Cargo picking and sowing methods, apparatus, systems, computing devices and storage media

Abstract

A cargo picking and seeding method applicable to a control terminal in a cargo picking and seeding system, wherein the cargo picking and seeding system includes a picking station, a seeding station, and a control terminal, the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, and the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism. When the control terminal recognizes that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, it transmits a picking and seeding presentation command to the picking and seeding object in the operating space, presenting the picking and seeding object to pick the cargo in the container to be picked and to sow the picked cargo into the order container placed in the seeding mechanism. When the control terminal recognizes that the sowing of the order container is complete, it transmits a transfer command to the transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transfer the order container from the seeding mechanism to a storage rack or a first conveyor belt.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application with the application number 202211519712.5 filed on November 30, 2022, and the priority of a Chinese patent application with the application number 202211519701.7 filed on November 30, 2022, and the entire contents thereof are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] This disclosure relates to the technical field of warehouse storage management, and particularly to methods, devices, systems, computing devices, and storage media for picking and sowing goods.

Background Art

[0003] As online shopping becomes increasingly popular among the general public, the number of online orders has been increasing rapidly. To meet the needs of many users for goods and services, merchants need to store a large number of various material boxes in the warehouse and complete the picking and sorting of goods.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of this disclosure provide a method for picking and sowing goods. This disclosure also relates to a device for picking and sowing goods, a system for picking and sowing goods, a computing device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a cargo picking and seeding method is provided that is applied to a control terminal in a cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system comprising a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, the picking station and the seeding station sharing an operating space, the seeding station comprising a seeding mechanism, a box-taking mechanism and a storage shelf, the cargo picking and seeding method, when a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, transmits a picking and seeding prompt to the picking and seeding object in the operating space, thereby enabling the container to be picked. The process includes the steps of picking cargo from within and presenting the picked cargo to a picking and sowing object to sow seeds in order containers pre-placed in a sowing mechanism; and, when sowing in the order containers is complete, sending a transfer command to a transfer object to instruct the transfer object to transfer the order containers with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a storage rack, or to transfer the order containers with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, wherein the first conveyor belt is used to transport the order containers with completed sowing to a target processing point location.

[0006] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a cargo picking and seeding apparatus is provided for use in a cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system comprising a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, wherein the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, the seeding station comprises a seeding mechanism, and the cargo picking and seeding apparatus picks cargo from the container to be picked by transmitting a picking and seeding prompt to the picking and seeding object in the operating space when a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, and seeding the cargo once the picking is complete. The system includes a picking and sowing module configured to present a picking and sowing object to sow seeds in order containers pre-placed in the mechanism, and a scheduling module configured to, when sowing in an order container is complete, send a transfer command to a transfer object to instruct the transfer object to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a storage rack, or to instruct the transfer object to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, wherein the first conveyor belt is used to transport the order container with completed sowing to a target processing point location.

[0007] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a cargo picking and seeding system is provided, comprising a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, wherein the seeding station comprises a seeding mechanism, the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, the picking and seeding objects are located within the operating space, the picking and seeding objects are configured to pick cargo from containers to be picked in the picking station and to seed the picked cargo into order containers located in the seeding mechanism, and the control terminal controls the picking station The system is configured to send a picking and sowing instruction to a picking and sowing object when it is recognized that a container to be sowed has arrived, and to send a transfer instruction to a transfer object when it is recognized that the sowing of the ordered container is complete, thereby instructing the transfer object to transfer the ordered container that has been sowed from the sowing mechanism to a storage rack, or to transfer the ordered container that has been sowed from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, which is used to transport the ordered container that has been sowed to a target processing point location.

[0008] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computing device including memory and a processor is provided, the memory being used to store instructions that can be executed by the computer, the processor being used to execute instructions that can be executed by the computer, and the instructions that can be executed by the computer being executed by the processor, thereby realizing a cargo picking and seeding method provided by the above embodiments.

[0009] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided on which computer instructions are stored, and when the computer instructions are executed by a processor, a cargo picking and seeding method provided by the above embodiments of the present disclosure is realized. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] The cargo picking and seeding method provided by this disclosure involves setting up the picking station and seeding station to share an operating space, recognizing the picking station via a control terminal, and sending picking and seeding prompts to the picking and seeding objects based on the recognition result. This allows the picking and seeding objects to complete cargo picking and seeding in place with minimal movement, saving overall picking and seeding time, integrating picking and seeding, and improving overall picking and seeding efficiency. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1A] This is an architectural diagram of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 1B] This is an architectural diagram of another cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart of the system interactions of cargo picking and seeding systems provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart of a cargo picking and seeding method provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system when the seeding mechanism is a seeding rack, as provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system in which the seeding mechanism includes a conveyor belt, as provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6A] This is a front view of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system when the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt, as provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, are set to two layers, upper and lower. [Figure 6B]This is a top view of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are coplanar and adjacent, and the seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure. [Figure 6C] This is a top view of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are located on the same plane and adjacent to each other, and the various seeding positions are set up as independent conveyor belt structures. [Figure 7] This is a top view of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, where the conveying mechanism is a storage rack. [Figure 8] This is a top view of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, where the conveying mechanism is a second conveyor belt. [Figure 9] This is a processing flowchart of a cargo picking and seeding method applied to a work station, provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cargo picking and seeding apparatus provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] This is a structural block diagram of a computing device provided by some embodiments of this disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] The following description provides many details to fully understand the disclosure. However, the disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below, as it can be implemented in forms other than those described herein, and a person skilled in the art can make similar generalizations without departing from the spirit of the disclosure.

[0013] The terms used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are not intended to limit one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Unless otherwise clearly indicated in the context, the singular forms "a", "said", and "the" used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims include the plural forms. In addition, the term "and / or" used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure refers to any or all combinations of one or more of the listed items.

[0014] In addition, in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, various information may be described using terms such as first, second, etc., but such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are used to distinguish the same type of information from each other. For example, unless departing from the scope of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first may be called the second, and similarly, the second may be called the first. Depending on the context, the term "case" used herein may be understood as "when...", "upon...", or "in response to a determination".

[0015] First, the terms related to the following embodiments of the present disclosure will be described.

[0016] Picking and seeding objects refer to pickers or picking machines that can pick the goods in the container to be picked at the picking station and seed the picked goods with a seeding mechanism in a goods picking and seeding system.

[0017] Picking refers to the process of taking out goods from the storage shelves where the goods are stored or the stacked goods according to the product name, specifications, model number, quantity, etc. required in the order and transporting them to the goods sorting area.

[0018] Seeding refers to the process of classifying, loading, and delivering the picked goods according to different destinations, different delivery routes, etc. after picking is completed.

[0019] A container, generally referred to as a shipping box or container, is a physical entity used to store goods or materials, such as a plastic box, carton, cardboard box, or plastic basket.

[0020] A storage shelf transport device refers to an automated device that can transport storage shelves.

[0021] A transfer object refers to an automated device, such as a worker or robotic arm, that can transfer order containers that have been planted at the planting station to the transport side in a cargo picking and planting system.

[0022] The "transport side" refers to a storage rack or temporary storage rack for storing ordered containers after planting is complete, or a conveyor belt that directly transports ordered containers after planting is complete to the next processing node in a cargo picking and planting system.

[0023] Normally, when picking and sorting cargo, pickers first pick the cargo near the storage shelves, and then transport the picked cargo to the put wall to complete the order sorting. However, the process of sorting all cargo at once to the put wall after picking is complete takes a long time, significantly impacting the efficiency of picking and sorting operations.

[0024] To improve the picking and seeding efficiency of warehouse storage systems, several embodiments of the present disclosure provide a cargo picking and seeding method applicable to a cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system comprising a picking station, a seeding station, and a control terminal, wherein the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, and the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism. The method is configured such that the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, the control terminal recognizes the picking station, and based on the recognition result, sends a picking and seeding prompt to the picking and seeding object, thereby enabling the picking and seeding object to complete cargo picking and seeding in place with minimal movement, saving overall picking and seeding operation time, achieving integration of picking and seeding, and improving overall picking and seeding efficiency.

[0025] In some embodiments, when a control terminal recognizes that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, it sends a picking and sowing prompting command to a picking and sowing object in the operating space, prompting the object to pick the goods in the container to be picked and sow the picked goods into the order container in the sowing mechanism. When the control terminal recognizes that sowing of the order container is complete, it sends a transfer command to a transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transport the order container to a transporter, which is used to transport the order container to a target processing point location.

[0026] Exemplary, the sowing station may further include a box-picking object and a transport mechanism, and prior to picking and sowing, the control terminal may first send a box-picking command to the box-picking object, which then transports the ordered containers to be sowed from the transport mechanism to the sowing mechanism based on the box-picking command.

[0027] In some examples, the transport mechanism may be a storage rack, a conveyor belt (e.g., a second conveyor belt), or a temporary storage rack. For example, if the box-taking object is a box-taking mechanism or a box-taking worker, the box-taking object can transport the order containers to be planted from the storage rack to the planting mechanism, or transport the order containers to be planted from the second conveyor belt to the planting mechanism, or transport the order containers to be planted from a temporary storage rack to the planting mechanism. In other words, the order containers to be planted may be stored in a storage rack, stored in a temporary storage rack, or transported by a second conveyor belt.

[0028] Illustratively, the transport side may be a storage shelf, a first conveyor belt, or a temporary storage shelf. If the transport side is a storage shelf, the transfer object can transfer the ordered containers that have been sown from the sowing mechanism to the storage shelf, and after all ordered containers in the storage shelf have been sown, the storage shelf can be transported to the target processing point position via the storage shelf transport device. If the transport side is a first conveyor belt, the transfer object can transfer the ordered containers that have been sown from the sowing mechanism to the first conveyor belt, and further transport the ordered containers that have been sown to the target processing point position via the first conveyor belt. If the transport side is a temporary storage shelf, the transfer object can transfer the ordered containers that have been sown from the sowing mechanism to the temporary storage shelf, and further transfer the ordered containers in the temporary storage shelf to the storage shelf when the storage shelf arrives near the temporary storage shelf or when all the containers stored in the temporary storage shelf are ordered containers that have been sown, and transport the storage shelf to the target processing point position via the storage shelf transport device. In other words, the ordered containers after sowing may be placed on a storage shelf and transported to the target processing point by the storage shelf, or transported to the target processing point by the first conveyor belt, or placed on a temporary storage shelf and transported to the storage shelf by the temporary storage shelf, and then the storage shelf transport device may transport the storage shelf to the target processing point.

[0029] In some embodiments, the temporary storage shelf on which the order containers to be sown are placed and the temporary storage shelf on which the order containers for which sowing has been completed are placed may be the same temporary storage shelf or may be different temporary storage shelves, and the embodiments of this disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0030] In some embodiments, the seeding mechanism may include a seeding platform and a first conveyor belt, and in some other embodiments, the seeding mechanism may be a seeding rack, and the embodiments of this disclosure are not limited to the type of seeding mechanism. The following embodiments describe, in combination with different structural forms of cargo picking and seeding systems, cargo picking and seeding methods corresponding to each cargo picking and seeding system.

[0031] Figure 1A is an architectural diagram of a cargo picking and seeding system provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, which, as shown in Figure 1A, includes a picking station 101, a seeding station 102, and a control terminal 103, where the seeding station 102 includes a seeding mechanism 1021, a box retrieval mechanism 1022, and a storage rack 1023, and the dashed lines in Figure 1A indicate that the picking station 101 and the seeding station 102 are each communicably connected to the control terminal 103.

[0032] The picking station 101 and the sowing station 102 share an operating space, where the picking and sowing objects are located within the operating space, which is the workspace in which the picking and sowing objects perform picking and sowing on cargo. The picking and sowing objects are configured to pick cargo from containers to be picked at the picking station 101 and then sow the picked cargo into order containers located in the sowing mechanism 1021, where the order containers are containers that have been previously transferred from the storage rack 1023 to the sowing mechanism 1021 by the box retrieval mechanism 1022.

[0033] The control terminal 103 and the picking station 101, and the control terminal 103 and the seed-sowing station 102 are connected in a communication manner. The method of this communication connection may be a wireless communication method such as Bluetooth or Wireless Fidelity (WIFI), or a wired communication method such as a conductor or optical fiber.

[0034] The control terminal 103 is configured to send a picking and sowing instruction to the picking and sowing object when it recognizes that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station 101, and to send a transfer instruction to the transfer object when it recognizes that the sowing of the ordered container is complete, thereby instructing the transfer object to transport the ordered container to the transport side, which is used to transport the ordered container to the target processing point location.

[0035] The picking station 101 is equipped with a picking robot, picking storage shelves, and a picking table. The picking storage shelves are used to arrange containers to be picked, and when there is a picking task, a storage shelf transporter transports the target picking storage shelves from the warehouse to the picking station. The picking robot transfers the containers to be picked from the picking storage shelves to the picking table so that the picking and seeding object can pick the goods inside the containers to be picked. The picking robot may take the form of a robotic arm, a box-changing pull rod, a push rod, etc., and embodiments of this disclosure are not limited to the type of picking robot. The picking station may also be a single platform for arranging containers to be picked that have arrived at the picking table, so that the picking and seeding object can pick the goods inside. If the picking and seeding object is a picking and seeding worker, the height of the picking table may be set according to the height of the picking and seeding worker to facilitate the picking operation by the picking and seeding worker.

[0036] In some embodiments, to improve picking efficiency, the picking and sowing object may be a picking and sowing device, which can pick goods from containers to be picked and sow the picked goods into the order containers. Exemplarily, the picking and sowing device may be an automated device such as a robotic arm.

