Replenishment method and device, scheduling server, storage medium and program product

Abstract

The invention provides a replenishment method and device, a scheduling server, a storage medium and a program product, and the method comprises the steps: determining at least one alternative material box matched with a replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of a workstation; according to the states and the positions of the alternative workbins, the priorities of the alternative workbins are determined; according to the priority of the alternative material boxes, the target material box to be replenished is selected, the carrying robot is controlled to carry the target material box to the work station for replenishment, all the material boxes matched with the replenishment requirement are screened out to serve as the alternative material boxes, and then the target material box to be replenished is selected by comprehensively considering the states and the positions of the alternative material boxes. According to the method and the device, the waste of robot resources can be reduced, the replenishment efficiency is improved, and the overall efficiency of a warehousing system is further improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of intelligent warehousing technology, and in particular to a replenishment method, device, scheduling server, storage medium and program product. Background Art

[0002] In the warehouse system, when replenishing, empty boxes or boxes with high volumetric ratios are usually selected based on the volumetric ratio of the boxes, and transported to the workstation to complete the task of putting the parts on the shelves. However, selecting the boxes to be replenished based only on the volumetric ratio of the boxes will cause a waste of robot transportation resources and affect the replenishment efficiency of the warehouse system. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present disclosure provides a replenishment method, device, scheduling server, storage medium and program product for improving the overall efficiency of a warehousing system.

[0004] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a replenishment method, comprising: determining at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand of a workstation; determining the priority of the at least one alternative material box according to the status and position of the at least one alternative material box; selecting a target material box to be replenished from the at least one alternative material box according to the priority of the at least one alternative material box, and controlling a transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0005] In a possible implementation, determining at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand based on the replenishment demand of the workstation includes: determining a hot lane of the workstation, the hot lane refers to a lane in the lane corresponding to the workstation whose distance from the workstation is less than a preset distance; and screening out, based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, the at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane.

[0006] In a possible implementation, the selecting, based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane includes: determining, based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, the type of container that needs to be replenished at the workstation; based on the container type, selecting, from the material boxes stored in the hot lane, at least one alternative material box that matches the container type and meets the screening conditions; the screening conditions include at least one of the following: a material box volume ratio is greater than a preset volume ratio, and a material box is not currently bound to a task.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the target box to be replenished is selected from the at least one alternative box according to the priority of the at least one alternative box, and the transport robot is controlled to transport the target box to the workstation for replenishment, including: calculating the number of selected boxes corresponding to each container type according to the box volume ratio corresponding to the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation; selecting a box corresponding to the number of selected boxes corresponding to the container type and the priority of the at least one alternative box from the alternative boxes that match each container type as the target box to be replenished; and controlling the transport robot to transport the target box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0008] In a possible implementation, determining the priority of the at least one alternative box based on the status and position of the at least one alternative box includes: determining the status and the position of the at least one alternative box; determining the category of the at least one alternative box based on the status and the position of the at least one alternative box; determining the priority of the at least one alternative box based on the category of the at least one alternative box and preset priorities of each category.

[0009] In a possible implementation, determining the category of the alternative material box according to the state and the position of the at least one alternative material box includes: if the at least one alternative material box is a material box being picked at the workstation, determining that the category of the alternative material box is the first category; if the at least one alternative material box is on a first robot and the first robot is performing a business task on the alternative material box, determining that the category of the alternative material box is the second category; if the at least one alternative material box is on a second robot and the second robot is unloading or temporarily storing the at least one alternative material box, determining that the category of the alternative material box is the third category; if the at least one alternative material box is in a cache position, determining that the alternative material box is The category of the material box is the fourth category, and the cache position refers to a storage position on the shelf that is lower than a preset height; if the at least one alternative material box is on a single-depth storage position, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the fifth category, and the single-depth storage position refers to a storage position on a single-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the single-depth shelf can only accommodate one material box; if the at least one alternative material box is in the inner storage position of a double-depth storage position, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the sixth category, and the double-depth storage position refers to a storage position on a double-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the double-depth shelf can accommodate two material boxes, and the double-depth storage position includes the inner storage position and the outer storage position; if the at least one alternative material box is in the outer storage position of the double-depth storage position, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the seventh category.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: in response to an instruction to update the priorities of the categories, updating the priorities of the categories.

[0011] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a replenishment device, comprising: an alternative material box determination unit, for determining, based on the replenishment demand of a workstation, at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand; a priority determination unit, for determining the priority of the at least one alternative material box based on the status and position of the at least one alternative material box; a replenishment unit, for selecting a target material box to be replenished from the at least one alternative material box based on the priority of the at least one alternative material box, and controlling a transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0012] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a scheduling server, comprising: a memory, a processor and a transceiver; the memory stores computer-executable instructions; the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the method described in the first aspect above.

