Unmanned material transportation system and method

Abstract

The unmanned material transportation system comprises an intelligent equipment cluster and a remote centralized dispatching system, and the intelligent equipment cluster is connected with the remote centralized dispatching system; the intelligent equipment cluster comprises horizontal transportation intelligent equipment used for same-layer transportation of materials, an intelligent construction elevator used for cross-layer transportation of the materials and a stacking robot used for sorting, taking and placing of the materials. The remote centralized control system comprises a front-end interface and a rear-end server, wherein the front-end interface is used for issuing tasks and monitoring material processes and equipment states, the rear-end server is used for task scheduling, task path planning, task conflict monitoring and management and transmitting collected information to the front-end interface for display, and the front-end interface is connected with the rear-end server. And the intelligent equipment cluster and the back-end server are in two-way communication through the real-time communication module. Material sorting and transporting can be automatically completed, manual operation on a construction site can be reduced, the equipment efficiency is improved, and the transporting cost is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of logistics and transportation, and in particular to an unmanned material transportation system and method. Background Art

[0002] At present, the entire logistics and transportation operation mode at the construction site is: first, materials are unloaded from the truck by manual labor or forklifts, and then transported to the warehouse or stacking area by manual labor or carts. When materials are needed, they are transported horizontally by manual labor and moved into the elevator. The elevator transports the materials from the ground to the designated floor, and then returns to the ground by the elevator. The traditional construction site logistics and transportation operation mode requires intensive manual operation throughout the process, which has problems such as high labor demand, high intensity, cumbersome transportation process, low work efficiency, poor working environment, high safety risks, and high material loss rate.

[0003] Although some intelligent products, such as electric carts, have been put into use, they can improve transportation efficiency and reduce labor load to a certain extent, but they still cannot solve the reliance on labor for intensive material collection, transportation, and unloading. In addition, the scheduling of materials, tools, and labor at the site is in a state of low organization. For example, during transportation, people frequently queue up to take the elevator, which makes it impossible to maximize the allocation and utilization of resources. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an unmanned material transportation system and method, which can automatically complete material sorting and transportation, can work in a cycle around the clock, can reduce manual work on the construction site, and reduce construction safety risks; can connect in series and organize multiple intelligent equipment to work in a coordinated cycle, avoid equipment task conflicts, improve equipment efficiency, and reduce transportation costs.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is: An unmanned material transportation system includes an intelligent equipment cluster and a remote centralized dispatching system, wherein the intelligent equipment cluster is connected to the remote centralized dispatching system; The intelligent equipment cluster includes: Horizontal transport intelligent equipment, used for transporting materials on the same level; Intelligent construction elevators for cross-floor transportation of materials; Palletizing robots, used for sorting and placing materials; The remote centralized control system includes: Front-end interface, used to issue tasks, monitor material flow and equipment status; The back-end server is used for task scheduling, path planning, task conflict monitoring and management, and transmits the collected information to the front-end interface for display; Real-time communication module, used to achieve two-way communication between the intelligent equipment cluster and the back-end server; The front-end interface is connected to the back-end server.

[0006] Preferably, the horizontal transport intelligent equipment includes a horizontal transport platform vehicle, an automatic guided forklift and a monolithic material transport robot; The horizontal transport platform vehicle comprises a vehicle body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body, a cargo platform arranged on the vehicle body, and a passive protection module arranged on the vehicle body; The automatic guided forklift comprises a body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the body, and an automatic fork and a telescopic fork arranged on the body; The whole material transport robot comprises a body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the body, and an automatic clamping module arranged on the body.

[0007] Preferably, the palletizing robot comprises a fixed palletizing robot and a mobile palletizing robot. The fixed palletizing robot is directly fixed to the installation, the bottom of the robot body of the mobile palletizing robot is provided with a mobile chassis, and the mechanical arms of the fixed palletizing robot and the mobile palletizing robot are both provided with a terminal 3D vision module.

[0008] Preferably, the front-end interface includes a real-time status interface and a task management interface, and the user can assign tasks, adjust task priorities and monitor task execution through the front-end interface; The real-time status interface is an interactive digital twin, including smart equipment cluster information and environmental information; Among them, the intelligent equipment cluster information includes sensor data and location information on each device in the intelligent equipment cluster; Environmental information includes sensor data in the environment and video streams returned by the construction site monitoring system; The task management interface includes the material management interface, the task release interface and the task progress interface.

[0009] Preferably, the material management interface is used to provide an intuitive representation of the material flow of the entire site, showing the storage, transportation and use locations of different materials, relying on the intelligent equipment visual system and the transportation volume comprehensive statistics system to transport the total amount on the one hand, and the operator manually warehousing, modifying and managing material information on the other hand; The task release interface is used to release material transportation tasks and issue tasks based on material inventory, including selecting material types through the drop-down menu, manually entering quantities, clicking destinations with the help of topological maps, and selecting priorities through the drop-down menu. When the database prompts that materials are insufficient, new warehousing or modification tasks can be manually organized before they can be executed. The task process interface includes the global task progress, which is displayed by a progress bar showing the percentage of the number of items transported and the target number, and the task sequence, which displays the currently executed task sequence and the task sequence arranged by priority; the operator modifies a single task sequence.

[0010] Preferably, the backend server includes a hierarchical planning architecture and a hybrid control structure system; the hierarchical planning architecture and the hybrid control structure system specifically include a top-level planning layer, a middle-level behavior layer and a bottom-level execution layer; The top-level planning layer includes formulating task allocation strategies, planning the paths of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and synchronously updating the task allocation module and task conflict resolution module of the material transportation system; The middle behavior layer includes an action planning module that autonomously plans a single task path based on the global information obtained by the top planning layer and communicates and exchanges information with other intelligent devices; The underlying execution layer includes a navigation control module, a map generation and update module, and a local path planning module for making real-time decisions on short-term actions and avoiding obstacles or adjusting routes in real time according to dynamic changes on site.

[0011] Preferably, the backend server has a built-in database for storing and managing map data, status information of each device in the smart equipment cluster, and task logs; The database includes: The smart equipment status and location database is used to store the real-time smart equipment status, location and operation status under the task. When the smart equipment status is abnormal, an alarm can be issued in time on the front-end display interface; Material library database, used to save the location and quantity of available materials; Digital maps and digital twin databases store and continuously update the digital twin model of the project, reflecting construction progress and updating road conditions so that planned routes can be updated in real time; Historical data storage, recording material delivery and material flow statistics, task completion and route history for analysis and optimization; User and device management database, manage user roles and permissions.

