area, and the collection area and the raw material box storage area do not overlap; or,

[0281] The shelf where the goods collection area is located does not have a raw material box storage area, and the goods collection area is closer to the outbound packaging workstation of the warehousing system than the raw material box storage area.

[0282] The various area layout methods of the shelves where the above-mentioned collection areas are located can all achieve efficient collection functions. Specifically, the corresponding layout method can be reasonably selected according to actual warehousing needs. For example, for storage scenarios with large storage space and high requirements for the independence of the collection function, the shelf where the collection area is located can be selected without a raw material box storage area, and the collection area can be closer to the outbound packaging workstation of the storage system than the raw material box storage area.

[0283] In some embodiments, the aggregation strategy includes:

[0284] According to the order collection information of the order box that meets the preset conditions, a collection area and a collection position of the order box that meets the preset conditions are determined from multiple collection areas.

[0285] Among them, multiple collection areas correspond to different order collection information, and the multiple collection areas do not overlap. They are respectively located on shelves corresponding to different aisles, different columns of shelves corresponding to the same aisle, or different layers of shelves corresponding to the same aisle.

[0286] The order collection information includes at least one of store information, delivery route, delivery area, and delivery wave.

[0287] Through the collection method, the sorted order boxes can be cached centrally according to the collection strategy. Since the collection strategy refers to the store information, delivery routes and other information related to centralized outbound delivery in the order collection information, the subsequent outbound delivery link can uniformly send out the goods to be shipped from the collection area, effectively improving the outbound delivery efficiency.

[0288] In some embodiments, the triggering condition of the third scheduling instruction includes:

[0289] The storage spaces in the order box storage area are all occupied, and the order boxes on the storage spaces in the order box storage area cannot meet the shelving requirements of all order boxes in a single wave or a single day.

[0290] In one embodiment, the above-mentioned method for issuing a warehouse further includes:

[0291] A fourth scheduling instruction is sent to the fourth robot to enable the fourth robot to perform a fourth type of task. The fourth type of task includes: replenishing the released cargo spaces in the order box storage area with empty order boxes according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0292] It is understandable that dynamic release can alleviate the storage pressure of goods in the order box storage area, and also facilitate the efficient delivery of subsequent goods.

[0293] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned method for releasing inventory further includes:

[0294] Send the fifth scheduling instruction to the fifth robot so that the fifth robot transports the target order box that meets the outbound conditions from the second cargo location or the collection location to the outbound packaging workstation according to the fifth scheduling instruction.

[0295] It can be understood that the process of dispatching the fifth robot to realize the process of shipping goods out of the warehouse is more efficient than the method of manually transporting goods out of the warehouse.

[0296] The outbound delivery method of the above embodiment can be applied to the outbound delivery scenario of goods corresponding to ordinary orders, such as one order corresponding to the same customer, or multiple orders corresponding to the same customer, but the goods of multiple orders are located in the same warehouse area. In the above scenarios, the outbound delivery method provided by the above embodiment can be used to achieve efficient outbound delivery of goods.

[0297] In one application scenario, the same customer may place multiple orders, and the goods of multiple orders need to be packed together into one package. For example, the order grouping scenario is common in some airport duty-free shops at home and abroad, such as Figure 14 The example shows the process of collecting orders and issuing goods at the airport duty-free shop. Figure 14 Customer 61 may purchase multiple items at the airport duty-free shop 62 and generate multiple orders. For example, if three orders are generated, the three orders need to be shipped from the first warehouse area 63, the second warehouse area 64, and the third warehouse area 65 respectively. Then the goods from the three warehouses are collected into the same package, packed and shipped uniformly, and delivered directly to the boarding gate 66 before the customer boards the plane, so that the customer can take them away directly.

[0298] For the above-mentioned order collection scenario, an embodiment of the present application provides a cargo sorting method, which is another outbound method applied to the order collection scenario, see Figure 15 , the cargo sorting method includes:

[0299] S1110, obtaining pending orders and determining the order types of the pending orders; wherein the order types include new orders and additional orders.

[0300] S1120, if the pending order is a new order, a target order box is allocated for the new order and a second cargo location is determined; if the pending order is an additional order, a target order box and a second cargo location are determined based on the established order corresponding to the additional order.

[0301] S1130: Send a second dispatch instruction to the sorting robot according to the second cargo location, so that the sorting robot transports the sorted goods corresponding to the pending order or the target order box containing the sorted goods to the second cargo location.

[0302] It's understood that pending orders can be orders that have already been generated but haven't yet been sorted. A newly added order is the first order to be processed under the same order ID. For example, if a customer purchases multiple items and generates multiple orders, a newly added order is the first of these orders to enter the order processing phase. Since this order is the first to be processed, it doesn't have an associated order box, so a target order box must be assigned to it.