[0037] The seeding station 102 includes a seeding mechanism, a box retrieval mechanism, and a storage shelf. Within the seeding mechanism, there is a seeding position for placing the order containers to be seeded. The box retrieval mechanism is configured to transfer the order containers from the storage shelf to the seeding position in the seeding mechanism so that the picking and seeding objects seed the goods into the order containers. Exemplarily, the box retrieval mechanism may take the form of a robotic arm, a box exchange pull rod, a push rod, etc., and the box retrieval mechanism is configured to receive commands transmitted from the control terminal 103 and to automatically retrieve boxes based on the commands transmitted from the control terminal.

[0038] The storage racks are used to store the order containers. Initially, the order containers stored on the storage racks are either empty containers or containers with remaining sowing space. The storage rack transport device can transport the storage racks containing the order containers from the order warehouse to the sowing station. At the sowing station 102, the picked goods are sowed into the order containers of the sowing mechanism.

[0039] In some examples, the seeding mechanism and the box-collecting mechanism, and the box-collecting mechanism and the storage shelves are connected in a combination manner. The box-collecting mechanism can move to different sides of the seeding mechanism, and the storage shelves can move to corresponding positions as the box-collecting mechanism moves.

[0040] In actual application, before the picking and sowing tasks begin, the order containers on the storage shelves are pre-transferred to the sowing position of the sowing mechanism via a box-taking mechanism. Each time a picking and sowing object picks a shipment, it can sow it into the order container located at the sowing position, reducing the waiting time after the sowing object picks a shipment and improving sowing efficiency.

[0041] In some embodiments, the order containers in the storage rack may be arranged in a single row or multiple rows, and the box retrieval mechanism may have storage spaces of a single depth or storage spaces of multiple depths. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the arrangement of the order containers in the storage rack or the number of deep storage spaces in the box retrieval mechanism.

[0042] For example, if the order containers in the storage rack are arranged in a single row and the box-retrieval mechanism is in the form of a storage space of a single depth, the box-retrieval mechanism may enter the storage rack to a certain depth from the side facing the box-retrieval mechanism and pull the order containers from the storage rack, or enter the storage rack to a certain depth from the other side and push the order containers from the storage rack into a seed-sowing mechanism (e.g., a seed-sowing platform).

[0043] For example, if the order containers in the storage rack are arranged in multiple rows and the box-retrieval mechanism is in the form of a multi-level storage space, the box-retrieval mechanism may enter a certain depth from the side of the storage rack facing the box-retrieval mechanism, pull the order containers in the first row, then enter two depths, pull the order containers in the second row, and so on. Alternatively, the box-retrieval mechanism may enter a certain depth from the other side of the storage rack, push the order containers in the first row of the storage rack (the row closest to the sowing mechanism) towards the sowing mechanism (e.g., a sowing platform), then enter two depths, push the containers towards the sowing mechanism, and so on.

[0044] For example, if the order containers on the storage shelf are arranged in two rows, the box retrieval mechanism may be in the form of a single-depth storage space. The box retrieval mechanism enters the storage shelf from the side facing the box retrieval mechanism to a specific depth, pulls out the order containers for the first row, and the control terminal 103 controls the storage shelf transport robot to rotate the storage shelf 180°, and the box retrieval mechanism enters one depth further to pull out the order containers for the second row. In other words, by controlling the rotation of the storage shelf via the control terminal 103, it is possible to insert and remove order containers from a two-tiered depth storage shelf using a box retrieval mechanism with a single-depth storage space.

[0045] The control terminal 103 is configured to recognize whether a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station. If it recognizes that a container has arrived, it sends a picking and sowing prompting command to the picking and sowing object in the operating space, prompting the object to pick the goods in the container to be picked and to sow the picked goods into the order container located in the sowing mechanism. The control terminal 103 further recognizes whether the sowing of the order container is complete. If so, it sends a transfer command to the transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transport the order container to the transport side, which is then used to transport the order container to the target processing point location. Exemplarily, the control terminal may be a control platform, server, mobile device, etc., independent of the picking station and sowing station, or it may be a control chip, which may be mounted on the picking station or sowing station.

[0046] According to the solution of the embodiment of this disclosure, the picking station and the seeding station are configured to share an operating space, the containers to be picked at the picking station are recognized via a control terminal, and based on the recognition result, picking and seeding prompt commands are sent to the picking and seeding objects. As a result, the picking and seeding objects can complete the picking and seeding of goods in place with minimal movement, saving overall operation time for picking and seeding, integrating picking and seeding, and improving the overall efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0047] Figure 1B is an architectural diagram of another cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, which, as shown in Figure 1B, includes a picking station 101, a seeding station 102, and a control terminal 103, the seeding station 102 includes a seeding mechanism, the seeding mechanism includes a seeding platform 1024 and a first conveyor belt 1025, and the dashed lines in Figure 1B indicate that the picking station 101 and the seeding station 102 are communicated to the control terminal 103, respectively.

[0048] In the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1B, the picking and seeding object is configured to pick cargo from the container to be picked at the picking station 101 and to sow the picked cargo into pre-placed order containers on the seeding platform 1024. Exemplarily, the picking and seeding object may be a picking and seeding worker working within the operating space of the cargo picking and seeding system, or it may be an automated machine such as a robotic arm.

[0049] The control terminal 103 is configured to, when sowing is complete in an ordered container, send a transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position between the sowing platform 1024 and the first conveyor belt 1025, thereby prompting the transfer object to transfer the ordered container with completed sowing from the sowing platform 1024 to the first conveyor belt 1025, which is used to transport the ordered container with completed sowing to a target processing point position.

[0050] The sowing station 102 includes a sowing platform 1024 and a first conveyor belt 1025. Sowing positions are set on the sowing platform 1024, and these sowing positions are used to position the order containers to be sowed.

[0051] In some examples, the sowing platform 1024 may be a platform structure or a conveyor belt structure, and in the case of a conveyor belt structure, various sowing positions can be set as independent conveyor belt structures. The first conveyor belt 1025 is used to transport the ordered containers after sowing to the target processing point position, and the first conveyor belt 1025 is always in operation during the cargo picking and sowing process to directly transport the ordered containers placed on it to the target processing point position.

[0052] In some embodiments, the relative positions of the seeding platform 1024 and the first conveyor belt 1025 may be arranged in two layers, one above the other, or they may be located on the same plane and adjacent to each other, and order containers on the seeding platform 1024 can be transferred to the first conveyor belt 1025 via a transfer object.

[0053] Exemplary examples, the transfer object may be a picking and seeding worker working within the operating space of a cargo picking and seeding system, an automated device such as a robotic arm working within the operating space of a cargo picking and seeding system, or a box-handling mechanism installed on the side of a seeding platform, and embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the type of transfer object.

[0054] The sowing station further includes a box-picking object and a transport mechanism, where the box-picking object is a box-picking mechanism and the transport mechanism is a storage rack, the box-picking mechanism is configured to transport the order containers from the storage rack to the sowing position on the sowing platform so that the picking and sowing object sows the goods into the order containers. The storage rack is used to transport the order containers to be sowed to the sowing station, and the storage rack may be transported from the order warehouse to the sowing station 102 by a transport device, where the picking and sowing object sows the picked goods into the order containers on the sowing platform.

[0055] In some examples, the seed-sowing platform and the box-receiving mechanism, and the box-receiving mechanism and the storage shelves are connected by a combination system. The box-receiving mechanism can move to different sides of the seed-sowing platform, and the storage shelves can move to corresponding positions as the box-receiving mechanism moves.

[0056] In some embodiments, the conveying mechanism may be a second conveyor belt. When the conveying mechanism is a second conveyor belt, the box-taking object can transport the order containers from the second conveyor belt to the sowing position on the sowing platform so that the picking and sowing object sows the goods into the order containers.

[0057] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism may be a temporary storage shelf, which may be located near the sowing station 102. When the transport mechanism is a temporary storage shelf, the storage shelf containing the order containers to be sowed is transported to the sowing station 102 via a storage shelf transport device, the order containers to be sowed are transferred from the storage shelf to the temporary storage shelf by a box-picking device or box-picking worker (also called a box-picking object), and the box-picking object can then transfer the order containers to be sowed from the temporary storage shelf to the sowing position on the sowing platform so that the picking and sowing object sows the goods into the order containers. By transferring the order containers to be sowed to the temporary storage shelf, the storage shelf can be freed up to perform other tasks.

[0058] For example, the box-picking object may take the form of a robotic arm, a box-changing pull rod, a push rod, or a picking seed-sowing worker, and the box-picking object is used to receive commands transmitted from the control terminal 103 and to transport the ordered containers to be sowed to the seed-sowing platform based on the commands transmitted from the control terminal.

[0059] In actual application, before the picking and sowing tasks begin, order containers on a conveying mechanism (e.g., storage racks, a second conveyor belt, or temporary storage racks) are pre-transferred to the sowing position on the sowing platform via a box-picking object. After the picking and sowing object picks the goods, it sows the picked goods into the order containers on the sowing position, saving waiting time after the sowing object picks the goods and improving sowing efficiency.

[0060] The control terminal 103 is used to recognize whether a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station. If it has arrived, it sends a picking and sowing prompting command to the picking and sowing object in the operating space to remind the picking and sowing object to pick the goods from the container to be picked and sow the picked goods into the order containers pre-placed on the sowing platform. The control terminal 103 further recognizes whether the sowing of the order containers is complete. If sowing is complete, it prompts the transfer object to transfer the order containers with completed sowing from the sowing platform to the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command based on the relative position of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt. The first conveyor belt is used to transport the order containers with completed sowing to the target processing point position.

[0061] The cargo picking and seeding method corresponding to the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1B is the same as the cargo picking and seeding method corresponding to the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1A. Therefore, a detailed explanation is omitted here, and please refer to the cargo picking and seeding method corresponding to the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1A for details on the picking and seeding method corresponding to the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1B. The difference between the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1B and the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1A is that the seeding mechanism in the cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 1B includes a seeding platform 1024 and a first conveyor belt 1025. Therefore, the control terminal 103 can send a transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt.

[0062] By applying the solution of the embodiment of this disclosure, the picking station and the seeding station are configured to share an operating space, the containers to be picked at the picking station are recognized via a control terminal, and based on the recognition result, picking and seeding prompts are sent to the picking and seeding objects. This allows the picking and seeding objects to complete the picking and seeding of goods in place with minimal movement, saving overall operation time for picking and seeding and achieving integration of picking and seeding. Furthermore, by transferring the ordered containers after seeding to the first conveyor belt, the ordered containers can be quickly transported to the target processing point position via the first conveyor belt after seeding, eliminating the need to wait until the seeding of other ordered containers is complete and eliminating the need to schedule transport robots. This improves the processing efficiency of ordered containers after seeding is complete, frees up the transport capacity of robots, and improves the overall efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0063] Figure 2 is a flowchart of the system interactions of a cargo picking and seeding system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, control terminal 201 receives a first detection signal transmitted from picking station 202, which includes a detection result of whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at picking station 202. If control terminal 201 recognizes the first detection signal and the detection result is that a container to be picked has arrived at picking station 202, it sends a picking and seeding presentation command to picking and seeding object 204 in the operating space to present the picking and seeding object 204 to pick the cargo in the container to be picked and to sow the picked cargo into order containers placed in the seeding mechanism at seeding station 203, where picking station 202 and seeding station 203 share an operating space.

[0064] The control terminal 201 receives a second detection signal transmitted from the seeding station 203, which includes a detection result indicating whether or not the sowing of the ordered containers has been completed. The control terminal 201 recognizes the second detection signal, and if the detection result indicates that the sowing of the ordered containers placed in the seeding mechanism at the seeding station 203 has been completed, it sends a transfer command to the transfer object 205 instructing it to transport the ordered containers to the transport side, where the transport side is used to transport the ordered containers to the target processing point location.

[0065] For example, if the seeding mechanism includes a seeding platform and a first conveyor belt, the control terminal 201 sends a transfer command to the transfer object 205 based on the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt, thereby prompting the transfer object 205 to transfer the completed seeding order containers from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt. However, if the seeding mechanism includes a seeding platform, the transfer object may also transfer the completed seeding order containers from the seeding mechanism to a storage rack or temporary storage rack, and the embodiments of this disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0066] Figure 3 is a flowchart of a cargo picking and seeding method provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, and as shown in Figure 3, the cargo picking and seeding method is applied to a control terminal in the cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system includes a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space and the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism. The cargo picking and seeding method includes the following steps S302 to S308.

[0067] S302 recognizes whether or not the container to be picked has arrived at the picking station.

[0068] For example, in a picking task, a picking robot transports the containers to be picked from the picking storage shelves to the picking station, and picking begins only after the containers have arrived at the picking station. Therefore, it is first necessary to recognize whether or not the containers to be picked have arrived at the picking station. The containers to be picked contain the goods to be picked, and the way in which the goods to be picked are stored in the containers may be by storing goods of the same type in the same container, or by storing goods with the same attributes such as location and price in the same container.

[0069] In some embodiments, by installing sensors (e.g., cameras, infrared sensors, position sensors, etc.) at the picking station, it is possible to recognize whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station. For example, a sensor can detect whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, the sensor can transmit the detection result to a control terminal, and the control terminal can determine whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station based on the detection result.

[0070] In some embodiments, sensors installed in a cargo picking and seeding system can recognize whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at a picking station. For example, the sensor may be a camera that photographs the picking station in real time and, when it photographs the arrival of a container to be picked at the picking station, transmits the detection result to a control terminal, which can then determine, based on the detection result, that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station.

