Mining humanoid robot cluster scheduling method and system

Abstract

The invention discloses a mining humanoid robot cluster scheduling method, and relates to the technical field of resource scheduling, and the method comprises the steps that a scheduling platform solves a task allocation model with the shortest time as a target, obtains an optimal task allocation scheme, and schedules mining humanoid robots; after the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot receives command information of the control equipment, extracts destination information in the command information and sends the destination information to the dispatching platform; and the scheduling platform reformulates a new task allocation scheme according to the updated task, and schedules each mining humanoid robot according to the new task allocation scheme. According to the invention, when an emergency occurs underground, the mining humanoid robot is manually commanded on site, and the scheduling platform regenerates the task allocation scheme according to the information of the on-site commanding, so that the new task allocation scheme can avoid a place where a fault occurs, and the rationality of the task allocation scheme is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of resource scheduling, and in particular to a method and system for scheduling a cluster of humanoid robots for mining. Background Art

[0002] Underground coal mines are the main form of coal mines at present. During the underground coal mining process, workers are required to use various tools or machines to carry out construction to complete pipeline installation, grouting, ore mining and other tasks. Since traditional coal mining operations rely heavily on manual labor, most of the work needs to be completed manually, so there are problems of high cost and great safety hazards. With the development of modern machinery, intelligent robots have begun to be used in underground coal mines to assist or even replace manual labor to complete various heavy or dangerous tasks. For example, CN118378872A and CN116862208A both deployed a large number of robots in coal mines and centralized the scheduling of these robots in order to improve the efficiency of robot operations.

[0003] Among the existing robots used in coal mines, most assume that the demand for robots in underground mines is fixed, or that even if the demand for robots in underground mines changes, the dispatching platform can promptly understand the change and meet the change in the formulated dispatching plan. However, in actual applications, when some emergencies occur underground, such as power failure or network failure, these emergencies cannot be perceived by the dispatching platform in the first place. If the robot is still dispatched according to the underground status before the emergency occurs, the dispatching platform cannot play its due function. Summary of the invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a method and system for scheduling a cluster of humanoid robots for mining, so as to solve the problem that the prior art lacks perfect robot remote scheduling and on-site command technology.

[0005] On the one hand, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining, including:

[0006] The dispatching platform obtains the location information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot;

[0007] The scheduling platform takes the shortest time as the goal, uses location information, job type information and task information to establish a task allocation model, solves the task allocation model, and obtains the optimal task allocation plan;

[0008] The dispatching platform dispatches each mining humanoid robot according to the optimal task allocation plan;

[0009] When the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with a control device used by on-site command personnel within a certain range;

[0010] The mining humanoid robot receives command information from the control device, extracts destination information from the command information, and sends the destination information and identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the dispatching platform;

[0011] The dispatching platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robots that have uploaded the destination information, re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robots, and dispatches each mining humanoid robot according to the new task allocation plan.

[0012] On the other hand, the embodiment of the present application also provides a humanoid robot cluster scheduling system for mining, including:

[0013] The scheduling platform is used to obtain the location information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot, and establish a task allocation model using the location information, operation type information and task information with the goal of minimizing the time required, solve the task allocation model, obtain the optimal task allocation plan, and schedule each mining humanoid robot according to the optimal task allocation plan;

[0014] The control device is used by the on-site commander. When the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with the control device within a certain range;

[0015] The mining humanoid robot receives the command information of the control device, extracts the destination information in the command information, and sends the destination information and the identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the dispatching platform. The dispatching platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robot that uploaded the destination information, and re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robot, and dispatches each mining humanoid robot according to the new task allocation plan.

[0016] The mining humanoid robot cluster scheduling method and system in this application have the following advantages:

[0017] When an emergency occurs underground, the mining humanoid robot is manually commanded on-site. The dispatching platform regenerates the task allocation plan based on the information from the on-site command, so that the new task allocation plan can avoid the location where the failure occurred, thereby improving the rationality of the task allocation plan. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0019] Figure 1 A flow chart of a method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 2 This is a functional module diagram of the mining humanoid robot cluster scheduling system provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0022] Figure 1 Flow chart of a method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for use in a mine provided in an embodiment of the present application. The present application embodiment provides a method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for use in a mine, including:

[0023] S100, the dispatching platform obtains the location information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot.

[0024] For example, the mining humanoid robot is connected to the dispatching platform in communication, and a positioning unit is provided on the mining humanoid robot, and the real-time position information of the mining humanoid robot obtained by the positioning unit will be uploaded to the dispatching platform. The operation type information and underground task information are pre-stored in the storage unit, and the dispatching platform can obtain the operation type information and task information from the storage unit.

