Full-process automatic workbin warehousing and ex-warehouse centralized distribution, sorting and distribution method

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of logistics automation, and discloses a full-process automatic workbin warehousing and ex-warehouse centralized distribution, sorting and distribution method which comprises the following steps: S1) unstacking a whole-tray workbin and putting the unstacked workbin into a conveying line; s2) the material box robot moves to a warehouse inlet of the conveying line to take the material box; s3) the workbin robot allocates storage locations through an algorithm, and putates and stores the workbins; s4) the workbin robot distributes and feeds the materials to the skip car according to the distribution line; s5) the latent jacking type robot sends the full-load skip car to a line distributed by the system for sorting to a to-be-sent cache region; s6) the unmanned tractor moves to a sorting queue hook to pull and distribute the skip car to a corresponding assembly line; and S7) after the unmanned tractor completes part distribution, the empty skip car is transferred back to the empty skip car supplement area, the empty skip car is added to the latent jacking robot map, and a process closed loop is accomplished. According to the full-process automatic workbin warehouse-in and warehouse-out centralized distribution, sorting and distribution method, the problems that in the prior art, manual centralized distribution is low in efficiency, poor in accuracy and high in labor intensity are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of logistics automation technology, specifically to a fully automated method for the collection, sorting, and distribution of material bins in and out of the warehouse. Background Technology

[0002] In modern automotive manufacturing, to achieve efficient and lean production, automotive parts are often procured in advance based on final assembly production orders, and then sorted according to delivery routes and order. This places high demands on the accuracy and timeliness of the procurement and sorting processes.

[0003] Currently, the assembly and sorting are mostly done manually: the BOM parts list is broken down according to the final assembly production schedule, and the required parts are divided into different work areas. Employees find the required parts in their assigned area according to the assembly order generated by the system, and move the required parts boxes one by one to the assembly flatbed trolley to complete the assembly task.

[0004] However, manual material collection and distribution operations suffer from over 30% wasted walking time, low labor efficiency (80 boxes / person / hour), high labor costs, high labor intensity, low accuracy, and uneven distribution tasks across different areas. After material collection is transferred to flatbed trolleys, the tractor driver handles delivery via hooks on multiple flatbed trolleys. Because manual methods cannot guarantee strict sequencing, the tractor driver still needs to search for the corresponding parts on the flatbed trolleys when feeding materials, affecting delivery efficiency and operational accuracy.

[0005] Currently, there is no effective automation method for the above processes that can simultaneously achieve automated collection and distribution, automated sorting, and automated delivery, which cannot meet the high-frequency and time-sensitive material needs of automobile manufacturing.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need to design a solution that can interface with the production pull system and automatically collect, sort, and distribute orders according to wave order to solve the problems of low labor efficiency, high labor costs, high labor intensity, low outbound accuracy, low material feeding efficiency, and untimely material feeding in the existing technology. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The purpose of this invention is to address the shortcomings of the aforementioned technologies by providing a fully automated method for the collection, sorting, and distribution of material bins in and out of the warehouse, thus solving the problems of low efficiency, poor accuracy, and high labor intensity associated with manual collection and distribution in existing technologies.

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, the fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method designed in this invention includes the following steps: S1) Palletized and unpacked conveyor line; S2) The bin robot retrieves the bin from the conveyor line's inlet. S3) The bin robot uses algorithms to allocate storage locations and puts bins on shelves for storage; S4) The bin robot collects and dispenses materials to the material truck according to the delivery route; S5) The lurking lifting robot delivers the fully loaded material car to the line assigned by the system and sorts it into the waiting buffer area; S6) The unmanned tractor is hooked up to the sorting queue and pulls the material delivery vehicle to the corresponding assembly line; S7) After the unmanned tractor completes the parts delivery, it transfers the empty material cart back to the empty material cart replenishment area and adds the empty material cart to the map of the lurking lifting robot, thus completing the process loop.

[0009] Preferably, in step S1), the robotic arm of the robotic arm depalletizing station loads a customized fixture and combines 3D vision technology to realize the automatic depalletizing of the entire pallet of boxes and deliver it to the conveyor line.

[0010] Preferably, the robotic arm destacking station adopts a dual-station empty-full exchange method, is equipped with a 3D vision camera to acquire pallet image information, analyzes the physical position coordinates of the bin through an algorithm, plans the robotic arm's motion trajectory, and guides the robotic arm's action execution.

[0011] Preferably, the conveyor line scans, weighs, and checks the dimensions of the material bins. Abnormal material bins are conveyed to the abnormality port for processing, and the weight of the parts is checked and verified a second time during weighing.

[0012] Preferably, the customized fixture is equipped with sensors to detect whether the material box has been successfully picked up or placed down.

