A logistics robot low power automatic recharging and charging station resource locking method

Abstract

The application discloses a low-power automatic return charging and charging station resource locking method of a logistics robot, and belongs to the technical field of logistics robot scheduling. The method comprises the following steps: continuously acquiring real-time power data and task execution states in a robot motion control cycle; generating a low-power early warning reminder when the power decreases to a first threshold value, and triggering a forced automatic return charging process when the power decreases to a second threshold value lower than the first threshold value and the task execution state is idle; scanning a charging station resource pool to find an available charging pile with an idle state; performing an atomic locking operation on the selected target charging pile, switching the charging pile state from idle to occupied, and binding the current robot identifier; updating the robot navigation target coordinates to the position coordinates of the locked charging pile, and updating the navigation state to a return charging travel state; releasing the charging station resource when the charging is completed or the robot drives away from the charging pile, restoring the charging pile state to idle, and unbinding the robot. The application combines double-threshold graded early warning and double-condition triggered return charging, cooperates with the charging station atomic locking and heartbeat disconnection recovery mechanism, and realizes a complete closed loop of low-power automatic return charging and charging station resource preemption locking.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of logistics robot scheduling technology, specifically relating to a method and system for automatic recharging of logistics robots when their battery is low and for locking charging station resources. Background Technology

[0002] In automated warehousing and logistics scenarios, mobile robots need to continuously perform tasks such as handling, sorting, and shelving. These robots are battery-powered, and their range is limited by battery capacity. When a robot runs out of power during operation, it will stop in the work aisle, blocking the path of subsequent robots, causing warehousing operations to be interrupted, requiring manual intervention to remove it and manually recharge it. There are three main approaches to existing robot charging management. Option 1 employs a manual observation and scheduling method. Operators monitor the robot's battery indicator light or battery level through a monitoring interface. When the battery level is low, they manually issue a charging command to dispatch the robot to a charging station. This method relies on continuous human monitoring, resulting in a delayed response. Especially in large warehouse scenarios where multiple robots operate simultaneously, manual monitoring is insufficient to efficiently track the real-time battery changes of each robot, making it easy to miss robots with low battery levels. Option 2 employs a fixed-time-window batch charging method. During shift breaks or within a preset time period, the dispatch system uniformly instructs all robots to return to the charging station for recharging. This method does not differentiate between the actual remaining power of each robot. Some high-load robots may have already stopped due to insufficient power before the time window arrives, while some low-load robots with sufficient power are forcibly recalled for charging, resulting in a waste of charging resources. Option 3 employs a single-threshold triggered recharging method. The system sets a fixed low-battery threshold for the robot. When the real-time battery level falls below this threshold, the current task is immediately interrupted and recharging is triggered. This method uses the battery threshold as the sole trigger condition, regardless of whether the robot is currently performing a handling task. Forcing recharging mid-task can lead to goods scattering, task failure, and the need for manual rescheduling and recovery. Furthermore, when multiple robots simultaneously reach the low-battery threshold, they will compete for limited charging station resources. Due to the lack of a resource locking mechanism, conflicts may arise where multiple robots vie for the same charging station, potentially even causing a scheduling deadlock. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to solve the problems in the existing low-battery recharging management of logistics robots, such as the single triggering condition leading to the inability to balance task interruption and charging delay, the lack of resource locking mechanism when multiple robots compete for charging stations, and the lack of hierarchical early warning and disconnection recovery linkage. To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution of the present invention includes the following core mechanisms. A dual-threshold tiered early warning and dual-condition triggering recharging mechanism is implemented. Real-time battery data and task execution status are continuously acquired during the robot's motion control cycle. Two battery thresholds are set: a first threshold and a second threshold, with the second threshold being lower than the first. When the real-time battery level drops to the first threshold, a low-battery warning is generated and sent to the scheduling system, allowing schedulers or scheduling