[0071] The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the embodiments for recognizing whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at a picking station. The embodiments exemplify an example in which a sensor installed at the picking station or in a cargo picking and seeding system recognizes whether or not a container to be picked has arrived at a picking station.

[0072] S304, When a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, a picking and sowing presentation command is sent to the picking and sowing object in the operating space, presenting it to pick the goods from the container to be picked and to sow the picked goods into the order container placed in the sowing mechanism.

[0073] When the control terminal recognizes that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, it can indicate that the goods to be picked are in position and notify the picking and seeding object to begin picking. In some embodiments, the control terminal can transmit picking and seeding prompt commands to operating objects in the operating space, which may be in voice or text form, or in the form of trigger messages, and embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to line format of picking and seeding prompt commands.

[0074] In some examples, if the picking and sowing object is a picking and sowing worker, the picking and sowing worker can receive picking and sowing prompts via a display or speaker in the work area, and upon seeing the prompt, the picking and sowing worker can begin picking the goods in the container to be picked.

[0075] In some examples, if the picking and sowing object is a picking and sowing device, a picking and sowing trigger message may be sent to the picking and sowing device in the operating space, and the picking and sowing device may respond immediately upon receiving the message to begin picking the goods in the container to be picked.

[0076] In some embodiments, picking and sowing are integrated in the operating space, and the picking and sowing object can pick the goods in the container to be picked and then sow the picked goods directly into order containers located in a sowing mechanism in the same operating space, and the order containers located in the sowing mechanism may be understood as order containers to be sowed, and the order containers to be sowed may be empty in the initial state or may be containers with remaining sowing space.

[0077] To achieve integration of picking and sowing, the picking and sowing object can pick the goods from the container to be picked, and then sow the picked goods directly into the order container located in the sowing mechanism within the same operating space. Therefore, the order container must be transferred from the transport mechanism to the sowing mechanism in advance by the box-picking object.

[0078] In some embodiments, the sowing station further includes a box-picking object and a transport mechanism, where the transport mechanism is used to transport the ordered containers to be sowed to the sowing station. Prior to the above step of transmitting a picking and sowing presentation command to the picking and sowing object in the operating space, the step of transmitting a box-picking command to the box-picking object to present the box-picking object to transfer the ordered containers to be sowed from the transport mechanism to the sowing mechanism may further include.

[0079] For example, if the seeding mechanism includes a seeding platform, the order containers to be seeded are pre-transferred from the transport mechanism to the seeding platform via a box-picking object, and the picking and seeding object can directly seed the completed goods into the order containers on the seeding platform, reducing the time the picking and seeding object has to wait for the order containers to arrive on the seeding platform and improving the efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0080] For example, if the box-taking object is a box-taking mechanism and the transport mechanism is a storage shelf, the ordered containers can be transferred in advance from the storage shelf to the seed-sowing mechanism via the box-taking mechanism. That is, the ordered containers are transferred in advance from the storage shelf to the containers of the seed-sowing mechanism by the box-taking mechanism.

[0081] In some examples, when the box-taking mechanism transfers order containers from a transport mechanism (e.g., a storage rack), it can randomly transfer one order container to be planted to the planting mechanism. In some embodiments, the picking order of the picking and planting objects is often associated with the planting order, so planting can be performed according to the picking order to further improve picking and planting efficiency. Accordingly, some embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a method for picking and sowing cargo, which is applied to a control terminal in the cargo picking and sowing system, where the picking station in the cargo picking and sowing system includes a picking robot, and the method may further include, before S302, obtaining a gripping sequence in which the picking robot grips each container to be picked from a picking storage rack; determining an arrangement order of order containers corresponding to cargo in each container to be picked based on the gripping sequence; generating a first box picking command based on the arrangement order; and transmitting the first box picking command to the box picking mechanism, thereby driving the box picking mechanism to transfer a plurality of order containers from the storage rack to corresponding sowing positions in the sowing mechanism based on the arrangement order.

[0082] For example, a picking robot may have a specific picking sequence when grasping containers to be picked from a picking storage shelf, and this sequence may be a pre-set order. The picking robot may grasp the containers to be picked according to this sequence and may notify the control terminal of this sequence in advance. In some examples, the picking robot may grasp the containers to be picked randomly, and the control terminal recognizes the picking sequence in which the picking robot grasps each container in real time.

[0083] After obtaining the gripping sequence in which the picking robot grips each container to be picked, the control terminal can determine the arrangement order of order containers corresponding to the goods inside each container to be picked, based on the gripping sequence. This arrangement order refers to the arrangement order of order containers in the seeding mechanism and may be set according to the difficulty of picking and seeding by the picking and seeding objects, or according to the difficulty of directly transporting the completed order containers to the first conveyor belt.

[0084] For example, each container to be picked can correspond one-to-one with an order container; that is, the goods to be picked in one order container are the goods in one container to be picked, and the goods to be picked in one order container may be the goods in multiple containers to be picked. Therefore, based on the gripping order in which the picking robot grasps each container to be picked, the arrangement order of each order container can be set in descending order of quantity, according to the order in which the goods to be picked cover the containers to be picked.

[0085] After obtaining the arrangement order, a first pick-up command is generated based on the arrangement order, and the message of the first pick-up command may include the arrangement order. The first pick-up command is then sent to the pick-up mechanism, and the first pick-up command includes the arrangement order of the order containers corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked, that is, which order containers are located at each of the sowing positions of the sowing mechanism. The pick-up mechanism can then transfer multiple order containers from the storage rack to the corresponding positions of the sowing mechanism (e.g., the sowing platform) based on the arrangement order.

[0086] In some examples, the arrangement order is not the order in which the box-taking mechanism takes the order containers from the storage shelf, but rather the box-taking mechanism can retrieve the corresponding order containers from the storage shelf according to the arrangement order and then place them in the corresponding positions on the seed-sowing mechanism. Similarly, the box-taking mechanism can take order containers from the storage shelf and place the retrieved order containers in the corresponding positions on the seed-sowing mechanism according to the arrangement order.

[0087] By applying the embodiments of this disclosure, the order containers are pre-transferred from the storage shelf to the seeding mechanism via the box-taking mechanism before it recognizes whether the containers to be picked have arrived at the picking station. This allows the picking and seeding objects to begin picking and seeding operations directly after receiving the picking and seeding prompt, without having to wait for the box-taking mechanism to transfer the order containers from the storage shelf to the seeding mechanism, saving waiting time and thus improving the overall efficiency of picking and seeding. Furthermore, the arrangement order of the order containers corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked is determined according to the gripping order in which the picking robot grips each container to be picked from the picking storage shelf, and the box-taking mechanism transfers the multiple order containers from the storage shelf to the corresponding positions in the seeding mechanism according to the arrangement order. As a result, within the seeding mechanism, the arrangement order of multiple order containers corresponds to the order in which each container to be picked arrives at the picking station. Therefore, when the picking and seeding object performs picking and seeding of goods, the goods in the containers to be picked that first arrive at the picking station can be seeded into the order containers positioned earlier within the seeding mechanism. Then, according to the order in which the containers to be picked arrive at the picking station, the goods that have been picked are seeded into the order containers arranged according to the arrangement order, further improving the picking and seeding efficiency of the picking and seeding object.

[0088] In some embodiments, the sowing mechanism may have multiple sowing positions, and if the box-taking mechanism is instructed to transport the order containers one by one or in batches, the efficiency of transporting the order containers from the storage rack to the sowing mechanism will be low. To improve the efficiency of transporting the order containers, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the step of generating a first box-taking command based on the arrangement order may include the steps of obtaining the number of sowing positions in the sowing mechanism (e.g., a sowing platform) and generating a first box-taking command based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions, whereas the step of transmitting a first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism may include transmitting a first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism and driving the box-taking mechanism to transport a number of order containers from the storage rack to the corresponding sowing positions in the sowing mechanism, based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions, to satisfy the number of sowing positions.

[0089] Furthermore, if the transport mechanism is a temporary storage rack or a second conveyor belt, the box-taking objects can be transported from the temporary storage rack or the second conveyor belt to the corresponding sowing positions of the sowing mechanism, based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions, with multiple order containers fulfilling the number of sowing positions.

[0090] To improve the efficiency of transporting ordered containers from storage shelves (or temporary storage shelves or a second conveyor belt) to the seeding mechanism (e.g., a seeding platform), multiple ordered containers can be transported to the seeding mechanism at once, thereby filling the seeding mechanism and thus improving the efficiency of transporting ordered containers by making full use of the seeding mechanism.

[0091] In some cases, the number of sowing positions in a sowing mechanism can be obtained. The number of sowing positions refers to the total number of sowing positions included in the sowing mechanism, where the sowing positions are the positions where the order containers are placed. The number of sowing positions in a sowing mechanism may be fixed, so the control terminal can record the number of sowing positions in advance. In some cases, since the sowing mechanism is replaceable, a sensor (e.g., a camera) can be installed near the sowing mechanism to collect information about the sowing mechanism via the sensor, and the number of sowing positions can be obtained based on the results collected by the sensor.

[0092] After obtaining the number of sowing positions, a first box picking command can be generated based on the sequence and the number of sowing positions. The message of this first box picking command may include the sequence and the number of sowing positions. The first box picking command is then sent to the box picking mechanism, which includes the sequence and the number of sowing positions for the order containers corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked. The sequence refers to which order containers are placed at each of the sowing positions in the sowing mechanism, and the number of sowing positions refers to the total number of sowing positions in the sowing mechanism. Based on the sequence, the box picking mechanism can transfer multiple order containers from the storage shelves to the corresponding positions in the sowing mechanism to satisfy the number of sowing positions, thereby achieving the objective of filling the sowing mechanism and making full use of the sowing mechanism to improve the efficiency of transporting the order containers.

[0093] In some embodiments, the seeding mechanism may be a put wall. Exemplarily, the number of seeding positions on a put wall may be the same as the number of order containers that can be stored on one storage shelf. By setting up the seeding mechanism as a put wall, all order containers on one storage shelf can be seeded at once, increasing the number of order containers to be seeded, improving the accuracy of picking containers in the picking station, and the box-taking mechanism's box-taking and box-exchanging operations on the put wall do not affect the picking and seeding objects continuing to perform seeding operations on the put wall, saving waiting time for picking and seeding objects and improving the efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0094] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism may be a temporary storage rack used to store ordered containers to be sowed and / or ordered containers after sowing is complete, and a box-taking object (e.g., a box-taking mechanism) may have previously moved the ordered containers from the temporary storage rack to the sowing mechanism. That is, the ordered containers are containers that have been previously transferred from the temporary storage rack to the sowing mechanism by the box-taking mechanism. If the transport mechanism is a temporary storage rack, the above step of sending a box-taking command to the box-taking object includes sending a box-taking command to the box-taking object, prompting the box-taking object to transfer the ordered containers to be sowed from the temporary storage rack to the sowing mechanism.

[0095] For example, storage shelves containing order containers to be planted are transported to a planting station via a storage shelf transport device. The order containers to be planted are then moved from the storage shelves to temporary storage shelves via a box picking device or box picking operator. Subsequently, the box picking object further transports the order containers to be planted from the temporary storage shelves to the planting position on the planting platform so that the picking and planting object plants the goods into the order containers. By moving the order containers to be planted to temporary storage shelves, the storage shelves can be freed up to perform other tasks.

[0096] When the transport mechanism is a storage rack, transporting order containers to be planted to the planting mechanism via the storage rack requires adjusting the number of storage racks and scheduling storage rack transport robots to transport the storage racks to corresponding positions at the planting station. To improve the overall efficiency of the cargo picking and planting system, free up transport capacity by robots, and reduce the computational stress on the control terminal, the order containers to be planted may be transported directly to the planting station via a conveyor belt structure. In some embodiments, the transport mechanism may be a second conveyor belt, and the above step of sending a box-taking command to a box-taking object includes the step of generating a box-taking command when it is detected that the second conveyor belt has transported the order containers to be planted to a designated position, and sending the box-taking command to the box-taking object to prompt it to transport the order containers from the designated position to the planting mechanism.

[0097] Exemplary, the seeding mechanism may be a seeding platform or a seeding rack. Taking the example that the seeding mechanism is a seeding platform, the second conveyor belt is used to transport the ordered containers to be seeded near the seeding platform in the seeding station, and the designated position is a position that facilitates transport by a container picking object. For example, the designated position may be above the seeding platform, which facilitates the transport of the ordered containers to be seeded to the seeding position on the seeding platform by a worker or robotic arm. The container picking object may be a cargo picking and seeding worker, or an automated device such as a robotic arm. A sensor (e.g., a camera) may be installed near the seeding station to collect information about the designated position via the sensor, and based on the results collected by the sensor, it is detected whether or not the ordered containers to be seeded have been transported to the designated position.

[0098] The efficiency of transporting order containers to be sowed can be further improved by transporting the order containers to be sowed from above or below the sowing platform to the sowing location. Therefore, in some embodiments, the sowing station may further include a temporary storage location where the order containers are temporarily stored. The above method of picking and sowing goods further includes the steps of obtaining the number of temporary storage locations, generating an eighth box picking command based on the number of temporary storage locations, and sending the eighth box picking command to a box picking object to instruct the box picking object to transport from a plurality of order container transport mechanisms to each temporary storage location based on the number of temporary storage locations.

[0099] For example, temporary storage locations in a seed-sowing mechanism (e.g., a seed-sowing platform) can function as a supplement to the seed-sowing locations. In particular, in a seed-sowing platform with a conveyor belt structure, temporary storage locations may be installed above or below the conveyor belt to further improve seed-sowing efficiency. The number of temporary storage locations on the seed-sowing platform is obtained, and the number of temporary storage locations refers to the total number of temporary storage locations in the seed-sowing station. The number of temporary storage locations on the seed-sowing platform is usually fixed, and therefore the control terminal can record the number of temporary storage locations in advance.

