Task execution method and device of automated guided vehicle and transportation task system

Abstract

The invention provides a task execution method and device for an automated guided vehicle and a transportation task system, and the method comprises the steps: building a time window, transmitting a plurality of pieces of first path information of the time window to a corresponding automated guided vehicle, and enabling each piece of first path information in the time window to have no path conflict; an updating step of updating the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window to obtain second path information under the condition that at least one target automated guided vehicle arrives at the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the first path information and the second path information of the updated time window have no path conflict; and the updating step is repeated until all the automated guided vehicles arrive at the corresponding task end points, so that the problem that path conflicts occur when a plurality of vehicles execute transportation tasks is solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of path planning technology, and in particular to a task execution method, device, computer-readable storage medium, computer program product and transportation task system for an automatic guided vehicle. Background Art

[0002] In unmanned factories or workshops, path planning for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) is a critical task because it directly affects production efficiency, resource utilization, and the operating efficiency of the entire system. These factories or workshops are usually composed of various equipment, production lines, and workstations, and AGVs need to travel through them to complete tasks such as material transportation and parts supply. Therefore, path planning must take into account the following issues:

[0003] 1. Path feasibility detection: Determine whether there is a feasible path from the starting point to the target point.

[0004] 2. Conflict resolution: Plan a non-blocking, non-conflicting, and non-deadlocking path for the AGV.

[0005] 3. Operation efficiency optimization: Ensure that the path planned for the AGV car makes the operation efficiency of the entire system achieve a better effect.

[0006] For situations where multiple AGVs are needed, the scheduling problem of multiple AGVs needs to be solved. This means that an optimization target parameter needs to be determined, and a reasonable resource allocation plan needs to be formulated based on task requirements and available factory resources to allocate the material transportation tasks of the unmanned workshop to each AGV. These AGVs need to avoid collisions when performing tasks and complete material transportation tasks with high efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0007] The main purpose of the present application is to provide a task execution method, device, computer-readable storage medium, computer program product and transportation task system for an automated guided vehicle, so as to at least solve the problem of path conflict when multiple automated guided vehicles execute transportation tasks in the prior art.

[0008] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, according to one aspect of the present application, a task execution method for an automated guided vehicle is provided, comprising: establishing a time window, and sending multiple first path information of the time window to the corresponding automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the automated guided vehicle, the first path information being the path of the automated guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and the first path information in the time window having no path conflict; an updating step, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, updating the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and sending at least one second path information of the updated time window to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, the first path information and the second path information in the updated time window having no path conflict, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles; repeating the updating step at least once until all the automated guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task.

[0009] Optionally, before establishing the time window, the method further includes: generating the transportation task according to transportation demand, wherein the transportation task is a task of transporting from a task starting point to a task end point; and allocating the transportation task to the automatic guided vehicle that is closest to the task starting point.

[0010] Optionally, a time window is established, and multiple first path information of the time window is sent to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, including: obtaining multiple path planning requests initiated by the automatic guided vehicles, the path planning requests including the task starting point and task end point of the transportation task; generating the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to the multiple path planning requests, so that each first path information has no path conflict, and each first path information is put into the time window and sent to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0011] Optionally, generating the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to multiple path planning requests includes: generating a directed acyclic graph according to a map of the moving space of the automatic guided vehicle, the directed acyclic graph including multiple points and a travel path, the point being a position that can be used as the starting point of the task or the end point of the task, and the travel path being a path between two points; generating the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to multiple path planning requests, so that the first path information has no overlap on the directed acyclic graph.

[0012] Optionally, the updating step includes: when at least one of the target automated guided vehicles reaches the second to last point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, updating the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window to obtain the second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and sending multiple second path information of the updated time window to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle.

[0013] Optionally, after establishing a time window and sending multiple first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle, the method also includes: upon receiving a path planning request initiated by a new automatic guided vehicle, adding the first path information of the new automatic guided vehicle to the time window to obtain an updated time window, and there is no path conflict among the first path information of the updated time window.