[0012] A material transportation method using the unmanned material transportation system as described above comprises the following steps: Release tasks and adjust task priorities through the front-end interface; The backend server obtains the status and environment information of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster in real time through the sensors of each device, and displays the feedback through the front-end interface; The task allocation module in the backend server performs task allocation, task path planning and task scheduling for each device in the intelligent equipment cluster according to the published tasks; The back-end server monitors the execution of each task and the status of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and displays feedback through the front-end interface; When the backend server detects conflicts among tasks, the task conflict resolution module in the backend server promptly adjusts the conflicting tasks until the tasks do not conflict with each other; The action planning module in the end server forms global information based on all assigned task paths and environmental information, divides each single task into several actions, and each action is executed by the corresponding device in the intelligent equipment cluster. By defining the state, action sequence and constraint conditions of a single action, the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster can execute corresponding actions according to the changes in environmental information and control task instructions; After receiving the global single-task paths, the navigation control module in the back-end server determines a global path that meets the task instructions from the map based on the prior generated map and task allocation, and sends a control signal to the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster to drive along the global path.

[0013] Preferably, after the back-end server detects obstacle information on the path through the sensors of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, the local planning adjustment condition is triggered. The local path planning module of the back-end server uses the previously calculated path as the basis for adjustment, adjusts the cost of the affected nodes, and updates a cost map in real time. The original actual value from the target point to the adjacent node and the heuristic value from the current node to the adjacent point are calculated accordingly, so that the actual path length from the current node to the target node is minimized; by using the task priority queue to manage the nodes that need to be re-planned, redundant calculations are minimized.

[0014] Preferably, the specific process of task path planning for each device in the intelligent equipment cluster by the task allocation module is as follows: processing the environmental road node map to clarify the nodes that each device in the intelligent equipment cluster can pass through and occupy; constructing a cost matrix, and assigning task paths to each device in the intelligent equipment cluster based on the cost matrix and in combination with the principle of "slowing down and avoiding tasks with low priority, and accelerating and passing tasks with high priority", and ensuring that only a single device in the intelligent equipment cluster occupies a map node within a time step.

[0015] Preferably, the cost matrix includes the task travel time, completion time, path length of the equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the capacity utilization rate of each equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the types of equipment involved, and the task priority.

[0016] Preferably, after a single task is completed, the device searches for the nearest location to the start and end points of the associated idle task during its return process; a shared path is used during the task connection process, and idle real-time tasks in the nearby area are assigned to devices in the smart equipment cluster that are about to complete the task service.

[0017] Preferably, the status of all devices in the smart equipment cluster is obtained before each task is assigned. If a single device is low on power, the nearest charging station is searched for, the coordinates are sent directly, and the device is preferentially scheduled to go for charging.

[0018] Preferably, the task conflict resolution module traverses and checks whether there are conflicts between the task paths. If there are conflicts, the current path is modified to avoid the conflict by rerouting to an alternative path or delaying the movement of the previous node, or by updating constraints until all paths are conflict-free.

[0019] Preferably, the map generation and update module in the back-end server generates a high-precision road map by pre-recording the road trajectory and processing it, and then generates a structural topology map on this basis to facilitate front-end interface operation and path planning; during the execution process, the map is updated in real time through sensor data collection of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster.

[0020] Preferably, the actions in a single task include material collection, transportation and unloading; Among them, the material picking process is to load the whole stack of materials onto the horizontal conveyor through a palletizing robot or directly; The transportation link includes same-floor transportation and cross-floor transportation. The first is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment is transported from the original point A of the same floor to the target point B; the second is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment enters the assigned intelligent construction elevator from the original point C of the original floor, and the intelligent construction elevator drives the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment to rise and fall vertically to the target floor, and the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment drives out of the intelligent construction elevator to the target point D of the target floor; The unloading process is to unload the entire stack of materials to the target location through a palletizing robot or directly.

[0021] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: 1. In the present invention, the operator only needs to issue tasks and supervise the equipment operation process through the remote centralized control system to complete the material sorting and transportation tasks; it can be widely used in different types of construction sites, is not restricted by the site, the environment, or the weather, and can work in a cycle around the clock; it can reduce manual work on the construction site and reduce construction safety risks; it can connect and organize multiple intelligent devices to work in a coordinated cycle to avoid equipment task conflicts, improve equipment efficiency, and reduce transportation costs.

[0022] 2. It can transport most of the materials involved in the secondary structure and decoration and renovation stages of the construction site, and can adopt different transportation modes and organize related equipment according to the material type and transportation requirements, which is more in line with the material retrieval habits of the construction site; it has a certain degree of adaptability and can adapt to the ever-changing construction site environment. Based on the prior map, it can dynamically update environmental information to make the equipment run more stable and less prone to malfunctions and crashes; it can record and manage material flow to facilitate on-site material management and retrieval planning. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 It is a flow chart of the unmanned material transportation system of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the framework principle of the unmanned material transportation system of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0026] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that if the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like are involved, the orientation or position relationship indicated is based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings, which is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0027] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected" and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection. It can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection. It can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. It can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0028] Example 1 An unmanned material transport system, such as Figure 1~2 As shown, it includes an intelligent equipment cluster and a remote centralized dispatching system, and the intelligent equipment cluster is connected with the remote centralized dispatching system; The intelligent equipment cluster includes: Horizontal transport intelligent equipment, used for transporting materials on the same level; Intelligent construction elevators for cross-floor transportation of materials; Palletizing robots, used for sorting and placing materials; The remote centralized control system includes: Front-end interface, used to issue tasks, monitor material flow and equipment status; The back-end server is used for task scheduling, task path planning, task conflict monitoring and management, and transmits the collected information to the front-end interface for display; Database, used to store and manage map data, status information of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and task logs; Real-time communication module, used to achieve two-way communication between the intelligent equipment cluster and the back-end server; The database is built into the backend server, and the front-end interface is connected to the backend server.

[0029] Furthermore, the horizontal transport intelligent equipment can enter the corresponding intelligent construction elevator to carry out cross-layer transportation. The horizontal transport intelligent equipment includes horizontal transport platform vehicles, automatic guided forklifts and whole material transport robots, which are used for transporting different types of materials. The horizontal transport intelligent equipment cluster is the core equipment for material transportation, which is used to transport materials horizontally and can automatically navigate to the designated area along the planned path. These equipments have certain obstacle crossing capabilities, can move in all directions, have high load, and can work indoors and outdoors. The horizontal transport platform vehicle can be equipped with a hopper and needs the help of a palletizing robot to complete loading and unloading. It is designed to transport materials such as boxed concrete, scattered blocks, bagged putty, tiles, fasteners, etc. Its function is to complete the horizontal automatic transportation of materials and small machinery within the entire construction range. Its working principle is as follows: the four-wheel independent omnidirectional drive AGV can adapt to all terrains, the 3D vision system is used to identify material information and the surrounding environment, the SLAM path planning, autonomous navigation, and sensor collaboration enable it to have automatic obstacle avoidance function; its application scenario: covering the entire construction range, automatically completing the tasks of material collection and horizontal transportation with the assistance of the palletizing robot, and carrying light intelligent equipment to perform work tasks within the construction site; its objects of action are: blocks, plates, bagged putty, tubular materials, boxed concrete, and steel parts placed on the material platform; it can turn on the spot, with a maximum load-carrying slope of 12° and a maximum obstacle clearance height of 100 mm.

