AGV scheduling method, AGV cloud scheduling system, and storage medium

Abstract

An embodiment of the present application provides an AGV scheduling method, an AGV cloud scheduling system, and a storage medium. The AGV cloud scheduling system includes: a message queue telemetry transmission MQTT middleware, a message engine, and a scheduling unit; the MQTT middleware is used to receive a first message reported by an automatic guided vehicle AGV; and publish the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp for generating the first message; the message engine is used to receive the first message published by the MQTT middleware, obtain the first timestamp carried by the first message; and sort the first message based on the first timestamp; the scheduling unit is used to obtain the sorted first message from the message engine; and process the sorted first messages in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of Internet of Things, and in particular to an AGV scheduling method, an AGV cloud scheduling system, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In automated warehousing systems, production workshops and other places, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) have been widely used in many industries in China due to their good adaptability, high reliability, good flexibility, and ability to achieve integration and automation of production and handling functions. In recent years, with the continuous increase in labor costs, more and more companies need more AGVs to replace the high labor costs, which can not only save a lot of costs, but more importantly, achieve partial or full automation and improve production efficiency.

[0003] Since the data link of cloud-based AGV scheduling is long, timing problems will arise during data transmission. The interaction during AGV scheduling has very high requirements for the timing of data, so AGV scheduling can only be achieved based on local deployment. Cross-regional AGV scheduling cannot be achieved, resulting in low scheduling efficiency and poor scalability in local deployment. Summary of the invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide an AGV scheduling method, an AGV cloud scheduling system, and a storage medium, which can deploy the AGV scheduling system in the cloud to improve scheduling efficiency and scheduling scalability.

[0005] The technical solution of this application is implemented as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes an automatic guided vehicle AGV cloud dispatching system, the system comprising: a message queue telemetry transmission MQTT middleware, a message engine and a dispatching unit;

[0007] The MQTT middleware is used to receive a first message reported by an automatic guided vehicle AGV; and publish the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message;

[0008] The message engine is configured to receive the first message published by the MQTT middleware, obtain the first timestamp carried by the first message, and sort the first messages based on the first timestamp;

[0009] The scheduling unit is used to obtain the sorted first message from the message engine; and process the sorted first message in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

[0010] In the above system, the scheduling unit is further used to transmit the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware;

[0011] The MQTT middleware is also used to send the AGV scheduling strategy to the corresponding AGV in sequence, so as to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform tasks according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

[0012] In the above system, the scheduling unit is also used to obtain the second timestamp carried by the new message reported by the AGV through the MQTT middleware and the message engine, and determine the third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed; determine whether the new message is expired based on the second timestamp and the third timestamp; if the new message is determined to be expired, clear the new message.

[0013] In the above system, the system further comprises: a message cluster;

[0014] The message engine is further used to write the sorted messages into the message cluster;

[0015] The message cluster is used to sort the first messages again based on the first timestamp;

[0016] The scheduling unit is further used to obtain the re-ordered first message from the message cluster.

[0017] In the above system, the first message includes at least one of the following information: location information of the AGV, fault information of the AGV, and attribute information representing the temperature and / or power of the AGV.

[0018] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes an AGV scheduling method, which is applied to an AGV cloud scheduling system. The method includes:

[0019] receiving a first message reported by the AGV through the MQTT middleware; and publishing the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message;

[0020] Receiving the first message published by the MQTT middleware through a message engine, obtaining a first timestamp carried by the first message; and sorting the first messages based on the first timestamp;

[0021] The first sorted message is obtained from the message engine through a scheduling unit; and the first sorted message is processed in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

[0022] In the above method, after the first messages are processed in sequence and the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy is generated, the method further includes:

[0023] Transmitting the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware through the scheduling unit;

[0024] The AGV scheduling strategy is sent to the corresponding AGV in sequence through the MQTT middleware, so as to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform tasks according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

[0025] In the above method, the method further comprises:

[0026] When a new message reported by the AGV is obtained, the scheduling unit obtains a second timestamp carried by the new message, and determines a third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed;

[0027] The scheduling unit determines whether the new message is expired according to the second timestamp and the third timestamp, and deletes the new message if it is determined that the new message is expired.