[0013] Preferably, in step S2), after the material box is scanned and identified by the conveyor line, the automated warehouse system obtains the material box's entry information and dispatches the material box robot to the conveyor line's entry port to retrieve the material box.

[0014] Preferably, in step S3), the bin robot picks up the bin, and the automated storage system automatically allocates storage locations through algorithms and storage location allocation strategies, and schedules the bin robot to place the bins into the corresponding storage locations one by one for three-dimensional storage.

[0015] Preferably, in step S4), the production pull system generates pull demand and sends it to the automated warehouse system. The automated warehouse system breaks down the pull demand into collection and distribution order tasks according to the preset delivery routes and parts matching relationships. The outbound collection and distribution tasks of each route are sorted according to the delivery order and automatically allocated to empty material carts. According to the delivery station order corresponding to the parts, they are automatically sorted and allocated to specific storage locations on the empty material carts. The system dispatches the lurking lifting robot to transfer the empty material carts to the docking point and dispatches the material box robot to execute the material box outbound collection and distribution task bound to the material cart. The material box robot takes the required material boxes from the warehouse area in sequence and delivers them to each corresponding storage location on the empty material cart.

[0016] Preferably, in step S5), the bin robot completes the material collection and distribution task of the material carts and feeds back to the system. The system then dispatches a lurking lifting robot to deliver the fully loaded material carts that have completed collection and distribution to the sorting queue and the waiting buffer area according to the system's delivery route.

[0017] Preferably, in step S6), when all material carts on a certain delivery route have completed their collection and distribution tasks and have been delivered to the waiting queue, the system dispatches an unmanned tractor to the waiting buffer area, hooks the material carts, and automatically delivers them to the corresponding assembly line or sub-assembly line of that route.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: 1. Full-process automation: The inbound end uses a robotic arm with 3D vision technology to automatically unpile and feed pallets of material onto the conveyor line. The conveyor line automatically scans the barcodes, the system automatically obtains the inbound information and dispatches the material box robots to achieve automatic inbound from the conveyor line. The system automatically receives orders from the pull system and automatically splits them into outbound tasks. The material box robots automatically collect and distribute the materials to dedicated multi-layer material carts. The lurking lifting robot automatically sorts the materials according to the delivery route. The unmanned tractor automatically delivers the materials and the empty material carts return empty. The entire process is automated and unmanned. 2. High operational efficiency: The inbound end uses robotic arms for depalletizing, increasing the efficiency of a single device by 1.5 times compared to manual labor. The automated storage and retrieval system (AS / RS) uses bin robots to fully utilize the warehouse's vertical space, increasing storage capacity by 3 times compared to traditional floor stacking methods for the same area. Outbound collection and distribution are automatically placed into dedicated material carts by bin robots, improving collection and distribution efficiency by 20% and accuracy to 99.9%. The use of a hidden lifting robot to sort and buffer material carts according to their routes further increases efficiency. Unmanned tractor delivery improves overall transfer efficiency by 10% and achieves a delivery on-time rate of 95%. 3. Reduced labor costs and labor intensity: Significantly reduced the need for manual depalletizing, collection, sorting and delivery, thus reducing labor intensity and labor costs; 4. Improved operational safety: Reduced the safety risks of personnel and vehicle routes crossing each other, and eliminated the hidden dangers of driver fatigue. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0020] A fully automated method for the collection, sorting, and distribution of material bins in and out of the warehouse includes the following steps: S1) Palletized and unpacked conveyor line; S2) The bin robot retrieves the bin from the conveyor line's inlet. S3) The bin robot uses algorithms to allocate storage locations and puts bins on shelves for storage; S4) The bin robot collects and dispenses materials to the material truck according to the delivery route; S5) The lurking lifting robot delivers the fully loaded material car to the line assigned by the system and sorts it into the waiting buffer area; S6) The unmanned tractor is hooked up to the sorting queue and pulls the material delivery vehicle to the corresponding assembly line; S7) After the unmanned tractor completes the parts delivery, it transfers the empty material cart back to the empty material cart replenishment area and adds the empty material cart to the map of the lurking lifting robot, thus completing the process loop.