algorithms to be aware of the robot's battery status in advance and proactively schedule recharging after the robot completes its current task. When the real-time battery level further drops to the second threshold and the task execution status is idle, a forced automatic recharging process is triggered. The dual-condition triggering—battery level below the second threshold and task execution status idle—avoids forced interruption of recharging while the robot is performing handling or picking tasks. Charging station resource pool scanning and recommendation list generation. After triggering the forced automatic recharging process, the charging station resource pool is scanned, each charging pile record is traversed, and charging piles that are idle and have normal communication heartbeats are selected. The navigation distance between the selected charging piles and the robot's current position is calculated, and the list of available charging piles is generated in ascending order of navigation distance, allowing the robot to prioritize the nearest available charging pile. Atomic locking operation for charging station resources. After selecting a target charging station from the list of available charging stations, an atomic locking operation is performed. Atomic locking is implemented through an optimistic locking mechanism: the current version number of the target charging station is read, and an atomic write command with conditional updates is sent to the charging station resource pool. This atomic write command succeeds only if the current version number of the charging station matches the read version number, atomically switching the charging station's state from idle to occupied, and binding the current robot's identifier to the target charging station. If the version numbers do not match, it means that another robot has already locked the charging station, which is considered a locking conflict, and the list of available charging stations is rescanned to select an alternative target. After successful locking, the robot's navigation target coordinates are updated to the location coordinates of the target charging station, the navigation state is updated to return-to-charge mode, and the robot begins navigating to the locked charging station. Charging station resource release. After the robot finishes charging or leaves the charging station, a resource release operation is performed to restore the charging station status to an idle state, remove the binding relationship between the robot's identifier and the charging station, and allow the charging station to re-enter the available resource pool. Heartbeat health monitoring and automatic recovery from abnormal states. The system receives heartbeat reports from the robot at preset heartbeat intervals. If no heartbeat report is received for more than 5 consecutive minutes, the robot's communication status is marked as disconnected, and a disconnection alarm is sent to the scheduling system. In the disconnected state, an automatic recovery process is triggered, attempting to reconnect with the robot via a backup communication channel. If the connection is successfully re-established within the preset recovery time, the communication status is restored from disconnected to online; if the connection reconstruction fails, a work order is automatically generated to notify maintenance personnel to intervene. Maintenance type is linked to alarms. The robot's maintenance plan data includes a maintenance type field, with values ​​including routine maintenance, repair maintenance, calibration maintenance, and inspection maintenance. When the maintenance type is repair maintenance and the robot triggers the forced automatic recharging process, a repair work order is generated simultaneously, and the robot's status is marked as pending repair, achieving an automated closed loop between the recharging event and the maintenance process. The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: By combining dual-threshold hierarchical early warning with dual-condition triggering, only an early warning reminder is generated at the first threshold without forcing recharging; forced recharging is only triggered at the second threshold and in an idle state. This avoids premature interruption of the ongoing task while ensuring timely recharging of the robot when its battery is low, balancing task continuity and battery life. Through charging station resource pool scanning and navigation distance sorting recommendations, the robot selects the optimal charging station, reducing empty driving paths. Atomic locking operations based on optimistic locking avoid charging station contention in multi-robot competition scenarios, ensuring consistency and reliability of resource allocation. Through heartbeat health monitoring and automatic recovery mechanisms for communication failures, timely alarms are issued and automatic recovery attempts are made when robot communication is abnormal, reducing the risk of robot loss of control due to communication interruptions. By linking maintenance types and alarms, low-battery recharging events are automatically associated with maintenance work orders, forming a complete management chain from battery monitoring to maintenance closed loop. Attached Figure Description

[0004] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the overall process of triggering automatic recharging and resource locking for a logistics robot when it is low on battery, as described in this embodiment of the invention.