[0014] Optionally, the updating step includes: generating the second path information based on the end point of the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle and the task end point of the transport task, so as to update the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle in the time window according to the second path information, and each of the second path information has no path conflict with any two of the first path information that have not been updated.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present application, a task execution device for an automated guided vehicle is provided, comprising: an establishing unit, configured to establish a time window, and to send a plurality of first path information of the time window to a corresponding automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the automated guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automated guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information in the time window has no path conflict; an updating unit, configured to perform an updating step, and when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches an end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not a task end point of the transportation task, to update the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window to obtain second path information, so that a starting point of the second path information is an end point of the corresponding first path information, and to send at least one of the second path information of the updated time window to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, wherein each of the first path information and each of the second path information in the updated time window has no path conflict, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles; and a repeating unit, configured to repeat the updating step at least once until all of the automated guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a stored program, wherein when the program is executed, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute any one of the methods described.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, any one of the methods described above is implemented.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present application, a transport task system is provided, comprising: a plurality of automatic guided vehicles, one or more processors, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors, and the one or more programs include methods for executing any one of the described methods.

[0019] By applying the technical solution of the present application, in the task execution method of the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle, by establishing a time window, the first path information of the time window is the segmented path for each automatic guided vehicle to complete the transportation task, it can be ensured that there is no path conflict in the segmented paths of the automatic guided vehicle by ensuring that there is no path conflict in the first path information within the time window. When the automatic guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the end point of the first path information is not the task end point of the transportation task, it is necessary to plan the next path, update the first path information of these automatic guided vehicles, and obtain the second path information. Similarly, it is ensured that there is no path conflict between the first path information and the second path information in the updated time window. The transportation task can be completed by completing the segmented paths multiple times until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task, ensuring that there is no path conflict in the entire process of completing the transportation task, and solving the problem of path conflict in the execution of transportation tasks by multiple automatic guided vehicles in the prior art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 A hardware structure block diagram of a mobile terminal for executing a task execution method of an automatic guided vehicle provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0021] Figure 2 A schematic flow chart of a method for executing a task of an automatic guided vehicle provided according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0022] Figure 3 A schematic flow chart of another method for executing a task of an automatic guided vehicle provided according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0023] Figure 4 A structural block diagram of a task execution device of an automatic guided vehicle provided according to an embodiment of the present application is shown.

[0024] The above drawings include the following reference numerals:

[0025] 102, processor; 104, memory; 106, transmission device; 108, input and output devices. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present application can be combined with each other. The present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and in combination with the embodiments.

[0027] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solution of the present application, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings 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 should fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0028] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequential order. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application described here. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations 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 necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0029] As introduced in the background technology, in the prior art, path conflicts occur when multiple automated guided vehicles execute transportation tasks. To solve this technical problem, the embodiments of the present application provide a task execution method, device, computer-readable storage medium, computer program product and transportation task system for an automated guided vehicle.

[0030] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0031] The method embodiments provided in the embodiments of the present application can be executed in a mobile terminal, a computer terminal or a similar computing device. Taking running on a mobile terminal as an example, Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a mobile terminal of a task execution method of an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, the mobile terminal may include one or more ( Figure 1 Only one is shown in the figure) a processor 102 (the processor 102 may include but is not limited to a processing device such as a microprocessor MCU or a programmable logic device FPGA) and a memory 104 for storing data, wherein the mobile terminal may also include a transmission device 106 and an input / output device 108 for communication functions. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that Figure 1 The structure shown is only for illustration and does not limit the structure of the mobile terminal. Figure 1 More or fewer components as shown, or with Figure 1Different configurations shown.