[0021] In step S1), the incoming material to the material bin warehouse is a pallet of plastic boxes loaded with parts. The robotic arm depalletizing station uses a customized clamp and 3D vision technology to automatically depalletize the entire pallet of boxes and deliver them to the conveyor line. The robotic arm depalletizing station adopts a dual-station empty-full exchange method to ensure continuous operation of the robotic arm depalletizing and uninterrupted supply of full pallets, so as to maximize the efficiency of the equipment. The theoretical depalletizing capacity of a single robotic arm is 280-320 boxes / h, which is far higher than the operation efficiency of 200 boxes / person / h for manual depalletizing. Equipped with a 3D vision camera to acquire pallet image information, the system analyzes the physical location coordinates of the bins using algorithms, plans the robotic arm's motion trajectory, and guides the robotic arm's actions. The conveyor line scans, weighs, and checks the dimensions of the bins to ensure they meet the requirements for entering the automated warehouse. It also acquires information on the bins and parts entering the warehouse. Abnormal bins are transported to the abnormality port for processing. During weighing, the weight of the parts is checked a second time. If the deviation exceeds the set weight range, the system triggers an abnormality alert and transports the bin to the abnormality port for confirmation. Customized fixtures are equipped with sensors to detect whether the bins have been successfully picked up and placed.

[0022] In step S2), after the material box is scanned and identified by the conveyor line, the automated warehouse system obtains the material box's entry information and dispatches the material box robot to the conveyor line's entry port to retrieve the material box.

[0023] In step S3), the bin robot picks up the bin, and the automated storage system automatically allocates storage locations through algorithms and storage location allocation strategies, and schedules the bin robot to place the bins into the corresponding storage locations one by one for three-dimensional storage.

[0024] In step S4), the production pull system generates pull demand and sends it to the automated warehouse system. The automated warehouse system breaks down the pull demand into collection and distribution order tasks according to the preset delivery routes and parts matching relationships. The outbound collection and distribution tasks of each route are sorted according to the delivery order and automatically assigned to empty material carts. According to the delivery station order corresponding to the parts, they are automatically sorted and assigned to specific storage locations on the empty material carts. The system dispatches the lurking lifting robot to transfer the empty material carts to the docking point and dispatches the material box robot to execute the outbound collection and distribution task of the material box bound to the material cart. The material box robot takes the required material boxes from the warehouse area in sequence and delivers them to each corresponding storage location of the empty material cart.

[0025] In step S5), the bin robot completes the material collection and distribution task of the material carts and feeds back to the system. The system then dispatches a lurking lifting robot to deliver the fully loaded material carts that have completed collection and distribution to the sorting queue and then to the waiting buffer area according to the system's delivery route.

[0026] In step S6), when all the material cars on a certain delivery route have completed the collection and distribution task and have been delivered to the waiting queue, the system dispatches an unmanned tractor to the waiting buffer area, hooks the material cars, and automatically delivers them to the corresponding assembly line or sub-packaging line of that route.

[0027] Compared with existing technologies, the fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method of this invention solves the following technical challenges: 1. The pull demand system automatically splits orders according to routes: The automated warehouse receives wave order information from the pull system and automatically splits it into outbound distribution tasks according to the parts information corresponding to each route. 2. Intelligent allocation of material bin collection and distribution tasks: The outbound collection and distribution tasks of each line are sorted according to the delivery order and automatically allocated to empty material carts. They are also automatically sorted and allocated to specific locations on the empty material carts according to the delivery order of the workstations corresponding to the parts. 3. Automatic outbound and distribution by bin robot: The system assigns outbound tasks containing specific parts and locations to the bin robot. The bin robot automatically plans the optimal path based on intelligent algorithms and automatically delivers the bin to a specific location on a specific floor of the material cart. 4. Automatic sorting and caching of material transport vehicles according to routes: After a single material vehicle completes its outbound distribution task, the system automatically dispatches the material vehicle to the queuing area of ​​its corresponding route, so that the material vehicles of each delivery route are automatically sorted and cached in the queuing area according to the delivery order.

[0028] In summary, this invention's fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and delivery method achieves complete automation throughout the entire process: at the warehousing end, a robotic arm combined with 3D vision technology automatically unpalletizes and delivers pallets of bins to the conveyor line, the conveyor line automatically scans barcodes, the system automatically acquires warehousing information, and schedules bin robots to automatically enter the warehouse from the conveyor line; orders from the pull system are automatically received and broken down into outbound tasks, which are then automatically collected and distributed by bin robots to dedicated multi-layer material carts, a lurking lifting robot automatically sorts according to the delivery route, an unmanned tractor automatically delivers the goods, and empty material carts return empty—all within a fully automated and unmanned process. This method possesses high industry-leading capabilities and has broad application scenarios in industries such as automotive manufacturing, construction machinery, and electrical appliances; simultaneously, it achieves highly efficient logistics operations: at the warehousing end, the robotic arm unpalletizes, increasing the efficiency of a single device by 1.5 times compared to manual labor. The automated storage and retrieval system (AS / RS) utilizes bin robots to fully leverage warehouse height, enabling bin storage up to 11 meters high. This represents a 3-fold increase in storage capacity compared to traditional floor stacking methods. Outbound distribution is achieved by the bin robots automatically placing the bins into dedicated carts, improving distribution efficiency by 20% compared to manual searching, significantly reducing the need for distribution personnel, and increasing accuracy to 99.9%. A hidden lifting robot is used to sort and buffer carts according to their routes, which is more efficient than manually towing carts to various locations within the warehouse to find carts, and also reduces the safety risks of frequent intersections between people and vehicles. Unmanned towing vehicles are used for delivery, without reducing the current single delivery volume, eliminating the risk of driver fatigue, and meeting 24 / 7 indoor and outdoor transport needs. Overall transport efficiency is improved by 10%, and the on-time delivery rate reaches 95%.