[0005] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the recharge navigation and resource release process in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0006] Figure 3 This is a detailed flowchart of the charging station resource scanning and atomic locking in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 The meanings of the various symbols in the text are as follows: 101 - Motion control cycle begins; 102 - Obtain real-time battery level and task status; 103 - Battery level below 20%; 104 - Battery level below 15%; 105 - Generate low battery warning reminder; 106 - Task status is idle; 107 - Trigger forced automatic recharging process; 108 - Scan charging station resource pool; 109 - Filter available charging piles and lock them; 110 - Locking successful; 111 - Generate no available charging pile alarm; 112 - Update navigation target and status. Figure 2 The meanings of the various symbols in the text are as follows: 201- Update navigation target to charging pile coordinates; 202- Update navigation status to return to charging; 203- Navigate to charging pile using obstacle avoidance path; 204- Arrive at charging pile and dock for charging; 205- Charging complete or emergency departure; 206- Release charging station resources; 207- Charging pile status returns to idle; 208- Unbind robot identifier. Figure 3 The meanings of the various symbols in the text are as follows: 301 - Scan the charging station resource pool; 302 - Traverse charging pile records; 303 - Idle and with normal heartbeat; 304 - Calculate navigation distance; 305 - Generate a recommendation list in ascending order of distance; 306 - Recommendation list is not empty; 307 - Generate an alarm indicating no available charging pile; 308 - Select the nearest charging pile; 309 - Read the version number; 310 - Send a conditional update command; 311 - Version numbers match; 312 - Lock successfully bound to the robot; 313 - Lock conflict, rescan. Detailed Implementation