[0100] After obtaining the number of temporary storage locations, an eighth box retrieval command can be generated based on the number of temporary storage locations, and the message of the eighth box retrieval command includes the number of temporary storage locations. The box retrieval mechanism then transmits the eighth box retrieval command, and based on the eighth box retrieval command, the box retrieval mechanism can transport multiple order containers that fill the number of temporary storage locations from the transport mechanism (e.g., storage racks) to each temporary storage location of the sowing station, thereby achieving the objective of filling the temporary storage locations, making full use of the sowing station, and improving the transport efficiency of the order containers.

[0101] S306: Determines whether or not the sowing of seeds in the ordered containers has been completed.

[0102] After sending a picking and sowing command to the picking and sowing object, the picking and sowing object begins the picking and sowing operation for the cargo, and the control terminal can recognize whether the sowing of the ordered containers is complete. Here, the completion of sowing of ordered containers has two meanings: firstly, one ordered container is filled with cargo, and secondly, sowing of all cargo corresponding to one ordered container is complete.

[0103] In some embodiments, step S306 includes the steps of obtaining the remaining space each time the planting of a shipment for which one picking has been completed in the order container is finished, and determining that the planting of the order container is complete if the remaining space is smaller than a preset space, or determining each target shipment corresponding to the order container, and determining that the planting of the order container is complete when all of each target shipment has been planted in the order container.

[0104] In some examples, a sensor is installed inside the order container, and each time a picked item is placed inside the order container, the sensor detects whether there is enough remaining space in the order container (less than or equal to a predetermined space). If the remaining space is less than or equal to the predetermined space, it indicates that there is not enough remaining space in the order container, and the system can determine that the placement of the order container is complete. For example, the sensor installed inside the order container may be an infrared sensor, which can determine whether there is any item to be placed inside the order container, whether the remaining space is less than or equal to a predetermined space, etc., by infrared scanning. In some examples, the sensor may be a visual sensor such as a camera that is independent of the order container.

[0105] In some cases, the control terminal can recognize the cargo to be planted and knows which target cargo to plant in each order container, and can determine that planting is complete for that order container after determining that each target cargo has been planted in that order container. Alternatively, the picking robot can obtain information about the cargo in the order container based on the picking sequence in which it grasps each container to be picked from the picking storage shelf, and recognize whether planting is complete for the order container based on the picking sequence.

[0106] For example, the picking robot's picking sequence for each container to be picked from the picking storage shelf is container A, container B, and container C, where A, B, and C represent the types of goods corresponding to the containers to be picked. Each target goods corresponding to the ordered container consists of 10 items of type A, 20 items of type B, and 50 items of type C. Therefore, the control terminal recognizes the goods in the ordered container based on the order in which 10 items of type A, 20 items of type B, and 50 items of type C have been planted. If it determines that all target goods corresponding to the ordered container have been planted in the ordered container according to the above order, it determines that planting of the ordered container is complete.

[0107] In some examples, once it is recognized that the planting of an order container is complete, the transport robot brings in a new storage rack containing the new order container. This causes the control terminal to drive the box picking mechanism to pull the planted order container out of the planting mechanism and move the new order container to the corresponding planting position in the planting mechanism, presenting the new order container to the picking and planting object for planting.

[0108] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism transports new order containers to be planted to the planting station, but planting may not be completed for all order containers at the planting location. In this case, the control terminal transmits a detection signal to recognize whether there are any order containers at the planting location for which the planting task has not been performed. If there are order containers at the planting location for which the planting task has not been performed, the control terminal transmits a command to the box-picking object to temporarily move the order containers for which the planting task has not been performed from the planting location to a temporary storage location, and to transport the new order containers to be planted to the corresponding planting location on the planting platform. This allows the picking and planting object to first pick and plant the new order containers for planting. When there is an empty sowing position on the sowing platform and a container to be picked for an order container whose sowing task has not yet been completed and which was previously transported to a temporary storage location arrives at the picking station, allowing the sowing task to continue, the control terminal sends a command to the container picking object, presenting it to transport the order container from the temporary storage location to the sowing platform.

[0109] By moving order containers at seeding locations where seeding tasks are not being performed to a temporary storage location, and first seeding newly delivered order containers that are ready to be seeded and ready to begin seeding tasks, seeding locations are fully utilized, the waiting time for containers to be picked to arrive at the picking platform is reduced, the seeding efficiency of order containers is improved, and the overall efficiency of the cargo picking and seeding system is enhanced.

[0110] In S308, once the planting of the order containers is complete, a transfer command is sent to the transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transport the order containers to the carrier, which is used to transport the order containers to the target processing point location.

[0111] When it is recognized that the planting of the ordered containers has already been completed, a transfer command is sent to the transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transport the ordered containers to the carrier, and the carrier then transports the ordered containers to the target processing point location, thereby allowing further processing of the planted ordered containers.

[0112] For example, the transfer object is configured to transport the completed order containers to the transport side, which may be a transport robot, storage rack, conveyor belt, temporary storage rack, etc., and the target processing point is a location where the completed order containers are further processed. Further processing of the completed order containers may involve transporting them to the next sowing station for continued sowing, or it may involve processing operations such as packing or boxing the contents of the order containers for delivery.

[0113] In some embodiments, the sowing mechanism may be a sowing rack 4021. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cargo picking and sowing system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, where the sowing mechanism is a sowing rack, and as shown in Figure 4, the transfer object is a box retrieval mechanism 4022 and the transport side is a storage rack 4023, and S308 includes the steps of: driving the box retrieval mechanism to transfer the ordered containers that have been sowed from the sowing mechanism to the storage rack by sending a transfer command to the box retrieval mechanism; and recognizing whether all the ordered containers on the storage rack are ordered containers that have been sowed, and if so, scheduling the storage rack transport device to transport the storage rack to a target processing point position by sending a transport command to the storage rack transport device.

[0114] As shown in Figure 4, when the control terminal recognizes that the sowing of the ordered containers is complete, it sends a transfer command to the box retrieval mechanism 4022, and based on the transfer command, the box retrieval mechanism 4022 can transfer the ordered containers that have been sown from the sowing shelf 4021 to the storage shelf 4023. The control terminal can recognize the ordered containers on the storage shelf 4023 and recognize whether all the ordered containers on the storage shelf 4023 are ordered containers that have been sown. If all the ordered containers on the storage shelf 4023 are ordered containers that have been sown, it is indicated that there are no ordered containers to be sown on the storage shelf 4023, and the storage shelf 4023 can be transferred. Therefore, by sending a transfer command to the storage shelf transport device, the storage shelf transport device can be scheduled to transport the storage shelf 4023 to the target processing point position.

[0115] By transferring the ordered containers with completed sowing from the sowing rack 4021 to the storage rack 4023, and then transporting them all at once to the target processing point location via the storage rack transport device, the transport of all ordered containers with completed sowing is achieved, thereby improving transport efficiency.

[0116] In some embodiments, after recognizing whether all the order containers in the storage rack are order containers for which sowing has been completed, if it is recognized that not all of the order containers in the storage rack are order containers for which sowing has been completed, the system may further include the step of sending a second box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to transfer the order containers for which sowing has not been completed from the storage rack to the sowing mechanism.

[0117] If there are still order containers remaining on the storage shelf that have not yet been sown, and the order containers that have been sown have been transferred from the sowing mechanism to the storage shelf, then there are empty sowing positions in the sowing mechanism, and the control terminal can send a second box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism. The second box retrieval command is used to drive the box retrieval mechanism to transfer the order containers that have been sown from the storage shelf to the empty sowing positions in the sowing mechanism.

[0118] By sending a second box picking command to the box picking mechanism, the order containers within the seeding mechanism can be dynamically adjusted, ensuring that the seeding mechanism is fully utilized and improving the overall efficiency of the picking seeding system.

[0119] In some embodiments, the transport side is a temporary storage shelf, and the transfer object is a box-taking mechanism. The box-taking mechanism transfers the ordered containers that have been sown from the sowing mechanism to the temporary storage shelf, and then further determines whether all the ordered containers in the temporary storage shelf are ordered containers that have been sown. If all the ordered containers in the temporary storage shelf are ordered containers that have been sown, a scheduling command is sent to the storage shelf transporter to schedule it to transport a storage shelf with an available placement position to the sowing station. A transfer command is then sent to the box-taking mechanism to drive it to transport the ordered containers that have been sown from the temporary storage shelf to a storage shelf with an available placement position. Finally, a transport command is sent to the storage shelf transporter to schedule it to transport the storage shelf containing the ordered containers to the target processing point position.

[0120] If the order containers in the temporary storage rack include order containers that have not yet been sown, a seventh box picking command is sent to the box picking mechanism, driving the box picking mechanism to transfer the order containers that have not yet been sown from the temporary storage rack to an empty seed picking position in the seed picking mechanism. This allows for dynamic adjustment of the order containers in the seed picking mechanism, ensuring that the seed picking mechanism is fully utilized and improving the overall efficiency of the picking seed picking system.

[0121] In some embodiments, the sowing rack includes a sowing position and a temporary storage position, whereas the method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure may further include the steps of: sending a third box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism when sowing of the ordered containers is complete and the storage rack has been moved, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to move the ordered containers from the sowing position to the temporary storage position; or obtaining order information of the ordered containers for which sowing has been completed at various sowing positions, determining the order similarity of each ordered container based on the order information of each ordered container for which sowing has been completed, generating a fourth box-taking command based on the order similarity, and sending the fourth box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to move ordered containers for which the order similarity is higher than a preset threshold from the sowing position to the temporary storage position.

[0122] If the storage shelves of the seed-sowing station are moved, completed order containers cannot be moved from the seed-sowing location in time, and since the seed-sowing location is always occupied by completed order containers, new order containers cannot be placed, reducing the number of order containers available for sowing. Therefore, by installing a temporary storage location on the seed-sowing shelf, completed order containers can be moved to the temporary storage location on the seed-sowing shelf if the storage shelves are moved. Exemplaryly, the temporary storage location may be located in a direction such as above or below the seed-sowing location, and the embodiments of this disclosure are not limited thereto. In some examples, since users are accustomed to having order containers below them during sowing, the temporary storage location can be installed above the seed-sowing location.

[0123] For example, when the sowing of ordered containers is complete and the storage rack is moved, the control terminal sends a third box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, which then moves the ordered containers with completed sowing from the sowing location to the temporary storage location based on the third box retrieval command. This allows the ordered containers with completed sowing, which have been temporarily stored in the temporary storage location, to be moved to the new storage rack when a new storage rack arrives.

[0124] In some embodiments, the ordered container may include order information, which may include information such as order time, delivery destination, transportation method, and transportation conditions. Here, the transportation method may include methods such as air transport, road transport, rail transport, and sea transport, and the transportation conditions may include conditions such as ambient temperature transport, cold chain transport, and express transport. The control terminal reads the order information for each ordered container and determines the order similarity of each ordered container based on the order information.

[0125] In some cases, the control terminal can compare the order information of each ordered container to determine whether the orders of each container are similar, generate a fourth box retrieval command based on the order similarity, and send the fourth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism. Based on the fourth box retrieval command, the box retrieval mechanism moves the ordered containers whose order similarity is higher than a preset threshold from the sowing location to the temporary storage location.

[0126] As an example, the order information for completed seeding containers located at various sowing locations, acquired by the control terminal, is as follows: Order Container 1 (Delivery Destination: Guangzhou, Transportation Method: Rail, Transportation Conditions: Ambient Temperature), Order Container 2 (Delivery Destination: Shenzhen, Transportation Method: Road, Transportation Conditions: Cold Chain), Order Container 3 (Delivery Destination: Shenzhen, Transportation Method: Road, Transportation Conditions: Cold Chain), Order Container 4 (Delivery Destination: Beijing, Transportation Method: Air, Transportation Conditions: Express), Order Container 5 (Delivery Destination: Shenzhen, Transportation Method: Road, Transportation Conditions: Cold Chain). The control terminal detects that, in the above order information, order containers 2, 3, and 5 are order containers for which at least two of the three identifiers—delivery destination, transportation method, and transportation conditions—are the same. Therefore, the control terminal generates a fourth box retrieval command and transmits the fourth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, which is used to drive the box retrieval mechanism to transport order containers 2, 3, and 5 from the sowing position to the temporary storage position.

[0127] Based on order similarity, order containers with an order similarity higher than a pre-set threshold are transferred from the sowing location to a temporary storage location. As a result, the order containers stored in the temporary storage location will have similar order information. Consequently, the order information of the order containers that have completed sowing and are subsequently transferred to the storage shelves will be similar, providing a function to assist in counting and further improving the work efficiency of objects performing operations at the target processing point location.

[0128] In some embodiments, to reduce the time that the ordered containers have finished sowing remain in the sowing mechanism, an additional conveyor belt (e.g., a first conveyor belt) may be installed to transport the ordered containers that have finished sowing to a target processing point location in a timely manner. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a cargo picking and sowing system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which the sowing mechanism includes a first conveyor belt. As shown in Figure 5, the cargo picking and sowing system includes a picking station 501 and a sowing station, the sowing station includes a sowing mechanism, the sowing mechanism may include a sowing platform and a first conveyor belt 5024, the first conveyor belt 5024 being the transport side and always in a transport state during cargo picking and sowing, the first conveyor belt can automatically transport the ordered containers placed on it to a target processing point location.