[0028] In the above method, after sorting the first messages based on the first timestamp and before sequentially processing the sorted first messages and generating the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy, the method further includes:

[0029] Writing the sorted messages into the message cluster through the message engine;

[0030] sorting the first messages again based on the first timestamp by using the message cluster;

[0031] The re-ordered first message is obtained from the message cluster through the scheduling unit.

[0032] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor in an AGV cloud scheduling system, the above-mentioned AGV scheduling method is implemented.

[0033] The AGV scheduling method and AGV cloud scheduling system and storage medium provided in the embodiment of the present application include: message queue telemetry transmission MQTT middleware, message engine and scheduling unit; MQTT middleware, used to receive the first message reported by the automatic guided vehicle AGV; and publish the first message; the first message carries the first timestamp of the first message; the message engine is used to receive the first message published by the MQTT middleware, obtain the first timestamp carried by the first message; and sort the first message based on the first timestamp; the scheduling unit is used to obtain the sorted first message from the message engine; and sequentially process the sorted first message to generate the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy. Because when the AGV reports the first message, the first timestamp generated by the first message is carried in the first message, each processing module of the AGV cloud scheduling system can determine the sorting of the first message by the first timestamp, so that the AGV cloud scheduling system can sequentially process the sorted first message according to the generation time of the first message, avoiding the problem of the last message being sent first, avoiding the timing problem in the data transmission process, realizing the cloud deployment of AGV scheduling, and improving the scheduling efficiency and scalability of scheduling. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an AGV cloud scheduling system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of an exemplary AGV cloud scheduling system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 3 A flowchart of an AGV scheduling method provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] In order to enable a more detailed understanding of the features and technical contents of the embodiments of the present application, the implementation of the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The attached drawings are for reference only and are not used to limit the embodiments of the present application.

[0038] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs. The terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing the embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0039] In the following description, reference is made to "some embodiments", which describe a subset of all possible embodiments, but it is understood that "some embodiments" may be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments, and may be combined with each other without conflict. It should also be noted that the terms "first\second\third" involved in the embodiments of the present application are only used to distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific ordering of the objects. It is understandable that "first\second\third" may be interchanged in a specific order or sequence where permitted, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein.

[0040] The present application embodiment provides an automatic guided vehicle AGV cloud dispatching system 1, such as Figure 1 As shown, the system 1 may include: a message queue telemetry transmission MQTT middleware 10, a message engine 11 and a scheduling unit 12;

[0041] The MQTT middleware 10 is used to receive a first message reported by an automatic guided vehicle AGV; and publish the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message;

[0042] The message engine 11 is used to receive the first message published by the MQTT middleware, obtain the first timestamp carried by the first message; and sort the first messages based on the first timestamp;

[0043] The scheduling unit 12 is used to obtain the sorted first messages from the message engine; and process the sorted first messages in sequence to generate corresponding AGV scheduling strategies.

[0044] An AGV cloud scheduling system proposed in an embodiment of the present application is suitable for scenarios where the cloud schedules AGVs to perform tasks.

[0045] In the embodiments of the present application, the MQTT middleware can be EMQ (i.e., an open source MQTT server based on the Erlang language), an open source MQTT server based on C++, an MQTT server developed based on Java, and other middleware used to process message transmission between a large number of devices. The specific one can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0046] In the embodiment of the present application, the first timestamp carried by the first message is a time mark when the first message is generated, which is a globally unique timestamp.

[0047] It should be noted that the number of first messages is one, two or more, and the specific number can be selected according to actual conditions. The embodiment of the present application does not make any specific limitation.

[0048] In the embodiment of the present application, the MQTT middleware acts as a message publisher and the message engine acts as a message subscriber, jointly forming a publish-subscribe model. The MQTT middleware publishes the first message to the subscription topic, and the message engine receives all messages under the subscription topic.

[0049] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving the first message, the message engine sorts the first message according to the first timestamp carried by the first message, and caches the sorted first message in the message engine to ensure the timing of the first message.

[0050] In an embodiment of the present application, the first message may include at least one of the following information: location information of the AGV, fault information of the AGV, attribute information characterizing the temperature and / or power of the AGV, and other information related to AGV scheduling. The specific information can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations.