[0032] The memory 104 can be used to store computer programs, for example, software programs and modules of application software, such as the computer program corresponding to the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle in the embodiment of the present invention. The processor 102 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the computer program stored in the memory 104, that is, the above method is realized. The memory 104 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some examples, the memory 104 may further include a memory remotely arranged relative to the processor 102, and these remote memories can be connected to the mobile terminal via a network. Examples of the above-mentioned network include but are not limited to the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and a combination thereof. The transmission device 106 is used to receive or send data via a network. The above-mentioned specific examples of the network may include a wireless network provided by a communication provider of the mobile terminal. In one example, the transmission device 106 includes a network adapter (Network Interface Controller, referred to as NIC), which can be connected to other network devices through a base station so as to communicate with the Internet. In one example, the transmission device 106 may be a radio frequency (RF) module, which is used to communicate with the Internet wirelessly.

[0033] In this embodiment, a method for executing a task of an automatic guided vehicle running on a mobile terminal, a computer terminal or a similar computing device is provided. It should be noted that the steps shown in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer executable instructions, and although a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in an order different from that shown here.

[0034] Figure 2 1 is a flowchart of a task execution method for an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the method comprises the following steps:

[0035] Step S201, establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict;

[0036] Step S202, an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0037] Step S203, repeat the above updating step at least once until all the above automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above transportation task.

[0038] In the above-mentioned task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle, by establishing a time window, the first path information of the time window is the segmented path for each automatic guided vehicle to complete the transportation task, so that the segmented paths of the automatic guided vehicles can be guaranteed to be free of conflicts by ensuring that the first path information within the time window has no path conflicts. When the automatic guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the end point of the first path information is not the task end point of the transportation task, it is necessary to plan the next path, update the first path information of these automatic guided vehicles, and obtain the second path information. Similarly, it is guaranteed that the first path information and the second path information in the updated time window have no path conflicts. The transportation task can be completed by completing the segmented paths multiple times until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task, ensuring that there are no path conflicts in the entire process of completing the transportation task, and solving the problem of path conflicts in the execution of transportation tasks by multiple automatic guided vehicles in the prior art.

[0039] In order to improve the transportation efficiency, in an optional implementation manner, before establishing the time window, the method further includes:

[0040] Step S301, generating the above-mentioned transportation task according to the transportation demand, wherein the above-mentioned transportation task is a task of transporting from the task starting point to the task end point;

[0041] Step S302, allocating the above-mentioned transportation task to the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle closest to the starting point of the above-mentioned task.

[0042] In the above implementation, the transportation demand of the workshop is obtained, which can be input by the staff or automatically triggered, so as to generate the above transportation task and assign the transportation task to the above automatic guided vehicle closest to the starting point of the above task, so as to reduce the transportation distance and improve the transportation efficiency. Of course, the object of task assignment is the idle automatic guided vehicle.

[0043] In order to avoid path conflicts, in an optional implementation manner, the above step S201 includes:

[0044] Step S2011, obtaining a plurality of path planning requests initiated by the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicles, wherein the above-mentioned path planning requests include a task start point and a task end point of the above-mentioned transportation task;

[0045] Step S2012, generating the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to the plurality of path planning requests, so that each of the first path information has no path conflict, and placing each of the first path information into the time window and sending it to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0046] In the above implementation mode, the automatic guided vehicle that receives the transport task initiates a path planning request, and the multiple path planning requests respectively include the task starting point and task end point of the corresponding transport task. Corresponding first path information is generated according to the multiple path planning requests, so that any two first path information have no path conflict, and are put into a time window and sent to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, thereby ensuring that the first path information within a time window has no path conflict.

[0047] It should be noted that if the path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task has no path conflict with other first path information, then the complete path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task is planned; otherwise, a segmented path is planned for the current time window first, and multiple segmented paths of multiple time windows constitute the complete path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task.

[0048] To facilitate path planning, in an optional implementation, the above step S2012 includes:

[0049] Step S20121, generating a directed acyclic graph according to the map of the moving space of the automated guided vehicle, wherein the directed acyclic graph includes a plurality of points and a passage path, wherein the point is a position that can be used as the starting point or the end point of the task, and the passage path is a path between two of the points;

[0050] Step S20122, generating the corresponding first path information of the automatic guided vehicle according to the plurality of path planning requests, so that each of the first path information has no overlap on the directed acyclic graph.