[0129] In some embodiments, the sowing platform is provided with multiple sowing positions 5021. Exemplarily, the height of the sowing platform may be adjustable to a height that allows picking and sowing objects to be easily operated on, the number of sowing positions 5021 may be four, the first conveyor belt 5024 may be located above or below the sowing platform, or on the same horizontal plane as the sowing platform, and the sowing platform may be a complete platform, a complete conveyor belt, or a single platform consisting of independent small conveyor belts corresponding to the various sowing positions 5021.

[0130] For example, a control terminal can generate a transfer command and send it to a transfer object based on the relative position of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt, thereby transferring the completed seeding order containers to the first conveyor belt. Picking and seeding objects seed the picked goods from the picking platform into the order containers on the seeding platform. Thus, the height of the seeding platform is adjusted according to the different picking and seeding objects to a height that allows the seeding objects to easily sow the goods, thereby improving the efficiency of picking and seeding the goods. Furthermore, since the main function of the first conveyor belt is to transport the completed seeding order containers to the target processing point, the height and location of the first conveyor belt can be adjusted according to the height of the seeding platform. In some examples, the completed seeding order containers may be called target order containers.

[0131] In some embodiments, the first conveyor belt is installed below the seeding platform, and when the control terminal recognizes that seeding of an ordered container is complete on the seeding platform, a transfer object can directly transfer the completed ordered container from the upper seeding platform to the lower first conveyor belt. Alternatively, an automated device such as a box-picking mechanism or a robotic arm can transfer the completed target ordered container from the upper seeding platform to the lower first conveyor belt. By setting the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt in a two-tiered structure, the space of the seeding station can be fully utilized, and the box-picking object can achieve the transfer of the target ordered container by moving up and down, reducing the difficulty of transferring the target ordered container, saving time waiting for the seeding of other ordered containers to be completed, and improving the efficiency of transferring the target ordered container.

[0132] In some embodiments, the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and adjacent to each other. In this scenario, the seeding platform has a first seeding position closest to the first conveyor belt, and several second seeding positions other than the first seeding position. When the control terminal recognizes that the sowing of the ordered containers is complete on the seeding platform, picking and sowing workers in the operating space can transfer the ordered containers on the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt. Alternatively, the ordered containers on the seeding platform can be transferred to the first conveyor belt via automated devices such as a robotic arm or a box-handling mechanism. If the seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure, the ordered containers with completed sowing located at the first seeding position can be directly transported to the first conveyor belt via the conveyor belt, saving time for transfer by workers or machines and further improving the efficiency of transferring target ordered containers.

[0133] Figure 6A is a front view of the cargo picking and seeding system structure when the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two levels, upper and lower. As shown in Figure 6A, in order to improve the efficiency of transferring target order containers from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt and to enable the automatic transfer of target order containers, the picking station in Figure 6A is located on the left side in the front view of the cargo picking and seeding system structure, and the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two levels, upper and lower. Taking the case where the transfer object is a box exchange mechanism, the step of sending a transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt may include the step of instructing the box exchange mechanism to transfer the target order containers from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the box exchange mechanism.

[0134] For example, the seeding platform may be a platform structure or a conveyor belt structure. If the seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure, the various seeding positions may be independent conveyor belt structures. For example, the various seeding positions on the seeding platform may correspond to a single independent small conveyor belt, and the conveyor belts for each seeding position can be controlled individually. For example, they can be started, stopped, transported to the left by a predetermined number of seeding positions, or transported to the right by a predetermined number of seeding positions. Typically, in the cargo picking and seeding process, the first conveyor belt is always in operation, thereby transporting the order containers placed on it to the target processing point at a predetermined transport speed.

[0135] To facilitate picking and sowing objects in sowing order containers on the sowing platform, the height of the sowing platform is automatically adjustable. If the picking and sowing objects are picking and sowing workers within the operating space of the cargo picking and sowing system, the height of the sowing platform may be adjusted to a height that allows the picking and sowing workers to sow seeds easily. If the relative positions of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two levels, upper and lower, the control terminal can send a transfer command to the box exchange mechanism so that the box exchange mechanism automatically transfers the target order containers to the first conveyor belt.

[0136] In some embodiments, a monitoring device (e.g., a gravity monitoring device or an infrared monitoring device) may be installed on the first conveyor belt to conserve power consumption of the first conveyor belt during cargo picking and seeding. When the monitoring device detects that no order containers are placed on the first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt is in a low-speed transport state or stationary state. When the monitoring device detects that order containers have been placed on the first conveyor belt, the control terminal sends a transport command to the first conveyor belt based on the detection result of the monitoring device, and starts the first conveyor belt to transport the order containers on it at a normal transport speed.

[0137] When the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two layers, upper and lower, a command is sent to the box-picking mechanism to transfer the target order containers that have completed seeding to the first conveyor belt and transport them to the target processing node, thereby achieving automatic transfer of target order containers, saving the robot's transport capacity, avoiding the stagnation of the picking and seeding work due to the order containers remaining in the seeding mechanism for too long, and improving the overall efficiency of the picking and seeding process.

[0138] Figure 6B is a top view of a cargo picking and seeding system structure in which the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are located on the same plane and adjacent to each other, and the seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure. To make better use of the seeding platform, the equipment cost of the cargo seeding system can be reduced and the transfer efficiency of target order containers can be improved by more precisely controlling the seeding position. As shown in Figure 6B, the picking station is located on the left side in the top view of the cargo picking and seeding system structure, the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are located on the same plane and adjacent to each other, and the seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure. Based on the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt, the step of sending a transfer command to the transfer object may include the step of sending a transfer command to the seeding platform, thereby driving the seeding platform to transport the target order containers on the conveyor belt to the first conveyor belt.

[0139] For example, the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and installed adjacent to each other. The seeding platform is a conveyor belt structure, and by driving and transporting the seeding platform, the ordered containers for which seeding has been completed on the seeding platform can be directly transported to the first conveyor belt. Therefore, the control terminal can instruct the seeding platform to transport the target ordered containers in the direction of the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the seeding platform.

[0140] In some embodiments, if an order container located at the planting position closest to the first conveyor belt has already completed planting, the planting platform can be driven directly to transport it the distance of one planting position in the direction of the first conveyor belt, eliminating the need for the target order container to be transferred by an operator or additional robotic arm or other device, and significantly improving the efficiency of transferring the target order container.

[0141] In some examples, sending a transfer command to the seeding platform instructs the seeding platform to transport the target order container directly to the first conveyor belt when the target order container is located at the first seeding position, where the first seeding position is the seeding position closest to the first conveyor belt.

[0142] The seeding platform is generally in a stopped state, and the first seeding position is the seeding position closest to the first conveyor belt. When the seeding platform is driven and transported in the direction of the first conveyor belt, the ordered containers at the first seeding position can be directly transported to the first conveyor belt, significantly improving the transfer efficiency of the target ordered containers.

[0143] For example, the seeding platform can be configured to transport only one seeding position in the direction of the first conveyor belt each time it receives a transfer command. The control terminal, each time it recognizes that the sowing of one order container is complete, determines that order container as a target order container and recognizes whether the target order container is located at the first seeding position. If the target order container is located at the first seeding position, a transfer command is sent to the seeding platform, driving the seeding platform to transport the target order container on the conveyor belt only one seeding position in the direction of the first conveyor belt. For example, the control terminal can pre-store a transfer command as the width by which the seeding platform rotates by one seeding position at a time. If the target order container is located at the first seeding position, sending a transfer command once to the seeding platform drives the seeding platform to rotate by the width of one seeding position, improving the accuracy of the seeding platform's drive control and improving the efficiency of target order container transfers.

[0144] In some examples, a sensor (e.g., a camera or infrared detector) is installed near the seeding platform, and based on the signals received by the sensor, it recognizes whether the target order containers have been transported to the first conveyor belt, and if so, it stops transport on the seeding platform by sending a transport stop command to the seeding platform. For example, taking as an example that the seeding platform includes four seeding positions, a method for controlling the start and stop of transport on the seeding platform based on the detection results of a sensor installed near the seeding platform includes setting a preset time threshold at a control terminal, for example, within 15 seconds, and when the control terminal recognizes that all seeding of order containers located at the three seeding positions closest to the first conveyor belt on the seeding platform is complete, it generates a transfer command and sends the transfer command to the seeding platform, instructing the seeding platform to transport all three target order containers to the first conveyor belt. During the transport process on the seed-sowing platform, sensors located near the platform receive detection signals in real time. After the three target order containers have been transported to all first conveyor belts, the detection results are fed back to the control terminal. The control terminal receives the detection results, generates a transport stop command, and transmits the transport stop command to the seed-sowing platform, thereby stopping transport on the seed-sowing platform.

[0145] After the target order containers on the seeding platform are transported to the first conveyor belt, order containers that were originally far from the first conveyor belt are transported closer to the first conveyor belt, freeing up seeding positions far from the first conveyor belt. Typically, order containers that have not yet been seeded on the seeding platform are seeded earlier than subsequent order containers that need to be seeded. In other words, order containers that have finished seeding on the seeding platform at this time are likely to be located at the first seeding position when seeding is complete. Therefore, the control terminal can prompt the container-taking object to directly transport the order containers to be seeded to the freed seeding positions far from the first conveyor belt, thereby improving the efficiency of target order container transfers.

[0146] By setting the seeding platform to a conveyor belt structure, when a target order container is located at the first seeding position, a transfer command is sent to the seeding platform, driving the seeding platform to transport the target order container to the first conveyor belt. This method achieves efficient and automatic transfer of the target order container, while also preventing delays in the picking and seeding process caused by order containers remaining in the seeding mechanism for too long, thereby improving the overall efficiency of the picking and seeding process.

[0147] In actual applications, the order container that is first to be sown may not be located at the first sown position. To further improve the transfer efficiency of target order containers, Figure 6C shows a top view of a cargo picking and sowing system structure where the relative positions of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and adjacent, and the various sowing positions are set up as independent conveyor belt structures. As shown in Figure 6C, the picking station is located on the left side in the top view of the cargo picking and sowing system structure, the various sowing positions on the sowing platform (sowing positions A, B, C, and D shown in Figure 6C, etc.) are independent conveyor belt structures, and the relative positions of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and adjacent. The above step of sending a transfer command to the sowing platform is a step of driving the box-taking mechanism to take the target order container from the second sowing position by sending a sixth box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism when the order container is located at the second sowing position, wherein the second sowing position is any one sowing position other than the first sowing position, and the first sowing position is the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt, and by sending a first transfer command to the first sowing position and the third sowing position The process may further include: driving the transported order containers on a conveyor belt to transport them in the direction of a second sowing position, wherein the third sowing position is a sowing position between the first sowing position and the second sowing position; transmitting a box placement command to the box retrieval mechanism to drive the box retrieval mechanism to place the target order containers at the first sowing position; and transmitting a second transfer command to the first sowing position to drive the first sowing position to transport the target order containers on the conveyor belt to the first conveyor belt.

[0148] For example, the first sowing position is the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt, the second sowing position is any one of the sowing positions other than the first sowing position, and the third sowing position is a sowing position between the first and second sowing positions. If the target order container is located at the second sowing position, the sowing platform cannot be driven to transport the order container located at the second sowing position to the first conveyor belt because sowing has not been completed for the order containers located at the first sowing position and the third sowing position between the first and second sowing positions. In this case, if the seeding platform is a single conveyor belt structure or platform structure, the control terminal can, upon recognizing that seeding of the order container at the second seeding position is complete, send a box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, thereby driving the box retrieval mechanism to remove the target order container located at the second seeding position from the seeding platform and transfer the target order container directly to the first conveyor belt. The control terminal can also directly send presentation commands to the picking and seeding objects, for example, by sending an audio prompt or displaying a text prompt on the control terminal's display, to present the picking and seeding objects to remove the target order container located at the second seeding position from the seeding platform and transfer the target order container directly to the first conveyor belt.

[0149] To further improve the transfer efficiency of target order containers and realize automated transfer of target order containers, when the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are located on the same plane and installed adjacent to each other, the various seeding positions on the seeding platform can be set as independent conveyor belt structures. That is, each seeding position corresponds to a single independent conveyor belt, and can independently receive and transmit commands sent from the control terminal.

[0150] When the control terminal recognizes that the ordered container is located at the second seeding position, the control terminal sends a sixth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, driving the mechanism to retrieve the ordered container from the second seeding position. At this time, the second seeding position is empty, with no ordered containers placed there. The control terminal can then send a first transfer command to the first and third seeding positions, driving them to transport the carried ordered containers on a conveyor belt towards the second seeding position. In this way, the ordered containers at the first and third seeding positions move the distance of one seeding position towards the second seeding position, and the first seeding position becomes empty again, with no ordered containers placed there. At this time, the control terminal sends a box placement command to the box retrieval mechanism, driving the mechanism to place the target ordered container at the first seeding position. In other words, after the box-taking mechanism receives the sixth box-taking command, it takes out the target order container, and when the first sowing position becomes empty again with no order containers placed there, it places the target order container in the first sowing position. In this way, the first sowing position is occupied by a sowed target order container, and therefore, the control terminal can drive the first sowing position to directly transport the target order container to the first conveyor belt by sending a second transfer command to the first sowing position. Once the target order container is transported to the first conveyor belt, the first sowing position becomes empty again with no order containers placed there. Generally, since the order containers currently on the sowing platform are in the process of sowing, it is highly likely that sowing has been completed before any other order containers that have not yet been moved to the sowing platform. Therefore, the control terminal can drive all other sowing positions except the first sowing position to transport the order containers towards the first sowing position via the conveyor belt, emptying the sowing position furthest from the first conveyor belt. This allows the new order containers to be sowed to be moved to the sowing position furthest from the first conveyor belt, and the sowing task to be started.

