Article sorting method and device and storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides an article sorting method and device and a storage medium, relates to the technical field of sorting, and can solve the problem of relatively low sorting efficiency caused by excessive battery cells of different gears grabbed by a carrying and sorting device. The method comprises the steps that article information of an incoming material tray and respective article demand information of a plurality of discharging trays are acquired; wherein the article demand information is used for indicating the gears and the number of articles needed by the discharging tray; based on the article information of the incoming material tray and the respective article demand information of the plurality of discharging trays, a clamping scheme is determined, and the clamping scheme is used for indicating at least one target discharging tray in the plurality of discharging trays and the to-be-clamped article corresponding to each target discharging tray; and a clamping part of the robot is controlled to execute the clamping scheme so as to clamp the to-be-clamped object from the incoming material tray, and the to-be-clamped object is placed on a target discharging tray corresponding to the to-be-clamped object. According to the invention, the article sorting efficiency can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of sorting technology, and in particular to an item sorting method, device and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In battery manufacturing and application, cells of different gears have differences in voltage, capacity and internal resistance. If cells of different gears are used, the performance of the entire battery system will be unstable. For example, problems such as reduced driving range and inconsistent charging speed will occur. Grading cells to control the consistency of the cell gears is conducive to improving the performance of the battery system.

[0003] At present, the main way to sort the cells is to directly grab the mixed-grade cells by the handling and sorting device, and then send them to the corresponding sorting trays in turn. However, when the handling and sorting device grabs too many cells of different grades, placing the cells will waste a lot of time and the sorting efficiency is low. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides an article sorting method, device and storage medium, which can solve the problem of low sorting efficiency caused by too many battery cells of different gears grabbed by a transport and sorting device, and can improve the efficiency of article sorting.

[0005] In order to achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides an item sorting method, the method comprising: obtaining item information of an incoming material tray and item demand information of each of a plurality of material placing trays; wherein the item information of the incoming material tray is used to indicate the gear and quantity of items placed on the incoming material tray; the item demand information is used to indicate the gear and quantity of items required for the material placing tray; based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of material placing trays, determining a clamping scheme, the clamping scheme being used to indicate at least one target material placing tray among the plurality of material placing trays and the items to be clamped corresponding to each target material placing tray; controlling the clamping component of the robot to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the items to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and placing the items to be clamped on the target material placing tray corresponding to the items to be clamped.

[0007] In combination with the first aspect above, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: determining the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material placing trays; and determining the clamping plan based on the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays.

[0008] In combination with the above-mentioned first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: for a first material placing tray among multiple material placing trays, setting the clamping priority of the first material placing tray to the highest clamping priority; wherein the first material placing tray is a material placing tray whose items on the incoming material tray can meet the item demand information; for a second material placing tray among multiple material placing trays, determining the clamping priority of each second material placing tray based on the number of items required by each second material placing tray; wherein the second material placing tray is other material placing tray among the multiple material placing trays except the first material placing tray.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect above, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: determining the placement order of multiple target material trays; controlling the robot to move based on the placement order, and when the robot moves to a material placement area corresponding to a target material tray, controlling the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect above, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: determining a placement order of the multiple target material discharging trays based on a sequence of times at which the multiple target material discharging trays arrive at the material discharging area.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect above, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: when multiple target material discharging trays have arrived at the corresponding material discharging areas, based on the positions of the material discharging areas corresponding to the multiple target material discharging trays, and with the shortest robot moving distance as the goal, determining the placement order of the multiple target material discharging trays.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect above, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: controlling the robot to move to a material discharge area corresponding to a target material discharge tray; after the target material discharge tray reaches the material discharge area, controlling the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material discharge tray onto the target material discharge tray.

[0013] In a second aspect, the present application provides an item sorting device, which includes: a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is used to obtain item information of an incoming material tray and item demand information of each of a plurality of material placing trays; wherein the item information of the incoming material tray is used to indicate the gear and quantity of items placed on the incoming material tray; the item demand information is used to indicate the gear and quantity of items required for the material placing tray; the processing unit is used to determine a clamping scheme based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of material placing trays, the clamping scheme being used to indicate at least one target material placing tray among the plurality of material placing trays and the items to be clamped corresponding to each target material placing tray; the processing unit is also used to control the clamping component of the robot to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the items to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and place the items to be clamped on the target material placing tray corresponding to the items to be clamped.

[0014] In combination with the above-mentioned second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the processing unit is specifically used to: determine the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material placing trays; determine the clamping plan based on the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays.

[0015] In combination with the above-mentioned second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the processing unit is specifically used to: for a first material tray among multiple material trays, set the clamping priority of the first material tray to the highest clamping priority; wherein the first material tray is a material tray whose items on the incoming material tray can meet the item demand information; for a second material tray among multiple material trays, determine the clamping priority of each second material tray based on the number of items required by each second material tray; wherein the second material tray is the other material tray among the multiple material trays except the first material tray.

[0016] In combination with the above-mentioned second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the processing unit is specifically used to: determine the placement order of multiple target material trays; control the robot to move based on the placement order, and when the robot moves to a material placement area corresponding to a target material tray, control the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray.

[0017] In combination with the above second aspect, in a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically used to determine the placement order of the multiple target material discharging trays based on the order of the times at which the multiple target material discharging trays arrive at the material discharging area.

[0018] In combination with the above-mentioned second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the processing unit is specifically used to: when multiple target material discharge trays have arrived at the corresponding material discharge areas, based on the positions of the material discharge areas corresponding to the multiple target material discharge trays, and with the shortest robot moving distance as the goal, determine the placement order of the multiple target material discharge trays.

[0019] In combination with the above-mentioned second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the processing unit is specifically used to: control the robot to move to the material discharge area corresponding to the target material discharge tray; after the target material discharge tray reaches the material discharge area, control the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material discharge tray on the target material discharge tray.