[0030] The automatic guided forklift can complete tasks such as pallet and material picking, multi-layer stacking, etc. At the same time, the total weight after loading must not exceed the upper limit of the intelligent elevator load. It is designed for unloading incoming materials in the yard, and whole stacks of blocks, whole stacks of putty, panels, bundled formwork components, curtain walls and other materials in the yard; its function is to assist in loading and unloading and horizontal transportation of materials within the entire construction range; its working principle is: the four-wheel independent omnidirectional drive AGV can adapt to all terrains, the 3D vision system is used to identify material information and surrounding environment, SLAM path planning, autonomous navigation, and sensor collaboration enables it to have automatic obstacle avoidance, the fork arm is inserted into the pallet or the bottom of the material to lift upward, and retract with the material to place the material on the platform; its application scenario is: to code the materials in the yard to complete the tasks of automatic material collection and horizontal transportation, and assist in unloading and unloading on the target floor; its objects of action are: whole stacks of blocks, bagged putty, panels, and boxed concrete; it can turn on the spot, with a maximum load-carrying driving slope of 12° and a maximum obstacle crossing height of 100 mm.

[0031] The whole material transport robot can complete the material picking and transportation tasks independently. The total weight after loading must not exceed the upper limit of the intelligent elevator load. When picking up materials, it moves sideways to encompass the materials and loads the materials through its own clamping and lifting device. It can be used to pick up whole piles of blocks, whole piles of putty, boxes of concrete and other materials in the transportation yard. Its function is to complete the tasks of picking up, transporting and placing whole piles of materials within the entire construction range. Its working principle is: the four-wheel independent omnidirectional drive AGV can adapt to all terrains, the 3D vision system is used to identify material information and surrounding environment, and the SLAM path planning, Autonomous navigation and sensor collaboration enable it to have automatic obstacle avoidance function, move sideways to the top of the whole stack of materials, lift the whole stack of materials through the lifting mechanism, and use limit pins and inner wall clamping surfaces to limit the relative sliding of the material pallet during transportation; its application scenarios are: covering the entire construction range, automatically completing the tasks of material picking and horizontal transportation with the assistance of the stacking robot; its objects of action are: whole blocks, bagged putty, tiles, and boxes of cement; its performance is: single load of 1.2t, on-the-spot steering, maximum loaded driving slope of 12°, and maximum obstacle crossing height of 100 mm.

[0032] Furthermore, intelligent construction elevators include but are not limited to various customized or additional construction elevators that can be remotely controlled and have functions such as automatic door opening and closing, automatic leveling, intelligent identification, and automatic connection. Intelligent construction elevators are divided into remote intelligent elevators and intelligent circulation elevators; their functions are: to assist other intelligent equipment in completing vertical transportation; their working principles are: to add a remote control module on the basis of ordinary construction elevators or single-tower multi-cage construction elevators, remotely control the opening and closing of elevator doors through PCL, remotely issue instructions to control the elevator to reach the target floor, and monitor the elevator status in real time through sensor fusion information. The 3D vision system is used to identify and interact with other intelligent equipment. For intelligent circulation elevators, an intelligent optimization algorithm is used to quickly arrange and dispatch the elevator cage, and the elevator cage is flipped and reaches the designated floor in the fastest time. Its application scenarios are: serving the vertical transportation of construction entities with a building height of more than 150 meters; its targets are: on-site workers (manual mode) and intelligent equipment (automatic mode).

[0033] Furthermore, the palletizing robot includes a fixed palletizing robot and a mobile palletizing robot. The fixed palletizing robot is directly fixed on the installation, and the mobile palletizing robot has a mobile chassis at the bottom of the robot body, which can drive the robot body to move. The fixed palletizing robot and the mobile palletizing robot are both provided with a terminal 3D vision module on their mechanical arms.

[0034] The fixed palletizing robot is composed of a connecting rod robot arm, an end gripper, an end 3D vision and other modules. It can identify and grasp materials for sorting and stacking of dense incoming materials. The load capacity of the robot arm is greater than the maximum weight of a single material of 50kg. The gripper can be pneumatic, hydraulic, electric drive, etc. It is designed for dense unpacking and fixed-point picking of materials to horizontal transport platforms, pallets or racks in the yard. Its functions are: to quickly split incoming materials densely at fixed points in the yard, to stack them according to transportation and material collection requirements, and to stack them heavily on the material platform. Its working principle is: there is a ground rail at the bottom of the robot, which expands the moving range of the industrial six-axis robot within a certain range. The 3D vision system is used to identify material information and technology, and the end gripper grabs and places unit materials. Its application scenarios are: only in a fixed position in the yard, quickly and densely sorting materials, usually requiring automatic guided forklifts to assist in loading; its objects of action are: blocks, plates, tubular materials, and bagged putty.

[0035] The mobile palletizing robot is composed of a mobile chassis, a collaborative robot arm, an end gripper, and an end 3D vision module. It can move freely in the yard, identify the materials in the yard, and then depalletize and stack them on the material rack or the horizontal transport robot, so that it can realize depalletizing and stacking at any position in the yard. At the same time, it can pick up and transport scattered materials and tools. The rated load of the collaborative robot arm cannot be less than 50kg, and the arm span cannot be less than 2000mm. The load of the mobile palletizing robot is not less than 500kg, and it can adapt to all terrains indoors and outdoors on the construction site; its functions are: within the entire construction range, it can complete fixed-point material collection, horizontal and vertical transportation to the target site by a single machine Marking and unloading work; its working principle is: the medium-sized four-wheel independent drive AGV can make the robot arm's operating range cover the entire construction site, the 3D vision system is used to identify material information and surrounding environment, SLAM path planning, autonomous navigation, and sensor collaboration enable it to have automatic obstacle avoidance function, and the end gripper picks up and places unit materials; its application scenarios are: covering the entire construction range, completing the task of transporting a small amount of materials from the yard to the target location, and assisting the material transport robot to unload on the target floor; its objects of action are: blocks, plates, bagged putty; turning on the spot, the maximum load-bearing driving slope is 12°, and the maximum obstacle crossing height is 100 mm.

[0036] The above-mentioned intelligent equipment should all have the function of switching between manual control and automatic control, and be equipped with a control display panel. The operator can simply interact with the equipment through the touch panel and switch between the three control modes of automatic, manual and remote control. In the automatic mode, it is controlled by the dispatching system. In the manual mode, the device mode can be modified and selected, such as standby, follow, stop, return to charge, etc., or it can be controlled by the remote control.