[0051] In the above implementation, a directed acyclic graph is generated according to the map of the mobile space, and path planning can be performed on the directed acyclic graph. The method is simple and clear, and the workload of path planning is greatly reduced. When judging whether there is a path conflict, it can be determined by whether the paths overlap. For example, the first path information 1 is point 1→point 2→point 3→point 4, the first path information 2 is point 1→point 3→point 5→point 6, and the first path information 3 is point 1→point 3→point 4→point 7. There is no overlap between the first path information 1 and the first path information 2, and point 3→point 4 overlaps between the first path information 1 and the first path information 3.

[0052] In order to improve the transportation efficiency, in an optional implementation, the above step S202 includes:

[0053] Step S2021, when at least one of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicles reaches the second to last point of the corresponding above-mentioned first path information and the end point of the above-mentioned first path information of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicle is not the above-mentioned task end point of the above-mentioned transportation task, the above-mentioned first path information of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicle in the above-mentioned time window is updated to obtain the above-mentioned second path information, so that the starting point of the above-mentioned first path information is the end point of the corresponding above-mentioned first path information, and the multiple above-mentioned second path information of the updated time window are sent to the corresponding above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicles to control the movement of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicles.

[0054] In the above implementation, when performing path planning on the directed acyclic graph, when the automatic guided vehicle reaches the second to last point of the corresponding first path information, the second path information (the next segmented path) can be planned, so as to avoid the situation where the automatic guided vehicle arrives at the end point of the corresponding first path information without the second path information (the next segmented path), thereby avoiding transportation interruption and improving transportation efficiency.

[0055] In order to complete the new transportation task, in an optional implementation manner, after establishing the time window and sending the plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle, the method further includes:

[0056] Step S401, when a new path planning request initiated by the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle is received, the first path information of the new automatic guided vehicle is added to the above-mentioned time window to obtain an updated time window, and the first path information of the above-mentioned updated time window has no path conflict.

[0057] In the above implementation, when a new transport task is assigned to a new automated guided vehicle, the new automated guided vehicle initiates a path planning request and performs path planning for the new automated guided vehicle, so that the first path information of the new automated guided vehicle has no path conflict with other first path information in the time window, and the first path information of the new automated guided vehicle is added to the time window to obtain an updated time window, thereby ensuring that the first path information in the updated time window has no path conflict.

[0058] In order to implement segmented path planning, in an optional implementation, the above step S202 further includes:

[0059] Step S2022, generates the second path information according to the end point of the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle and the task end point of the transport task, so as to update the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle in the time window according to the second path information, and each of the second path information has no path conflict with any two of the first path information that have not been updated.

[0060] In the above implementation mode, when planning the second path information (the next segmented path), the end point of the above-mentioned first path information (the previous segmented path) is taken as the starting point and the above-mentioned task end point of the transportation task is taken as the end point to generate the second path information, ensuring that each of the above-mentioned second path information has no path conflict with any two of the above-mentioned first path information that have not been updated. After the above-mentioned first path information of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicle in the above-mentioned time window is updated according to the above-mentioned second path information, the second path information of the above-mentioned updated time window has no path conflict with the above-mentioned first path information that has not been updated.

[0061] In order to enable those skilled in the art to more clearly understand the technical solution of the present application, the implementation process of the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle of the present application will be described in detail below in combination with specific embodiments.