[0013] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, they are used to implement the method described in the first aspect above.

[0014] In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program product, including a computer program, which implements the method described in the first aspect when executed by a processor.

[0015] The present disclosure provides a replenishment method, device, scheduling server, storage medium and program product. The method determines at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of the workstation; determines the priority of at least one alternative material box according to the status and position of the at least one alternative material box; selects a target material box to be replenished from the at least one alternative material box according to the priority of the at least one alternative material box, and controls a transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment. By first screening out the alternative material boxes that match the replenishment demand, and then comprehensively considering the status and position of the alternative material boxes to select the target material box to be replenished, so as to select a target material box that saves more transportation resources, it is possible to reduce the waste of robot resources, improve the replenishment efficiency, and thus improve the overall efficiency of the warehousing system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 1 A flowchart of a replenishment method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 2 A flowchart of another replenishment method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the corresponding relationship between workstations and lanes provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the state and position of a material box in a storage system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a replenishment device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a scheduling server provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] The above drawings show clear embodiments of the present disclosure, which will be described in more detail below. These drawings and text descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way, but to illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the appended claims.

[0025] It should be noted that the user information (including but not limited to user device information, user personal information, etc.) and data (including but not limited to data used for analysis, stored data, displayed data, etc.) involved in one or more embodiments of this specification are all information and data authorized by the user or fully authorized by all parties, and the collection, use and processing of relevant data must comply with relevant laws, regulations and standards, and corresponding operation entrances shall be provided for users to choose to authorize or refuse.

[0026] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, certain software, components, models and other existing solutions in the industry may be mentioned, which should be regarded as exemplary. Their purpose is only to illustrate the feasibility of implementing the technical solution of the present disclosure, but it does not mean that the applicant has or will necessarily use the solution.

[0027] First, the terms involved in this disclosure are explained:

[0028] Stock Keeping Unit (SKU): The smallest available unit in inventory management.

[0029] Bin: A container used to store goods in a warehouse.

[0030] Cache: A location dedicated to temporarily storing containers. These locations are used to coordinate container transfers between different types of robots.

[0031] Replenishment: When the storage volume of some SKUs in the outbound shipment is small, it is necessary to add the SKUs to the warehouse for storage. Select a material box with a certain volume ratio and add the SKUs to the material box.

[0032] Single-depth storage location: refers to a storage location on a single-depth rack, where the single-depth side of the single-depth rack only accommodates one material box.

[0033] Double Deep Storage Location: refers to a storage location on a double deep rack where the depth of one side of the double deep rack can accommodate two bins.

[0034] In the warehouse system, when replenishing, empty boxes or boxes with high volumetric ratios are usually selected based on the volumetric ratio of the boxes, and transported to the workstation to complete the task of putting the parts on the shelves. However, if the boxes to be replenished are selected based only on the volumetric ratio of the boxes, if the selected boxes to be replenished are far away from the workstation, or if the boxes to be replenished have just been placed in the warehouse, then it is not cost-effective to transport these boxes to the workstation for replenishment, which will cause a waste of robot transportation resources and affect the replenishment efficiency of the warehouse system.

[0035] For example, a box picked empty by a workstation will be returned to the shelf by the robot. If the box is later selected as a box to be replenished, the robot will need to move the box from the shelf to the workstation for replenishment, resulting in a waste of robot resources and affecting the replenishment efficiency of the warehouse system.

[0036] In order to solve the above problems, the embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a replenishment method, which determines at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of the workstation; determines the priority of at least one alternative material box according to the status and position of the at least one alternative material box; selects a target material box to be replenished from the at least one alternative material box according to the priority of the at least one alternative material box, and controls the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment. By first screening out the alternative material boxes that match the replenishment demand, and then comprehensively considering the status and position of the alternative material boxes to select the target material box to be replenished, so as to select a target material box that saves more transportation resources, the waste of robot resources can be reduced, the replenishment efficiency can be improved, and the overall efficiency of the warehousing system can be improved.

[0037] The technical solution of the present invention and how the technical solution of the present invention solves the above-mentioned technical problems are described in detail below with specific embodiments. The following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. The embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0038] Figure 1 The following is a flow chart of a replenishment method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The execution subject of the method may be a dispatch server for replenishment in a warehousing system. The specific steps of the method are as follows:

[0039] S101. According to a replenishment demand of a workstation, determine at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand.

[0040] The scheduling server receives the replenishment demand, and selects a material box in the storage location that can store the material to be stored according to the information of the material to be stored in the replenishment demand, so as to obtain at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand. The replenishment demand refers to the information of the material to be stored, which may specifically include the SKU and quantity of the material to be stored.