[0037] Furthermore, the front-end interface is used to provide an intuitive interface for operators, including a real-time status interface and a task management interface. At the same time, users can assign tasks, adjust priorities and monitor task execution through the front-end interface; The real-time status interface is an interactive digital twin, including centralized visualization of smart equipment cluster information and environmental information; Among them, the intelligent equipment cluster information is composed of sensor data and location information on each device in each intelligent equipment cluster. The sensor data includes the mileage, power, load, communication status, etc. of the intelligent equipment; the location information is displayed by the topological map, by marking key points on the topological map. The key points include the yard, intelligent elevator, unloading point, etc. Corresponding sensors are also installed at each key point, and a movable path for the intelligent equipment is generated. Combined with the information returned by the positioning module on the intelligent equipment, the real-time travel coordinates and path of the intelligent equipment are displayed; Environmental information includes sensor data set up in the environment and video streams returned by the construction site monitoring system; The task management interface includes: material management interface, task release interface and task progress interface; Among them, the material management interface is used to provide an intuitive representation of the material flow of the entire site, showing the storage, transportation and use locations of different materials. On the one hand, it relies on the intelligent equipment visual system and the comprehensive transportation volume statistics system to transport the total amount, and on the other hand, the operator manually enters the warehouse and corrects the management of material information; The task release interface is used to release material transportation tasks and issue tasks based on material inventory, including selecting material types through the drop-down menu, manually entering quantities, clicking destinations with the help of topological maps, and selecting priorities through the drop-down menu. When the database prompts that materials are insufficient, new warehousing or modification tasks can be manually organized before they can be executed. The task process interface includes the global task progress, which is displayed by a progress bar showing the percentage of the number of items transported and the target number, and the task sequence, which displays the currently executed task sequence and the task sequence arranged by priority, including the node action number and the execution equipment number. The operator manages the task process by modifying a single task sequence, such as adding or reducing nodes or by modifying the sequence priority. The operator can also view and modify the equipment operation status by viewing the execution equipment.

[0038] Example 2 The backend server is further limited on the basis of Example 1, and the performance of Example 2 after the limitation is better.

[0039] Furthermore, the back-end server is responsible for processing transportation logic, data and communication with intelligent equipment, and adopts a hierarchical planning architecture and a hybrid control structure system to solve the task planning problem in a dynamic and uncertain environment; the hierarchical planning architecture and hybrid control structure system specifically includes a top-level planning layer, a middle-level behavior layer and a bottom-level execution layer; The top-level planning layer includes a task allocation module and a task conflict resolution module. As the main control unit, it controls each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, obtains the status and environmental information of the intelligent equipment through sensors, processes the feedback data of each underlying device, and formulates a task allocation strategy according to the principle of "low priority deceleration and avoidance, high priority acceleration and passing". According to the strategy, the priority of each task is logically scheduled, the path of each intelligent equipment is planned, and the latest global information is synchronously updated; (Global information refers to the intelligent equipment cluster information and environmental information and the status and progress of each task.) The middle behavior layer includes an action planning module, which adopts a distributed control structure. The object is each device in the intelligent equipment cluster as an independent individual. It independently plans a single task path based on the global information obtained by the top planning layer and realizes information communication and exchange with other intelligent equipment. The bottom execution layer includes a navigation control module, a map generation and update module, and a local path planning module, which are used to make real-time decisions on short-term actions, such as avoiding obstacles or adjusting routes and updating maps in real time when dynamic changes occur on site, such as encountering new obstacles (i.e., when an obstacle appears, the path is corrected in time to bypass the obstacle, and the middle-level planned path is continued).

[0040] Furthermore, the task allocation module is used for path planning (MAPF) of each intelligent equipment. The specific process of path planning of intelligent equipment is as follows: first, the environment road node map is processed to clarify the nodes that each intelligent equipment can pass through and occupy; then a cost matrix is ​​constructed, which includes the task travel time, completion time, path length and capacity utilization rate of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, the types of equipment involved (multiple devices collaborate to increase the complexity of the task), task priority, etc. of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster; and the conflict constraint is determined as that only a single device or intelligent equipment occupies a map node within a time step; the user issues a task, and the Hungarian algorithm (Kuhn-Munkres) is used to solve the optimal allocation of intelligent equipment AGV to tasks according to the constructed cost matrix to minimize the total cost; after the completion of a single task, when the empty vehicle returns to the material collection location, the map is weighted through the shared ride algorithm to search for the nearest position of the associated idle task start and end points, and the path is shared as much as possible during the task connection driving process, that is, the idle real-time tasks in the nearby area are assigned to the equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster that is about to end the service, provided that the service end point of the equipment is close to the starting point of the next task, so as to reduce the return rate and improve the efficiency of the circular transportation; The task allocation module uses the least occupied path strategy to dispatch the intelligent elevator. According to the A* algorithm, it searches for the elevator cage that is closest to the first floor and can directly reach the destination floor. If there is one, it will dispatch the elevator cage to the first floor to wait. If the elevator cage that is closest to the first floor and can directly reach the destination floor is not found, according to the least occupied path strategy, the system will search for the elevator cage that is closest to the first floor and has the least occupied path to the destination floor, and dispatch other elevator cages on the same side to the nearest rotating node for avoidance. If the occupied numbers are equal, they will be allocated according to distance priority. Before assigning each task, the status of all equipment is obtained. For example, when a single equipment is low on power, the nearest charging station is searched, the coordinates are sent directly, and the smart equipment is dispatched to charge first.

[0041] The task conflict resolution module adopts the conflict-based search (CBS) method to execute single-machine planning with constraints, that is, the traditional A* algorithm is used to evaluate the construction cost matrix to plan a certain path interval and the constraints of each path planning, to ensure that each horizontal transportation intelligent equipment AGV will not occupy the same node with another AGV or obstacle in any given time period (the arrival time of the AGV at a specific location to the departure time); among them, constraints include waiting conditions (the first-in-first-out rule is followed at the elevator entrance, corridor and other single-vehicle paths in the building, and the vehicle must wait for the AGV in front to pass through), operating conditions (speed limit, limiting the maximum driving speed of the AGV in different scenarios); the top layer traverses the planned paths of the bottom layer to check whether there are conflicts between the paths. If there is a conflict, the current path is modified by rerouting to an alternative path or delaying the movement of the previous node to avoid the conflict, or by updating the constraints, such as imposing new constraints (obstacle avoidance execution time, etc.) until all bottom-level paths are conflict-free.

[0042] The action planning module adopts behavior-based control, dividing the complete task process into several basic actions, each of which is executed by the corresponding equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster; according to the type of equipment involved in the task stage, each action primitive is divided into four categories: material collection, horizontal transportation, vertical transportation, and unloading; by defining the possible state-action sequence and constraints of a single action, the equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster can perform corresponding actions according to changes in environmental information and control instructions; when external conditions and overall task requirements change, it can respond quickly and organize a series of action primitives.