[0151] When the relative positions of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and installed adjacent to each other, by setting each sowing position as an independent conveyor belt structure, when a target order container is located at the second sowing position, the target order container located at the second sowing position is removed via the box retrieval mechanism. This allows the first and third sowing positions to transport the order containers towards the second sowing position via the conveyor belt, freeing up the first sowing position. In this way, the target order container can be placed at the first sowing position and directly transported to the first conveyor belt via the first sowing position, improving the transfer efficiency of the target order container. Furthermore, the completed order containers are directly transported to the target processing point position via the first conveyor belt, saving the robot's transport capacity. This also avoids the situation where completed order containers remain in the sowing mechanism for too long, causing delays in the picking and sowing process, thereby improving the overall efficiency of the picking and sowing process.

[0152] In some embodiments, the process may further include the step of sending a transport command to the box-taking mechanism to drive the box-taking mechanism to transport the ordered containers for which sowing is complete to the first conveyor belt, and then recognizing whether there are any ordered containers remaining on the storage rack, and if there are, sending a fifth box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism to drive the box-taking mechanism to transfer the new ordered containers from the storage rack to the sowing mechanism.

[0153] For example, the control terminal can send a surplus order container detection command to the sowing station. After receiving the command, the sowing station detects whether or not there are any remaining order containers on the storage shelf and sends the detection result to the control terminal. The sowing station then detects whether or not there are any remaining order containers on the storage shelf, and if it detects that there are, it sends surplus order container information to the control terminal.

[0154] If it is detected that there are remaining order containers on the storage shelf, it is indicated that there are order containers to be planted on the storage shelf. Since the order containers that have been planted and are present in the planting mechanism have been transported elsewhere by the first conveyor belt, there are empty planting positions in the planting mechanism, and therefore, new order containers (e.g., order containers to be planted) can be transported from the storage shelf to the planting mechanism. For example, the control terminal can send a fifth box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, which is used to drive the box-taking mechanism to transport new order containers from the storage shelf to the planting mechanism.

[0155] By transferring the order containers remaining on the storage shelves to the sowing position of the sowing mechanism, the system automatically replenishes the sowing mechanism with order containers, saving time for new order containers to arrive at the sowing position during sowing and improving sowing efficiency.

[0156] In some embodiments, after the step of recognizing whether there are any remaining order containers in the storage shelf, if there are no remaining order containers in the storage shelf, the process further includes the step of sending a transport command to the storage shelf transport device to schedule the storage shelf transport device to move the storage shelf and transport a spare storage shelf to the target placement position of the storage shelf, where the spare storage shelf contains new order containers, and the target placement position of the storage shelf is the placement position of the storage shelf at the sowing station.

[0157] If there are no remaining order containers in a storage shelf, it indicates that the shelf cannot provide order containers ready for sowing, for example, that all containers in the shelf are already sown, or that the shelf is empty. In this case, the shelf may be moved to a sowing station and a new shelf may be scheduled. For example, a transport command may be sent to a shelf transport device for transporting a shelf, the transport command is used to schedule the shelf transport device to move the shelf, and a spare shelf is transported to the target location of the shelf, the spare shelf is used to store new order containers, and the target location is used to store the spare shelf. In some examples, the shelf transport device that moves the shelf and the shelf transport device that transports the spare shelf may be the same device or different devices, and embodiments of this disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0158] By moving storage shelves that have no ordered containers remaining to the sowing station and transporting spare storage shelves to their target placement locations at the sowing station, it is possible to ensure that new ordered containers are replenished at the sowing locations in a timely manner, saving waiting time during sowing and improving sowing efficiency.

[0159] The cargo picking and seeding method provided by the embodiments of this disclosure involves setting up a picking station and a seeding station to share an operating space, a control terminal recognizing the picking station, and sending picking and seeding prompts to the picking and seeding objects based on the recognition result, thereby enabling the picking and seeding objects to complete cargo picking and seeding in place with minimal movement, saving overall picking and seeding operation time, integrating picking and seeding, and improving overall picking and seeding efficiency.

[0160] For ease of understanding, the cargo picking and seeding methods provided by the embodiments of this disclosure will be described below in conjunction with the system structures shown in Figures 4 and 5, respectively.

[0161] As shown in Figure 4, the cargo picking and seeding system is configured such that a deliverable seeding rack 4021 is installed near a conventional cargo handling station, a box retrieval mechanism 4022 is installed behind the seeding rack 4021, a storage rack docking position is installed behind the box retrieval mechanism 4022, and the storage rack 4023 holds order containers to be sown and filled order containers (e.g., order containers for which sowing has been completed).

[0162] Initially, the storage rack 4023 contains only order containers to be sowed. The picking robot lines up and, based on the gripping order that hits the container to be picked, rearranges the order containers in order. The corresponding order containers are then transferred to the forward sowing rack 4021. The order containers are then rearranged in order on the sowing rack 4021. After the picking robot arrives at the picking station 401 and unloads the containers to be picked, the picking and sowing workers sow the corresponding goods into the order containers on the sowing rack 4021. After sowing is complete, the order containers are sorted according to their order. The system selects whether or not to replace the order container with a new one. After the goods in one order container have been sowed, the box retrieval mechanism 4022 places the filled order container on a storage shelf and replaces the order container to be sowed on the sowing shelf 4021. Once sowing is complete for all the order containers to be sowed on the first storage shelf and all the order containers on the storage shelf 4023 are filled (order containers that have been fully sowed), the storage shelf conveyor transports the storage shelf transport carrying all the filled order containers to the next stage and schedules and replenishes the new storage shelf with the order containers to be sowed as a spare storage shelf for sowing.

[0163] The cargo picking and seeding system shown in Figure 5 includes a deliverable seeding position 5021 located near a conventional cargo handling station, a first conveyor belt 5024 (which may also be called a full container conveyor belt) located below the seeding position 5021, a box retrieval mechanism 5022 located behind the seeding position 5021, a storage shelf docking position located behind the box retrieval mechanism 5022, and storage shelves 5023 on which order containers to be seeded and filled order containers are placed.

[0164] Initially, all containers placed on storage rack 5023 are order containers to be planted. After the picking robots line up, they rearrange the order of the order containers based on the grasping order of the containers to be picked, and move the corresponding order containers to the forward planting position 5021 in advance. The order containers are then rearranged in order at the planting position 5021. After the picking robots arrive at the picking station 501 and unload the containers to be picked, the picking and planting workers position the corresponding cargo at the planting position. After sowing seeds into the order containers and completing the sowing, the system selects whether or not to replace them with new order containers based on the order of the order containers. Once the sowing of the goods in one order container is complete, the box retrieval mechanism 5022 places the filled order containers on the first conveyor belt 5024 and replaces one order container to be sowed at the sowing position 5021. When the sowing of all order containers to be sowed in the first storage rack is complete, the storage rack conveyor moves the storage rack and schedules and replenishes the new storage rack with order containers to be sowed as a spare storage rack.

[0165] Figure 7 is a top view of a cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism provided in some embodiments of this disclosure is a storage rack. Figure 8 is a top view of a cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism provided in some embodiments of this disclosure is a second conveyor belt. For ease of understanding, the cargo picking and seeding methods provided in embodiments of this disclosure will be described below in combination with the system structures shown in Figures 7 and 8.

[0166] The solution in Figure 7 for transporting ordered containers to be planted on a storage rack involves installing a deliverable planting platform 7021 near a conventional cargo handling station (i.e., picking station 701), installing a box-handling mechanism 7022 behind the planting platform 7021, installing a storage rack docking position behind the box-handling mechanism 7022, and transporting the ordered containers to be planted to the storage rack 7023. A first conveyor belt 7024 may be installed above or below the planting platform, or it may be installed in a position coplanar with and adjacent to the planting platform, and the first conveyor belt 7024 is used to directly transport the planted ordered containers to a target processing point.

[0167] Initially, the storage rack 7023 contains the order containers to be sowed. After the picking robots line up, they rearrange the order of the order containers based on the grasping order of the containers to be picked, and transfer the corresponding order containers to the forward sowing platform 7021 in advance. The order containers are then rearranged in order on the sowing platform 7021. After the picking robots arrive at the picking station 701 and unload the containers to be picked, the picking and sowing workers sow the corresponding cargo to the order containers on the sowing platform 7021, and the sowing is complete. After completion, based on the order of the order containers, it is selected whether or not to replace them with new order containers. After the sowing of the goods in one order container is complete, the box retrieval mechanism 7022 transfers the filled order container to the first conveyor belt 7024, then replaces one order container to be sowed on the sowing platform 7021. When the order containers to be sowed on the first storage rack are completely used and there are no order containers left on the storage rack, the storage rack conveyor transports the empty storage rack to the warehouse, where it waits until it is reused in the warehouse, and the storage rack with the order containers to be sowed is scheduled and replenished as a spare storage rack for sowing.

[0168] Figure 7 is a top view of the cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism is a storage rack. This is merely one example of the cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism is a storage rack, and does not limit the combination of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt in the cargo picking and seeding system that this disclosure seeks to protect.

[0169] The seed-sowing rack solution shown in Figure 8 involves installing a deliverable seed-sowing platform 8023 and a second conveyor belt 8022 near a conventional work station (i.e., picking station 801). The second conveyor belt 8022 is used to transport ordered containers to be sowed to a designated location adjacent to the seed-sowing platform 8023 at the seed-sowing station, and the box-picking object can transport the ordered containers to be sowed directly from the designated location to the seed-sowing platform 8023. A first conveyor belt 8024 may be installed above or below the seed-sowing platform, or it may be installed on the same plane as and adjacent to the seed-sowing platform 8023, and the first conveyor belt 8024 is used to transport ordered containers that have been sowed directly to a target processing point location.

[0170] Figure 8 is a top view of the cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism is a second conveyor belt. This is merely one example of the cargo picking and seeding system structure when the conveying mechanism is a second conveyor belt. In the cargo picking and seeding system that this disclosure aims to protect, the positions of the first conveyor belt 8024 and the second conveyor belt 8022 are interchangeable, and the conveying direction of the conveyor belt that carries the order containers to be seeded and the conveyor belt that carries the order containers after seeding is complete is not limited.

[0171] In some embodiments, the seeding mechanism of a cargo picking and seeding system may further include temporary storage shelves, and if the seeding structure includes temporary storage shelves, the order containers to be seeded may be placed on the temporary storage shelves. For example, a storage shelf conveyor transports storage shelves on which the order containers to be seeded are placed in advance to a seeding station, and a box-picking device or box-picking operator located at the seeding station transfers the order containers to be seeded from the storage shelves to the temporary storage shelves. In the initial state, all items placed on the temporary storage shelves are order containers to be seeded, and after the seeding of the order containers is complete, a transfer object can transfer the seeded order containers to an empty cargo position on the temporary storage shelves, or transfer the seeded order containers to the first conveyor belt. If all the containers placed on the temporary storage shelves are ordered containers for which sowing has been completed, the empty storage shelves or storage shelves with available placement positions can be transported to the sowing station via the storage shelf transport device, and the ordered containers in the temporary storage shelves can be transferred to the storage shelves, and the storage shelves can then be transported to the target processing point position via the storage shelf transport device.

[0172] The embodiments provided in this disclosure can be combined with each other. For example, the conveying mechanism may be any one of storage shelves, a second conveyor belt, or temporary storage shelves; the conveying side may be any one of storage shelves, a first conveyor belt, or temporary storage shelves; and the sowing structure may be a sowing platform or sowing shelves. By combining different structural types of the conveying mechanism, conveying side, and sowing mechanism, various cargo picking and sowing systems can be configured. For example, in a cargo picking and sowing system, the conveying mechanism is a second conveyor belt and the conveying side is storage shelves. A box-taking object can transport order containers to be sowed from the second conveyor belt to the sowing mechanism, and once sowing of the order containers is complete, a transfer object (e.g., the box-taking mechanism) transfers the sowed order containers from the sowing mechanism to the storage shelves. The embodiments of this disclosure omit detailed descriptions of other types of cargo picking and sowing systems; please refer to the relevant descriptions in the embodiments above for relevant information.

[0173] Figure 9 is a process flowchart of a cargo picking and seeding method applied to a work station, provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, and in conjunction with Figure 9, the cargo picking and seeding method will be further illustrated.

[0174] S902 obtains the gripping sequence in which the picking robot grasps each material box from the picking storage shelf.

[0175] For example, a material box is a container used to hold goods to be picked at a work station.

[0176] S904, Based on the gripping order, determine the arrangement order of order boxes corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked.

[0177] For example, an order box is a container used in a work station to hold corresponding goods within an order.

[0178] S906 obtains the number of seeding positions on the seeding platform and generates the first box picking command based on the array order and the number of seeding positions.

[0179] S908, by sending a first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, the box-taking mechanism is driven to transfer multiple order boxes from the storage rack to the corresponding sowing positions on the sowing platform, based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions, to satisfy the number of sowing positions.

[0180] S910 obtains the number of temporary storage locations and generates a third box retrieval command based on the number of temporary storage locations.

[0181] S912, by sending a third box-retrieval command to the box-retrieval object, the box-retrieval object is instructed to transfer multiple order boxes from the transport mechanism to each temporary storage location based on the number of temporary storage locations.

[0182] S914 recognizes whether a material box has arrived at the picking platform, and if it has arrived, displays a picking and sowing instruction on the control terminal's display, instructing the picking and sowing workers to pick the goods from the material box and sow the picked goods into the order box on the sowing platform.