[0041] For example, the scheduling server can determine the SKUs to be stored, as well as the quantity and volume of each SKU to be stored, based on the information of the materials to be stored in the replenishment demand. The container type of the material box used to store the SKU is determined based on the SKU to be stored, and the container type required for replenishment at the workstation is obtained. According to the container type required for replenishment, a material box of the corresponding container type is selected from the storage location, and at least one alternative material box matching the replenishment demand can be obtained.

[0042] The container type refers to the type of compartment of the material box, such as a single-compartment material box, a double-compartment material box, a four-compartment material box, an eight-compartment material box, etc. A single-compartment material box refers to a material box with only one compartment, including a bottom plate and four side plates. Double-compartment material boxes, four-compartment material boxes, eight-compartment material boxes, etc. are multi-compartment material boxes. In addition to a bottom plate and four side plates, such material boxes also include partitions arranged inside the material box, and the storage space in the material box is divided into multiple areas (i.e., compartments) through the partitions.

[0043] S102: Determine the priority of the candidate material boxes according to the state and position of at least one candidate material box.

[0044] Among them, the status of the material box refers to the current state of the material box, which may include but is not limited to: being picked, being transported by a transport robot to perform business tasks (such as outbound and inbound tasks), being unloaded (such as transferring between the storage location and the cache location of the shelf), storage status (such as the material box is stored in the storage location, or the material box is stored in the cache location).

[0045] The location of the material box may include but is not limited to: located at a workstation, located on a transport robot, located at a cache location, located at a storage location, etc.

[0046] When replenishing, the status and location of the container will affect the transportation resources and time cost consumed to replenish the container.

[0047] For example, for a bin stored in a storage location, the distance between the storage location and the workstation will affect the transportation resources and time cost required for replenishment. The farther the distance between the storage location and the workstation, the higher the transportation resources and time cost required for replenishment.

[0048] For example, for a material box that is currently being carried out on a handling robot, it is necessary to wait for the current task to be completed before carrying the material box from the destination of the current task to the workstation for replenishment. Waiting for the execution of the current task requires a certain amount of time. The distance between the destination of the current task and the workstation will also affect the transportation resources and time cost required to carry the material box to the workstation.

[0049] In this embodiment, the scheduling server first obtains the current status and position of at least one alternative material box, and then determines the priority of at least one alternative material box according to the current status and position of at least one alternative material box. The priority of the material box can be dynamically adjusted according to the status and position of the material box, so that the material box that consumes less transportation resources for replenishment has a high priority, while the material box that consumes more transportation resources for replenishment has a low priority. The priority of the alternative material box is more reasonable, so that the material box to be replenished that saves more transportation resources can be selected, thereby improving the replenishment efficiency.

[0050] S103. Select a target material box to be replenished from at least one candidate material box according to the priority of at least one candidate material box, and control the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0051] In this step, the scheduling server preferentially selects a candidate box with a higher priority as the target box to be replenished according to the priority of at least one candidate box. After determining the target box to be replenished, the replenishment task of the target box to be replenished is issued to the transport robot to control the transport robot to transport the target box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0052] Specifically, when selecting a target material box to be replenished, the scheduling server can select at least one alternative material box with a higher priority as the target material box based on the SKU, quantity and volume of the material to be stored in the replenishment demand and the volumetric ratio of each alternative material box, so that the selected target material box can meet the replenishment demand, that is, the target material box is sufficient to accommodate the material to be stored, wherein the volumetric ratio of the alternative material box is the volumetric space in the alternative material box that can still accommodate materials, that is, the currently vacant volumetric space in the alternative material box.

[0053] In the disclosed embodiment, based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand is determined; based on the status and position of the at least one alternative material box, the priority of the at least one alternative material box is determined; based on the priority of the at least one alternative material box, a target material box to be replenished is selected from the at least one alternative material box, and the transport robot is controlled to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment. By first screening out the alternative material boxes that match the replenishment demand, and then comprehensively considering the status and position of the alternative material boxes to select the target material box to be replenished, so as to select a target material box that saves more transportation resources, the waste of robot resources can be reduced, the replenishment efficiency can be improved, and the overall efficiency of the warehousing system can be improved.

[0054] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a replenishment method is provided for an embodiment of the present disclosure. Based on the above embodiment, the replenishment process is described in detail in this embodiment. Figure 2 As shown, the specific steps of this method are as follows:

[0055] S201. Obtain the replenishment demand of the workstation.

[0056] In this step, the scheduling server receives the replenishment demand from the workstation, wherein the replenishment demand refers to the information of the materials to be stored, which may specifically include the SKU and quantity of the materials to be stored.

[0057] S202: Determine at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand.