[0051] In the embodiment of the present application, a variety of AGV scheduling strategies are set in the scheduling unit, such as AGV selection, AGV path planning, AGV traffic control strategy, etc.; the specific ones can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations.

[0052] In an embodiment of the present application, after the scheduling unit obtains the first message, the scheduling unit processes the first message to obtain the current state of the AGV, such as the current location of the AGV, etc.; then, the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy is determined based on the current state of the AGV.

[0053] In the embodiment of the present application, the scheduling unit is a business system in the AGV scheduling scenario.

[0054] Optionally, the scheduling unit is further used to transmit the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware;

[0055] The MQTT middleware is also used to send the AGV scheduling strategy to the corresponding AGV in sequence, so as to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform tasks according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

[0056] In the embodiment of the present application, after the scheduling unit generates the AGV scheduling strategy, the scheduling unit transmits the AGV scheduling strategy to the AGV through the MQTT middleware to schedule the AGV to perform tasks. Thus, the cloud scheduling process of the AGV is realized, including the AGV uploading messages to the AGV cloud scheduling system and the AGV cloud scheduling system sending the corresponding AV scheduling strategy to the AGV.

[0057] In the embodiments of the present application, the tasks performed by the AGV may include moving tasks such as forward and backward, or handling tasks such as loading and unloading, etc. The specific tasks can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0058] Optionally, the scheduling unit is also used to obtain a second timestamp carried by a new message reported by the AGV through the MQTT middleware and the message engine, and determine a third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed; determine whether the new message is expired based on the second timestamp and the third timestamp; and clear the new message if it is determined that the new message is expired.

[0059] In the embodiment of the present application, the scheduling unit can also implement a filtering function for expired data, which may be caused by network delays, etc. The second timestamp is a time stamp when a new message is generated, which is used to uniquely identify the generation time of the new message; the third timestamp is a time stamp when the message currently being processed is generated, which is used to uniquely identify the generation time of the message currently being processed.

[0060] In an embodiment of the present application, when the scheduling unit obtains a new message transmitted through the MQTT middleware and the message engine, it obtains the second timestamp generated by the new message from the new message, and determines the message currently being processed. The scheduling unit obtains the third timestamp generated by the message currently being processed from the message currently being processed, and then compares the second timestamp with the third timestamp. If the second timestamp is greater than the third timestamp, it indicates that the new message has been delayed in reaching the scheduling unit due to network delays and other reasons, and the new message is considered to have expired. At this time, the scheduling unit clears the new message. If the second timestamp is not greater than the third timestamp, it is considered that the new message has not expired. At this time, the scheduling unit adds the new message to the message queue of the scheduling unit according to the third timestamp and processes it in sequence. Among them, the messages to be processed in the message queue of the scheduling unit are arranged in the order of the timestamps carried.

[0061] It is understandable that the scheduling unit can identify and filter expired messages, which can ensure that timing issues are properly handled, thereby improving the accuracy and speed of message processing. Among them, the timing issue is that in the data processing process, due to a long data link or more processing links, the data processing order and the data generation order are inconsistent, thus affecting the stability and accuracy of the system.

[0062] Optionally, the system further includes: a message cluster;

[0063] The message engine is further used to write the sorted messages into the message cluster;

[0064] The message cluster is used to sort the first messages again based on the first timestamp;

[0065] The scheduling unit is further used to obtain the re-ordered first message from the message cluster.

[0066] In an embodiment of the present application, the message cluster may be a distributed message queue system such as Kafka middleware, which is used to process real-time message transmission with high concurrency and large amounts of data.

[0067] In the embodiment of the present application, the characteristics of the message cluster can be used to perform secondary sorting, and the efficiency of solving the timing problem can be further improved through secondary sorting.

[0068] It can be understood that when the AGV reports the first message, the first timestamp of the generation of the first message is carried in the first message. Each processing module of the AGV cloud scheduling system can determine the order of the first message according to the first timestamp, so that the AGV cloud scheduling system can process the sorted first messages in sequence according to the generation time of the first message, avoiding the problem of last-sent messages arriving first, avoiding the timing problem in the data transmission process, realizing the cloud deployment of AGV scheduling, and improving the scheduling efficiency and scalability of scheduling.