[0062] This embodiment relates to a specific method for executing a task of an automatic guided vehicle, such as Figure 3 As shown, the following steps are included:

[0063] Step S1: Initialization of the dispatching system, vehicles and system windows, i.e. the dispatching system and vehicles clear unfinished transport tasks and establish an empty time window;

[0064] Step S2: Read the transport task from the scheduling task request queue and assign the transport task to the nearest execution vehicle;

[0065] Step S3: request the PBS algorithm to plan the path for the transport task of the executing vehicle, and send the path into the empty time window to form the current time window;

[0066] Step S4: The current time window sends the path to the corresponding execution vehicle;

[0067] Step S5: Determine whether the executing vehicle has reached the task end point, if so, the dispatch ends;

[0068] Step S6: Otherwise, determine whether the executing vehicle has reached the penultimate point of the segmented task. If so, return to step S4 to perform the next path planning. If not, return to step S5.

[0069] It should be noted that the steps shown in the flowcharts of the accompanying drawings can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer executable instructions, and that, although a logical order is shown in the flowcharts, in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in an order different from that shown here.

[0070] The embodiment of the present application also provides a task execution device for an automatic guided vehicle. It should be noted that the task execution device for an automatic guided vehicle of the embodiment of the present application can be used to execute the task execution method for an automatic guided vehicle provided by the embodiment of the present application. The device is used to implement the above-mentioned embodiments and preferred implementation modes, and the descriptions thereof will not be repeated here. As used below, the term "module" can implement a combination of software and / or hardware of a predetermined function. Although the device described in the following embodiments is preferably implemented in software, the implementation of hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, is also possible and conceived.

[0071] The following is an introduction to the task execution device of the automatic guided vehicle provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0072] Figure 4 is a structural block diagram of a task execution device for an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, the device comprises:

[0073] The establishing unit 10 is used to establish a time window, and send a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information in the time window has no path conflict;

[0074] The updating unit 20 is used to perform an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information in the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0075] The repeating unit 30 is used to repeat the above-mentioned updating step at least once until all of the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above-mentioned transportation task.

[0076] In the task execution device of the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle, by establishing a time window, the first path information of the time window is the segmented path for each automatic guided vehicle to complete the transportation task, so that the segmented paths of the automatic guided vehicles can be guaranteed to be free of conflicts by ensuring that the first path information within the time window has no path conflicts. When the automatic guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the end point of the first path information is not the task end point of the transportation task, it is necessary to plan the next path, update the first path information of these automatic guided vehicles, and obtain the second path information. Similarly, it is guaranteed that the above-mentioned first path information and the above-mentioned second path information in the updated time window have no path conflicts. The transportation task can be completed by completing the segmented paths multiple times until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task, ensuring that there are no path conflicts in the entire process of completing the transportation task, and solving the problem of path conflicts in the execution of transportation tasks by multiple automatic guided vehicles in the prior art.

[0077] In order to improve the transportation efficiency, in an optional implementation manner, the above device further includes:

[0078] A generating unit, used for generating the above-mentioned transport task according to the transport demand before establishing the time window, wherein the above-mentioned transport task is a task of transporting from the task starting point to the task end point;

[0079] The allocation unit is used to allocate the above-mentioned transportation task to the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle closest to the starting point of the above-mentioned task.

[0080] In the above implementation, the transportation demand of the workshop is obtained, which can be input by the staff or automatically triggered, so as to generate the above transportation task and assign the transportation task to the above automatic guided vehicle closest to the starting point of the above task, so as to reduce the transportation distance and improve the transportation efficiency. Of course, the object of task assignment is the idle automatic guided vehicle.

[0081] In order to avoid path conflicts, in an optional implementation manner, the establishing unit includes:

[0082] An acquisition module, used to acquire a plurality of path planning requests initiated by the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicles, wherein the above-mentioned path planning requests include a task start point and a task end point of the above-mentioned transportation task;

[0083] A generation module is used to generate the above-mentioned first path information of the corresponding above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle according to the above-mentioned multiple path planning requests, so that each of the above-mentioned first path information has no path conflict, and put each of the above-mentioned first path information into the above-mentioned time window and send it to the corresponding above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle.