[0058] In this step, the scheduling server selects a material box in the warehouse area that can store the material to be stored according to the information of the material to be stored in the replenishment demand, and obtains at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand.

[0059] A warehousing system usually includes multiple workstations and multiple lanes, and shelves are set on both sides of each lane. In an example scenario, the warehousing system divides the storage area, and each sub-area includes at least one workstation and at least one corresponding lane. For the replenishment demand of any workstation, the scheduling server can select at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the lanes in the same area as the workstation.

[0060] In an optional embodiment, for the replenishment demand of any workstation, the scheduling server may determine the hot lane of the workstation, where the hot lane refers to a lane whose distance from the workstation is less than a preset distance, or a lane whose distance from the workstation is within a preset range. The scheduling server selects at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane of the workstation according to the replenishment demand of the workstation.

[0061] In this way, the distance between the selected alternative material boxes and the workstation can be made closer, which can reduce the transportation resources and time costs consumed in transporting the material boxes to the workstation, thereby improving replenishment efficiency.

[0062] The distance between the lane and the workstation can be defined as the shortest distance between the area where the lane is located and the area where the workstation is located, or the distance between the center points of the above two areas. The definition of the distance between the lane and the workstation is not specifically limited here.

[0063] The preset distance or preset range can be set according to the location of the lanes and workstations in the warehouse system, the amount of replenishment tasks, etc., and is not specifically limited here. For example, Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the correspondence between workstations and lanes provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown in the figure, assuming that the storage system contains 32 lanes (each straight line segment in the figure represents a lane) and 8 workstations (such as workstations 1-8 in the figure), the entire storage area is divided into 8 sub-areas, each of which includes a workstation and 4 lanes. The figure uses dotted lines to divide different sub-areas. Taking workstation 1 as an example, the two lanes closer to workstation 1 among the 4 lanes corresponding to workstation 1 are used as hot lanes.

[0064] Optionally, when selecting at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand, the scheduling server may determine the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation based on the replenishment demand of the workstation; based on the container type that needs to be replenished, the material box that matches the corresponding container type is screened out from the material boxes stored in the hot lane corresponding to the workstation as at least one alternative material box.

[0065] Optionally, when selecting at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand, the scheduling server may determine the container type that the workstation needs to replenish according to the replenishment demand of the workstation. According to the container type that needs to be replenished, the material box that matches the corresponding container type and meets the screening condition is screened out from the material boxes stored in the hot lane corresponding to the workstation as at least one candidate material box.

[0066] Among them, replenishment demand refers to the information of materials to be stored, which may specifically include the SKU, quantity, etc. of the materials to be stored.

[0067] Specifically, when determining the container type that the workstation needs to replenish, the scheduling server determines the container type used to store the corresponding SKU as the container type that the workstation needs to replenish based on the SKU of the material to be stored in the replenishment demand of the workstation.

[0068] The screening condition includes at least one of the following: the volume ratio of the material box is greater than the preset volume ratio, and the material box is not currently bound to a task. Among them, the preset volume ratio can be set according to the needs of the actual application, and this embodiment does not limit this. The screening condition can be configured and adjusted according to the actual application requirements. By adding the screening condition, a material box that is more suitable for replenishment can be screened out.

[0069] For example, for a material box that has been bound to a task (such as warehousing, outbound, etc.), since the task bound to the material box has not been completed, the execution of the task may change the volume ratio of the material box. Therefore, the volume ratio of the material box is not an accurate value, and the material box cannot be replenished temporarily. Therefore, the material boxes that are currently bound to the task are filtered out through the filtering conditions.

[0070] Exemplarily, the screening conditions include that the material box is in the warehouse, the volume ratio of the material box is greater than the preset volume ratio, and the material box is not currently bound to a task. The scheduling server can screen out, from the material boxes stored in the hot lanes of the workstation, a material box that matches the container type that the workstation needs to replenish, is stored in the warehouse, has a volume ratio greater than the preset volume ratio, and is not currently bound to a task, as at least one candidate material box.

[0071] It should be noted that for the material box located on the handling robot, the robot may be performing a handling task on the material box at this time, for example, moving the material box to a cache location for storage. In this case, the location of the destination of the handling task can be used as the location of the material box, and then it can be determined whether the material box is in the hot aisle corresponding to the workstation. If it is in the hot aisle, it can be determined whether the material box on the handling robot can be used as an alternative material box based on the container type and the conditions such as being stored in the storage location, the volume ratio being greater than the preset volume ratio, and no task is currently bound.

[0072] Specifically, the transport robot may be the first robot or the second robot described below, which is not limited here.

[0073] In an optional embodiment, for the replenishment demand of any workstation, the scheduling server may select at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in all lanes of the storage system.