[0303] An additional order is not the first order processed under the same order ID. For example, if there are multiple orders for the same delivery address and the same recipient, and an order has already been assigned an order box or has already been processed, the additional order is the Nth order to be processed, where N is greater than or equal to 2. Because an order with the same order ID has already been assigned an order box or has already been processed before the additional order, the target order box can be determined based on the established order corresponding to the additional order. In this embodiment, the second storage location is the storage location for the target order box.

[0304] The server determines the order type of the pending order and determines the target order box and the second cargo location corresponding to the pending order based on the order type. The sorting robot is then dispatched to transport the sorted goods corresponding to the pending order or the target order box containing the sorted goods to the second cargo location, thereby realizing automatic sorting of goods in the order collection scenario. Compared with the manual sorting process, this goods sorting process saves time and labor, and effectively improves the sorting efficiency of goods in the order collection scenario.

[0305] In one embodiment, the second scheduling instruction further enables the sorting robot to arrive at a target sorting workstation to obtain the sorted goods.

[0306] Before sending the second dispatch instruction to the sorting robot according to the second cargo location, the above-mentioned warehouse delivery method may further include:

[0307] A first dispatch instruction is sent to the transport robot, causing the transport robot to transport the raw material box from the first cargo position to the target sorting workstation, so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the transport robot can be sorted to the sorting robot to become sorted goods; wherein the first cargo position is the cargo position in the raw material box storage area.

[0308] In one embodiment, allocating a target order box for a newly added order and determining a second cargo location includes:

[0309] After determining the second cargo location from the order box storage area according to the order box allocation strategy, bind the target order box on the second cargo location with the newly added order; or,

[0310] Determine the target order box for the new order, determine the second cargo location from the order box storage area according to the order box allocation strategy, and then bind the target order box to the second cargo location.

[0311] There are two scenarios for allocating target order boxes for new orders: One scenario involves an empty order box already on the second shelf. In this case, the second shelf can be determined first, and then the target order box on the second shelf can be bound to the new order. The other scenario involves no empty order box on the second shelf. In this case, the target order box can be determined first, then allocated to the second shelf, and then the new order and the target order box can be bound to the second shelf.

[0312] The above two methods can be selected according to the actual situation, and then the new orders can be allocated to reasonable target order boxes.

[0313] In one embodiment, if the pending order is an additional order, determining the target order box according to the established order corresponding to the additional order includes:

[0314] If the pending order is an additional order, determine whether the goods of the additional order can be placed in the order box of the established order corresponding to the additional order.

[0315] If possible, determine the order box of the established order as the target order box of the additional order; if not, assign a new target order box to the additional order and associate the new target order box with the order box of the established order.

[0316] It is understood that for additional orders, the first step is to determine whether the additional order's items can be placed in the order box of the existing order corresponding to the additional order. For example, if the order box of the existing order corresponding to the additional order is full, the additional order's items cannot be placed in the existing order box. In this case, a new target order box must be allocated for the additional order. The process for allocating a new target order box is generally the same as that for allocating a target order box for a new order.

[0317] In one embodiment, before sending the first scheduling instruction to the transport robot, the method further includes:

[0318] The first cargo location is determined according to the raw material box storage strategy, so that the raw material boxes containing the goods to be sorted are stored in the first cargo location.

[0319] The first cargo location is determined according to the raw material box warehousing strategy, including:

[0320] Based on the current inventory data, calculate the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each lane; based on the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each lane, and in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the boxes of raw materials corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each lane, determine the first storage location corresponding to the raw materials boxes to be stored; or,

[0321] Based on the current inventory data and the historical sales popularity data of various types of goods to be sorted, the first shelf location corresponding to the raw material box to be stored is determined according to the goal of placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves; or

[0322] Based on current inventory data, the number of boxes of each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle, and the historical sales popularity data of each type of goods to be sorted, the first storage location corresponding to the raw material boxes to be stored is determined according to the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be sorted in each aisle and placing the more popular goods to be sorted on the lower shelves.

[0323] In one embodiment, before sending the second scheduling instruction to the sorting robot, the method further includes:

[0324] According to the order box allocation strategy, the corresponding second cargo locations are determined for the multiple empty order boxes of the current outbound order set.

[0325] The sixth scheduling instruction is sent to the sixth robot, so that the sixth robot obtains the target empty order box from the designated box picking position according to the sixth scheduling instruction, and transports the target empty order box to the corresponding second cargo position.

[0326] In one embodiment, the order box allocation strategy includes:

[0327] Based on the data of the current outbound order set and the principle that a single order box corresponds to a unique order, the number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times required for the current order set is determined; wherein the data of the current order set includes at least the SKU and quantity required for each order.

[0328] According to the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple aisles.

[0329] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple lanes, in the step of determining the second cargo location from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple lanes, order boxes corresponding to the same SKU do not appear on the same shelf layer in the same lane.