[0007] The technical solution of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. like Figure 1 As indicated by label 101, the robot performs a power and status check once in each motion control cycle. The motion control cycle is the built-in loop of the robot's motion control module, for example, one cycle every 100 milliseconds. like Figure 1 As shown in label 102, during each motion control cycle, the robot obtains real-time battery power data through the battery management system and simultaneously reads the task execution status from the task scheduling module. Real-time battery power data is expressed as a percentage of the battery's current remaining power relative to its nominal capacity. Task execution status values ​​include idle, in progress, in progress, and in progress. like Figure 1 As shown by markers 103 and 105, a low battery warning is generated when the real-time battery level drops to 20%. This warning is sent to the scheduling system as a structured message, containing the robot's identifier, current battery percentage, current location coordinates, and current task execution status. Upon receiving the warning, the scheduling system can proactively schedule a recharging trip after the robot completes its current task. The warning does not trigger a forced recharging action; the robot continues executing its current task. like Figure 1As shown in markings 104 and 106, when the real-time battery level drops further to 15%, a two-condition judgment is initiated. First, the system checks if the task execution status is idle. If the robot is performing a handling or picking task, and the task execution status is not idle, forced recharging is not triggered. After the robot completes its current task, during the idle window before entering the next task, the system will again check the battery level and trigger recharging. If the task execution status is idle, the two-condition triggering rule is met, and the forced automatic recharging process immediately begins. like Figure 1 As shown by markers 107 to 109, after triggering the forced automatic recharging process, a charging station resource scan and resource locking are performed. The system scans the charging station resource pool, filters available charging piles that are idle and have normal communication heartbeats, sorts them by navigation distance, selects the target charging pile, and performs atomic locking. The detailed locking process is described in... Figure 3 The description will be expanded upon in the middle. like Figure 1 As shown in marks 110 to 111, if the locking operation fails—for example, all charging stations are occupied—an alarm for no available charging stations is generated and sent to the scheduling system for manual or scheduling algorithm intervention. like Figure 1 As shown in mark 112, after successful locking, the recharging navigation phase begins. Detailed steps for this phase are described in [link to details]. Figure 2 The description will be expanded upon in the middle. like Figure 2 As shown in markings 201 to 203, after successfully locking onto a charging station, the robot's navigation module updates the target coordinates to the location coordinates of the locked charging pile, and the navigation state switches from idle or other states to recharging and moving state. The robot plans an obstacle avoidance path from its current location to the locked charging pile using an autonomous navigation algorithm and travels along that path. like Figure 2 As shown in mark 204, the robot automatically docks with the charging interface and begins charging after arriving at the location of the charging station. like Figure 2 As shown in markings 205 to 208, the robot continuously monitors its charging status during charging. Charging is considered complete when the battery reaches full capacity or a preset charging target value. After charging, the robot automatically disconnects from the charging interface. If the robot needs to leave the charging station during charging due to emergency scheduling, the system also performs resource release. The resource release operation restores the charging station's status from occupied to idle and clears the binding relationship between the charging station and the robot's identifier, making the charging station a resource that can be locked by other robots. like Figure 3As shown in marks 301 to 305, the detailed process of scanning charging station resources is as follows: The system maintains a charging station resource pool. Each charging pile record in the resource pool includes fields such as charging pile identifier, charging pile status, location coordinates, communication heartbeat status, and version number. After triggering a resource scan, all charging pile records in the resource pool are traversed, and records with an idle status and normal communication heartbeat are selected. For each selected record, the Manhattan navigation distance or the path distance based on the on-site road network is calculated, starting from the robot's current location coordinates. The selection results are sorted in ascending order of navigation distance to generate a recommended list of available charging piles. like Figure 3 As shown in marks 306 and 307, the recommended list is checked for non-emptiness. If the recommended list is empty, it means that all charging piles are currently occupied or there is a communication error. The system generates an alarm indicating that no charging piles are available and sends it to the scheduling system. The alarm message includes the robot's identifier, current battery percentage, and current location coordinates, which can be handled manually or by the scheduling algorithm. like Figure 3 As shown in marks 308 to 312, if the recommended list is not empty, the most recently available charging station ranked first in the list is selected as the target charging station. When performing an atomic locking operation, the current version number of the target charging station record is first read. The version number of the charging station record is a monotonically increasing integer, incrementing each time the charging station status changes. The system constructs a conditional update atomic write instruction, which includes the target charging station identifier, the desired current version number, the new charging station status, and the newly bound robot identifier. When the resource pool executes this instruction, it performs an atomicity check: only if the desired version number carried in the instruction matches the actual current version number recorded in the resource pool is the update operation performed and the version number incremented; otherwise, the update fails. like Figure 3 As shown in marks 311 to 313, if the version numbers match, the locking operation is successful, the charging pile status changes from idle to occupied, the version number increments, and the current robot's identifier is bound to that charging pile. If the version numbers do not match, it means that after reading the version number but before the write command arrives, another robot has preemptively modified the status of the same charging pile, and the system determines this as a locking conflict. In the event of a locking conflict, the system returns to the step of scanning the charging station resource pool, re-traverses and generates the recommendation list, excludes the already occupied charging piles, and selects the next available target. Through the optimistic locking mechanism, the atomicity and consistency of charging pile resource allocation are guaranteed in high-concurrency multi-robot competition scenarios, avoiding conflicts where two robots simultaneously occupy the same charging pile. During robot operation, the heartbeat health monitoring module continuously receives heartbeat reports from each robot at a preset heartbeat cycle. Each robot sends a heartbeat signal to the scheduling system at fixed intervals, such as every 30 seconds. The heartbeat signal includes the robot's identifier, current battery level, current location, and a summary of its working status. If any robot fails to send a heartbeat signal for more than 5 consecutive minutes, the heartbeat monitoring module marks the robot's communication status as disconnected and automatically generates a disconnection alarm notification. After triggering the automatic recovery process for the abnormal state, the system attempts to establish contact with the robot through various backup communication channels, such as backup wireless channels or mobile data network channels independent of the main frequency band. If the connection is re-established within 30 seconds and a heartbeat signal is successfully received, the communication status is restored from disconnected to online, and the disconnection mark is cleared. If re-establishing the connection fails, the system automatically generates a maintenance work order and pushes it to the maintenance personnel's terminal device. Regarding maintenance type and alarm linkage, maintenance plan data for each robot is recorded in the maintenance management module. The maintenance type field includes four categories: routine maintenance, repair maintenance, calibration maintenance, and inspection maintenance. Routine maintenance is preventative maintenance performed periodically based on runtime or mileage. Repair maintenance is a repair task triggered after a hardware fault is detected. Calibration maintenance involves periodic calibration of sensor accuracy. Inspection maintenance is a manual inspection plan. When a robot's maintenance type is repair maintenance and the robot triggers a forced automatic recharging process, the system, in addition to executing the recharging process, automatically generates a repair work order. The work order includes the robot identifier, fault description, current battery percentage, location, and recommended repair point. Simultaneously, the robot's status is marked as pending repair, and after charging is complete, the robot is prevented from automatically returning to the task pool, awaiting repair personnel. This achieves an automatic closed-loop connection between low battery recharging events and the maintenance process, preventing faulty robots from continuing to perform tasks.