[0084] In the above implementation mode, the automatic guided vehicle that receives the transport task initiates a path planning request, and the multiple path planning requests respectively include the task starting point and task end point of the corresponding transport task. Corresponding first path information is generated according to the multiple path planning requests, so that any two first path information have no path conflict, and are put into a time window and sent to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, thereby ensuring that the first path information within a time window has no path conflict.

[0085] It should be noted that if the path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task has no path conflict with other first path information, then the complete path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task is planned; otherwise, a segmented path is planned for the current time window first, and multiple segmented paths of multiple time windows constitute the complete path from the task starting point to the task end point of the transport task.

[0086] To facilitate path planning, in an optional implementation, the generation module includes:

[0087] A first generating submodule is used to generate a directed acyclic graph according to a map of the moving space of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the directed acyclic graph includes a plurality of points and a passage path, wherein the point is a position that can be used as the starting point or the end point of the task, and the passage path is a path between two of the points;

[0088] The second generating submodule is used to generate the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to the plurality of path planning requests, so that each of the first path information has no overlap on the directed acyclic graph.

[0089] In the above implementation, a directed acyclic graph is generated according to the map of the mobile space, and path planning can be performed on the directed acyclic graph. The method is simple and clear, and the workload of path planning is greatly reduced. When judging whether there is a path conflict, it can be determined by whether the paths overlap. For example, the first path information 1 is point 1→point 2→point 3→point 4, the first path information 2 is point 1→point 3→point 5→point 6, and the first path information 3 is point 1→point 3→point 4→point 7. There is no overlap between the first path information 1 and the first path information 2, and point 3→point 4 overlaps between the first path information 1 and the first path information 3.

[0090] In order to improve the transportation efficiency, in an optional implementation manner, the updating unit includes:

[0091] The first updating module is used to update the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle in the time window to obtain the second path information when at least one of the target automatic guided vehicles reaches the second to last point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and send the multiple second path information of the updated time window to the corresponding target automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automatic guided vehicle.

[0092] In the above implementation, when performing path planning on the directed acyclic graph, when the automatic guided vehicle reaches the second to last point of the corresponding first path information, the second path information (the next segmented path) can be planned, so as to avoid the situation where the automatic guided vehicle arrives at the end point of the corresponding first path information without the second path information (the next segmented path), thereby avoiding transportation interruption and improving transportation efficiency.

[0093] In order to complete the new transportation task, in an optional implementation manner, the above device further includes:

[0094] An adding unit is used to establish a time window and send multiple first path information of the above-mentioned time window to the corresponding above-mentioned automatic guided vehicles. When a path planning request initiated by a new above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle is received, the first path information of the new above-mentioned automatic guided vehicle is added to the above-mentioned time window to obtain an updated time window, and there is no path conflict in the first path information of the above-mentioned updated time window.

[0095] In the above implementation, when a new transport task is assigned to a new automated guided vehicle, the new automated guided vehicle initiates a path planning request and performs path planning for the new automated guided vehicle, so that the first path information of the new automated guided vehicle has no path conflict with other first path information in the time window, and the first path information of the new automated guided vehicle is added to the time window to obtain an updated time window, thereby ensuring that the first path information in the updated time window has no path conflict.

[0096] In order to implement segmented path planning, in an optional implementation manner, the updating unit further includes:

[0097] The second updating module is used to generate second path information according to the end point of the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle and the task end point of the transportation task, so as to update the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle in the time window according to the second path information, and each of the second path information has no path conflict with any two of the first path information that have not been updated.

[0098] In the above implementation mode, when planning the second path information (the next segmented path), the end point of the above-mentioned first path information (the previous segmented path) is taken as the starting point and the above-mentioned task end point of the transportation task is taken as the end point to generate the second path information, ensuring that each of the above-mentioned second path information has no path conflict with any two of the above-mentioned first path information that have not been updated. After the above-mentioned first path information of the above-mentioned target automatic guided vehicle in the above-mentioned time window is updated according to the above-mentioned second path information, the second path information of the above-mentioned updated time window has no path conflict with the above-mentioned first path information that has not been updated.