[0330] In one embodiment, based on the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting operations, and in accordance with the goal of balancing robot traffic in each of the designated aisles, determining the second location from the order box storage areas of the shelves corresponding to the designated aisles includes:

[0331] Based on the required number of order boxes and / or number of sorting times, combined with the currently allocated task volume of each aisle, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each aisle in the specified multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the specified multiple aisles.

[0332] In one embodiment, the cargo sorting method may further include:

[0333] A third dispatching instruction is issued to the third robot, so that the third robot transports the order boxes that meet the preset conditions in the order box storage area to the collection location in the collection area for collection according to the third dispatching instruction, so as to release the storage location in the order box storage area.

[0334] In one embodiment, the cargo sorting method may further include:

[0335] A fourth scheduling instruction is issued to the fourth robot, so that the fourth robot replenishes the released cargo space in the order box storage area with empty order boxes according to the fourth scheduling instruction and the order box allocation strategy.

[0336] In one embodiment, the triggering condition of the third scheduling instruction includes:

[0337] The storage spaces in the order box storage area are all occupied, and the order boxes on the storage spaces in the order box storage area cannot meet the shelving requirements of all order boxes in a single wave or a single day.

[0338] In one embodiment, the sorting robot may transport the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods to the second cargo location by climbing the shelf; and / or

[0339] The transport robot reaches the first cargo location by climbing the shelf and obtains the raw material box from the first cargo location.

[0340] In some embodiments, after the delivery deadline is reached, the sorting robot can move the fully picked order boxes directly to the outbound packaging workstation for review and packaging, and randomly ship them out of the warehouse, thereby ensuring that after the customer's multiple orders are grouped into the same order box, the completed order box can be shipped in a timely manner.

[0341] To sum up, through the cooperation between the server, sorting robots and handling robots, the sorting and outbound processing processes of goods in the order collection scenario can be realized. Compared with the manual processing solution in the order collection scenario, it saves time and effort, and can complete the goods processing tasks in the order collection scenario more conveniently and efficiently, and can better meet the high-timeliness delivery requirements in the order collection scenario.

[0342] In the return scenario, the goods handling process in the warehousing system not only includes processes such as warehousing, sorting, collection and outbound delivery, but also involves a goods return plan. The returned goods returned to the warehouse need to undergo a series of processing before being re-warehoused, and then the above-mentioned goods handling process before resale.

[0343] See also Figure 16 An embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing returned goods, which is executed by a server and specifically includes:

[0344] S1210: Determine a target cargo location for storing the raw material boxes of the returned goods according to the goods information of the returned goods.

[0345] S1220, dispatching the first transport robot to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, and transporting the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location, wherein the returned goods to be stored are goods that have been processed for return.

[0346] It should be noted that the goods to be returned are goods sent to the warehouse in SKU units, that is, the goods to be returned are SKUs one by one.

[0347] It is understandable that the cargo information may include the cargo identification, cargo category, etc. of the cargo to be returned. In practical applications, the label on the cargo to be returned can be scanned by a scanning device to upload the cargo information of the cargo to be returned to the server.

[0348] The cargo information can be used to determine the raw material bins for the currently waiting returned goods. In practical applications, raw material bins can be allocated to the currently waiting returned goods based on the cargo information. For example, raw material bins can be allocated based on the category of goods in the cargo information, and the target storage location corresponding to the raw material bins can be further determined.

[0349] In a specific implementation, the returned goods to be put into storage are goods that have undergone return processing, and the return processing may include a series of processes such as quality inspection, label change, tag change, ironing, folding and cleaning.

[0350] Through the cooperation between the server and the first handling robot, the returned goods can be accurately handled. Compared with manual processing, this processing process saves time and labor, and can handle the returned goods more conveniently and efficiently.

[0351] In one embodiment, determining a target cargo location for a raw material box for storing the returned goods based on the goods information of the returned goods includes:

[0352] Based on the cargo information of the returned goods to be warehoused, determine whether there is an existing raw material box that matches the cargo information.

[0353] If there is an existing raw material box and the existing raw material box has storage space, the cargo location of the existing raw material box is determined as the target cargo location for storing the raw material box of the goods to be returned.

[0354] If there is no existing raw material box, or if there is an existing raw material box but there is no storage space in the existing raw material box, a new raw material box is allocated for the returned goods to be warehoused, and the storage location corresponding to the new raw material box is determined as the target storage location for the raw material box for storing the returned goods to be warehoused.

[0355] It can be understood that in the process of determining the raw material box, we can first determine whether there is an existing raw material box that matches the goods information of the current goods to be returned in the warehouse, and whether the existing raw material box has storage space. Based on the judgment results of the above two judgment links, the raw material box is matched with the goods to be returned in the warehouse, and then the target cargo location corresponding to the raw material box is determined.