Claims

1. A method for automatic recharging of a logistics robot when its battery is low and for locking charging station resources, characterized in that, Includes at least the following steps: Each logistics robot periodically reports its current battery percentage to the dispatch center. The dispatch center compares the battery percentage of each robot with a preset low battery recharge threshold. Robots that are below the threshold are marked as waiting to be recharged and removed from the task allocation pool. Calculate the recharge path cost between the current location of the robot to be recharged and the available charging piles of each charging station, and select the target charging station in ascending order of cost. Send a charging pile lock request to the target charging station. After receiving the request, the charging station checks the idle status of the target charging pile. If it is available, it switches the charging pile status to locked and returns a lock confirmation token. The token contains the charging pile identifier, lock duration and unique token number. After receiving the lock confirmation token, the dispatch center sends a return-to-charge navigation command to the robot containing the coordinates of the target charging station and the lock token. During navigation, the robot periodically renews its lock status with a token at the charging station. Upon arrival at the charging station, it releases the token and restores the charging station to idle status, while also updating its own battery status.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first threshold is 20% of the nominal capacity of the robot's battery, and the second threshold is 15% of the nominal capacity of the battery.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The steps for generating the recommended list of available charging stations include: Iterate through the records of each charging pile in the charging station resource pool; Select charging piles that are in an idle state and whose communication heartbeat is normal. Calculate the navigation distance between each selected charging station and the robot's current position; The selected charging stations are sorted in ascending order of navigation distance to generate a recommended list of available charging stations.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method also includes a heart rate health monitoring step: The heartbeat reporting signal from the robot is received at a preset heartbeat cycle. If the heartbeat reporting signal is not received for more than a first preset time period, the communication status of the robot is marked as disconnected and a disconnection alarm is sent to the scheduling system. In the state of being out of contact, an automatic recovery process for abnormal states is triggered: an attempt is made to reconnect with the robot through a backup communication channel. If the connection is successfully reconnected within a second preset time period, the communication state is restored from the out of contact state to the online state; if the connection is not reconnected, a work order notification is generated.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first preset duration is 5 minutes.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method also includes a maintenance type and alarm linkage step: Obtain the maintenance plan data of the robot. The maintenance plan data includes a maintenance type field, and the values ​​of the maintenance type field include routine maintenance, repair maintenance, calibration maintenance, and inspection maintenance. When the maintenance type field is repair maintenance, if the robot triggers the forced automatic recharging process, a repair work order is generated simultaneously and the robot status is marked as pending repair.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The atomic locking operation is implemented in the following way: read the current version number of the target charging pile, and send an atomic write instruction with conditional update to the charging station resource pool. The atomic write instruction is executed successfully only when the current version number of the charging pile is consistent with the read current version number; otherwise, it is determined to be a locking conflict and available charging piles are rescanned.

8. A system for automatic low-battery recharging and charging station resource locking for logistics robots, characterized in that, include: The power monitoring module is used to continuously acquire the robot's real-time power data and task execution status during the robot's motion control cycle; The graded triggering module is used to generate a low battery warning reminder and send it to the scheduling system when the real-time battery data drops to a first threshold, and to trigger a forced automatic recharging process when the real-time battery data drops to a second threshold and the task execution status is idle, wherein the second threshold is lower than the first threshold; The charging station scanning module is used to scan the charging station resource pool, find available charging piles that are in an idle state, and generate a recommended list of available charging piles. The resource locking module is used to select a target charging pile from the list of available charging piles and perform an atomic locking operation on the target charging pile: atomically switching the charging pile status of the target charging pile from an idle state to an occupied state, and binding the current robot identifier to the target charging pile; The navigation scheduling module is used to update the robot's navigation target coordinates to the location coordinates of the target charging pile, and to update the robot's navigation status to the recharging progress state. The resource release module is used to perform a charging station resource release operation when it detects that the robot has completed charging or has left the target charging pile: restore the charging pile status of the target charging pile to an idle state, and remove the binding relationship between the current robot identifier and the target charging pile.

9. A logistics robot, characterized in that, Includes the system described in claim 8.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It stores a computer program thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.

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