[0020] In a third aspect, the present application provides an electronic device comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run a computer program or instructions to implement the item sorting method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0021] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions. When the instructions are executed on a terminal, the terminal executes the item sorting method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0022] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on an item sorting device, enables the item sorting device to execute the item sorting method as described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0023] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a chip, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run a computer program or instructions to implement the item sorting method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0024] Specifically, the chip provided in the present application also includes a memory for storing computer programs or instructions.

[0025] It should be noted that the above computer instructions may be stored in whole or in part on a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium may be packaged together with the processor of the device, or may be packaged separately from the processor of the device, which is not limited in this application.

[0026] In the seventh aspect, the present application provides an item sorting system, comprising: a machine tool controller, an item sorting machine tool, an incoming material tray and multiple material delivery trays, wherein the machine tool controller is used to execute the item sorting method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0027] The descriptions of the second to seventh aspects of the present application can refer to the detailed description of the first aspect; and the beneficial effects of the descriptions of the second to seventh aspects can refer to the beneficial effect analysis of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0028] In this application, the name of the above-mentioned article sorting device does not limit the device or functional module itself. In actual implementation, these devices or functional modules may appear with other names. As long as the functions of each device or functional module are similar to those of this application, they fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalent technologies.

[0029] These and other aspects of the present application will become more apparent from the following description.

[0030] Based on the above technical solution, the article sorting method provided by the present application obtains the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, and based on the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, a clamping scheme for indicating at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the article to be clamped corresponding to each target material tray can be determined. Furthermore, when clamping an article, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the article to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and place the article to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the article to be clamped, which can avoid the problem of low sorting efficiency caused by too many articles of different gears being clamped when the article sorting device randomly clamps articles, and greatly improve the efficiency of article sorting. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the architecture of an item sorting system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of an article sorting machine provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of a clamping component provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a tray provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 6 A flowchart of an item sorting method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 7A flowchart of another method for sorting items provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 8 A flowchart of a method for determining a clamping priority provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Fig. 9 A flowchart of another method for sorting items provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of an item sorting device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] 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.

[0042] The term "and / or" 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 mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone.

[0043] The terms "first" and "second" and the like in the specification and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects, or to distinguish different processing of the same object, rather than to describe a specific order of objects.

[0044] In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof mentioned in the description of the present application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include other steps or units that are not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units that are inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0045] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a specific way.

[0046] In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, “plurality” means two or more.

[0047] In battery manufacturing and application, cells of different gears have differences in voltage, capacity and internal resistance. If cells of different gears are used, the performance of the entire battery system will be unstable. For example, problems such as reduced driving range and inconsistent charging speed will occur. Grading cells to control the consistency of the cell gears is conducive to improving the performance of the battery system.

[0048] In addition, cells of different gears have different tolerances to temperature and charge and discharge. Therefore, using cells of different gears will increase the safety risk of the battery pack and easily lead to safety accidents such as thermal runaway and short circuit.

[0049] At present, there are two main ways to classify batteries:

[0050] Method 1: The front-end equipment sorts the mixed-grade battery cells on the whole tray, and then the back-end equipment assembles the battery cells of the same grade into trays. The working cost is high and the efficiency is extremely low.

[0051] Method 2: The handling device directly grabs the mixed-grade battery cells and then goes to the corresponding sorting trays to sort the battery cells in turn. However, if the handling device grabs too many battery cells, placing the battery cells will waste a lot of time, which has the problem of low efficiency.

[0052] In view of this, the present application provides an article sorting method, which obtains the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, and based on the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, can determine a clamping scheme for indicating at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the article to be clamped corresponding to each target material tray. Furthermore, when clamping an article, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the article to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and place the article to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the article to be clamped, which can avoid the problem of low sorting efficiency caused by too many articles of different gears being clamped when the article sorting device randomly clamps articles, and greatly improve the efficiency of article sorting.

[0053] The implementation of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0054] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an item sorting system provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the article sorting system includes: a machine tool controller 101 and an article sorting machine tool 102 .

[0055] The machine tool controller 101 and the item sorting machine tool 102 may be one or more. For ease of understanding, Figure 1 Only one is shown.

[0056] The machine tool controller 101 and the article sorting machine tool 102 are connected via a communication link. The communication link may be a wired communication link or a wireless communication link, which is not limited in the present application.

[0057] In some embodiments, the machine tool controller 101 may be a programmable logic controller (PLC). Of course, the above is only an exemplary description of the machine tool controller 101, and the machine tool controller 101 may also be any one of the following, or the machine tool controller 101 may also be a combination of at least two of the following: a numerical control system, an industrial computer, an embedded system, and a relay control system, which is not limited in this application.

[0058] In some embodiments, Figure 2 As shown, the article sorting machine 102 includes an article sorting device 1021 , a plurality of first double-layer assembly lines 1022 , a second double-layer assembly line 1023 , and a coding device 1024 .

[0059] Among them, the machine tool controller 101 is connected to the item sorting device 1021 through a communication link, the machine tool controller 101 is connected to the first double-layer assembly line 1022 through a communication link, the machine tool controller 101 is connected to the second double-layer assembly line 1023 through a communication link, and the machine tool controller 101 is connected to the coding device 1024 through a communication link.

[0060] For example, Figure 2 As shown, the article sorting machine 102 shown in the embodiment of the present application includes 8 first double-layer assembly lines, and correspondingly, each first double-layer assembly line is configured with a material discharge tray of a gear. For example, the first upper assembly line of the first gear is used to convey the material discharge tray of the first gear, the first upper assembly line of the second gear is used to convey the material discharge tray of the second gear, and the first upper assembly line of the third gear is used to convey the material discharge tray of the third gear.

[0061] In some embodiments, the item sorting device 1021 includes a robot 10211 , a slide rail 10212 , a clamping component 10213 (eg, a clamp), and a first barcode scanner 10214 .

[0062] The robot 10211 and the gripping component 10213 are connected via a mechanical arm. One end of the mechanical arm is connected to the robot 10211 via a first rotating shaft, and the other end of the mechanical arm is fixed with the gripping component 10213. The robot 10211 is installed above the slide rail 10212. Figure 3 As shown, the first barcode scanner 10214 is installed inside the clamping component 10213.