[0356] Through the above process, the server can be used to implement the target cargo location recommendation function, providing favorable conditions for the accurate and efficient warehousing of returned goods.

[0357] In one embodiment, when there is no existing raw material box, or when there is an existing raw material box but there is no storage space left in the existing raw material box, dispatching a first transport robot to transport the returned goods to be stored to a target storage location includes:

[0358] Dispatching the first handling robot to transport the returned goods to the target cargo location for unloading into the new raw material box at the target cargo location; or,

[0359] The first handling robot is dispatched to transport the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location.

[0360] It is understandable that if there is no existing raw material box, or if there is an existing raw material box but there is no storage space in the existing raw material box, a new raw material box needs to be allocated for the returned goods to be received. In the warehousing stage, there are the following two situations:

[0361] In one case, the new raw material box can be placed at the target location first, and then the first handling robot is dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored to the target location, and unload the returned goods to be stored into the new order box at the target location.

[0362] In another case, the first handling robot can be dispatched to carry the new raw material box to the workstation, where the returned goods to be stored can be loaded into the new raw material box, and then the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored can be transported to the target cargo location.

[0363] Both of the above situations can realize the warehousing process of the returned goods to be stored, and the process of warehousing the returned goods by dispatching the first handling robot is more efficient and convenient than the manual warehousing process.

[0364] In one embodiment, dispatching a first transport robot to transport a new raw material box containing returned goods to be stored to a target cargo location includes:

[0365] Determine the target location according to the raw material box storage strategy to deliver the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored to the target location.

[0366] Among them, the target location is determined according to the raw material box warehousing strategy, including:

[0367] Based on the current inventory data, calculate the number of boxes of each type of goods to be returned in each lane; based on the number of boxes of each type of goods to be returned in each lane, determine the target location for the new raw material boxes in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of goods to be returned in each lane; or,

[0368] Based on current inventory data and historical sales data for various types of returned goods, the target location for the new raw material box is determined with the goal of placing the most popular returned goods on the lower shelves; or

[0369] Based on current inventory data, the number of boxes of each type of returned goods in each aisle, and the historical sales popularity data of each type of returned goods, the target storage location corresponding to the new raw material boxes is determined in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of returned goods in each aisle and placing the more popular returned goods on the lower shelves.

[0370] In one embodiment, the workstation is a return processing workstation, which is used to perform return processing on the return goods to be processed in the return package so that they become return goods to be stored.

[0371] As you can understand, returned goods are typically delivered to the return warehouse in packages, often containing multiple items awaiting processing. In practice, return packages can be delivered to a return processing station for return processing, which involves a series of procedures, such as quality inspection, label and hangtag replacement, ironing, stacking, and cleaning. After return processing, the returned goods are returned to the warehouse, typically in the form of SKUs.

[0372] In the case of returns, Figure 17 The following example shows the regional layout of a warehouse with a return function, see Figure 17 The return area of ​​the warehouse is equipped with a return receiving area 71 and a return processing workstation 72. Consistent with the above warehouse layout, the return warehouse also includes an inventory area 13, a sorting workstation 14, a collection area 15 and a warehouse outbound packaging workstation 16.

[0373] Among them, the return receiving area 71 is used to receive return packages returned by various stores or customers, and can also process the return packages into the warehouse, such as verifying and recording the cargo information of the return packages entering the warehouse.

[0374] The return processing station 72 is used to process the returned goods in the return package. In actual application, the return processing station 72 is equipped with return processing equipment, such as cleaning and ironing machines, which can perform a series of processes on the returned goods, such as quality inspection, label change, hang tag change, ironing, folding, and cleaning.

[0375] The storage area 13 is used to store goods entering the return warehouse. For example, the storage area 33 can store goods to be returned. One or more shelves can be set in the storage area 13 to achieve three-dimensional storage of goods and reduce floor space.

[0376] The sorting workstation 14 is used to pick and sort goods.

[0377] The collection area 15 is used to collect designated order boxes containing sorted goods.

[0378] The outbound packaging workstation 16 is used to temporarily store the order boxes to be shipped out and directly send them out after the outbound conditions are met.

[0379] also, Figure 17 Also shown is an incoming storage area 11 and an incoming replenishment workstation 12. After the goods from the supplier are inspected and boxed in the incoming storage area 11, they can be transported to the incoming replenishment workstation 12 for full box entry.

[0380] In one embodiment, the goods to be returned are return packages that are directly transported from the return receiving area to the return processing workstation for return processing.

[0381] This embodiment is the processing flow corresponding to the processing and input mode, see Figure 18 In the sorting and warehousing mode, the return parcel will be transported directly from the return receiving area 71 to the return processing workstation 72. After the return processing is carried out at the return workstation 72, the returned goods to be stored will be transported by the first handling robot to the target location in the inventory area 13 for storage. The entire processing flow can be simplified to a process of sorting and warehousing at the same time.