[0183] S916 recognizes whether the sowing of seeds in the order box on the sowing platform has been completed.

[0184] S918. When sowing is completed for an order box on the sowing platform, the control terminal recognizes whether the completed order box is in the sowing area closest to the first conveyor belt, based on the fact that the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are located on the same plane and adjacent to each other.

[0185] S920: When an order box with completed sowing is located at the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt, the control terminal generates a transfer command and transmits the transfer command to the sowing platform.

[0186] S922, the seeding platform, receives a transfer command and directly transports the completed seeding boxes to the first conveyor belt via the conveyor belt.

[0187] S924, the first conveyor belt directly transports the order boxes with completed seeding to the next processing node.

[0188] The above is an exemplary solution for a cargo picking and sowing method applied to the cargo handling station of this embodiment. The cargo picking and sowing technical proposal applied to the cargo handling station and the cargo picking and sowing method technical proposal described above belong to the same structure. For details not described in detail in the cargo picking and sowing method technical proposal applied to the cargo handling station, please refer to the description of the cargo picking and sowing method technical proposal described above.

[0189] Accordingly, the cargo picking and seeding method provided by this disclosure involves, upon arrival of a container to be picked at a picking station, sending a picking and seeding presentation command to a picking and seeding object in the operating space, thereby picking the cargo from the container to be picked, and presenting the picked cargo to the picking and seeding object to seed it into an order container repositioned on the seeding platform; and upon completion of seeding of the target order container, sending a transfer command to a transfer object based on the relative position between the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt, thereby presenting the transfer object to transfer the target order container from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt being used to transport the target order container to the target processing point position. The picking station and seeding station are configured to share an operating space. A control terminal recognizes the picking station and, based on the recognition result, sends picking and seeding prompts to the picking and seeding objects. This allows the picking and seeding objects to complete the picking and seeding of goods in place with minimal movement, saving overall operation time and integrating picking and seeding. Furthermore, by transferring the completed seeded order containers to the first conveyor belt, the containers can be quickly transported to the target processing point location via the first conveyor belt after seeding. This eliminates the need to wait for other order containers to be seeded and the need to schedule transport robots, improving the transport efficiency of completed seeded order containers, freeing up robot transport capacity, and improving the overall efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0190] Corresponding to embodiments of the above-described method, embodiments of the present disclosure further provide cargo picking and seeding equipment, Figure 10 being a schematic diagram of the structure of cargo picking and seeding equipment provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in Figure 10, the equipment is applied to a cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system includes a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism, and the cargo picking and seeding equipment includes a picking and seeding module 1002 and a scheduling module 1004.

[0191] The picking and seeding module 1002 is configured to recognize whether a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, and if a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, it sends a picking and seeding prompt to the picking and seeding object in the operating space, thereby picking the goods in the container to be picked and presenting the picked goods to the picking and seeding object for sowing into the order container located in the seeding mechanism.

[0192] The scheduling module 1004 is configured to recognize whether the planting of the ordered containers is complete, and if the planting of the ordered containers is complete, it sends a transfer command to the transfer object, instructing the transfer object to transfer the planted ordered containers from the planting mechanism to a storage rack, or to transfer the planted ordered containers from the planting mechanism to a first conveyor belt, which is used to transport the planted ordered containers to a target processing point.

[0193] In some embodiments, the sowing station further includes a box-picking object and a transport mechanism, the transport mechanism being used to transport ordered containers to be sowed to the sowing station, and the picking and sowing module 1002 is further configured to present the box-picking object with instructions to transfer the ordered containers to be sowed from the transport mechanism to the sowing mechanism by transmitting a box-picking command to the box-picking object.

[0194] In some embodiments, the picking and sowing module 1002 is A first acquisition module is configured to acquire the picking sequence in which a picking robot grasps each container to be picked from a picking storage shelf, A sorting module configured to determine the arrangement order of order containers corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked, based on the picking order, A first instruction generation module configured to generate a first box-taking instruction based on the array order. The system includes a first transmitting module configured to transmit a first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to transport a plurality of ordered containers from a storage shelf to corresponding sowing positions of a sowing mechanism based on their arrangement order.

[0195] In some embodiments, the first instruction generation module is further configured to obtain the number of sowing positions of the sowing mechanism and generate a first box-taking instruction based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions. The first transmission module is further used to transmit the first box-taking instruction to the box-taking mechanism and drive the box-taking mechanism to transfer a number of order containers from the storage rack to the corresponding sowing positions of the sowing mechanism, based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions.

[0196] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism includes a second conveyor belt, and the picking and sowing module 1002 is further configured to generate a box picking command and send the box picking command to the box picking object when it detects that the second conveyor belt has transported the ordered containers to be sowed to a designated position, thereby prompting the box picking object to transport the ordered containers to be sowed from the designated position to the sowing mechanism.

[0197] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism includes a temporary storage rack for arranging order containers to be sowed and / or order containers that have been sowed, and the picking and sowing module 1002 is further configured to send a picking command to a picking object and present the picking object with order containers to be sowed, to be transferred from the temporary storage rack to the sowing mechanism.

[0198] In some embodiments, the scheduling module 1004 is further configured to retrieve the remaining space each time the planting of a shipment for one picking completed in the order container is finished, and to determine that planting of the order container is complete when the remaining space reaches a preset space, or to determine each target shipment corresponding to the order container, and to determine that planting of the order container is complete when all of each target shipment has been planted in the order container.

[0199] In some embodiments, the sowing mechanism is a sowing rack, the transfer object is a box retrieval mechanism, and the scheduling module 1004 is further configured to drive the box retrieval mechanism to transfer the ordered containers that have been sowed from the sowing mechanism to the storage rack by sending a transfer command to the box retrieval mechanism, and to recognize whether all the ordered containers on the storage rack are ordered containers that have been sowed, and if so, to send a transfer command to the storage rack transporter, thereby scheduling the storage rack transporter to transport the storage rack to a target processing point location.

[0200] In some embodiments, the cargo picking and seeding apparatus may further include a second transmitting module configured to drive the box picking mechanism to transfer the unsown order containers from the storage shelf to the seeding mechanism by transmitting a second box picking command to the box picking mechanism if the order containers on the storage shelf include order containers that have not been seeded.

[0201] In some embodiments, the sowing rack includes sowing positions and temporary storage positions, and the cargo picking and sowing apparatus may further include a temporary storage drive module configured to drive a box retrieval mechanism to move ordered containers from the sowing position to the temporary storage position by sending a third box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism when sowing of ordered containers is complete and the storage rack has been moved, or to retrieve order information of ordered containers that have been sowed at various sowing positions, determine the order similarity of each ordered container based on the order information of each ordered container that has been sowed, generate a fourth box retrieval command based on the order similarity, and send the fourth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism to drive the box retrieval mechanism to move ordered containers whose order similarity is higher than a preset threshold from the sowing position to the temporary storage position.

[0202] In some embodiments, the cargo picking and seeding apparatus may further include a recognition module configured to recognize whether there are any order containers remaining on the storage rack, and a third transmission module configured to drive the box picking mechanism to transfer new order containers from the storage rack to the seeding mechanism by transmitting a fifth box picking command to the box picking mechanism if there are order containers remaining on the storage rack (i.e., if there are order containers to be seeded on the storage rack).

[0203] In some embodiments, the cargo picking and seeding apparatus further includes a fourth transmitting module configured to schedule a shelf transporter to move a shelf and transport a spare shelf to a target location for the shelf, by transmitting a transport command to the shelf transporter when there are no order containers remaining on the shelf (i.e., there are no order containers to be seeded on the shelf), wherein the spare shelf contains new order containers, and the target location for the shelf is the location of the shelf at the seeding station.

[0204] In some embodiments, the seeding mechanism includes a seeding platform and a first conveyor belt, and the scheduling module 604 is further configured to instruct a transfer object to transfer a completed seeding order container from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt.

[0205] In some embodiments, the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two layers, upper and lower, where the transfer object is a box exchange mechanism, where the scheduling module 1004 is further configured to drive the box exchange mechanism to transfer ordered containers that have completed seeding from the seeding platform to the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the box exchange mechanism.

[0206] In some embodiments, the relative positions of the seeding platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and installed adjacent to each other, the seeding platform being a conveyor belt structure, and the scheduling module 1004 is further configured to drive the seeding platform to transport the completed seeding order containers to the first conveyor belt via the conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the seeding platform.

[0207] In some embodiments, the cargo picking and seeding apparatus further includes a scheduling module 1004 configured to drive the seeding platform to directly transport the seeded order containers on the conveyor belt to the first conveyor belt by sending a transfer command to the seeding platform when the order container is located at the first seeding position, wherein the scheduling module 1004 is configured such that the first seeding position is the seeding position closest to the first conveyor belt.

[0208] In some embodiments, the various sowing positions are configured as independent conveyor belt structures, and the scheduling module 1004 further drives the box retrieval mechanism to retrieve the ordered containers from the second sowing position by sending a sixth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism when the ordered containers are located at the second sowing position, where the second sowing position is any one sowing position other than the first sowing position, and the first sowing position is the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt, and the first transfer command is sent to the first sowing position and the third sowing position. The system is configured such that the first and third sowing positions are driven to transport the placed order containers toward the second sowing position via a conveyor belt, where the third sowing position is a sowing position between the first and second sowing positions, and a box placement command is sent to the box retrieval mechanism to drive the box retrieval mechanism to place the completed sowing order containers at the first sowing position, and a second transfer command is sent to the first sowing position to drive the first sowing position to transport the completed sowing order containers toward the first conveyor belt via a conveyor belt.

[0209] In some embodiments, the sowing station further includes a temporary storage shelf, the transfer object is a box retrieval mechanism, and the scheduling module 1004 is further configured to drive the box retrieval mechanism to transfer order containers that have finished sowing from the sowing mechanism to the temporary storage shelf by sending a transfer command to the box retrieval mechanism, and to determine whether all order containers in the temporary storage shelf are order containers that have finished sowing.

[0210] For example, the scheduling module 1004 is configured to schedule the storage shelf transporter to transport storage shelves with available placement locations to the sowing station when all ordered containers in the temporary storage shelves are ordered containers for which sowing has been completed, by sending a scheduling command to the storage shelf transporter, by sending a transfer command to the box retrieval mechanism, by driving the box retrieval mechanism to transport the ordered containers for which sowing has been completed from the temporary storage shelves to storage shelves with available placement locations, and by sending a transfer command to the storage shelf transporter, by scheduling the storage shelf transporter to transport the storage shelves on which the ordered containers are located to the target processing point location.

[0211] For example, the scheduling module 1004 is configured to drive the box retrieval mechanism to transfer the unsown order containers from the temporary storage shelf to the sowing mechanism by sending a seventh box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism if the order containers in the temporary storage shelf include order containers for which sowing has not been completed.

[0212] In some embodiments, the seeding mechanism includes temporary storage locations, and the cargo picking and seeding device may further include a second acquisition module configured to acquire the number of temporary storage locations of the seeding mechanism, a second command generation module configured to generate an eighth box picking command based on the number of temporary storage locations, and a fifth transmission module configured to transmit an eighth box picking command to the box picking mechanism, thereby driving the box picking mechanism to transfer a number of order containers from the storage rack to each temporary storage location that meets the number of temporary storage locations.

[0213] By applying the embodiments of this disclosure, the picking station and the seeding station are configured to share an operating space, the picking station is recognized by a control terminal, and based on the recognition result, picking and seeding prompts are sent to the picking and seeding objects. This allows the picking and seeding objects to complete the picking and seeding of goods in place with minimal movement, saving overall picking and seeding time, integrating picking and seeding, and improving the overall efficiency of picking and seeding.

[0214] The above is an exemplary solution for the cargo picking and seeding apparatus of this embodiment. Note that the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding apparatus and the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding method described above belong to the same structure. For detailed information not described in the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding apparatus, please refer to the description of the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding method described above.

[0215] Figure 11 is a structural block diagram of a computing device 1100 provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure. The computing device 1100 includes a memory 1110 and a processor 1120. The processor 1120 and the memory 1110 are connected by a bus 1130, and a data source 1150 is used to store data.

[0216] The computing device 1100 further includes an access device 1140, which enables the computing device 1100 to communicate through one or more networks 1160. Examples of these networks include combinations of communication networks such as Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN), Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Personal Area Networks (PAN), or the Internet. The access device 1140 may include one or more of any type of wired or wireless network interface (e.g., Network Interface Controllers (NICs)), such as an IEEE 802.12 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) wireless interface, a World Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-MAX) interface, an Ethernet interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a cellular network interface, a Bluetooth interface, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) interface.

[0217] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned components of the computing device 1100 and other components not shown in Figure 11 may be connected to each other via a bus or the like. Note that the block diagram of the computing device structure shown in Figure 11 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art may add or replace components as needed.

[0218] The computing device 1100 may be any type of fixed or mobile computing device, including mobile computers or mobile computing devices (e.g., tablets, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, notebooks, netbooks, etc.), mobile phones (e.g., smartphones), wearable computing devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses, etc.), or other types of mobile devices, or fixed computing devices such as desktop computers or PCs. The computing device 1100 may also be a mobile or fixed server.

[0219] Here, the processor 1120 is used to execute the following computer-executable instructions: When a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, it sends a picking and sowing presentation instruction to the picking and sowing object in the operating space to present the goods in the container to be picked and the picked goods in the order container placed in the sowing mechanism; and when sowing in the order container is complete, it sends a transfer instruction to the transfer object to instruct the transfer object to transport the order container to the transport side, which includes a storage rack, a temporary storage rack, or a first conveyor belt.