[0069] Based on the above embodiments, the present application embodiment proposes an AGV cloud scheduling system, such as Figure 2 As shown, the AGV cloud scheduling system includes EMQ, a message engine, a Kafka middleware and a business system, wherein the AGV reports a first message to the EMQ, and the first message carries a first timestamp when the first message is generated. The EMQ publishes the first message, and the message engine receives the first message based on the subscription information. The message engine sorts the first message based on the first timestamp and caches the sorted first message in the message engine. After that, the first message sorted by the message engine will be written to the Kafka middleware, and the Kafka middleware will perform secondary sorting on the first message according to the first timestamp. When the business system consumes the message in the Kafka middleware, it determines whether the message is expired by the timestamp. For expired messages, the business system will filter them. For non-expired messages, the business system processes the messages and generates corresponding AGV scheduling strategies.

[0070] Based on the above embodiments, the present application also proposes an AGV scheduling method, which is applied to the AGV cloud scheduling system. Figure 3 , the method comprising:

[0071] S101. Receive a first message reported by an AGV through an MQTT middleware; and publish the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message.

[0072] An AGV cloud scheduling system proposed in an embodiment of the present application is suitable for scenarios where the cloud schedules AGVs to perform tasks.

[0073] In the embodiment of the present application, the first timestamp carried by the first message is a time mark when the first message is generated, which is a globally unique timestamp.

[0074] It should be noted that the number of first messages is one, two or more, and the specific number can be selected according to actual conditions. The embodiment of the present application does not make any specific limitation.

[0075] It should be noted that the MQTT middleware acts as a message publisher and the message engine acts as a message subscriber, forming a publish-subscribe model. The MQTT middleware publishes the first message to the subscription topic, and the message engine receives all messages under the subscription topic.

[0076] In an embodiment of the present application, the first message may include at least one of the following information: location information of the AGV, fault information of the AGV, attribute information characterizing the temperature and / or power of the AGV, and other information related to AGV scheduling. The specific information can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations.

[0077] S102. Receive a first message published by the MQTT middleware through a message engine, obtain a first timestamp carried by the first message, and sort the first message based on the first timestamp.

[0078] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving the first message published by the MQTT middleware, the message engine sorts the first message according to the first timestamp carried by the first message, and caches the sorted first message in the message engine to ensure the timing of the first message.

[0079] It should be noted that after sorting the first message based on the first timestamp, the method further includes: writing the sorted message into the message cluster through the message engine; sorting the first message again based on the first timestamp through the message cluster; and obtaining the re-sorted first message. The sorted message may be first written into the message cluster through the message engine, and then the first message may be sorted again based on the first timestamp through the message cluster.

[0080] S103, obtaining the sorted first message from the message engine through the scheduling unit; and processing the sorted first message in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

[0081] It should be noted that, when the AGV cloud scheduling system also includes a message cluster, the scheduling unit obtains the second-ordered first message from the message cluster.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present application, a variety of AGV scheduling strategies are set in the scheduling unit, such as AGV selection, AGV path planning, AGV traffic control strategy, etc.; the specific ones can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations.

[0083] In an embodiment of the present application, after the scheduling unit obtains the first message from the message engine, the scheduling unit processes the first message to obtain the current state of the AGV, such as the current location of the AGV, etc.; then, the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy is determined based on the current state of the AGV.

[0084] In the embodiments of the present application, the tasks performed by the AGV may include moving tasks such as forward and backward, or handling tasks such as loading and unloading, etc. The specific tasks can be selected according to actual conditions, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0085] In the embodiment of the present application, during the process of the dispatch unit processing the message, the dispatch unit also performs an expiration judgment on the received new message, specifically including: when obtaining a new message reported by the AGV, obtaining the second timestamp carried by the new message through the dispatch unit, and determining the third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed; judging whether the new message is expired according to the second timestamp and the third timestamp; when judging that the new message is expired, clearing the new message. Among them, the new message reported by the AGV can be obtained through the MQTT middleware and the message engine.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present application, after processing the sorted first message in sequence and generating the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy, it also includes: transmitting the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware through the scheduling unit; and sending the AGV scheduling strategy to the corresponding AGV in sequence through the MQTT middleware to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform the task according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