[0382] In the sorting and storage mode, since the return packages will be directly processed and put into storage, the entire return goods processing process is more efficient, does not occupy additional space, and has lower site area requirements.

[0383] In one embodiment, before dispatching the first transport robot to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the following steps may also be included:

[0384] The second handling robot is dispatched to obtain the material box for pending return processing and transport it to the cache location in the inventory area for caching. The material box for pending return processing is a material box for storing pending return goods, and the pending return goods are the goods in the return package that have been changed into boxes and have not been returned.

[0385] The third handling robot is dispatched to transport the material box to be returned from the cache location to the return processing workstation to perform return processing on the returned goods in the material box to be returned.

[0386] This embodiment is a processing flow corresponding to the first-in, last-out mode. Figure 19 In the first-in, last-out mode, after receiving a return package, it can be repacked in the return receiving area 71. Specifically, the returned goods in the return package can be mixed and loaded into the return processing bin. At this point, the goods in the return processing bin have not yet been processed and sorted. The server then dispatches a second handling robot to obtain the return processing bin and transport it to the buffer storage location in the storage area 13 for caching.

[0387] Subsequently, the third handling robot can be dispatched to retrieve the return bin from the cache and transport it to the return processing workstation 72 for return processing. During this process, the server can locate the return bins from the same batch of incoming goods in the cache, and transport the return bins from the same batch to the return processing workstation 72. The returned goods obtained from the return processing are then transported by the first handling robot to the target location in the inventory area 13, thus completing the processing task of the returned goods.

[0388] Under the first-in, last-out model, pending returns within the return package can be directly cached without return processing or sorting, enabling quick return placement and shelving, eliminating the need for temporary storage and reducing space requirements. Furthermore, subsequent returns processing can be completed in a timely manner based on actual conditions, alleviating some of the pressure on the return processing workstation 72 and preventing a backlog of pending returns within the workstation, impacting the return processing process.

[0389] In one embodiment, the workstation is a sorting workstation, and before dispatching the first transport robot to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the process further includes:

[0390] The third handling robot is dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored from the inventory area to the sorting workstation.

[0391] In this embodiment, the returned goods to be warehoused stored in the inventory area are stored in a mixed manner in the material box. The mixed returned goods to be warehoused need to be sorted at the sorting workstation and then re-boxed according to the single SKU individual boxing method, so that the returned goods to be warehoused stored in the target storage location can be directly picked and sorted before being packed into the order box.

[0392] In one embodiment, before dispatching the third transport robot to transport the returned goods to be stored from the storage area to the sorting workstation, the process further includes:

[0393] The second handling robot is dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored after the return processing workstation to the cache location in the inventory area for caching.

[0394] This embodiment is the processing flow corresponding to the first-process-last-in mode, see Figure 20 After the return receiving area 71 receives the return package, the return goods to be processed in the return package can be directly transported to the return processing workstation 72. After the return processing, the return goods to be stored are obtained, and the return goods to be stored are mixed and loaded into the material box, and the third handling robot is dispatched to transport the return goods to be stored to the cache location in the inventory area 13 for caching. At this time, the return goods are stored in mixed boxes with SKUs.

[0395] In order to facilitate the picking of returned goods, the second handling robot can be dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored in the cache storage location from the inventory area to the sorting workstation 14. At the sorting workstation 14, the mixed returned goods to be entered are sorted, and the raw material boxes are reallocated to them in the form of single SKU single box storage. The first handling robot then transports the returned goods to be entered to the target storage location in the inventory area 13, thereby completing the task of processing the returned goods.

[0396] In the sort-first-last-entry mode, the pending return goods in the return package can be processed first and then mixed into boxes and cached. This can more efficiently realize the rapid shelving of returned goods, avoid the problem of backlog of return packages affecting the normal operation of the warehouse, and then sort the returned goods to be entered into the warehouse in the mixed box cache and then enter the warehouse again. The pending return goods can be delivered to the sorting workstation in a timely manner according to the workload of the sorting workstation, thereby ensuring the normal operation of the sorting workstation.

[0397] In one embodiment, the first transport robot transports the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location by climbing the shelves.

[0398] In one embodiment, after the returned goods to be stored are transported to the target storage location, the returned goods processing method further includes:

[0399] dispatching the fourth transport robot to transport the raw material box from the first cargo location to the sorting workstation; and,

[0400] The sorting robot is dispatched to the sorting workstation so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the fourth handling robot can be sorted to the sorting robot to become sorted goods, and the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods are transported from the sorting workstation to the second cargo position.

[0401] Among them, the goods to be sorted are the goods to be returned after being transported to the target cargo location.