[0074] S203: Determine the status and position of at least one candidate material box.

[0075] After selecting at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand of the workstation, the scheduling server obtains the status and location of each candidate material box.

[0076] Among them, the status of the material box refers to the current state of the material box, which may include but is not limited to: being picked, being transported by a transport robot to perform business tasks (such as outbound and inbound tasks), being unloaded (such as transferring between the storage location and the cache location of the shelf), storage status (such as the material box is stored in the storage location, or the material box is stored in the cache location).

[0077] The location of the material box may include but is not limited to: located at a workstation, located on a transport robot, located at a cache location, located at a storage location, etc.

[0078] S204: Determine a category of at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of at least one candidate material box.

[0079] The category of the candidate material box is determined based on the current state and position of the candidate material box. The scheduling server divides at least one candidate material box into several different categories according to the current state and position of at least one candidate material box.

[0080] The scheduling server determines the category of at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of the at least one candidate material box, which specifically includes at least one of the following:

[0081] (1) If the candidate material box is a material box being picked at the workstation, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the first category. For example, the first category can be set to a string "ON_CONVEYOR" or an integer value 1.

[0082] (2) If the candidate material box is on the first robot and the first robot is performing a business task on the candidate material box, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the second category. For example, the second category can be set to a string "ON_KIVA" or an integer value 2.

[0083] Among them, the first robot is a handling robot responsible for performing business tasks such as warehousing / warehouse-out of material boxes, for example, a lifting robot that carries the material boxes from the cache location to the workstation.

[0084] (3) If the candidate material box is on the second robot and the second robot is unloading or temporarily storing the candidate material box, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the third category. For example, the third category can be set to the string "ON_KUBOT" or the integer value 3.

[0085] The second robot is a handling robot used for transferring material boxes between the buffer location and the storage location, such as a box-type robot.

[0086] (4) If the candidate material box is in the cache position, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the fourth category. For example, the fourth category can be set to a string "KIVA_STORAGE_SHELF" or an integer value 4.

[0087] The cache position refers to a storage position on the shelf that is lower than a preset height and is used to temporarily store material boxes. The preset height can be set according to the needs of actual application, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0088] (5) If the candidate material box is in a single-depth storage location, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the fifth category. For example, the fifth category can be set to a string "KUBOT_STORAGE_SHELF" or an integer value 5.

[0089] Among them, single-depth storage location refers to the storage location on the single-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the single-depth shelf can only accommodate one material box. Storage location refers to the other storage locations on the shelf except the cache location, which are used to store material boxes.

[0090] (6) If the candidate material box is in the inner storage position of the double-deep storage position, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the sixth category. For example, the sixth category can be set to a string "KUBOT_STORAGE_DEEP_SHELF" or an integer value 6. The double-deep storage position refers to a storage position on a double-deep shelf. The single side depth of the double-deep shelf can accommodate two material boxes. The double-deep storage position includes an inner storage position and an outer storage position.

[0091] (7) If the candidate material box is in the outer storage position of the double-deep storage position, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the seventh category. For example, the seventh category can be set to the string "KUBOT_STORAGE_SHALLOW_SHELF" or the integer value 7.

[0092] For example, Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the state and position of a material box in a storage system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, the storage system includes 4 double-deep shelves, 1 first robot, 1 second robot and 4 alternative material boxes. Among them, alternative material box 1 is in the inner storage position of the double-deep storage position, so the category of alternative material box 1 is determined to be the sixth category; alternative material box 3 is on the first robot, and the first robot is performing the outbound / inbound task for alternative material box 3, so the category of alternative material box 3 is determined to be the second category; alternative material box 2 is on the second robot, and the second robot is unloading the alternative material box 2 (such as unloading the box from the upper storage position to the lower cache position), so the category of alternative material box 2 is the third category; alternative material box 4 is in the outer storage position of the double-deep storage position, so the category of alternative material box 4 is the seventh category.

[0093] It should be noted that the scheduling server may also use other methods to classify the categories of alternative material boxes, which can be configured and adjusted according to actual application requirements and are not specifically limited here.

[0094] In this embodiment, the scheduling server divides the candidate material boxes into several different categories according to their current status and location. The transportation resources and time costs required for replenishing the candidate material boxes of the same category are relatively similar, while the transportation resources and time costs required for replenishing the candidate material boxes of different categories are relatively different. Using the category of the candidate material box as the basis for determining the priority of the candidate material box makes the priority definition of the candidate material box more reasonable, which is conducive to improving the replenishment efficiency.

[0095] S205: Determine the priority of at least one candidate material box according to the category of at least one candidate material box and the preset priorities of the categories.

[0096] After determining the category of at least one candidate material box, the scheduling server determines the priority of the at least one candidate material box according to the preset priorities of the categories.