[0025] The operation type information in the embodiment of the present application is the type of operation that each mining humanoid robot can complete, and the task information is the work task that the mining humanoid robot needs to complete in each underground mine. In addition to the above-mentioned location information, operation type information and task information, the scheduling platform also obtains the remaining energy information, moving speed information and mine location information corresponding to each task information of each mining humanoid robot.

[0026] S110, the scheduling platform takes the shortest time as the goal, uses the location information, the job type information and the task information to establish a task allocation model, solves the task allocation model, and obtains the optimal task allocation plan.

[0027] Exemplarily, the task allocation model describes the task allocation scheme corresponding to each mining humanoid robot when all mining humanoid robots start from the current position and go to any mine. In these task allocation schemes, the same mining humanoid robot may be arranged to different mines. Therefore, different task allocation schemes have different completion times when they are executed. The completion time is the time for the mining humanoid robot that takes the longest time to move from the current position to the target mine. The present application solves the task allocation model with the shortest completion time as the goal. During the solution process, multiple constraints need to be added to the task allocation model. These constraints include: the operation type information and task information of the mining humanoid robot to which the task is assigned match, the remaining energy of each mining humanoid robot meets the requirements of the path, and the moving speed of each mining humanoid robot is less than the maximum allowable speed of the path.

[0028] In the embodiment of the present application, a genetic algorithm is used to solve the task allocation model.

[0029] Specifically, the genetic algorithm needs to go through the four steps of initialization, selection, crossover and mutation during the solution process. In the initialization step, multiple initial task allocation schemes will be randomly generated. These initial task allocation schemes may not be optimal and need to be processed through subsequent steps to obtain the optimal task allocation scheme. In the selection step, the fitness value of each initial task allocation scheme will be calculated, and multiple initial task allocation schemes with the highest fitness value will be selected for subsequent processing. In the crossover step, the paths of the same mining humanoid robot in any two selected initial task allocation schemes will be exchanged to obtain the task allocation scheme after the crossover. In the mutation step, the paths of part or all of the mining humanoid robots in the task allocation scheme after the crossover are adjusted to a certain extent to obtain the adjusted task allocation scheme. After one round of processing is completed, the longest completion time of the mining humanoid robot in the adjusted task allocation scheme is calculated, and then the next round of processing is carried out. After at least two rounds of processing are completed, the longest completion time of the task allocation schemes obtained in two adjacent rounds will be compared, and the task allocation scheme with the shorter longest completion time will be retained. In the following process, the longest completion time of the retained task allocation scheme is compared with the longest completion time of the task allocation scheme obtained in the current round, and the task allocation scheme with the shorter longest completion time is retained. After multiple cycles, the task allocation scheme with the shortest longest completion time is taken as the optimal task allocation scheme.

[0030] S120, the scheduling platform schedules each mining humanoid robot according to the optimal task allocation plan.

[0031] For example, the generated optimal task allocation plan includes the planning information of the destination and path of each mining humanoid robot, where the destination is the mine cave that each mining humanoid robot needs to reach. The scheduling platform sends the planning information of each path to the corresponding mining humanoid robot through the local area network or the Internet, and the mining humanoid robot starts to navigate and move automatically according to the path until it reaches the destination. The task is completed, and each mining humanoid robot performs the corresponding task at its respective destination, such as handling, grouting, water tank cleaning, etc.

[0032] In the embodiment of the present application, the mining humanoid robot has a shape similar to that of a human body, including a head, a trunk, upper limbs and lower limbs, wherein the head is integrated with various sensing units, including a laser radar, an ultrasonic ranging unit and a camera, which can be used to sense the surrounding environment during movement, thereby providing a data basis for obstacle avoidance. The trunk integrates a control module and an energy module, and the energy module can use a battery or a hydrogen fuel cell. The real-time residual energy information of the energy module will be transmitted to the control module. The control module communicates with the dispatching platform through a local area network or the Internet to upload the data required by the dispatching platform to the dispatching platform. At the same time, the control module also obtains the environmental data collected by the sensing unit during the navigation process, and after processing these environmental data, the execution unit is controlled accordingly. The upper limbs are integrated with execution units for operating various mechanical equipment to perform tasks such as handling, spraying, and water tank cleaning in the mine. The lower limbs can be bipedal, multi-legged or crawler structures. As a mobile execution unit, the control module controls the lower limbs to achieve operations such as movement and obstacle avoidance.

[0033] S130, when the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with a control device used by on-site command personnel within a certain range.

[0034] For example, due to the poor network environment underground, the control equipment used by the on-site commander cannot maintain good network communication with the dispatching platform. Moreover, as underground workers, the on-site commander may not be aware of the work progress of the dispatching platform, so even if an emergency occurs underground, it is impossible to report the information to the dispatching platform in time. Therefore, after the on-site commander finds that the mining humanoid robot begins to enter the underground, the control device can be turned on to control the mining humanoid robot within a certain range according to the location information of the mine where the emergency occurs pre-entered by the on-site commander.