[0402] It is understandable that some returned goods can be sold again after being processed and put into storage. During the re-sale process, the goods to be sorted stored in the target storage location need to be sorted according to the order information and then loaded into the target order box.

[0403] It should be noted that the first handling robot, second handling robot, third handling robot and fourth handling robot mentioned above that perform different handling tasks can be the same handling robot or different handling robots, or some of the handling robots that perform different handling tasks can use the same robot. The specific settings can be reasonably made according to the actual cargo handling needs, and the above-mentioned handling robots that perform different handling tasks can all adopt a similar structure.

[0404] In one embodiment, before the sorting robot is dispatched to arrive at the sorting workstation, the above-mentioned returned goods processing method further includes:

[0405] According to the order box allocation strategy, a corresponding second cargo location is determined for each of the multiple empty order boxes in the current outbound order set.

[0406] The empty box delivery robot is dispatched to obtain the target empty order box from the designated box pickup location and deliver the target empty order box to the corresponding second cargo location.

[0407] In this embodiment, the empty box transport robot is the sixth robot in the above-mentioned warehousing system.

[0408] In one embodiment, the order box allocation strategy includes:

[0409] Based on the data of the current outbound order set and the principle that a single order box corresponds to a unique order, the number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times required for the current outbound order set is determined; wherein the data of the current outbound order set includes at least the SKU and quantity required for each order.

[0410] According to the required number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple aisles, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple aisles.

[0411] In one embodiment, the above-mentioned method for handling returned goods may further include:

[0412] The dispatching collection robot transports the order boxes that meet the preset conditions in the order box storage area to the collection location in the collection area according to the collection strategy for collection, so as to free up the storage space in the order box storage area.

[0413] In this embodiment, the cargo collecting robot is the third robot in the warehousing system.

[0414] In one embodiment, the method for handling returned goods in the above-mentioned return scenario may further include:

[0415] The dispatch filling robot replenishes the empty order boxes to the released storage spaces in the order box storage area according to the order box allocation strategy.

[0416] In this embodiment, the replacement robot is the fourth robot in the warehousing system.

[0417] In the return scenario, an embodiment of the present application also provides a method for processing returned goods, which is executed by a warehouse robot, see Figure 21 , the method comprising:

[0418] S1310, receiving a dispatch instruction, the dispatch instruction including a pickup location and a target location, the pickup location including a workstation, and the target location including a target cargo location determined based on cargo information of the returned cargo to be stored.

[0419] S1320, according to the dispatching instruction, runs to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, and transports the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location, wherein the returned goods to be stored are goods that have been processed for return.

[0420] It should be noted that the storage robot that executes the method in this embodiment may be the first handling robot or the third handling robot mentioned above.

[0421] In one embodiment, the pickup location in the scheduling instruction also includes a cache location for a container to be returned, and the target location in the scheduling instruction also includes a return processing workstation.

[0422] Before running to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be put into storage, the above method may further include:

[0423] According to the dispatching instructions, the materials box to be returned will be transported from the cache location to the return processing workstation to process the returned goods in the materials box to be returned.

[0424] In one embodiment, the pickup location in the dispatch instruction further includes a storage area, and the target location in the dispatch instruction further includes a sorting workstation.

[0425] Before running to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be put into storage, the above method may further include:

[0426] According to the dispatching instruction, the returned goods to be stored are transported from the storage area to the sorting workstation, so that the returned goods to be stored are sorted to the first handling robot at the sorting workstation.

[0427] It can be understood that some features of the method embodiments in the above-mentioned order collection scenario and the method embodiments in the return scenario can refer to the specific description of the corresponding features in the previous warehouse, warehousing system and outbound method embodiments in common scenarios, and will not be repeated here.

[0428] The present application also provides a server for a warehousing system, the server including a first memory and a first processor. It is understandable that the server may include one or more management terminals and / or one or more management servers.

[0429] This application also provides a warehousing robot for use in a warehousing system, comprising: a chassis for traveling on a support surface, a carrying device disposed on the chassis, and a controller. The carrying device comprises: a carrying member for carrying goods or containers containing goods, and a transfer mechanism for moving the goods or containers containing goods to or from the carrying member. The controller comprises: a second processor and a second memory.

[0430] In practical applications, the first processor and the second processor may use substantially identical processor hardware, and the first memory and the second memory may also use substantially identical memory hardware.

[0431] For example, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0432] The memory may include various types of storage units, such as system memory, read-only memory (ROM), and permanent storage devices. Among them, ROM can store static data or instructions required by the processor or other modules of the computer. The permanent storage device can be a readable and writable storage device. The permanent storage device can be a non-volatile storage device that does not lose the stored instructions and data even after the computer is powered off. In some embodiments, the permanent storage device uses a large-capacity storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk, flash memory) as the permanent storage device. In other embodiments, the permanent storage device can be a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk, optical drive). The system memory can be a readable and writable storage device or a volatile readable and writable storage device, such as dynamic random access memory. The system memory can store some or all instructions and data required by the processor at runtime.