[0043] Among them, the material picking link involves the palletizing robot and the horizontal transport device. The constraints are the material picking location, material type, and material picking quantity issued by the task planning module. The corresponding actions can be abstracted into four categories: The fixed palletizing robot quickly re-codes and unloads incoming materials in the yard and places them on the horizontal transport platform. After obtaining the material position and shape information through the visual camera, the control system plans a multi-node path to control the mechanical arm and the gripper to complete the grabbing and placement. The material picking action sequence is: the horizontal transport platform moves to the vicinity of the fixed palletizing robot--precise positioning and posture adjustment--the fixed palletizing robot controls the mechanical arm to identify and grab the material--identify and control the mechanical arm to re-code in the hopper of the horizontal transport platform. The constraints are: material type, transportation method and material picking location. The material types include block materials, bagged putty, and plates; the transportation method includes whole material transportation or scattered transportation; the material picking location: in the yard; The mobile palletizing robot picks up scattered materials at the construction site, moves to the target point according to the available material information in the background, identifies the target material through the visual system, plans the path of the robot arm, and controls the action of the gripper; its material picking action sequence is: the mobile palletizing robot moves to the vicinity of the material location - the mobile palletizing robot scans and identifies - controls the robot arm to pick up the material to the hopper; its constraints include: material type, transportation method and material picking location. Material types include block materials, bagged putty, and scattered steel parts; transportation methods include bulk material transportation <500kg; and the material picking location includes within the construction scope; The integrated pick-up and transport robot (whole material transport robot) picks up the whole stack of materials at the construction site, moves to the target point according to the available material information in the background, identifies the target material through the visual system, and uses vision and laser fusion to assist in precise positioning and alignment, and controls the internal lifting device to complete the picking. The picking action sequence is as follows: the integrated pick-up and transport robot moves to the vicinity of the picking point - scans the environment for precise positioning - sensor fusion assists in adjusting the posture to accurately move sideways or extend the fork teeth forward - controls its own lifting mechanism to pick up the material. The constraints are: material type, transportation method and picking location. Material types include block materials, bagged putty, plates, and tubular materials; transportation methods include whole material transportation ~1t; the picking location is within the construction range. The horizontal transport platform truck picks up concrete, mortar, etc. at a fixed point. After the horizontal transport platform truck with a hopper moves to the target point, it automatically unloads the material based on manual or visual system feedback, and drives away after stopping unloading. The material-retrieving action sequence is as follows: the horizontal transport platform truck carries a box container and moves to the vicinity of the material - sensor fusion assists in adjusting the posture and precise positioning - the tank truck identifies and unloads the material. The constraints are as follows: material types include box-filled mortar and box-filled concrete; transportation methods include box-filled transportation <800kg; and the material-retrieving location includes the location of the mixer truck.

[0044] In the horizontal transportation link, the constraints are the completion status of the previous stage, including the executed intelligent equipment and the completion position, material information, etc., as well as the next planned target point. The transportation task from A to B is completed by calling the local path planning module. The horizontal transportation link is divided into: same-layer transportation and cross-layer transportation. Among them, the horizontal transportation action sequence of the same-layer transportation is: the horizontal transportation robot or the mobile palletizing robot moves from the previous action completion point to the task completion point; the constraints of the same-layer transportation are: the execution equipment: the material collection completion equipment, the material collection location: the material collection completion location, the target location: the operation point; the horizontal transportation action sequence of the cross-layer transportation is: the horizontal transportation robot or the mobile palletizing robot moves from the material collection completion point to the assigned intelligent elevator position--sensor fusion assists the precise positioning before the elevator cage; the constraints of the cross-layer transportation are: the execution equipment: the material collection completion equipment, the material collection location: the material collection completion location, the target location: the assigned intelligent elevator.

[0045] The vertical transportation link is relatively simple. According to the instructions issued by the task allocation module, the elevator cage opens its door after reaching the designated docking floor. The transport equipment enters the elevator after precise positioning and posture adjustment through multi-sensor fusion feedback information. After the visual system in the elevator recognizes that the transport equipment is in place, the elevator cage door is closed and transported to the target floor. The cage door opens and the transport equipment drives out. The vertical transportation action sequence for transporting equipment with materials to the target floor: the intelligent construction elevator automatically opens the door after recognizing the intelligent equipment AGV - the intelligent equipment AGV accurately adjusts its posture to enter the elevator - the elevator closes the door, automatically opens the door after running to the target floor - the intelligent equipment AGV drives out; its constraints are: execution of the elevator cage: system allocation and scheduling, docking floor: horizontal transportation completion level, target floor: task target floor.

[0046] In the unloading phase, the equipment involved is the transport equipment and the mobile palletizing robot. According to the constraints such as the unloading target point, the type of transported materials, and the quantity of materials issued by the task allocation module, they can be divided into three categories: Manual unloading of horizontal transport platform vehicles. After the horizontal transport platform vehicle reaches the target point, it is manually switched to standby mode and manually assisted in unloading. After completing the unloading task at this point, it can be switched to follow mode. With the assistance of the visual system, it follows the worker at a low speed to the next location to repeat the unloading task. After all unloading is completed, it is manually switched to automatic mode, and the equipment is re-scheduled by the task allocation module. Its constraints are: unloading location: operation point; transportation method: scattered transportation; usage: manual assisted unloading to multiple operation points; The horizontal transport platform and the mobile palletizing robot assist in unloading. After the horizontal transport platform arrives at the target point, the mobile palletizing robot deployed on that floor assists in unloading. After the mobile palletizing robot obtains material information through the visual camera, the control system plans a multi-node path to control the robotic arm and the gripper to complete the grabbing and placing at the target location. After the material is completely unloaded, the equipment ends the current task state and waits for the task allocation module to schedule again. The specific unloading action sequence is: the mobile palletizing robot deployed on the floor moves to the vicinity of the horizontal transport platform-multi-sensor collaborative auxiliary synchronous positioning-the mobile palletizing robot controls the mechanical part to pick up materials from the horizontal transport platform; its constraints are: unloading location: operation point; transportation method: scattered transportation; usage: automatic unloading fixed or multiple operation points; The integrated pick-up and transport robot unloads materials. After the integrated pick-up and transport robot reaches the target point, it realizes precise positioning through multi-sensor fusion, adjusts its posture to control its own lifting mechanism to put down the materials, ends the current task state, and waits for secondary distribution; its unloading action sequence is: after the integrated pick-up and transport robot arrives at the floor yard, it scans the surrounding environment--precisely positions itself to the unloading position--adjusts its posture--controls the lifting device to put down the materials; its constraints are: unloading location: floor yard; transportation method: whole material; usage: after being transported to the target floor as a whole, it will be taken by manual or mobile stacking robots as needed.

[0047] Furthermore, the local path planning module is used for the real-time, obstacle-avoiding movement or decision-making of the intelligent equipment AGV, responding to the current environment and position changes of the intelligent equipment AGV, adjusting the path in a small obstacle-avoiding area in real time, and using the incremental search D*Lite algorithm for local planning and adjustment; The specific process is as follows: initially, based on known environmental information and prior maps, a reverse search is performed from the target point to the starting point, and a global optimal path is planned to establish a "path field" information. When the sensor (sensors on each smart device, such as millimeter-wave radar, laser radar, and obstacles that appear occasionally and dynamically in the real environment) feedbacks obstacle information, the local planning adjustment condition of the D* Lite algorithm is triggered (the specific trigger condition is that if there is an obstacle within the set distance of the smart device body, the local planning adjustment is performed), and the previously calculated path is used as the basis for adjustment to adjust the cost of the affected nodes. A cost map is updated in real time based on the A* algorithm, and the original actual value from the target point to the adjacent node and the heuristic value from the current node to the adjacent point are calculated to minimize the actual path length from the current node to the target node. Furthermore, the nodes that need to be re-adjusted are managed by using a priority queue to minimize redundant calculations. Since the "path field" has been established, in an environment where the graphics change due to moving obstacles or changes in terrain costs, compared with the A* algorithm for re-path planning, the D** Lite algorithm only needs to locally update the path to complete obstacle avoidance, which is more suitable for scenarios with large map scales and dynamic changes.