[0099] The task execution device of the automatic guided vehicle includes a processor and a memory. The establishment unit, update unit and repeat unit are stored in the memory as program units, and the processor executes the program units stored in the memory to realize the corresponding functions. The modules are all located in the same processor; or, the modules are located in different processors in any combination.

[0100] The processor includes a kernel, which retrieves the corresponding program unit from the memory. One or more kernels can be provided, and the problem of path conflict when multiple automatic guided vehicles perform transportation tasks in the prior art can be solved by adjusting kernel parameters.

[0101] The memory may include non-permanent memory in a computer-readable medium, random access memory (RAM) and / or non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM) or flash RAM, and the memory includes at least one memory chip.

[0102] An embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which includes a stored program, wherein when the program is running, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0103] Specifically, the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle includes:

[0104] Step S201, establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict;

[0105] Step S202, an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0106] Step S203, repeat the above updating step at least once until all the above automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above transportation task.

[0107] An embodiment of the present invention provides a processor, which is used to run a program, wherein the program executes the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle when it is running.

[0108] Specifically, the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle includes:

[0109] Step S201, establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict;

[0110] Step S202, an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0111] Step S203, repeat the above updating step at least once until all the above automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above transportation task.

[0112] An embodiment of the present invention provides a transport task system, including a plurality of automatic guided vehicles, a processor, a memory, and a program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. When the processor executes the program, at least the following steps are implemented:

[0113] Step S201, establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict;

[0114] Step S202, an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0115] Step S203, repeat the above updating step at least once until all the above automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above transportation task.

[0116] The present application also provides a computer program product, which, when executed on a data processing device, is suitable for executing a program for initializing at least the following method steps:

[0117] Step S201, establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict;

[0118] Step S202, an updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, and there is no path conflict between each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles;

[0119] Step S203, repeat the above updating step at least once until all the above automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding above transportation task.

[0120] Obviously, those skilled in the art should understand that the above modules or steps of the present invention can be implemented by a general computing device, they can be concentrated on a single computing device, or distributed on a network composed of multiple computing devices, they can be implemented by a program code executable by a computing device, so that they can be stored in a storage device and executed by the computing device, and in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in a different order than here, or they can be made into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps therein can be made into a single integrated circuit module for implementation. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

[0121] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented in one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that include computer-usable program code.

[0122] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0123] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0124] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0125] In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPU), input / output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

[0126] The memory may include non-permanent memory in a computer-readable medium, random access memory (RAM) and / or non-volatile memory in the form of read-only memory (ROM) or flash RAM. The memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.

[0127] Computer readable media include permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. Information can be computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other non-transmission media that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, computer readable media does not include temporary computer readable media (transitory media), such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

[0128] It should also be noted that the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, commodity or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity or device. In the absence of more restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity or device including the elements.

[0129] From the above description, it can be seen that the above embodiments of the present application achieve the following technical effects:

[0130] 1) In the task execution method of the automatic guided vehicle of the present application, by establishing a time window, the first path information of the time window is the segmented path for each automatic guided vehicle to complete the transportation task, so that the segmented paths of the automatic guided vehicles can be guaranteed to be free of conflicts by ensuring that the first path information within the time window has no path conflicts. When the automatic guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the end point of the first path information is not the task end point of the transportation task, it is necessary to plan the next path, update the first path information of these automatic guided vehicles, and obtain the second path information. Similarly, it is ensured that the first path information and the second path information of the updated time window have no path conflicts. The transportation task can be completed by completing the segmented paths multiple times until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task, ensuring that there are no path conflicts in the entire process of completing the transportation task, and solving the problem of path conflicts in the execution of transportation tasks by multiple automatic guided vehicles in the prior art.