[0097] Specifically, the priorities of the currently configured categories are obtained, and the priority of at least one alternative material box is determined according to the priorities corresponding to the categories of each alternative material box, so that the priority of an alternative material box with a higher category priority is higher than the priority of an alternative material box with a lower category priority.

[0098] For alternative material boxes of the same category, the priorities of the alternative material boxes may be arranged according to their volume ratios, so that among the alternative material boxes of the same category, the alternative material boxes with higher volume ratios have higher priorities.

[0099] Exemplarily, taking the 7 categories in the aforementioned step S204 as an example, the priorities of the above 7 categories are arranged from high to low as follows: first category, second category, third category, fourth category, fifth category, sixth category, seventh category.

[0100] In actual applications, the priorities of the above seven categories may also be updated according to changes in business requirements. This embodiment does not limit the priorities of the categories of candidate material boxes.

[0101] Among them, the priority of each category can be customized and adjusted by the customer or relevant technical personnel according to the needs of actual application, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0102] Exemplarily, a client or relevant technical personnel may send an update instruction for the priority of each category to the scheduling server through a visual interface, a command line, writing code, etc., and the update instruction includes the specified priority of each category. In response to the update instruction for the priority of each category, the scheduling server updates the priority of each category to the specified priority of each category.

[0103] In this embodiment, the category of the candidate material box is used as the basis for determining the priority of the candidate material box. By adjusting the priority of the category, the priority of the candidate material box can be flexibly adjusted. The priority of the category of the material box is standardized as configurable information in the warehousing system. By customizing the priority of each category, the flexible customization of the replenishment business requirements can be achieved.

[0104] S206: Select a target material box to be replenished from at least one candidate material box according to the priority of the at least one candidate material box.

[0105] When selecting a target material box to be replenished, the scheduling server preferentially selects an alternative material box with a higher priority as the target material box to be replenished according to the priority of at least one alternative material box.

[0106] Specifically, the scheduling server calculates the number of selected boxes corresponding to each container type based on the box volume ratio corresponding to the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation; the scheduling server selects boxes with a corresponding number of selected boxes from the alternative boxes matching each container type as the target boxes to be replenished based on the number of selected boxes corresponding to the container type and the priority of at least one alternative box.

[0107] When calculating the number of selected boxes corresponding to any container type, the scheduling server can calculate the number of selected boxes corresponding to the container type based on the volumetric ratio of the alternative material boxes matching the container type, and the number and volume of SKUs using the container type in the replenishment demand.

[0108] When selecting the target material box to be replenished according to the number of selected boxes of each container type, the scheduling server can sort the alternative material boxes matching each container type according to priority, and select the alternative material box with the corresponding number of selected boxes that is ranked higher as the target material box to be replenished according to the number of selected boxes corresponding to each container type.

[0109] S207, controlling the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0110] After determining the target bin to be replenished, the scheduling server dispatches the transport robot to transport the target bin to the workstation for replenishment.

[0111] Exemplarily, the scheduling server may send a replenishment task of a target material box to be replenished to the transport robot, so as to control the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0112] Specifically, the handling robot may be a first robot, or may include a first robot and a second robot. Exemplarily, when the target material box is located at the storage position, the handling robot includes a first robot and a second robot. First, the target material box is transported from the storage position to the cache position by the second robot, and then the target material box is transported from the cache position to the workstation by the first robot. When the target material box is located at the cache position, the handling robot is the above-mentioned first robot, and the first robot transports the target material box from the cache position to the workstation.

[0113] If the target material boxes to be replenished are insufficient to accommodate all the materials to be stored, more target material boxes to be replenished can be screened out through steps S202-S206 according to the remaining materials to be stored, and the target material boxes can be replenished until all the materials to be stored are stored.

[0114] In addition, after all materials to be stored are stored, if there are remaining target boxes that have not yet been transported to the workstation, the replenishment task for the remaining target boxes will be canceled.

[0115] In this embodiment, based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, at least one alternative material box that matches the replenishment demand is determined; based on the status and position of the at least one alternative material box, the priority of the at least one alternative material box is determined; based on the priority of the at least one alternative material box, a target material box to be replenished is selected from the at least one alternative material box, and the transport robot is controlled to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment. By first screening out the alternative material boxes that match the replenishment demand, and then comprehensively considering the status and position of the alternative material boxes to select the target material box to be replenished, so as to select a target material box that saves more transportation resources, the waste of robot resources can be reduced, the replenishment efficiency can be improved, and the overall efficiency of the warehousing system can be improved.