[0048] Furthermore, after receiving the global single-task paths planned by the middle level, the navigation control module uses the A* algorithm to search for a global path that meets the task instructions from the structure map (the structure map is a rasterized map based on the prior map, which is convenient for feedback of the path system node status and whether the node is occupied to resolve conflicts) based on the prior map and task allocation, and sends the navigation control module to control the vehicle to drive safely and stably along the global path; The navigation control module includes a safety monitoring module, a motion control module and a positioning perception module. The safety monitoring module uses camera vision to collect information, monitors and analyzes in real time whether there are obstacles that affect the safety of the intelligent equipment AGV's execution of the planned path, and feeds back to the motion control module; when executing the upper-level planned path, the motion control module uses the PID tracking algorithm to simplify the vehicle's four-wheel model into a kinematic bicycle model. According to the positioning information of GPS and SLAM on the intelligent equipment cluster, the rear axle of the vehicle is used as the tangent point and the longitudinal body of the vehicle is used as the tangent. By controlling the steering angle of the front wheel, the vehicle is driven along an arc passing through the target path point. When the angle α between the vehicle body and the target path point at time t and the forward-looking distance from the target path point are constant, the wheelbase is constant, and the required front wheel turning angle is estimated. The pure tracking controller is actually a P controller for the lateral turning angle (the pure tracking controller is a built-in tracking algorithm). The main influencing factor of the controller is the forward-looking distance. One of the most commonly used methods is to express the forward-looking distance as a linear function of the longitudinal speed of the vehicle. Then the adjustment of the forward-looking distance of the pure tracking controller becomes the adjustment of the coefficient k. The maximum and minimum forward-looking distances are used to constrain the forward-looking distance. The larger the forward-looking distance, the smoother the trajectory tracking, and the smaller the forward-looking distance, the more accurate the tracking. After receiving feedback from the safety monitoring module, it will generate obstacle avoidance, following or parking decisions based on the current state, road and obstacle information. When the obstacle avoidance conditions are met, the motion control module will call the obstacle avoidance algorithm local path planning module, generate control instructions, and send the servo motor. After the obstacle avoidance is successful, it returns to the tracking module; The map generation and update module first uses a combination of GPS and SLAM to pre-record road trajectories, and then generates a high-precision road map after processing. On this basis, a structural topology map is generated to facilitate front-end interface operations and path planning; during the execution process, the probability grid map is updated in real time through sensor data collection.

[0049] Furthermore, the database includes The intelligent equipment AGV status and location database is used to store the real-time intelligent equipment AGV status, location and operation status under the task. When the intelligent equipment AGV status is detected to be abnormal, an alarm can be issued in time on the front-end display interface; Material library database, used to save the location and quantity of available materials; Digital maps and digital twin databases store and continuously update the digital twin model of the project, reflecting construction progress and updating road conditions so that planned routes can be updated in real time; Historical data storage, recording material delivery and material flow statistics, task completion and route history for analysis and optimization; User and device management database, manage user roles and permissions.

[0050] Furthermore, the real-time communication module is designed for indoor and outdoor networking of the construction site by installing wireless communication modules at key locations (AP points) of the construction site, meeting the requirements of various types of transport robots in the construction environment for high communication flexibility, strong scalability, simple maintenance and stable transmission, realizing barrier-free communication between the cluster control system and transport robots and monitoring equipment at any location on site, and ensuring smooth and safe on-site transportation operations. The control flow and state flow use the MODBUS communication protocol, and the video stream uses the RTSP protocol, i.e., the real-time streaming protocol. The horizontal transport robot and the circulating elevator are networked using the NRF24L01 wireless module. The outdoor long-distance wireless networking is realized through three bridges. The floor indoor networking is composed of a Mesh network (mesh topology). The construction site uses 1.4G WiFi mesh networking, so that the background cluster control system can remotely control AGV, stacking robots, and intelligent construction elevators.

[0051] The transportation methods of various typical materials are shown in Table 1 below.

[0052] Table 1 A material transportation method using the unmanned material transportation system according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: Step 1: The operator publishes tasks and adjusts task priorities through the front-end interface; Step 2: The backend server obtains the status and environmental information of each device in real time through the sensors of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and displays it through the front-end interface, and updates the environmental map in real time through the map generation and update module; Step 3: The task allocation module in the backend server performs task allocation, task path planning and task scheduling for each device in the intelligent equipment cluster according to the published tasks; Step 4: The backend server monitors the execution status of each task and the status of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and displays feedback through the front-end interface; Step 5: When the backend server detects conflicts among the tasks, the task conflict resolution module in the backend server timely adjusts the conflicting tasks until the tasks do not conflict with each other; Step 6: The action planning module in the backend server forms global information based on all assigned task paths and environmental information, divides each single task into several actions, and each action is executed by the corresponding device in the intelligent equipment cluster. By defining the state and action sequence and constraint conditions of a single action, the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster execute corresponding actions according to changes in environmental information and control task instructions; Step 7: After receiving the global single-task paths planned by the middle-level, the navigation control module in the back-end server searches and determines a global path that meets the task instructions from the structure map based on the prior generated map and task allocation, and sends the control signal to the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster to drive safely and stably along the global path.

[0053] Furthermore, after step 7, the back-end server detects obstacle information on the path through sensors of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, triggers local planning adjustment conditions, and the local path planning module of the back-end server uses the previously calculated path as the basis for adjustment, adjusts the cost of the affected nodes, and updates a cost map in real time, corresponding to the original actual value from the target point to the adjacent node and the heuristic value from the current node to the adjacent point, so that the actual path length from the current node to the target node is minimized; by using the task priority queue to manage the nodes that need to be re-planned, redundant calculations are minimized.

[0054] Furthermore, in the step 3, the specific process of task path planning for each device of the intelligent equipment cluster by the task allocation module is as follows: processing the environmental road node map to clarify the nodes that each device of the intelligent equipment cluster can pass through and occupy; constructing a cost matrix, and assigning task paths to each device of the intelligent equipment cluster based on the cost matrix and the principle of "low-priority tasks slow down and avoid, high-priority tasks speed up and pass"; and ensuring that only a single device in the intelligent equipment cluster occupies a map node within a time step; Furthermore, the cost matrix includes the task travel time, completion time, path length of the equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the capacity utilization rate of each equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the types of equipment involved, and the task priority.

[0055] Furthermore, in the step 3, after a single task is completed, the device searches for the nearest location to the start and end points of the associated idle task during the return process; a shared path is used during the task connection process, and idle real-time tasks in the nearby area are assigned to the devices in the smart equipment cluster that are about to complete the task service.