[0063] In one example, the robot 10211 moves on the slide rail 10212 and drives the gripping component 10213 to move through the mechanical arm; the mechanical arm is rotated and moved by the rotating shaft to drive the gripping component 10213 to move. The mechanical arm can be a retractable mechanical arm or a fixed length mechanical arm, which is not limited in this application.

[0064] In some embodiments, Figure 3 As shown, the clamping component 10213 includes a plurality of grippers 102131, a lifting cylinder 102132, and an opening and clamping cylinder 102133. The lifting cylinder 102132 is installed above the grippers 102131, and the opening and clamping cylinder 102133 is installed on the left and right sides of the grippers 102131.

[0065] In one example, the lifting cylinder 102132 moves upward or downward to drive the gripper 102131 to move upward or downward. The opening and clamping cylinder 102133 applies pressure to the gripper 102131 to clamp the gripper 102131, or the opening and clamping cylinder 102133 applies tension to the gripper 102131 to open the gripper 102131. The first barcode scanner 10214 is used to take a photo and scan the barcode of the material discharging tray to obtain the information of the material discharging tray.

[0066] In some embodiments, the first double-layer assembly line 1022 includes a first upper-layer assembly line, a first lower-layer assembly line, and a first elevator.

[0067] The material discharging tray of each gear is located in the preset tray area above the first elevator of the corresponding gear. The first elevator is arranged at the head and tail ends of the first upper assembly line and the first lower assembly line. The first upper assembly line is used to transfer the material discharging tray to the preset tray area above the first elevator, and the first elevator is used to transport the tray located in the preset tray area to the first lower assembly line. The first lower assembly line is used to transfer the material discharging tray to the coding area corresponding to the coding device.

[0068] Further, optionally, the first elevator is equipped with a sensor, which is used to sense whether the material placing tray is fixedly placed above the preset tray area.

[0069] In some embodiments, the second double-layer assembly line 1023 includes a second upper-layer assembly line, a second lower-layer assembly line, and a second elevator.

[0070] Among them, the incoming pallet is above the second elevator. The second elevator is set at the beginning and end of the second upper assembly line and the second lower assembly line. The second upper assembly line is used to transfer the pallet to the second elevator, and the second elevator is used to transfer the empty pallet above the second elevator to the second lower assembly line. The second lower assembly line conveys the controlled pallet out.

[0071] Optionally, a second barcode scanner is configured in the second elevator. The second barcode scanner is used to take a photo and scan the incoming material tray on the second elevator to obtain the item information of the incoming material tray (including the gear and quantity of the items placed on the incoming material tray).

[0072] In some embodiments, the coding device 1024 includes a servo mechanism, a coding module, and a third code scanner. The third code scanner is used to scan the material tray and obtain the coding information of the material tray from the database. The servo module is used to accurately move above the target item according to the received instructions. Furthermore, the coding module is used to perform coding processing on each item in turn based on the coding information. After the entire tray is coded, the material tray that has been coded flows out of the item sorting machine 102 through the assembly line.

[0073] In some embodiments, the present application also provides an incoming material tray and a plurality of unloading material trays, wherein the incoming material tray is arranged at a first preset position in the article sorting machine 102, and the unloading material tray is arranged at a second preset position in the battery cell sorting machine.

[0074] Optionally, the tray (including the incoming material tray and multiple unloading material trays) can be of XX*XX specifications (for example, the tray can be Figure 4 The 9*9 tray shown in the figure) means that the tray includes XX*XX item placement areas (for example, Figure 4 As shown, the pallet may include 9*9 article placement areas). Of course, the above is only an exemplary description of the specifications of the pallet in the embodiment of the present application. The pallet involved in the embodiment of the present application may also be a pallet of other specifications, and the present application does not limit this.

[0075] When implemented by hardware, the various modules in the machine tool controller 101 can be integrated into Figure 5 Specifically, Figure 5 As shown, the basic hardware structure of the electronic device is introduced.

[0076] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, the electronic device includes at least one processor 501, a communication line 502, and at least one communication interface 504, and may also include a memory 503. The processor 501, the memory 503 and the communication interface 504 may be connected via the communication line 502.

[0077] Processor 501 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as: one or more digital signal processors (DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA).

[0078] The communication link 502 may include a pathway for transmitting information between the above-mentioned components.

[0079] The communication interface 504 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks, and can use any transceiver-like device, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), etc.

[0080] The memory 503 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to include or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these.

[0081] In one possible design, the memory 503 can exist independently of the processor 501, that is, the memory 503 can be a memory outside the processor 501. In this case, the memory 503 can be connected to the processor 501 through the communication line 502, and is used to store execution instructions or application code, and is controlled by the processor 501 to implement the object sorting method provided in the following embodiment of the present application. In another possible design, the memory 503 can also be integrated with the processor 501, that is, the memory 503 can be the internal memory of the processor 501, for example, the memory 503 is a high-speed cache, which can be used to temporarily store some data and instruction information.

[0082] As a possible implementation, the processor 501 may include one or more CPUs, for example Figure 5 As another possible implementation, the electronic device may include multiple processors, such as Figure 5 As another possible implementation, the electronic device may further include an output device 505 and an input device 506.

[0083] It should be pointed out that the various embodiments of the present application can learn from or refer to each other. For example, the same or similar steps, method embodiments, system embodiments and device embodiments can all refer to each other without limitation.

[0084] Figure 6 A flowchart of an article sorting method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which can be applied to Figure 5 In the electronic device shown. Figure 6 As shown, the method includes the following S601-S604.

[0085] S601, obtaining item information of an incoming material tray and item demand information of each of a plurality of unloading material trays.

[0086] The item information of the incoming material tray is used to indicate the position and quantity of the items placed on the incoming material tray. The item demand information is used to indicate the position and quantity of the items required by the material tray. For example, the items may be battery cells.