[0116] In this embodiment, the category of the candidate material box is used as the basis for determining the priority of the candidate material box. By adjusting the priority of the category, the priority of the candidate material box can be flexibly adjusted. The priority of the category of the material box is standardized as configurable information in the warehousing system. By customizing the priority of each category, the flexible customization of the replenishment business requirements can be achieved. When selecting boxes for replenishment, the priority of the candidate material box can be determined according to the customized priority of each category, which ensures the rationality of the selection of boxes for replenishment, can effectively improve the utilization rate of robot transportation resources, improve the replenishment efficiency of the warehousing system, and then improve the overall efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0117] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of a replenishment device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 5 As shown, the replenishment device 500 includes: an alternative material box determination unit 501, a priority determination unit 502 and a replenishment unit 503.

[0118] The candidate material box determining unit 501 is used to determine at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of the workstation.

[0119] The priority determination unit 502 is used to determine the priority of at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of at least one candidate material box.

[0120] The replenishment unit 503 is used to select a target material box to be replenished from at least one candidate material box according to the priority of at least one candidate material box, and control the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

[0121] In an optional implementation, in determining at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of the workstation, the candidate material box determining unit 501 is specifically configured to:

[0122] Determine the hot lane of the workstation, where the hot lane refers to the lane corresponding to the workstation whose distance from the workstation is less than a preset distance; based on the replenishment demand of the workstation, select at least one candidate material box that matches the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane.

[0123] In an optional implementation, in terms of selecting at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane according to the replenishment demand of the workstation, the candidate material box determination unit 501 is specifically configured to:

[0124] According to the replenishment demand of the workstation, determine the type of container that the workstation needs to replenish; according to the container type, filter out at least one alternative material box that matches the container type and meets the screening conditions from the material boxes stored in the hot lane; the screening conditions include at least one of the following: the material box volume ratio is greater than the preset volume ratio, and the material box is currently not bound to a task.

[0125] In an optional implementation, in terms of selecting a target material box to be replenished from at least one candidate material box according to the priority of at least one candidate material box, and controlling the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment, the replenishment unit 503 is specifically used to:

[0126] According to the bin volume ratio corresponding to the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation, the number of selected bins corresponding to each container type is calculated; according to the number of selected bins corresponding to the container type and the priority of at least one alternative bin, bins with a corresponding number of selected bins are selected from the alternative bins matching each container type as target bins to be replenished; the handling robot is controlled to carry the target bins to the workstation for replenishment.

[0127] In an optional implementation, in determining the priority of at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of at least one candidate material box, the priority determination unit 502 is specifically configured to:

[0128] Determine the status and position of at least one alternative material box; determine the category of at least one alternative material box based on the status and position of at least one alternative material box; determine the priority of at least one alternative material box based on the category of at least one alternative material box and preset priorities of each category.

[0129] In an optional implementation, in determining the category of the candidate material box according to the state and position of at least one candidate material box, the priority determination unit 502 is specifically configured to:

[0130] If at least one candidate material box is a material box being picked at the workstation, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the first category; if at least one candidate material box is on the first robot and the first robot is performing a business task on the candidate material box, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the second category; if at least one candidate material box is on the second robot and the second robot is unloading or temporarily storing at least one candidate material box, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the third category; if at least one candidate material box is in the cache position, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the fourth category, and the cache position refers to the material box on the shelf that is below the preset height. degree of storage location; if at least one alternative material box is on a single-depth storage location, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the fifth category, and the single-depth storage location refers to a storage location on a single-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the single-depth shelf can only accommodate one material box; if at least one alternative material box is in the inner storage location of a double-depth storage location, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the sixth category, and the double-depth storage location refers to a storage location on a double-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the double-depth shelf can accommodate two material boxes, and the double-depth storage location includes an inner storage location and an outer storage location; if at least one alternative material box is in the outer storage location of a double-depth storage location, the category of the alternative material box is determined to be the seventh category.

[0131] In one implementation, the priority determination unit 502 is further configured to: update the priority of each category in response to an instruction to update the priority of each category.

[0132] The replenishment device provided in this embodiment can execute the method provided in the above method embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effect are similar, and this embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0133] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a scheduling server provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 6 As shown, the scheduling server 600 includes: a memory 601, a processor 602 and a transceiver 603. Among them, the memory 601 is used to store a computer program, and the processor 602 implements the method of any of the above embodiments when executing the computer program. There is a communication link between the memory 601 and the processor 602. Exemplarily, the memory 601, the processor 602 and the transceiver 603 can communicate through a communication bus 604.

[0134] Optionally, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc. The steps in the method embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure may be directly implemented as being executed by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0135] The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, a method in any of the above method embodiments is implemented.

[0136] The present disclosure also provides a computer program product, including a computer program, which implements the method in any of the above method embodiments when the computer program is executed by a processor.