[0035] In the embodiments of the present application, the underground operation area is very large. In order to maintain the production order and safety of each key location, the mine will arrange multiple on-site commanders underground. These on-site commanders have the tasks of patrolling and commanding. While managing the personnel underground, they can also command the mining humanoid robot. During the command, once the on-site commander finds that a mine cave has an emergency such as a power failure or a network failure, he will patrol near the mine cave and input the location information of the mine cave into the control device in time, so as to establish a communication connection in time when the mining humanoid robot enters the mine cave. The wireless communication connection in this application can use Bluetooth communication, and the Bluetooth of the control device and the mining humanoid robot remains continuously turned on. When the distance between the two is reduced to the distance range of Bluetooth communication, the control device and the mining humanoid robot will immediately establish a stable Bluetooth communication.

[0036] S140, the mining humanoid robot receives command information from the control device, extracts destination information from the command information, and sends the destination information and identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the dispatching platform.

[0037] Exemplarily, after the control device is wirelessly connected to the mining humanoid robot, it obtains the target position of the mining humanoid robot and determines whether the target position is the same as the fault position. If they are the same, a command message is generated, and the destination information in the command message is the location information of the work site near the target position.

[0038] Specifically, since the control device does not know the destination of the mining humanoid robot in advance, each time a mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with the control device, the control device will send a query message to the mining humanoid robot. As feedback, the mining humanoid robot will send the end point of the current path, that is, the target position, to the control device. The control device compares the target position fed back by the mining humanoid robot with the pre-stored location information of the mine cave where the emergency occurred, that is, the fault position. If the target position and the fault position are the same, it means that the mine cave where the current mining humanoid robot is going to has an emergency. At this time, the current mining humanoid robot cannot continue to go to the mine cave where the emergency occurred and needs to move to other nearby mine caves.

[0039] Furthermore, the control device also obtains the number of mining humanoid robots that can be accommodated at the destination corresponding to the destination information, generates destination information for each mining humanoid robot in order from small to large distance from the target position, and then generates command information.

[0040] Specifically, the control device pre-stores the number of humanoid mining robots required for each mine cave. If an emergency occurs in a mine cave that a humanoid mining robot is about to go to, the humanoid mining robot needs to be arranged to the nearest mine cave that is not fully occupied. Therefore, after determining that an emergency occurs in the mine cave that the current humanoid mining robot is about to go to, the control device in the embodiment of the present application will calculate the distances of various mine caves near the fault location, select the nearest mine cave that is not fully occupied as the destination, and send the destination information to the humanoid mining robot, which will immediately upload the destination information to the scheduling platform.

[0041] Furthermore, when generating command information, the control device also obtains the operation type information and underground task information of the mining humanoid robot currently connected by wireless communication, and generates command information according to the principle of matching the task information of the destination corresponding to the destination information with the operation type information of the mining humanoid robot.

[0042] Specifically, when arranging a humanoid mining robot to other mines, in addition to meeting the principle of minimum distance, it is also necessary to ensure that the humanoid mining robot is capable of meeting the work requirements of the mine, that is, the operation type information of the humanoid mining robot needs to match the task information. Otherwise, even if the humanoid mining robot reaches the new mine, it will not be able to meet the actual needs of the mine, and the meaning of scheduling will be lost.

[0043] S150, the scheduling platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robots that have uploaded the destination information, re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robots, and schedules each mining humanoid robot according to the new task allocation plan.

[0044] Exemplarily, after the dispatching platform obtains the identity information, it obtains the original destination location based on the identity information, marks the original destination location as a fault point, and when regenerating a new task allocation plan, removes the fault point from the destination list, and regenerates a new task allocation plan while keeping the destination information in the command information matching the corresponding mining humanoid robot.

[0045] Specifically, since the control device sends command information to the mining humanoid robot according to the fault location, the dispatching platform can easily determine that a fault has occurred at the original destination location after discovering that the original destination location that the mining humanoid robot originally needed to go to has been changed, so the original destination location can be marked as a fault point. For all fault points, the dispatching platform will remove the fault point from the destination list of the mine cave where the mining humanoid robot needs to be dispatched, and regenerate a new task allocation plan for all mining humanoid robots while maintaining the control device's command of each mining humanoid robot. In this new task allocation plan, the destination of the mining humanoid robot that has been commanded by the control device remains unchanged, while the destination of other mining humanoid robots that have not been commanded will be changed.

[0046] Because in the original task allocation plan, all the dispatched mining humanoid robots can just meet the operational needs of all mines. After one or more mines fail, the remaining normal mines will no longer need so many mining humanoid robots. At this time, there will inevitably be a part of the mining humanoid robots that have not been assigned tasks. For these mining humanoid robots, the dispatching platform will guide them back to the predetermined location on the ground to stand by or replenish energy.