[0087] For example, the item information of the incoming material tray may indicate the number of battery cells in each gear. For example, if there is 1 battery cell of gear 2, 8 battery cells of gear 3, and 5 battery cells of gear 5 placed on the incoming material tray, the item information of the incoming material tray may indicate that the number of battery cells of gear 2 is 1, the number of battery cells of gear 3 is 8, and the number of battery cells of gear 5 is 5.

[0088] Optionally, the item information of the incoming material tray is also used to indicate the placement position information of each battery cell in the incoming material tray.

[0089] It should be noted that, when the robot's gripping component places the gripped items on the unloading tray, the item demand information of the unloading tray will be synchronously updated according to the number of items placed. For example, if the item demand information of the unloading tray is that 4 items of 8-level are required, after the robot's gripping component places 1 item of 8-level gripped on the unloading tray, the item demand information of the unloading tray will be synchronously updated to 3 items of 8-level are required.

[0090] In some embodiments, before S601, the electronic device controls the first upper assembly line to transfer the plurality of material trays to the preset tray areas above the first elevators respectively corresponding to each other, and the electronic device controls the second upper assembly line to transfer the incoming material trays to the top of the second elevator.

[0091] Among them, optionally, the discharge tray can be conveyed simultaneously with the incoming material tray, or the discharge tray can be conveyed before the incoming material tray, or the discharge tray can be conveyed after the incoming material tray, and this application does not limit this.

[0092] In some embodiments, the process of obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple material placing trays in S601 includes: the electronic device controls the first barcode scanner of the robot to take a photo and scan the barcode of each material placing tray to obtain the item demand information of each material placing tray.

[0093] In one example, after the first barcode scanner takes a photo and scans a barcode of each material tray, the first barcode scanner obtains a tray code of the material tray. The first barcode scanner sends the tray code of the material tray to the industrial computer. The industrial computer obtains the item demand information of the material tray from the database based on the tray code of the material tray, and sends the item demand information of the material tray to the electronic device.

[0094] In another example, after the first barcode scanner takes a photo and scans a barcode of each material tray, the first barcode scanner obtains a tray code of the material tray. The first barcode scanner sends the tray code of the material tray to the electronic device. The electronic device obtains the item demand information of the material tray from the database based on the tray code of the material tray.

[0095] In other embodiments, the process of obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays in S601 includes: when the unloading tray is conveyed to the top of the first elevator, it is an empty tray, and the electronic device assumes that the quantity information of the items in the item demand information of the unloading tray is the maximum number of items that the unloading tray can accommodate. As the gripping component of the robot places the items in the unloading tray, the corresponding information of the items (such as factory information, production date, expiration date, etc.) and the gear information of the items are added to the tray data corresponding to the unloading tray in the database, and the electronic device obtains the item demand information of the unloading tray by scanning the code.

[0096] In some embodiments, the process of obtaining the item information of the incoming pallet in S601 also includes: the electronic device controls the barcode scanner configured in the second elevator to take a photo and scan the barcode of the incoming pallet to obtain the item information of the incoming pallet.

[0097] In one example, after controlling the second barcode scanner configured in the second elevator to take a photo and scan the incoming material pallet, the second barcode scanner obtains the pallet code of the incoming material pallet. The second barcode scanner sends the pallet code to the industrial computer. The industrial computer obtains the item information of the incoming material pallet corresponding to the pallet code from the database based on the pallet code, and sends the item information of the incoming material pallet to the electronic device.

[0098] In another example, after controlling the second barcode scanner configured in the second elevator to take a photo and scan the incoming material pallet, the second barcode scanner obtains the pallet code of the incoming material pallet, and the second barcode scanner sends the pallet code to the electronic device. The electronic device obtains the item information of the incoming material pallet corresponding to the pallet code from the database based on the pallet code.

[0099] It should be noted that the present application does not limit the order of obtaining the item information of the incoming material tray and obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays in S601. For example, the order of obtaining the item information of the incoming material tray may be before obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays; or, the order of obtaining the item information of the incoming material tray may be performed simultaneously with obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays; or, the order of obtaining the item information of the incoming material tray may be after obtaining the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays.

[0100] S602: Determine a gripping plan based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of unloading material trays.

[0101] The clamping scheme is used to indicate at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the object to be clamped corresponding to each target material tray.

[0102] In a possible implementation, based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material trays, the clamping priority of each of the multiple material trays is determined. Furthermore, based on the clamping priority of each of the multiple material trays, a clamping scheme is determined.

[0103] In one example, corresponding to the pallet being an incoming material pallet, when determining the clamping plan, the clamping plan can be determined based on the distance between the center points of each two item placement areas. That is, the clamping plan can be accurate to the moving distance and direction of the robot moving to the item placement area in the incoming material pallet.

[0104] Specifically, the specific process of determining the clamping scheme can refer to the embodiment shown in S701-S702, and will not be repeated here.

[0105] It should be noted that the current battery cell sorting scheme does not formulate sorting rules when it is implemented. That is to say, in the current battery cell sorting scheme, the clamp randomly clamps the battery cells, which may result in the clamp clamping too many battery cell gears at the same time. In the process of the clamp going to the corresponding gears to place the battery cells on the discharge trays, the path that the clamp needs to move is too long, resulting in too low battery cell sorting efficiency. The above technical scheme can formulate a clamping scheme to enable the clamp to clamp the battery cells based on the clamping priority (for example, the clamp tries to clamp the battery cells of the same gear), thereby shortening the movement path of the clamp and improving the efficiency of battery cell sorting.

[0106] S603: Control the gripping component of the robot to execute the gripping plan to grip the object to be gripped from the incoming material tray.

[0107] In some embodiments, the clamping component is composed of a plurality of grippers, a lifting cylinder, and an opening and clamping cylinder. The implementation process of controlling the gripping component of the robot to execute the gripping scheme to grip the item to be gripped from the incoming material tray in S603 includes: the electronic device controls the robot to move according to the gripping scheme (the gripping scheme includes the moving distance of the gripper to the current item placement area of ​​the item to be gripped obtained according to the spacing between the item placement areas in the incoming material tray) to drive the gripper to move above the current item placement area of ​​the item to be gripped. Furthermore, the electronic device controls the lifting cylinder to move downward to drive the gripper of the clamping component to move downward. In addition, the electronic device also controls the opening and tightening cylinder to apply pressure to the gripper so that the gripper grips the item to be gripped. Furthermore, the lifting cylinder is controlled to move upward to drive the gripper of the clamping component to move upward.