[0056] Furthermore, in step 3, the status of all devices in the smart equipment cluster is obtained before each task is assigned. If a single device is low on power, the nearest charging station is searched for, the coordinates are sent directly, and the device is preferentially scheduled to charge.

[0057] Furthermore, in step 5, the task conflict resolution module traverses and checks whether there is a conflict between each task path. If there is a conflict, the current path is modified to avoid the conflict by rerouting to an alternative path or delaying the movement of the previous node, or by updating constraints until all paths are conflict-free.

[0058] Furthermore, the map generation and update module in the back-end server pre-records the road trajectory, generates a high-precision road map after processing, and generates a structural topology map based on this, which is convenient for front-end interface operation and path planning; during the execution process, the probability grid map is updated in real time through sensor data collection of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster.

[0059] In step 6, the actions in a single task include material collection, transportation and unloading; Among them, the material picking process is to load the whole stack of materials onto the horizontal conveyor through a palletizing robot or directly; The transportation link includes same-floor transportation and cross-floor transportation. The first is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment is transported from the original point A of the same floor to the target point B; the second is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment enters the assigned intelligent construction elevator from the original point C of the original floor, and the intelligent construction elevator drives the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment to rise and fall vertically to the target floor, and the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment drives out of the intelligent construction elevator to the target point D of the target floor; The unloading process is to unload the entire stack of materials to the target location through a palletizing robot or directly.

[0060] The working principle of the present invention is as follows: 1) An unmanned material transportation system for materials of different types and specifications that is suitable for the secondary structure construction and decoration construction stages of the construction site, including an intelligent equipment cluster and a remote centralized control system. The intelligent equipment cluster includes horizontal transportation intelligent equipment for same-layer transportation; intelligent construction elevators for cross-layer transportation; and stacking robots for sorting and picking. The remote centralized scheduling system includes a front-end interface for issuing tasks, supervising processes and equipment status; a back-end server for task scheduling, path planning, conflict monitoring and management; a database for storing and managing map data, intelligent equipment status information, and task logs; and a real-time communication module for realizing two-way communication between intelligent equipment and servers. The material management system relies on the visual system to classify and count the material flow within the construction range. 2) The transportation modes include scattered material transportation, whole stack material transportation, and box material transportation, which can cover most of the materials involved in the secondary structure and decoration stages of the construction site, including block materials such as blocks, plates such as tiles, bagged materials such as putty, tubular materials such as bundled formwork components, scattered materials such as fasteners, and rolls such as waterproof rolls. It can realize the whole process of material collection, transportation and unloading on the same or cross-layer of the construction site, which is more in line with the material usage habits. 3) Users publish material collection and transportation tasks through the remote centralized scheduling system and remotely supervise the intelligent equipment cluster to perform tasks. The user first obtains the previous inventory information and publishes the material scheduling information through the front-end graphical operation interface, including the material name, required quantity, transportation starting point, transportation end point, task priority, etc. After receiving the task, the back-end server of the remote centralized scheduling system parses and assigns the task to a single intelligent equipment, and issues instructions through the networking communication system to let the intelligent equipment perform the task. Accordingly, during the execution stage, the equipment returns the equipment sensor data, updated map information, material statistics, etc. to the database module through the communication networking system, and feeds back to the user in real time through the graphical front-end. 4) In order to solve the problem of efficient allocation of tasks for multiple intelligent equipment to work together at the construction site, a hierarchical planning architecture and a hybrid control structure system are adopted to solve the task planning problem in dynamic and uncertain environments. The top-level planning layer includes the task allocation and conflict resolution module, which acts as the main control unit to control all intelligent equipment, obtain equipment status, environmental information, process data and formulate strategies, etc., and synchronize the latest global information; the middle-level behavior layer is mainly composed of the action planning module and the local path planning module. It adopts a distributed control structure and targets each intelligent equipment as an independent individual. It autonomously plans the local path based on the global information obtained from the upper layer and communicates and exchanges information with other equipment; the bottom-level execution layer includes the navigation control module and the map generation and update module. As the execution layer, it is used to make real-time decisions on short-term actions, such as avoiding obstacles or adjusting routes and updating maps in real time when dynamic changes occur on site, such as encountering new obstacles.5) In order to solve the various materials and changing transportation needs at the construction site, a behavior-based control method is adopted to split the complete task process into several basic actions, which are executed by the corresponding intelligent equipment. These actions can be divided into four categories: material collection, horizontal transportation, vertical transportation and unloading. By defining the state-action sequence and constraints, the intelligent equipment performs corresponding actions according to the changes in environmental information and control instructions. When external conditions or overall task requirements change, the module can respond quickly and organize action primitives. Based on the input material information, the system determines the material collection method: scattered material collection can be completed by a mobile stacking robot at multiple target points, or a whole stack of materials can be collected by a collection and transportation robot, or a horizontal transport platform vehicle can be used with the assistance of a fixed stacking robot to complete the material collection. The transportation method is determined according to the completion status of material picking and task allocation: the integrated picking and transporting robot, horizontal transport platform vehicle and mobile stacking robot can all complete the same-floor transportation, or autonomously take the elevator to the target floor and then carry out cross-floor transportation; the unloading method is determined according to the target point and transportation status. The integrated picking and transporting robot unloads the whole stack at the floor yard, or manually unloads the material from the horizontal transport platform vehicle, or the mobile stacking robot completes the unloading at multiple work points, ensuring that the construction site can efficiently and flexibly meet the transportation needs.

[0061] To sum up, by issuing tasks and supervising processes through a remote centralized control platform, manual work can be reduced and construction safety risks can be lowered; the macro-dispatching system can also avoid collisions of smart devices through multi-level planning and improve the safety of equipment use; precise control and coordination can also avoid damage to the main building due to collisions during transportation.

[0062] The unmanned material transportation system proposed by the present invention can adapt to the indoor and outdoor environment of the construction site at the same time, has the ability of autonomous positioning and navigation indoors and outdoors, is not restricted by the site, the environment, and the weather, and can work in a cycle around the clock; it can connect multiple intelligent devices in series and increase or decrease the number of equipment at any time according to demand. In the early planning stage, it can reasonably select equipment and systems according to the needs and investment expectations of different owners, maximize the efficiency of the single machine and transportation efficiency of the intelligent equipment, and reduce the initial use investment. During use, it can gradually reduce some equipment according to the on-site working conditions to improve the turnover rate of the equipment; it can automatically analyze and decompose macro tasks, decompose and establish synchronous multi-line tasks, and reasonably arrange multi-machine collaboration. Through the intelligent scheduling system, multiple intelligent devices can efficiently circulate dynamically in the task thread to maximize the utility of the intelligent equipment cluster and reduce the time cost and labor input of material transportation; compared with the manual handling mode, the labor input is only in remote monitoring, and the workload is significantly reduced; it can switch between automatic and manual modes according to demand to meet the different needs of multiple scenarios and achieve different operation purposes. The highly integrated system can be integrated into the current intensive manual-dominated construction mode, does not occupy other operation lines, does not interfere with other construction steps, and realizes human-machine symbiosis and efficient cooperation.