[0433] Furthermore, the memory may include any combination of computer-readable storage media, including various types of semiconductor memory chips (e.g., DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, programmable read-only memory), and magnetic disks and / or optical disks may also be used. In some embodiments, the memory may include a removable storage device that is readable and / or writable, such as a compact disc (CD), a read-only digital versatile disc (e.g., DVD-ROM, double-layer DVD-ROM), a read-only Blu-ray disc, an ultra-high-density optical disc, a flash memory card (e.g., SD card, mini SD card, Micro-SD card, etc.), a magnetic floppy disk, etc. Computer-readable storage media do not include carrier waves and transient electronic signals transmitted wirelessly or wired.

[0434] The memory stores executable codes, which, when processed by the processor, can enable the processor to execute part or all of the above-mentioned methods.

[0435] It should be noted that in the return scenario, the warehousing system may include servers and warehousing robots. The warehousing robots may include one or more types of handling robots. The warehousing robots and servers work together to process returned goods. Alternatively, the warehousing system may also include sorting robots. The warehousing robots, sorting robots, and servers work together to process returned goods.

[0436] In addition, the method according to the present application may also be implemented as a computer program or a computer program product, which includes computer program code instructions for executing some or all of the steps in the above method of the present application.

[0437] Alternatively, the present application can also be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium (or non-transitory machine-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium) on which executable code (or computer program or computer instruction code) is stored. When the executable code (or computer program or computer instruction code) is executed by a processor of an electronic device (or server, etc.), the processor executes part or all of the steps of the above-mentioned method according to the present application.

[0438] The embodiments of the present application have been described above. The above description is exemplary, not exhaustive, and is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is selected to best explain the principles of the embodiments, their practical applications, or improvements to the technology in the market, or to enable other persons skilled in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for processing returned goods, executed by a server, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine the target cargo location of the raw material box for storing the returned goods to be stored according to the goods information of the returned goods to be stored; The first transport robot is dispatched to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, and the returned goods to be stored are transported to the target cargo location, wherein the returned goods to be stored are goods that have been processed for return.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Determining a target cargo location of a raw material box for storing the returned goods to be stored according to the goods information of the returned goods to be stored includes: Determining whether there is an existing raw material box matching the cargo information according to the cargo information of the returned cargo to be stored; If there is an existing raw material box and the existing raw material box has storage space, then the cargo location of the existing raw material box is determined as the target cargo location for storing the raw material box of the returned goods to be stored; If there is no existing raw material box, or if there is an existing raw material box but there is no storage space in the existing raw material box, a new raw material box is allocated for the returned goods to be warehoused, and the storage location corresponding to the new raw material box is determined as the target storage location for storing the raw material box for the returned goods to be warehoused.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that In the case that there is no existing raw material box, or there is an existing raw material box but there is no storage space in the existing raw material box, dispatching the first transport robot to transport the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location includes: dispatching a first transport robot to transport the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location, so as to unload them into a new raw material box at the target cargo location; or, The first transport robot is dispatched to transport the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Dispatching the first transport robot to transport the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location includes: Determine the target cargo location according to the raw material box storage strategy, so as to transport the new raw material box containing the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location; Wherein, determining the target cargo location according to the raw material box storage strategy includes: Based on the current inventory data, calculate the number of boxes of various types of returned goods waiting to be stored in each lane; According to the number of boxes of various types of returned goods to be stored in each lane, and in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the boxes of raw materials corresponding to the various types of returned goods to be stored in each lane, the target cargo position corresponding to the new raw material box is determined; or, According to the current inventory data and the historical sales popularity data of various types of returned goods to be stored, the target cargo position corresponding to the new raw material box is determined according to the goal of placing the returned goods with higher popularity on the lower shelves; or According to the current inventory data, the number of boxes of each type of returned goods in stock in each aisle, and the historical sales popularity data of each type of returned goods, the target storage location corresponding to the new raw material box is determined in accordance with the goal of evenly distributing the raw material boxes corresponding to each type of returned goods in stock in each aisle and placing the popular returned goods on the lower shelves.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The workstation is a return processing workstation, which is used to perform return processing on the return goods to be processed in the return package so that they become the return goods to be stored.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The goods to be returned are the return packages that are directly transported from the return receiving area to the return processing workstation for return processing.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Before dispatching the first transport robot to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the method further includes: The second handling robot is dispatched to obtain the material box for the goods to be returned and transport it to the cache location in the inventory area for caching, wherein the material box for the goods to be returned is a material box for storing the goods to be returned, and the goods to be returned are the goods in the return package that have been changed into boxes but have not been returned; The third transport robot is dispatched to transport the material box to be returned from the cache location to the return processing workstation to perform return processing on the returned goods to be processed in the material box to be returned.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The workstation is a sorting workstation, Before dispatching the first transport robot to run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the method further includes: The third transport robot is dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored from the inventory area to the sorting workstation.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that Before dispatching the third handling robot to transport the returned goods to be stored from the storage area to the sorting workstation, it also includes: The second handling robot is dispatched to transport the returned goods to be stored after the return processing workstation to the cache location in the inventory area for caching.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first transport robot transports the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location by climbing the shelves.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that After the returned goods to be stored are transported to the target cargo location, the method further includes: dispatching the fourth transport robot to transport the raw material box from the first cargo location to the sorting workstation; and, dispatching the sorting robot to arrive at the sorting workstation, so that the goods to be sorted in the raw material box on the fourth handling robot can be sorted to the sorting robot to become sorted goods, and transporting the sorted goods or the target order box containing the sorted goods from the sorting workstation to the second cargo position; The goods to be sorted are the goods to be returned after being transported to the target cargo location.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that Before dispatching the sorting robot to arrive at the sorting workstation, the method further includes: Determine a corresponding second cargo location for each of the multiple empty order boxes in the current outbound order set according to the order box allocation strategy; The empty box transport robot is dispatched to obtain the target empty order box from the designated box pickup location, and transport the target empty order box to the corresponding second cargo location.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The order box allocation strategy includes: According to the data of the current outbound order set, and in accordance with the principle that a single order box corresponds to a unique order, determine the number of order boxes and / or the number of sorting times required for the current outbound order set; wherein the data of the current outbound order set at least includes the SKU and quantity required for each order; According to the required number of order boxes and / or sorting times, and in accordance with the goal of balancing the robot flow in each of the designated multiple lanes, the second cargo location is determined from the order box storage area of ​​the shelves corresponding to the designated multiple lanes.