[0108] Optionally, S603 is repeatedly executed until the clamping component is full of objects to be clamped, or all the objects to be clamped in the incoming material tray are completely clamped.

[0109] S604: Place the object to be clamped on a target material placement tray corresponding to the object to be clamped.

[0110] In some embodiments, the specific implementation process of placing the object to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the object to be clamped in S604 may include: outputting the target material tray number and controlling the robot to move to the top of the target material tray according to the gear information of the object to be clamped and the ready state of the corresponding target material tray. The electronic device determines the material discharge movement path (the material discharge movement path can also be called the material discharge offset), and controls the robot to drive the clamp component to move based on the material discharge movement path, so as to control the clamp component to move accurately to the precise point of the object placement area. The electronic device controls the gripper of the clamp component to clamp the object to be clamped to extend and open, so as to place the object to be clamped in the object placement area.

[0111] Specifically, the process of determining the material placement movement path includes: the electronic device determines the material placement movement path required for the clamp component to place the object to be clamped based on the distance between the center points of every two object placement areas in the target material placement tray.

[0112] Optionally, while placing the items to be clamped in the item placement area, the information of the items to be clamped (including but not limited to quantity information, gear information, manufacturing information, etc.) is added to the pallet data corresponding to the target discharge pallet in the database; or, after placing the items to be clamped in the item placement area, the information of the items to be clamped is added to the pallet data corresponding to the target discharge pallet in the database; or, before placing the items to be clamped in the item placement area, the information of the items to be clamped is added to the pallet data corresponding to the target discharge pallet in the database.

[0113] Optionally, if the target material discharging tray has not been scanned, the robot is controlled to move to a limited position to scan the code of the target material discharging tray, and the first barcode scanner is used to take a photo of the target material discharging tray and scan the code.

[0114] Furthermore, in a possible implementation, when the objects gripped by the gripping component of the robot are all objects at different gears, the target material tray is determined to be a plurality of material trays at different gears. When there are multiple target material trays, the specific implementation process of placing the object to be gripped on the target material tray corresponding to the object to be gripped can refer to the embodiment shown in S901-S902, and will not be repeated here.

[0115] Furthermore, in another possible implementation, when the objects gripped by the gripping component of the robot are all objects of the same level, the target material tray is determined to be a material tray of the same level. When there is only one target material tray, the specific implementation process of placing the object to be gripped on the target material tray corresponding to the object to be gripped can refer to the embodiment shown in S903-S904, which will not be repeated here.

[0116] Based on the above technical solution, the article sorting method provided by the present application obtains the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, and based on the article information of the incoming material tray and the article demand information of each of the multiple material trays, a clamping scheme for indicating at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the article to be clamped corresponding to each target material tray can be determined. Furthermore, when clamping an article, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the article to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and place the article to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the article to be clamped, which can avoid the problem of low sorting efficiency caused by too many articles of different gears being clamped when the article sorting device randomly clamps articles, and greatly improve the efficiency of article sorting.

[0117] As a possible embodiment of the present application, Figure 6 ,like Figure 7 As shown, the process of determining the clamping solution in the above S602 can be implemented through the following S701-S702.

[0118] S701. Determine the clamping priority of each of the multiple unloading trays based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple unloading trays.

[0119] In a possible implementation, the implementation process of S701 includes: for a first material tray among multiple material trays, setting the clamping priority of the first material tray to the highest clamping priority. For a second material tray among multiple material trays, determining the clamping priority of each second material tray based on the number of items required by each second material tray.

[0120] The first unloading tray is a unloading tray where the items on the incoming tray can meet the item demand information. The second unloading tray is another unloading tray among the multiple unloading trays except the first unloading tray.

[0121] In some embodiments, the process of determining the first unloading tray may include: based on the required number of items for each of the multiple unloading trays and the number of items at each gear in the incoming tray, determining the unloading tray whose required number of items is less than or equal to the number of items at the corresponding gear in the incoming tray as the first unloading tray.

[0122] For example, when the item demand information of the unloading tray 1 is that three items of the first grade are needed, and the number of items of the first grade in the incoming tray is greater than or equal to 3, the unloading tray 1 is determined to be the first unloading tray.

[0123] Furthermore, when there are multiple first material trays, the distance that the robot moves to each first material tray is determined, and the multiple first material trays are sorted with the shortest robot movement distance as the goal to determine the clamping priority of the multiple first material trays.

[0124] In one example, it is assumed that the robot moves 1 meter to the first material tray 1 and 1.1 meters to the first material tray 2. The electronic device determines that the gripping priority of the first material tray 1 is higher than that of the first material tray 2.

[0125] In some embodiments, the implementation process of determining the clamping priority of each second material tray may include: judging whether a first preset condition is met based on the number of items required by the second material tray; and determining the clamping priority of each second material tray based on the judgment result.

[0126] For example, the first preset condition is that there are gears in the incoming material tray that are greater than or equal to the maximum number of gears that the clamp component can clamp. It is determined whether there are gears in the incoming material tray that are greater than or equal to the maximum number of gears that the clamp component can clamp; if it is satisfied, the clamping priority of the second material tray corresponding to the gear is determined to be the second-level clamping priority.

[0127] For example, when there are 9 items in the 2nd gear in the incoming material tray and the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp is 8, it is determined that there are a number of gears in the incoming material tray that is greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp, and then the clamping priority of the discharge tray corresponding to the 2nd gear is determined to be the second-level clamping priority.

[0128] In another possible implementation, the implementation process of S701 includes: judging whether the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of material discharging trays meet the second preset condition, and determining the gripping priority corresponding to each material discharging tray according to the judgment result.