[0063] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article 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, article or device.

[0064] It should be understood that those skilled in the art can make improvements or changes based on the above description, and all these improvements and changes should fall within the scope of protection of the appended claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An unmanned material transportation system, characterized in that: It includes an intelligent equipment cluster and a remote centralized dispatching system, and the intelligent equipment cluster is connected with the remote centralized dispatching system; The intelligent equipment cluster includes: Horizontal transport intelligent equipment, used for transporting materials on the same level; Intelligent construction elevators for cross-floor transportation of materials; Palletizing robots, used for sorting and placing materials; The remote centralized control system includes: Front-end interface, used to issue tasks, monitor material flow and equipment status; The back-end server is used for task scheduling, task path planning, task conflict monitoring and management, and transmits the collected information to the front-end interface for display; Real-time communication module, used to achieve two-way communication between the intelligent equipment cluster and the back-end server; The front-end interface is connected to the back-end server.

2. The unmanned material transport system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Horizontal transport intelligent equipment includes horizontal transport platform vehicles, automatic guided forklifts and bulk material transport robots; The horizontal transport platform vehicle comprises a vehicle body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body, a cargo platform arranged on the vehicle body, and a passive protection module arranged on the vehicle body; The automatic guided forklift comprises a body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the body, and an automatic fork and a telescopic fork arranged on the body; The whole material transport robot comprises a body, an omnidirectional steering chassis arranged at the bottom of the body, and an automatic clamping module arranged on the body.

3. The unmanned material transportation system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Palletizing robots include fixed palletizing robots and mobile palletizing robots. The fixed palletizing robots are directly fixed on the installation, and the mobile palletizing robots have a mobile chassis at the bottom of their robot bodies. The fixed palletizing robots and the mobile palletizing robots have terminal vision modules on their robotic arms.

4. The unmanned material transport system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The front-end interface includes a real-time status interface and a task management interface. Users can use the front-end interface to assign tasks, adjust task priorities, and monitor task execution. The real-time status interface is an interactive digital twin, including smart equipment cluster information and environmental information; Among them, the intelligent equipment cluster information includes sensor data and location information on each device in the intelligent equipment cluster; Environmental information includes sensor data in the environment and video streams returned by the construction site monitoring system; The task management interface includes the material management interface, the task release interface and the task progress interface.

5. The unmanned material transport system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The back-end server includes a hierarchical planning architecture and a hybrid control structure system; the hierarchical planning architecture and the hybrid control structure system specifically include a top-level planning layer, a middle-level behavior layer, and a bottom-level execution layer; The top-level planning layer includes formulating task allocation strategies, planning the paths of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and synchronously updating the task allocation module and task conflict resolution module of the material transportation system; The middle behavior layer includes an action planning module that autonomously plans a single task path based on the global information obtained by the top planning layer and communicates and exchanges information with other intelligent devices; The underlying execution layer includes a navigation control module, a map generation and update module, and a local path planning module for making real-time decisions on short-term actions and avoiding obstacles or adjusting routes in real time according to dynamic changes on site.

6. A material transportation method using the unmanned material transportation system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Release tasks and adjust task priorities through the front-end interface; The backend server obtains the status and environment information of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster in real time through the sensors of each device, and displays the feedback through the front-end interface; The task allocation module in the backend server performs task allocation, task path planning and task scheduling for each device in the intelligent equipment cluster according to the published tasks; The back-end server monitors the execution of each task and the status of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and displays feedback through the front-end interface; When the backend server detects conflicts among tasks, the task conflict resolution module in the backend server promptly adjusts the conflicting tasks until the tasks do not conflict with each other; The action planning module in the backend server forms global information based on all assigned task paths and environmental information, divides each single task into several actions, and each action is executed by the corresponding device in the intelligent equipment cluster. By defining the state, action sequence and constraint conditions of a single action, the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster can execute corresponding actions according to the changes in environmental information and control task instructions; After receiving the global single-task paths, the navigation control module in the back-end server determines a global path that meets the task instructions from the map based on the prior generated map and task allocation, and sends a control signal to the devices in the intelligent equipment cluster to drive along the global path.

7. The material transportation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: After the back-end server detects obstacle information on the path through the sensors of each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, it triggers the local planning adjustment conditions. The local path planning module of the back-end server uses the previously calculated path as the basis for adjustment, adjusts the cost of the affected nodes, and updates a cost map in real time. The original actual value from the target point to the adjacent node and the heuristic value from the current node to the adjacent point are calculated accordingly, so that the actual path length from the current node to the target node is minimized; by using the task priority queue to manage the nodes that need to be re-planned, redundant calculations are minimized.

8. The material transportation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: In step 3, the specific process of task path planning for each device in the intelligent equipment cluster by the task allocation module is as follows: processing the environmental road node map to clarify the nodes that each device in the intelligent equipment cluster can pass through and occupy; constructing a cost matrix, and based on the cost matrix and in combination with the principle of "slow-priority tasks slow down and avoid, high-priority tasks accelerate and pass", assigning task paths to each device in the intelligent equipment cluster, and ensuring that only a single device in the intelligent equipment cluster occupies a map node within a time step.

9. The material transportation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The cost matrix includes the task travel time, completion time, path length of the equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the capacity utilization of each equipment in the intelligent equipment cluster, the types of equipment involved, and the task priority.

10. The material transportation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: After a single task is completed, the device searches for the nearest location to the start and end points of the associated idle task during its return process; during the task connection process, a shared path is used to assign idle real-time tasks in the nearby area to devices in the smart equipment cluster that are about to complete the task service.

11. The material transportation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: Before each task is assigned, the status of all devices in the smart equipment cluster is obtained. If a single device is low on power, the nearest charging station is searched for and the coordinates are sent directly to prioritize the device for charging.

12. The material transportation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The task conflict resolution module checks whether there are conflicts between task paths. If there are conflicts, the current path is modified to avoid the conflict by rerouting to an alternate path or delaying the movement of the previous node, or by updating constraints until all paths are conflict-free.

13. The material transportation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The map generation and update module in the back-end server pre-records road trajectories, processes them and generates high-precision road maps, based on which a structural topology map is generated to facilitate front-end interface operations and path planning. During the execution process, the map is updated in real time through sensor data collection from each device in the intelligent equipment cluster.

14. The material transportation method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The actions in a single task include material collection, transportation and unloading; Among them, the material picking process is to load the whole stack of materials onto the horizontal conveyor through a palletizing robot or directly; The transportation link includes same-floor transportation and cross-floor transportation. The first is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment is transported from the original point A of the same floor to the target point B; the second is that the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment enters the assigned intelligent construction elevator from the original point C of the original floor, and the intelligent construction elevator drives the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment to rise and fall vertically to the target floor, and the horizontal transportation intelligent equipment drives out of the intelligent construction elevator to the target point D of the target floor; The unloading process is to unload the entire stack of materials to the target location through a palletizing robot or directly.

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