[0029] It should be noted that the above description of the technical solutions is exemplary, and this specification may be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limiting it to the technical solutions set forth herein. Rather, providing these descriptions will ensure that the disclosure of this invention is thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, the technical solutions of this invention are defined only by the scope of the claims.

[0030] The shapes, dimensions, ratios, angles, and figures disclosed in the description of various aspects of this specification and claims are merely examples, and therefore, this specification and claims are not limited to the details shown. In the following description, detailed descriptions of relevant known functions or configurations will be omitted where it would be determined that they unnecessarily obscure the focus of this specification and claims.

[0031] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are merely representative examples of the present invention. Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and many variations are possible. Any simple modifications, equivalent changes, and alterations made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention should be considered within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A fully automated method for the collection, sorting, and distribution of material bins in and out of the warehouse, characterized in that: Includes the following steps: S1) Palletized and unpacked conveyor line; S2) The bin robot retrieves the bin from the conveyor line's inlet. S3) The bin robot uses algorithms to allocate storage locations and puts bins on shelves for storage; S4) The bin robot collects and dispenses materials to the material truck according to the delivery route; S5) The lurking lifting robot delivers the fully loaded material car to the line assigned by the system and sorts it into the waiting buffer area; S6) The unmanned tractor is hooked up to the sorting queue and pulls the material delivery vehicle to the corresponding assembly line; S7) After the unmanned tractor completes the parts delivery, it transfers the empty material cart back to the empty material cart replenishment area and adds the empty material cart to the map of the lurking lifting robot, thus completing the process loop.

2. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S1), the robotic arm of the robotic arm depalletizing station loads a customized fixture and combines it with 3D vision technology to automatically depalletize the entire pallet of boxes and deliver them to the conveyor line.

3. The fully automated material bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 2, characterized in that: The robotic arm destacking station adopts a dual-station empty-full exchange method, is equipped with a 3D vision camera to acquire pallet image information, analyzes the physical position coordinates of the bin through an algorithm, plans the robotic arm's motion trajectory, and guides the robotic arm's actions.

4. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 3, characterized in that: The conveyor line scans, weighs, and checks the dimensions of the material bins. Abnormal material bins are transported to the abnormality port for processing. During weighing, the weight of the parts is checked and verified a second time.

5. The fully automated material bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 2, characterized in that: The custom-designed fixture is equipped with sensors to detect whether the material box has been successfully picked up or placed down.

6. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S2), after the material box is scanned and identified by the conveyor line, the automated warehouse system obtains the material box's entry information and dispatches the material box robot to the conveyor line's entry port to retrieve the material box.

7. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S3), the bin robot picks up the bin, and the automated storage system automatically allocates storage locations through algorithms and storage location allocation strategies, and schedules the bin robot to place the bins into the corresponding storage locations one by one for three-dimensional storage.

8. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S4), the production pull system generates pull demand and sends it to the automated warehouse system. The automated warehouse system breaks down the pull demand into collection and distribution order tasks according to the preset delivery routes and parts matching relationships. The outbound collection and distribution tasks of each route are sorted according to the delivery order and automatically allocated to empty material carts. According to the delivery station order corresponding to the parts, the tasks are automatically sorted and allocated to specific storage locations on the empty material carts. The system dispatches the lurking lifting robot to transfer the empty material carts to the docking point and dispatches the material box robot to execute the material box outbound collection and distribution task bound to the material cart. The material box robot takes the required material boxes from the warehouse area in sequence and delivers them to each corresponding storage location on the empty material cart.

9. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S5), the bin robot completes the material collection and distribution task of the material carts and feeds back to the system. The system then dispatches a lurking lifting robot to deliver the fully loaded material carts that have completed collection and distribution to the sorting queue and the waiting buffer area according to the system's delivery route.

10. The fully automated bin warehousing, outbound, collection, sorting, and distribution method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S6), when all the material cars on a certain delivery route have completed the collection and distribution task and have been delivered to the waiting queue, the system dispatches an unmanned tractor to the waiting buffer area, hooks the material cars, and automatically delivers them to the corresponding assembly line or sub-packaging line of that route.