14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: The cargo collection robot is dispatched to transport the order boxes that meet the preset conditions in the order box storage area to the cargo collection positions in the cargo collection area according to the cargo collection strategy for collection, so as to release the cargo positions in the order box storage area.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: The filling robot is dispatched to fill the empty order boxes into the released cargo spaces in the order box storage area according to the order box allocation strategy.

16. A server, characterized in that: For storage systems, including: a first processor; and A first memory stores executable codes thereon, and when the executable codes are executed by the first processor, the first processor is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. A method for processing returned goods, characterized in that: Executed by a storage robot, the method includes: Receiving a dispatch instruction, wherein the dispatch instruction includes a pickup location and a target location, wherein the pickup location includes a workstation, and the target location includes a target cargo location determined according to cargo information of the cargo to be returned; According to the dispatching instruction, run to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, and transport the returned goods to be stored to the target cargo location, wherein the returned goods to be stored are the goods that have been processed for return.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The pickup location in the dispatch instruction also includes a cache location of a material box to be returned, and the target location in the dispatch instruction also includes a return processing workstation; Before running to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the method further includes: According to the dispatching instruction, the material box to be returned is transported from the cache location to the return processing workstation to perform return processing on the returned goods in the material box to be returned.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The pickup location in the dispatch instruction also includes a storage area, and the target location in the dispatch instruction also includes a sorting workstation; Before running to the workstation to obtain the returned goods to be stored, the method includes: The returned goods to be stored are transported from the storage area to the sorting workstation according to the dispatching instruction, so that the returned goods to be stored are sorted to the first handling robot at the sorting workstation.

20. A storage robot, characterized in that: For storage systems, including: a chassis for walking on a supporting surface; A carrying device is arranged on the chassis, and the carrying device comprises: Carriers, used to carry goods or containers containing goods; and a transfer mechanism, used to move the cargo or the container containing the cargo to or from the carrier; and Controller, including: a second processor; and The second memory stores executable codes thereon, and when the executable codes are executed by the second processor, the second processor is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 17 to 19.

21. The storage robot according to claim 20, characterized in that: The carrying device further comprises a flap arranged above the carrying member, wherein the flap is used to carry goods, and when the flap is turned over, the goods on the flap can fall onto the carrying member.

22. The storage robot according to claim 20, characterized in that: The storage robot is also provided with: A climbing assembly, comprising a climbing wheel train and a climbing driving component for driving the climbing wheel train, wherein the climbing wheel train can drive the chassis to climb along the shelf under the drive of the climbing driving component; and / or The travel assembly comprises a travel wheel train and a travel driving component for driving the travel wheel train. The travel wheel train drives the chassis to move along a horizontal guide rail on the shelf under the drive of the travel driving component.

23. A storage system, characterized in that: It comprises the server as claimed in claim 16 and at least one warehouse robot as claimed in any one of claims 20 to 22.

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