[0220] The above is an exemplary solution for the computing device in this embodiment. Note that the technical proposal for the computing device and the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding method belong to the same concept. For details not described in the technical proposal for the computing device, please refer to the description of the technical proposal for the cargo picking and seeding method.

[0221] One embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium in which computer instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, realize the steps of the above-mentioned cargo picking and seeding method.

[0222] The above describes specific embodiments of the present disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the operations or steps described in the claims may be performed in a different order than that in the embodiments, and the desired results can still be achieved. Furthermore, the processes depicted in the drawings do not necessarily have to follow the specific order or sequence shown to obtain the desired results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may be possible or advantageous.

[0223] The computer instruction includes computer program code, which may be in source code format, object code format, executable file format, or intermediate format. The computer-readable medium may include any entity or device capable of carrying the computer program code, recording media, USB memory, mobile hard disk, magnetic disk, optical disk, computer memory, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electrical carrier signals, communication signals, and software distribution media.

[0224] For the sake of clarity, the embodiments of each method described above are presented as a combination of operations; however, as those skilled in the art will understand, according to this disclosure, some steps may be performed in a different order or simultaneously, and therefore this disclosure is not limited to the order of operations described. Furthermore, it will be well known to those skilled in the art that all embodiments described in this disclosure are preferred embodiments, and the relevant operations and modules are not necessarily required for this disclosure.

[0225] In the above embodiments, each embodiment has its own emphasis, and for parts not detailed in some embodiments, please refer to the relevant descriptions in other embodiments.

[0226] The preferred embodiments of the Disclosure disclosed above are used solely for illustrative purposes of the Disclosure. The selectable embodiments are not exhaustive of all details, nor do they limit the Disclosure, but are merely specific embodiments. Clearly, various modifications and changes are possible according to the Disclosure. These embodiments, selected and specifically described in the Disclosure, are intended to better illustrate the principles and practical applications of the Disclosure, thereby enabling those skilled in the art to better understand and utilize the Disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for picking and sowing cargo, applied to a control terminal in a cargo picking and sowing system, wherein the cargo picking and sowing system includes a picking station, a sowing station and the control terminal, the picking station and the sowing station share an operating space, the sowing station includes a sowing mechanism, and the method is: When a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, the process involves sending a picking and sowing instruction to the picking and sowing object in the operating space, thereby instructing the object to pick the goods from the container to be picked and to sow the picked goods into pre-placed order containers in the sowing mechanism. When sowing is completed in the order container, the transfer object is instructed to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a storage rack by sending a transfer command, or to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt being used to transport the order container with completed sowing to a target processing point location. Cargo picking and seeding methods.

2. The sowing station further includes a box-taking object and a transport mechanism for transporting ordered containers to be sowed to the sowing station. Before transmitting picking and sowing prompts to the picking and sowing objects in the operating space, the method: The further step includes sending a box-taking command to the box-taking object, thereby prompting the box-taking object to transfer the ordered containers to be planted from the transport mechanism to the planting mechanism. The method according to claim 1.

3. The box-picking object includes a box-picking mechanism, the transport mechanism includes a storage shelf, and the picking station includes a picking robot. Sending a box-taking command to the aforementioned box-taking object means The picking robot obtains the gripping sequence in which it grasps each container to be picked from the picking storage shelf, Based on the aforementioned picking order, the arrangement order of the order containers corresponding to the goods in each container to be picked is determined, Based on the aforementioned arrangement order, a first box retrieval command is generated, This includes transmitting the first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to transfer a plurality of ordered containers from the storage shelf to the corresponding seed-sowing position of the seed-sowing mechanism based on the arrangement order, The method according to claim 2.

4. Generating the first box retrieval command based on the aforementioned arrangement order is: To obtain the number of seed-sowing positions of the seed-sowing mechanism, This includes generating the first box picking command based on the arrangement order and the number of seed planting positions, By transmitting the first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, the box-taking mechanism is driven to transfer a plurality of ordered containers from the storage shelf to the corresponding seed-sowing position of the seed-sowing mechanism based on the arrangement order, The process includes transmitting the first box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to transfer a plurality of order containers from the storage shelf to the corresponding sowing positions of the sowing mechanism, based on the arrangement order and the number of sowing positions, to satisfy the number of sowing positions. The method according to claim 3.

5. The conveying mechanism includes a second conveyor belt. Sending a box-taking command to the aforementioned box-taking object means When it is detected that the second conveyor belt has transported the ordered containers to be planted to the designated position, the box retrieval command is generated, The step of sending the box-taking command to the box-taking object, thereby prompting the box-taking object to transfer the order containers to be sowed from the designated position to the sowing mechanism, includes the step of The method according to claim 2.

6. The transport mechanism includes a temporary storage shelf for placing order containers to be sowed and / or order containers for which sowing has been completed. Sending a box-taking command to the aforementioned box-taking object means The step includes transmitting the box-taking command to the box-taking object, thereby prompting the box-taking object to transfer the ordered containers to be planted from the temporary storage shelf to the planting mechanism, The method according to claim 2.

7. Each time the planting of a shipment in the aforementioned order container is completed, the remaining space is obtained, and when the remaining space reaches a predetermined amount, it is determined that the planting of the order container is complete, or The further step includes determining each target cargo corresponding to the ordered container, and determining that sowing of the ordered container is complete when all of the target cargo has been sown in the ordered container. The method according to claim 1.

8. The aforementioned seed-sowing mechanism is a seed-sowing rack, and the aforementioned transfer object is a box-receiving mechanism. Sending a transfer command to the aforementioned transfer object means This includes transmitting a transfer command to the box-receiving mechanism, thereby driving the box-receiving mechanism to transfer the ordered containers, for which sowing has been completed, from the sowing mechanism to the storage shelf. The aforementioned method, If all the ordered containers in the storage rack are ordered containers for which sowing has been completed, the further step includes sending a transport command to the storage rack transport device, thereby scheduling the storage rack transport device to transport the storage rack to the target processing point location. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. If the order containers in the storage rack include order containers for which sowing has not been completed, the further step includes transmitting a second box-taking command to the box-taking mechanism, thereby driving the box-taking mechanism to transfer the order containers for which sowing has not been completed from the storage rack to the sowing mechanism. The method according to claim 8.

10. The aforementioned seed-sowing rack includes a seed-sowing position and a temporary storage position, and the aforementioned method is When sowing of the ordered containers is complete and the storage rack has already been moved, a third box retrieval command is transmitted to the box retrieval mechanism, thereby driving the box retrieval mechanism to move the ordered containers from the sowing position to the temporary storage position, or The process further includes the steps of: obtaining order information for order containers for which sowing has been completed at each of the sowing locations; determining the order similarity of each order container based on the order information of each order container for which sowing has been completed; generating a fourth box picking command based on the order similarity; and transmitting the fourth box picking command to the box picking mechanism, thereby driving the box picking mechanism to transfer order containers whose order similarity is higher than a preset threshold from the sowing location to the temporary storage location. The method according to claim 8.

11. After sending a transfer command to the aforementioned transfer object, If there are order containers to be sown in the storage shelf, the step of transmitting a fifth box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, thereby driving the box retrieval mechanism to transfer new order containers from the storage shelf to the seed sown mechanism, If there are no order containers to be planted in the storage shelf, the process includes sending a transport command to the storage shelf transport device to schedule the storage shelf transport device to move the storage shelf and transport a spare storage shelf to the target placement position of the storage shelf, wherein the spare storage shelf contains new order containers, and the target placement position of the storage shelf is the placement position of the storage shelf in the planting station. The method according to claim 3 or 4.

12. The seed-sowing mechanism includes a seed-sowing platform and the first conveyor belt. Sending a transfer command to the aforementioned transfer object means The method includes instructing the transfer object to transfer the order containers, for which sowing has been completed, from the sowing platform to the first conveyor belt by transmitting the transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position of the sowing platform and the first conveyor belt, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

13. The relative positions of the seed-sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are set to two layers, upper and lower, and the transfer object is a box exchange mechanism. Sending the transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position of the seed-sowing platform and the first conveyor belt is: This includes transmitting the transfer command to the box exchange mechanism to drive the box exchange mechanism to transfer the ordered containers, for which sowing has been completed, from the sowing platform to the first conveyor belt, The method according to claim 10.

14. The relative positions of the seed-sowing platform and the first conveyor belt are on the same plane and installed adjacent to each other, and the seed-sowing platform has a conveyor belt structure. Sending the transfer command to the transfer object based on the relative position of the seed-sowing platform and the first conveyor belt is: The step includes transmitting the transfer command to the sowing platform, thereby driving the sowing platform to transport the ordered containers, for which sowing has been completed, to the first conveyor belt via a conveyor belt, The method according to claim 12.

15. Sending the transfer command to the sowing platform means When the ordered container is located at the first sowing position, the transfer command is transmitted to the sowing platform to drive the sowing platform to directly transport the ordered container, after sowing is complete, to the first conveyor belt, wherein the first sowing position is the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt. The method according to claim 14.

16. The various sowing positions on the aforementioned seed-sowing platform are configured as independent conveyor belt structures. Sending the transfer command to the sowing platform means When the ordered container is located at the second sowing position, a sixth box removal command is transmitted to the box removal mechanism, thereby driving the box removal mechanism to remove the ordered container, for which sowing has been completed, from the second sowing position, wherein the second sowing position is any one sowing position other than the first sowing position, and the first sowing position is the sowing position closest to the first conveyor belt. The first transfer command is transmitted to the first sowing position and the third sowing position to drive the first sowing position and the third sowing position to transport the placed order containers toward the second sowing position by a conveyor belt, wherein the third sowing position is a sowing position between the first sowing position and the second sowing position. By transmitting a box placement command to the box picking mechanism, the box picking mechanism is driven to place the target order container at the first seed sowing position. This includes transmitting a second transfer command to the first seeding position, thereby driving the first seeding position to transport the target order containers to the first conveyor belt via a conveyor belt, The method according to claim 14.

17. The sowing station further includes a temporary storage shelf, and the transfer object is a box-retrieval mechanism. Sending a transfer command to the aforementioned transfer object means This includes transmitting the transfer command to the box-receiving mechanism to drive the box-receiving mechanism to transfer the ordered containers, for which sowing has been completed, from the sowing mechanism to the temporary storage shelf, The aforementioned method, If all the ordered containers in the temporary storage rack are ordered containers for which sowing has been completed, the step of sending a scheduling command to the storage rack transport device to schedule the storage rack transport device and transport the storage racks with available placement positions to the sowing station, The steps include: transmitting a transfer command to the box-receiving mechanism to drive the box-receiving mechanism to transfer the ordered containers, for which sowing has been completed, from the temporary storage shelf to a storage shelf having an available placement position; The further step includes sending a transport command to the storage shelf transport device, thereby scheduling the storage shelf transport device to transport the storage shelf on which the ordered containers are located to the target processing point location, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

18. If the order containers in the temporary storage rack include order containers for which sowing has not been completed, the further step includes transmitting a seventh box retrieval command to the box retrieval mechanism, thereby driving the box retrieval mechanism to transfer the order containers for which sowing has not been completed from the temporary storage rack to the sowing mechanism. The method according to claim 17.

19. The sowing mechanism includes a temporary storage position, and the method is The steps include obtaining the number of temporary storage locations for the seed-sowing mechanism, The steps include generating an eighth box retrieval command based on the number of temporary storage locations, The further step includes transmitting the eighth box picking command to the box picking object, thereby prompting the box picking object to transport a plurality of ordered containers from the transport mechanism to each of the temporary storage locations, based on the number of temporary storage locations, to a number of temporary storage locations that meet the number of temporary storage locations. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6.

20. A cargo picking and seeding apparatus, applied to a cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system includes a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, the picking station and the seeding station share an operating space, the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism, and the apparatus is, A picking and sowing module is configured to, when a container to be picked arrives at the picking station, transmit a picking and sowing instruction to a picking and sowing object in the operating space, thereby picking the goods in the container to be picked and presenting the picked goods to the picking and sowing object for sowing in a pre-placed order container in the sowing mechanism. A scheduling module configured to, when sowing is completed in the order container, send a transfer command to a transfer object, thereby instructing the transfer object to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a storage rack, or to transfer the order container with completed sowing from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, wherein the first conveyor belt includes a scheduling module used to transport the order container with completed sowing to a target processing point location. Cargo picking and seed planting equipment.

21. A cargo picking and seeding system, the cargo picking and seeding system includes a picking station, a seeding station and a control terminal, the seeding station includes a seeding mechanism, The picking station and the sowing station share an operating space, the picking and sowing objects are located within the operating space, and the picking and sowing objects are configured to pick goods from containers to be picked at the picking station and to sow the picked goods into order containers located in the sowing mechanism. The control terminal is configured to send a picking and sowing instruction to the picking and sowing object when it recognizes that a container to be picked has arrived at the picking station, and to send a transfer instruction to the transfer object when it recognizes that the sowing of the ordered container is complete, thereby instructing the transfer object to transfer the ordered container after sowing from the sowing mechanism to a storage shelf, or to transfer the ordered container after sowing from the sowing mechanism to a first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt being used to transport the ordered container after sowing to a target processing point location. Cargo picking and seeding system.

22. A computing device including memory and a processor, The memory is used to store instructions that can be executed by the computer, the processor is used to execute the instructions that can be executed by the computer, and when the instructions that can be executed by the computer are executed by the processor, the method of picking and sowing goods according to any one of claims 1 to 19 is realized. Computing device.

23. A computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions are stored, When the computer instruction is executed by a processor, the method of picking goods and sowing seeds according to any one of claims 1 to 19 is realized. A computer-readable storage medium.

Images