[0129] Optionally, the second preset condition may include at least one of the following: there is a material tray with a required number of items less than or equal to the number of items in the corresponding gear in the incoming material tray; there is a gear in the incoming material tray that is greater than or equal to the maximum number of gears that the clamp component can clamp. Of course, the above is only an exemplary description of the second preset priority, and the second preset condition may also include other priority conditions, which are not limited in this application.

[0130] In one example, Figure 8As shown, it is determined whether there is a discharge tray whose required number of items is less than or equal to the number of items in the corresponding gear position in the incoming tray; if there is a discharge tray whose required number of items is less than or equal to the number of items in the corresponding gear position in the incoming tray, the gear position of the discharge tray is determined to be the target grabbing gear position. If there is no discharge tray whose required number of items is less than or equal to the number of items in the corresponding gear position in the incoming tray, it is determined whether there is a gear position in the incoming tray that is greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp; if there is a gear position in the incoming tray that is greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp, the gear position greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp is determined to be the target grabbing gear position. If there is no gear position in the incoming tray that is greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamp component can clamp, it is determined whether there is a gear position with the lowest / highest priority based on the preset priority condition. If there is a gear position with the lowest / highest priority, the gear position is determined to be the target grabbing gear position. If there is no gear position with the lowest / highest priority, each item in the incoming tray is grabbed in sequence.

[0131] In the above, through a simple embodiment, the process of determining the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays in S701 is briefly introduced. In the following, in combination with a specific example, how to determine the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays is described in detail.

[0132] For example, a material tray with 4 gears is used, i.e., a material tray with gear 1 and a material tray with gear 4. It is assumed that there are 4 items with gear 1, 3 items with gear 2, 5 items with gear 3, and 9 items with gear 4 in the incoming material tray, and the maximum number of items that can be gripped by the gripping component is 8.

[0133] In the case where the item demand information of the 1st-grade material tray is that 3 items of the 1st grade are needed, the number of items of the 1st grade in the incoming material tray is greater than or equal to 3, and the 1st-grade material tray is determined to be the first material tray. In the case where the item demand information of the 2nd-grade material tray is that 2 items of the 2nd grade are needed, the number of items of the 2nd grade in the incoming material tray is greater than or equal to 2, and the 2nd-grade material tray is determined to be the first material tray. In the case where the item demand information of the 3rd-grade material tray is that 6 items of the 3rd grade are needed, the number of items of the 3rd grade in the incoming material tray is less than 6, and the 3rd-grade material tray is determined to be the second material tray. In the case where the item demand information of the 4th-grade material tray is that 10 items of the 4th grade are needed, the number of items of the 4th grade in the incoming material tray is less than 10, and the 4th-grade material tray is determined to be the second material tray.

[0134] Then, for the two first material trays (i.e., the material tray of the 1st gear and the material tray of the 2nd gear), the distance 1 that the robot moves to the material tray of the 1st gear and the distance 2 that the robot moves to the material tray of the 2nd gear are determined respectively. If the distance 2 is less than the distance 1, it is determined that the gripping priority corresponding to the material tray of the 2nd gear is greater than the gripping priority corresponding to the material tray of the 1st gear, that is, the gripping priority corresponding to the material tray of the 2nd gear is the first priority, and the priority of the material tray of the 1st gear is the second priority.

[0135] By judging whether there are gears in the incoming material tray that are greater than or equal to the maximum number that the clamping component can clamp, the priority order of the two second material trays (i.e., the material tray of gear 3 and the material tray of gear 4) is determined. For example, if the number of items in gear 4 in the incoming material tray is greater than the maximum number that the clamping component can clamp, and the number of items in gear 3 in the incoming material tray is less than the maximum number that the clamping component can clamp, then the clamping priority corresponding to the material tray of gear 4 is determined to be greater than the clamping priority corresponding to the material tray of gear 3, that is, the priority of the material tray of gear 4 is determined to be the third priority, and the priority of the material tray of gear 3 is determined to be the fourth priority. The above, through specific examples, a detailed introduction is given to how to determine the clamping priority of each of multiple material trays.

[0136] It is understandable that by dividing the clamping priorities among multiple unloading trays, the unloading trays that can meet the item demand information (for example, the unloading trays that can fill the whole tray) are given the highest priority, which can save the time of changing the unloading trays. Furthermore, for the second unloading trays that cannot fill the whole tray, the clamping priority of each second unloading tray is determined based on the number of items required by each second unloading tray, for example, the items with the largest number of the same level in the incoming tray are preferred, which can greatly save the time of the robot to carry the items, thereby effectively improving the efficiency of item sorting.

[0137] S702: Determine a clamping plan based on the clamping priorities of the multiple material discharging trays.

[0138] In a possible implementation, the clamping scheme is determined in descending order of clamping priority.

[0139] For example, the clamping priority of the first material tray 2 is the first, the clamping priority of the first material tray 1 is the second, the clamping priority of the second material tray 1 is the third, and the clamping priority of the second material tray 2 is the fourth. The clamping scheme is determined as follows: first clamp the items at the gear corresponding to the first material tray 2, then clamp the items at the gear corresponding to the first material tray 1, then clamp the items at the gear corresponding to the second material tray 1, and finally clamp the items at the gear corresponding to the second material tray 2.

[0140] Based on the above technical solution, the clamping priorities of the multiple material trays are determined based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of the multiple material trays. Then, based on the clamping priorities of the multiple material trays, the clamping scheme is determined, so that the clamping component can perform according to the clamping priority when clamping the items, so as to avoid the problem of low item sorting efficiency due to random clamping of items by the clamping component.

[0141] As a possible embodiment of the present application, Figure 6 ,like Fig. 9 As shown, in the case where there are multiple target material trays, the process of placing the object to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the object to be clamped in the above S604 can be implemented through the following S901-S902.

[0142] S901, determining the placement order of multiple target material discharging trays.

[0143] In a possible implementation, the implementation process of S901 includes: determining the placement order of the multiple target material placing trays based on the order of arrival time of the multiple target material placing trays at the material placing area.