[0047] After the faulty mine is repaired, the fault will be eliminated. At this time, the on-site commander will immediately update the status information of each mine. If there are still mining humanoid robots entering the mine, the control device will no longer send command information to the mining humanoid robots. If the dispatching platform does not receive the destination information fed back by any mining humanoid robot, the dispatching platform will assume that the fault at the original destination has been eliminated. At this time, a new task allocation plan will be regenerated. The task allocation plan still maintains the control device's command of the mining humanoid robot, and only adjusts the destination of the mining humanoid robot that has not received the command.

[0048] Furthermore, after the mining humanoid robot arrives at the mine, it will cooperate with the personnel or other mining humanoid robots in the mine to perform operations. If there are personnel in the mine, and the operations to be performed by the mining humanoid robot require high precision or quality, the operators in the mine can command the mining humanoid robot. Specifically, during the command process, the operator can issue command instructions through language or action. After the microphone or camera integrated on the mining humanoid robot collects voice or images, it recognizes the command instructions and controls each execution unit accordingly, so that the mining humanoid robot operates under the command of the operator.

[0049] The present application also provides a humanoid robot cluster dispatching system for mining, such as Figure 2 As shown, the system includes:

[0050] The scheduling platform is used to obtain the location information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot, and establish a task allocation model using the location information, operation type information and task information with the goal of minimizing the time required, solve the task allocation model, obtain the optimal task allocation plan, and schedule each mining humanoid robot according to the optimal task allocation plan;

[0051] The control device is used by the on-site commander. When the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with the control device within a certain range;

[0052] The mining humanoid robot receives the command information of the control device, extracts the destination information in the command information, and sends the destination information and the identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the dispatching platform. The dispatching platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robot that uploaded the destination information, and re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robot, and dispatches each mining humanoid robot according to the new task allocation plan.

[0053] Although the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the present application.

[0054] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining, characterized in that: include: The dispatching platform obtains the location information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot; The scheduling platform takes the shortest time as the goal, establishes a task allocation model using the location information, the job type information and the task information, solves the task allocation model, and obtains the optimal task allocation solution; The scheduling platform schedules each of the mining humanoid robots according to the optimal task allocation plan; When the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with a control device used by an on-site commander within a certain range; The mining humanoid robot receives the command information of the control device, extracts the destination information in the command information, and sends the destination information and the identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the dispatching platform; The scheduling platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robots that upload the destination information, re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robots, and schedules each of the mining humanoid robots according to the new task allocation plan.

2. The method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining according to claim 1, characterized in that: After the control device is wirelessly connected to the mining humanoid robot, it obtains the target position of the mining humanoid robot and determines whether the target position is the same as the fault position. If they are the same, it generates the command information, and the destination information in the command information is the location information of the work site near the target position.

3. The method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining according to claim 2, characterized in that: The control device also obtains the number of the mining humanoid robots that can be accommodated at the destination corresponding to the destination information, generates the destination information for each mining humanoid robot in ascending order of distance from the target position, and then generates the command information.

4. The method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining according to claim 3, characterized in that: When generating the command information, the control device also obtains the operation type information of the mining humanoid robot currently connected by wireless communication and the task information underground, and generates the command information according to the principle of matching the task information of the destination corresponding to the destination information with the operation type information of the mining humanoid robot.

5. The method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining according to claim 1, characterized in that: After the scheduling platform obtains the identity information, it obtains the original destination position according to the identity information, marks the original destination position as a fault point, and removes the fault point from the destination list when regenerating the new task allocation plan. While keeping the destination information in the command information matching the corresponding mining humanoid robot, the new task allocation plan is regenerated.

6. The method for scheduling a humanoid robot cluster for mining according to claim 1, characterized in that: A genetic algorithm is used to solve the task allocation model.

7. The humanoid robot cluster dispatching system for mining is characterized by: include: The scheduling platform is used to obtain the position information, operation type information and underground task information of each mining humanoid robot, establish a task allocation model using the position information, the operation type information and the task information with the goal of minimizing the time, solve the task allocation model, obtain the optimal task allocation plan, and schedule each mining humanoid robot according to the optimal task allocation plan; The control device is used by the on-site commander. When the mining humanoid robot arrives underground, the mining humanoid robot establishes a wireless communication connection with the control device within a certain range; The mining humanoid robot receives the command information from the control device, extracts the destination information from the command information, and sends the destination information and the identity information of the mining humanoid robot to the scheduling platform. The scheduling platform updates the tasks of the mining humanoid robot that uploaded the destination information, and re-formulates a new task allocation plan based on the updated tasks of the mining humanoid robot, and schedules each of the mining humanoid robots according to the new task allocation plan.

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