[0131] 2) In the task execution device of the automatic guided vehicle of the present application, by establishing a time window, the first path information of the time window is the segmented path for each automatic guided vehicle to complete the transportation task, so that the segmented paths of the automatic guided vehicles can be guaranteed to be free of conflicts by ensuring that the first path information within the time window has no path conflicts. When the automatic guided vehicle reaches the end point of the corresponding first path information, and the end point of the first path information is not the task end point of the transportation task, it is necessary to plan the next path, update the first path information of these automatic guided vehicles, and obtain the second path information. Similarly, it is guaranteed that the first path information and the second path information in the updated time window have no path conflicts. The transportation task can be completed by completing the segmented paths multiple times until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task, ensuring that there are no path conflicts in the entire process of completing the transportation task, and solving the problem of path conflicts in the execution of transportation tasks by multiple automatic guided vehicles in the prior art.

[0132] The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A task execution method for an automated guided vehicle, characterized in that: include: Establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to a corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict; An updating step, in which, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches an end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not a task end point of the transport task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that a starting point of the second path information is an end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window has no path conflict, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles; Repeat the updating step at least once until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before establishing the time window, the method further includes: Generate the transport task according to the transport demand, wherein the transport task is a task of transporting from the task starting point to the task end point; The transport task is assigned to the automated guided vehicle that is closest to the task starting point.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Establishing a time window, and sending a plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, including: Acquire a plurality of path planning requests initiated by the automatic guided vehicles, wherein the path planning requests include a task start point and a task end point of the transportation task; The first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle is generated according to multiple path planning requests, so that each first path information has no path conflict, and each first path information is placed in the time window and sent to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Generating the first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle according to the plurality of path planning requests includes: Generate a directed acyclic graph according to a map of the moving space of the automated guided vehicle, wherein the directed acyclic graph includes a plurality of points and a passage path, wherein the point is a position that can be used as the starting point or the end point of the task, and the passage path is a path between two of the points; The first path information of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle is generated according to the plurality of path planning requests, so that each of the first path information has no overlap on the directed acyclic graph.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The updating step comprises: When at least one of the target automated guided vehicles reaches the second to last point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not the task end point of the transportation task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain the second path information, so that the starting point of the second path information is the end point of the corresponding first path information, and multiple second path information of the updated time window are sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicles to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicles.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that After establishing the time window and sending the plurality of first path information of the time window to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle, the method further includes: When a new path planning request is received from the automatic guided vehicle, the first path information of the new automatic guided vehicle is added to the time window to obtain an updated time window, and each of the first path information in the updated time window has no path conflict.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The updating step comprises: The second path information is generated according to the end point of the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle and the task end point of the transportation task, so as to update the first path information of the target automatic guided vehicle in the time window according to the second path information, and each of the second path information has no path conflict with any two of the first path information that have not been updated.

8. A task execution device for an automatic guided vehicle, characterized in that: include: An establishing unit, configured to establish a time window, and send a plurality of first path information of the time window to a corresponding automatic guided vehicle to control the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, wherein the first path information is a path for the automatic guided vehicle to perform a transportation task, and each of the first path information within the time window has no path conflict; an updating unit, configured to execute an updating step, wherein, when at least one target automated guided vehicle reaches an end point of the corresponding first path information and the end point of the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle is not a task end point of the transport task, the first path information of the target automated guided vehicle in the time window is updated to obtain second path information, so that a starting point of the second path information is an end point of the corresponding first path information, and at least one second path information of the updated time window is sent to the corresponding target automated guided vehicle to control the movement of the target automated guided vehicle, each of the first path information and each of the second path information of the updated time window has no path conflict, and the target automated guided vehicle is any one of the automated guided vehicles; A repeating unit is used to repeat the updating step at least once until all the automatic guided vehicles reach the task end point of the corresponding transportation task.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium includes a stored program, wherein when the program is executed, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, characterized in that When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

11. A transport task system, characterized in that: include: A plurality of automated guided vehicles, one or more processors, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors, and the one or more programs include methods for executing any one of claims 1 to 7.

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