[0144] In one example, the target material tray 2 has arrived at the material discharging area at the first moment, and the target material tray 1 has not yet arrived at the material discharging area. The electronic device determines that the placement order of the target material tray 3 is before the placement order of the target material tray 1.

[0145] In another possible implementation, the implementation process of S901 includes: when multiple target material trays have arrived at the corresponding material trays, based on the positions of the material trays corresponding to each of the multiple target material trays, and with the shortest robot moving distance as the goal, determining the placement order of the multiple target material trays.

[0146] In one example, it is taken that the target material tray 1, the target material tray 2, and the target material tray 3 have all arrived at the corresponding material discharge area. The electronic device determines the distance 1 from the robot to the target material tray 1, the distance 2 from the robot to the target material tray 2, and the distance 3 from the robot to the target material tray 3. If the distance 3 is less than the distance 1, and the distance 1 is less than the distance 2, the electronic device takes the shortest movement distance of the robot as the goal, and determines that the placement order of the target material tray 3 is before the placement order of the target material tray 1, and the placement order of the target material tray 1 is before the placement order of the target material tray 2.

[0147] S902, control the robot to move based on the order of placement, and when the robot moves to a material placement area corresponding to a target material placement tray, control the robot's clamping component to place the to-be-clamped object corresponding to the target material placement tray onto the target material placement tray.

[0148] In a possible implementation, the gripping component is composed of a plurality of grippers, a lifting cylinder, and an opening and clamping cylinder. When the robot moves to each target material tray in S902, the implementation process of controlling the robot's gripper component to place the object to be gripped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray includes: the electronic device controls the lifting cylinder to move downward to drive the gripper holding the target object in the gripper component to move downward. In addition, the electronic device also controls the opening and clamping cylinder to apply a pulling force to the gripper, so that the gripper opens, so that the object is placed on the target material tray.

[0149] In another possible implementation, when the robot moves to each target material tray in S902, the implementation process of controlling the robot's clamp component to place the object to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray includes: the electronic device determines the material discharge movement path for the gripper to move to the target object placement area according to the spacing between the various object placement areas in the material tray. Then, based on the material discharge movement path, the electronic device controls the robot to move so as to drive the gripper holding the target object to move above the target object placement area. Then, the electronic device controls the lifting cylinder to move downward so as to drive the gripper holding the target object in the clamp component to move downward. In addition, the electronic device also controls the opening and tightening cylinder to apply tension to the gripper so that the gripper opens so that the object is placed in the target object placement area.

[0150] Based on the above technical solution, compared with the current battery cell sorting solution in which the robot only moves according to the gear position of the clamped battery cell, when the target discharge tray has not reached the discharge area, the robot needs to wait until the target discharge tray reaches the discharge area, and the discharge sorting efficiency is extremely low. The above technical solution determines the placement order of multiple target discharge trays, and then controls the robot to move based on the placement order, and when the robot moves to the discharge area corresponding to a target discharge tray, controls the robot's clamp component to place the target discharge tray corresponding to the object to be clamped on the target discharge tray, which can greatly improve the efficiency of the robot in placing objects and effectively reduce the waiting time of the robot.

[0151] As a possible embodiment of the present application, Fig. 9 As shown, in the case where there is only one target material tray, the process of placing the object to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the object to be clamped in the above S604 can be implemented through the following S903-S904.

[0152] S903, control the robot to move to the material discharge area corresponding to the target material discharge tray.

[0153] In some embodiments, after the robot moves to the material discharge area corresponding to the target material discharge tray, if the target material discharge tray has not yet reached the material discharge area, the robot is controlled to wait until the target material discharge tray reaches the material discharge area.

[0154] S904: After the target material placing tray reaches the material placing area, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to place the to-be-clamped object corresponding to the target material placing tray onto the target material placing tray.

[0155] In one possible implementation, the implementation process of controlling the robot's clamp component to place the objects to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray in S904 refers to the implementation process of controlling the robot's clamp component to place the objects to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray when the robot moves to each target material tray in S902, and will not be repeated here.

[0156] In another possible implementation, if the target unloading tray is full, and N of the M items to be clamped by the clamp component are not placed in the target unloading tray, the robot is controlled to wait for the next target unloading tray (empty tray) to arrive at the unloading area, and then the clamp component of the robot is controlled to place the N items to be clamped on the target unloading tray at the corresponding gear. Wherein, M and N are both positive integers, and M is greater than or equal to N.

[0157] Based on the above technical solution, the robot is controlled to move to the material discharge area corresponding to the target material discharge tray. Then, after the target material discharge tray reaches the material discharge area, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to place the object to be clamped corresponding to the target material discharge tray on the target material discharge tray. The above technical solution can realize placing the object to be clamped on the target material discharge tray corresponding to the object to be clamped when there is only one target material discharge tray.

[0158] As a possible embodiment of the present application, after S503, if the target unloading tray is full (for example, each item placement area of ​​the target unloading tray is filled with items of corresponding gears), the electronic device stores the tray data of the full target unloading tray in the database. The electronic device also controls the first elevator to transport the full target unloading tray to the first lower assembly line, and the first lower assembly line transports the full target unloading tray to the coding area corresponding to the coding device.

[0159] Furthermore, the third scanner in the coding device takes a photo and scans the target material tray to obtain the coding information of the target material tray from the database. The electronic device controls the servo module to move accurately above each item. Then, the coding module is used to perform coding on each item in turn based on the coding information. After the entire tray is coded, the assembly line is controlled to flow out the target material tray that has been coded.

[0160] Optionally, while the electronic device controls the first elevator to transport the full target discharge tray to the first lower assembly line, or after the electronic device controls the first elevator to transport the full target discharge tray to the first lower assembly line, the electronic device controls the upper assembly line to transport the empty target discharge tray to the discharge area.

[0161] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules or functional units of the item sorting device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module or functional unit can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules or functional units. Among them, the division of modules or units in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, which is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0162] like Fig.10 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of an article sorting device 100 provided in an embodiment of the present application, the article sorting device 100 includes: a communication unit 1001 and a processing unit 1002 .