[0087] It can be understood that when the AGV reports the first message, the first timestamp of the generation of the first message is carried in the first message. Each processing module of the AGV cloud scheduling system can determine the order of the first message according to the first timestamp, so that the AGV cloud scheduling system can process the sorted first messages in sequence according to the generation time of the first message, avoiding the problem of last-sent messages arriving first, avoiding the timing problem in the data transmission process, realizing the cloud deployment of AGV scheduling, and improving the scheduling efficiency and scalability of scheduling.

[0088] An embodiment of the present application provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. The computer-readable storage medium stores one or more programs. The one or more programs can be executed by one or more processors and applied to an AGV cloud scheduling system. The computer program implements the AGV scheduling method as described above.

[0089] The processor may be at least one of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a digital signal processing device (DSPD), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a CPU, a controller, a microcontroller, and a microprocessor. It is understandable that for different devices, the electronic device used to implement the functions of the processor may also be other, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment.

[0090] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations 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. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0091] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosure, or the part that contributes to the relevant technology, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, a disk, or an optical disk), and includes a number of instructions for enabling an image display device (which can be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0092] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An automatic guided vehicle AGV cloud dispatching system, characterized in that: The system comprises: a message queue telemetry transmission MQTT middleware, a message engine and a scheduling unit; The MQTT middleware is used to receive a first message reported by an automatic guided vehicle AGV; and publish the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message; The message engine is configured to receive the first message published by the MQTT middleware, obtain the first timestamp carried by the first message, and sort the first messages based on the first timestamp; The scheduling unit is used to obtain the sorted first message from the message engine; and process the sorted first message in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The scheduling unit is further used to transmit the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware; The MQTT middleware is also used to send the AGV scheduling strategy to the corresponding AGV in sequence, so as to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform tasks according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The scheduling unit is further configured to, when a new message reported by the AGV is obtained through the MQTT middleware and the message engine, obtain a second timestamp carried by the new message and determine a third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed; Determining whether the new message is expired according to the second timestamp and the third timestamp; When it is determined that the new message is expired, the new message is deleted.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The system further comprises: a message cluster; The message engine is further used to write the sorted messages into the message cluster; The message cluster is used to sort the first messages again based on the first timestamp; The scheduling unit is further used to obtain the re-ordered first message from the message cluster.

5. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The first message includes at least one of the following information: location information of the AGV, fault information of the AGV, and attribute information representing the temperature and / or power of the AGV.

6. An AGV scheduling method, characterized in that: Applied to the AGV cloud dispatching system, the method includes: receiving a first message reported by the AGV through the MQTT middleware; and publishing the first message; the first message carries a first timestamp of generating the first message; Receiving the first message published by the MQTT middleware through a message engine, obtaining a first timestamp carried by the first message; and sorting the first messages based on the first timestamp; The first sorted message is obtained from the message engine through a scheduling unit; and the first sorted message is processed in sequence to generate a corresponding AGV scheduling strategy.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that After sequentially processing the first messages and generating corresponding AGV scheduling strategies, the method further includes: Transmitting the AGV scheduling strategy to the MQTT middleware through the scheduling unit; The AGV scheduling strategy is sent to the corresponding AGV in sequence through the MQTT middleware, so as to schedule the corresponding AGV to perform tasks according to the AGV scheduling strategy.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: When a new message reported by the AGV is obtained, the scheduling unit obtains a second timestamp carried by the new message, and determines a third timestamp carried by the message currently being processed; The scheduling unit determines whether the new message is expired according to the second timestamp and the third timestamp, and deletes the new message if it is determined that the new message is expired.

9. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that After sorting the first messages based on the first timestamp, and before sequentially processing the sorted first messages and generating the corresponding AGV scheduling strategy, the method further includes: Writing the sorted messages into the message cluster through the message engine; sorting the first messages again based on the first timestamp by using the message cluster; The re-ordered first message is obtained from the message cluster through the scheduling unit.

10. A storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor in the AGV cloud scheduling system, it implements the method described in any one of claims 6 to 9.

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