[0137] 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.

[0138] The order of the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure is only for description and does not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments. In addition, in some of the processes described in the above-mentioned embodiments and the accompanying drawings, multiple operations that appear in a specific order are included, but it should be clearly understood that these operations may not be executed or executed in parallel in the order in which they appear in this article, and are only used to distinguish between different operations. The sequence number itself does not represent any execution order. In addition, these processes may include more or fewer operations, and these operations may be executed in sequence or in parallel. It should be noted that the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. in this article are used to distinguish different messages, devices, modules, etc., do not represent the order of precedence, and do not limit "first" and "second" to different types. The meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0139] Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present disclosure after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. The present disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptations of the present disclosure, which follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art that are not disclosed in the present disclosure. The specification and examples are intended to be exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure are indicated by the following claims. It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and shown in the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

[0140] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure, rather than to limit them. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A replenishment method, characterized in that: include: According to the replenishment demand of the workstation, determining at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand; Determining the priority of the at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of the at least one candidate material box; According to the priority of the at least one candidate material box, a target material box to be replenished is selected from the at least one candidate material box, and a transport robot is controlled to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of determining at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand according to the replenishment demand of the workstation includes: Determine a hot lane of the workstation, wherein the hot lane refers to a lane in the lanes corresponding to the workstation whose distance from the workstation is less than a preset distance; According to the replenishment demand of the workstation, at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand is screened out from the material boxes stored in the hot lane.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The selecting, according to the replenishment demand of the workstation, at least one candidate material box matching the replenishment demand from the material boxes stored in the hot lane comprises: Determining the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation according to the replenishment demand of the workstation; According to the container type, screening out at least one candidate material box that matches the container type and meets the screening condition from the material boxes stored in the hot lane; The screening condition includes at least one of the following: the volume ratio of the material box is greater than the preset volume ratio, and the material box is not currently bound to a task.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method of selecting a target material box to be replenished from the at least one candidate material box according to the priority of the at least one candidate material box, and controlling a transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment includes: According to the bin volume ratio corresponding to the container type that needs to be replenished at the workstation, the number of selected boxes corresponding to each container type is calculated; According to the selected box quantity corresponding to the container type and the priority of the at least one candidate box, a box corresponding to the selected box quantity is selected from the candidate boxes matching each of the container types as the target box to be replenished; The transport robot is controlled to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of determining the priority of the at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of the at least one candidate material box comprises: determining the state and the position of the at least one candidate bin; Determining a category of the at least one candidate material box according to the state and the position of the at least one candidate material box; The priority of the at least one candidate material box is determined according to the category of the at least one candidate material box and the preset priorities of the categories.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The step of determining the category of the candidate material box according to the state and the position of the at least one candidate material box comprises: If the at least one candidate material box is a material box being picked at the workstation, determining that the category of the candidate material box is a first category; If the at least one candidate material box is on the first robot, and the first robot is performing a business task on the candidate material box, determining that the category of the candidate material box is the second category; If the at least one candidate material box is on the second robot, and the second robot is unloading or temporarily storing the at least one candidate material box, determining that the category of the candidate material box is the third category; If the at least one candidate material box is in a cache position, determining that the category of the candidate material box is a fourth category, and the cache position refers to a storage position on the shelf that is lower than a preset height; If the at least one candidate material box is on a single-depth storage location, determining that the category of the candidate material box is the fifth category, the single-depth storage location refers to a storage location on a single-depth shelf, and the single-side depth of the single-depth shelf can only accommodate one material box; If the at least one candidate material box is in an inner storage position of a double-deep storage position, determining that the category of the candidate material box is the sixth category, the double-deep storage position refers to a storage position on a double-deep shelf, the single-side depth of the double-deep shelf can accommodate two material boxes, and the double-deep storage position includes the inner storage position and the outer storage position; If the at least one candidate material box is stored in the outer storage location of the double-deep storage location, the category of the candidate material box is determined to be the seventh category.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: In response to an instruction to update the priorities of the categories, the priorities of the categories are updated.

8. A replenishment device, characterized in that: include: An alternative material box determination unit, configured to determine, according to a replenishment demand of a workstation, at least one alternative material box matching the replenishment demand; a priority determination unit, configured to determine the priority of the at least one candidate material box according to the state and position of the at least one candidate material box; A replenishment unit is used to select a target material box to be replenished from the at least one candidate material box according to the priority of the at least one candidate material box, and control the transport robot to transport the target material box to the workstation for replenishment.

9. A scheduling server, characterized in that: include: memory, processors, and transceivers; The memory stores computer-executable instructions; The processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, which are used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when executed by a processor.

11. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises a computer program, which implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when being executed by a processor.

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