[0163] The communication unit 1001 is used to obtain the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material trays; wherein the item information of the incoming material tray is used to indicate the gear and quantity of the items placed on the incoming material tray; the item demand information is used to indicate the gear and quantity of the items required by the material tray; the processing unit 1002 is used to determine the clamping scheme based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material trays, the clamping scheme is used to indicate at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the items to be clamped corresponding to each target material tray; the processing unit 1002 is also used to control the clamping component of the robot to execute the clamping scheme to clamp the items to be clamped from the incoming material tray, and place the items to be clamped on the target material tray corresponding to the items to be clamped.

[0164] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically used to: determine the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material placing trays; and determine the clamping plan based on the clamping priority of each of the multiple material placing trays.

[0165] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically used to: for a first material tray among multiple material trays, set the clamping priority of the first material tray to the highest clamping priority; wherein the first material tray is a material tray whose items on the incoming material tray can meet the item demand information; for a second material tray among multiple material trays, determine the clamping priority of each second material tray based on the number of items required by each second material tray; wherein the second material tray is the other material tray among the multiple material trays except the first material tray.

[0166] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically used to: determine the placement order of multiple target material trays; control the robot to move based on the placement order, and when the robot moves to a material placement area corresponding to a target material tray, control the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material tray on the target material tray.

[0167] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to determine a placement order of the multiple target material placing trays based on a sequence of arrival times of the multiple target material placing trays at the material placing area.

[0168] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically used to: when multiple target material trays have arrived at corresponding material trays, based on the positions of the material trays corresponding to each of the multiple target material trays, and with the shortest robot moving distance as the goal, determine the placement order of the multiple target material trays.

[0169] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1002 is specifically used to: control the robot to move to the material placement area corresponding to the target material placement tray; after the target material placement tray reaches the material placement area, control the robot's clamping component to place the items to be clamped corresponding to the target material placement tray onto the target material placement tray.

[0170] In a possible implementation, the item sorting device 100 may further include a storage unit 1003 ( Fig.10 The storage unit 1003 stores a program or instruction. When the processing unit 1002 executes the program or instruction, the item sorting device 100 can execute the item sorting method described in the above method embodiment.

[0171] Through the description of the above implementation methods, technicians in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The specific working process of the system, device and unit described above can refer to the corresponding process in the aforementioned method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0172] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the object sorting method in the above method embodiment.

[0173] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes the object sorting method in the method flow shown in the above method embodiment.

[0174] Among them, the computer readable storage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or device, or any combination of the above. More specific examples of computer readable storage media (a non-exhaustive list) include: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a register, a hard disk, an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above, or any other form of computer readable storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). In the embodiments of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program, which may be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0175] Since the item sorting device, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can also refer to the above method embodiments, and the embodiments of the present application will not be repeated here.

[0176] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0177] It should be understood that the various forms of processes shown above can be used to reorder, add or delete steps. For example, the steps recorded in this disclosure can be executed in parallel, sequentially or in different orders, as long as the desired results of the technical solution of this disclosure can be achieved, and this document is not limited here.

[0178] The above specific implementations do not constitute a limitation on the protection scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modification, equivalent substitution and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0179] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0180] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0181] The above are only specific implementations of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for sorting items, characterized in that: The method comprises: Acquire item information of an incoming material tray and item demand information of each of a plurality of unloading material trays; wherein the item information of the incoming material tray is used to indicate the position and quantity of items placed on the incoming material tray; and the item demand information is used to indicate the position and quantity of items required by the unloading material tray; Based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the multiple material trays, a gripping scheme is determined, wherein the gripping scheme is used to indicate at least one target material tray among the multiple material trays and the items to be gripped corresponding to each target material tray; The gripping component of the robot is controlled to execute the gripping scheme to grip the object to be gripped from the incoming material tray, and place the object to be gripped on a target material placement tray corresponding to the object to be gripped.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The determining of the clamping scheme based on the item information of the incoming material tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of unloading material trays includes: Determining the clamping priority of each of the plurality of unloading trays based on the item information of the incoming tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of unloading trays; The clamping scheme is determined based on the clamping priorities of the multiple material placement trays.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The determining of the clamping priority of each of the plurality of unloading trays based on the item information of the incoming tray and the item demand information of each of the plurality of unloading trays comprises: For a first material placing tray among the plurality of material placing trays, setting the clamping priority of the first material placing tray to be the highest clamping priority; wherein the first material placing tray is a material placing tray for which the items on the incoming material tray can satisfy the item demand information; For the second material tray among the multiple material trays, the clamping priority of each second material tray is determined based on the number of items required by each second material tray; wherein the second material tray is the other material tray among the multiple material trays except the first material tray.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the case where there are multiple target material placing trays, placing the object to be clamped on the target material placing tray corresponding to the object to be clamped includes: Determining the order of placement of the multiple target material discharging trays; The robot is controlled to move based on the placement sequence, and when the robot moves to a material placement area corresponding to a target material placement tray, the clamp component of the robot is controlled to place the to-be-clamped object corresponding to the target material placement tray onto the target material placement tray.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Determining the order of placing the multiple target material trays includes: The placement order of the multiple target material discharging trays is determined based on the order of arrival time of the multiple target material discharging trays at the material discharging area.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Determining the order of placing the multiple target material trays includes: When the multiple target material discharging trays have all arrived at the corresponding material discharging areas, the placement order of the multiple target material discharging trays is determined based on the positions of the material discharging areas corresponding to the multiple target material discharging trays and with the shortest moving distance of the robot as the goal.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that In the case that there is only one target material placing tray, placing the object to be clamped on the target material placing tray corresponding to the object to be clamped includes: Controlling the robot to move to a material discharge area corresponding to the target material discharge tray; After the target material placing tray arrives at the material placing area, the clamping component of the robot is controlled to place the to-be-clamped object corresponding to the target material placing tray onto the target material placing tray.

8. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: A processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a computer program or instruction to implement the article sorting method as described in any one of claims 1-7.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when a computer executes the instructions, the computer executes the article sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the article sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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