Workstation, warehousing system, method for goods picking at workstation, and storage medium

Abstract

A workstation (40), a warehousing system (1), a method for goods picking at the workstation (40), and a storage medium. The workstation (40) comprises: an inventory box area (41), an order box area (42), and a picking station (43); the inventory box area (41) comprises a first entry passage (411), a retrieval position (412), and a first exit passage (413) which are arranged in sequence, and further comprises a candidate passage (414) adjacent to the first entry passage (411); the order box area (42) comprises a second entry passage (421), a delivery position (422), and a second exit passage (423) which are arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions (424) located between the second entry passage (421) and the second exit passage (423); the plurality of temporary storage positions (424) are used for temporarily storing order boxes for which order task picking has not been completed, a second transfer robot (30) temporarily parking in a temporary storage position (424) enters the second entry passage (421) according to a first order, and the first order is determined according to a second order of inventory boxes in the first entry passage (411), so that the order box reaching the delivery position (422) matches the inventory box reaching the retrieval position (412). The picking efficiency of the workstation (40) is improved, and the picking error rate is reduced.

Description

Workstation, warehouse system, method for picking goods at workstation and storage medium

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202411265925.9 filed on September 9, 2024, and entitled "Workstation, warehouse system, method for picking goods at workstation and storage medium", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of warehouse logistics, in particular to a workstation, a warehouse system, a method for picking goods at a workstation and a storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0003] Logistics picking is an important link in logistics warehouse distribution, and ensuring continuous and efficient picking work can improve the overall warehouse efficiency of goods. In related technologies, the warehouse system of a logistics center generally includes shelves, picking workstations, conveying devices and other devices, wherein the picking workstation usually adopts a traditional seeding wall workstation. When goods are put in and out of the warehouse, the picking personnel complete the goods picking work. During picking, the goods are classified according to order tasks or goods categories, and the goods are placed into the corresponding storage slots of the seeding wall according to the classification results. The goods in the storage slots are conveyed by conveying devices such as handling robots to complete the handling operation of goods in and out of the warehouse.

[0004] However, the picking efficiency of the seeding wall workstation is low, and the goods are prone to misclassification. SUMMARY

[0005] In view of the above problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a workstation, a warehouse system, a method for picking goods at a workstation and a storage medium to solve the problems of low picking efficiency of the workstation and easy misclassification of goods in the prior art.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a workstation is provided for picking goods, the workstation comprising a stock box area, an order box area and a picking position;

[0007] The stock box area comprises a first inbound passage, a goods taking position and a first outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby passage adjacent to the first inbound passage;

[0008] The first inbound passage is configured to allow a first handling robot entering the stock box area to walk to the goods taking position, and the first handling robot carries a stock box storing goods;

[0009] The standby passage is configured to allow the first handling robot entering the stock box area to stop and wait to move into the first inbound passage when there is no idle queuing position in the first inbound passage.

[0010] The first outbound channel is used for the first carrying robot from the taking location to drive out of the inventory box area;

[0011] The order box area comprises a second inbound channel, a delivery location and a second outbound channel arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage locations between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel;

[0012] The second inbound channel is used for a second carrying robot driving into the order box area to walk to the delivery location, the second carrying robot carrying an order box used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box;

[0013] The plurality of temporary storage locations are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot carrying a first type of order box, the first type of order box being an order box loaded with partially picked goods, the walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage location being perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the second inbound channel or the second outbound channel, the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage location entering the second inbound channel according to a first order, the first order being determined according to a second order of the inventory box in the first inbound channel, so that the order box reaching the delivery location is matched with the inventory box reaching the taking location;

[0014] The second outbound channel is used for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery location to drive out of the order box area or for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery location to drive into the temporary storage location;

[0015] The picking location is adjacent to the taking location and the delivery location respectively, and is used for accommodating a picking personnel or setting a picking device, so that the picking personnel or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box located at the taking location and puts the goods into the order box located at the delivery location.

[0016] The embodiment of the application divides the workstation into an inventory box area, an order box area and a picking position, a first carrying robot carrying inventory boxes enters a first entrance channel of the inventory box area in turn to queue, and then carries the inventory boxes to a picking position of the inventory box area in turn, a second carrying robot carrying order boxes enters a second entrance channel of the order box area in turn, and then carries the order boxes to a delivery position of the order box area, a picker or a picking device takes goods from the inventory boxes at the picking position and puts the goods into the order boxes at the delivery position, and the order boxes that have not completed all order picking tasks are carried away from the delivery position by the second carrying robot and then enter a temporary storage position of the order box area for temporary storage, and then enter the second entrance channel according to a first sequence, wherein the first sequence is determined according to a second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first entrance channel, so that the order boxes that reach the delivery position are matched with the inventory boxes that reach the picking position. In this way, the first carrying robot carries the inventory boxes to the picking position of the picking position, the second carrying robot carries the order boxes to the delivery position of the picking position, and the second carrying robot realizes the buffering, sequencing and switching of the order boxes according to the sequence of the inventory boxes in the first entrance channel, so that the inventory boxes that reach the picking position are matched with the order boxes that reach the delivery position, for the picker or the picking device to pick, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the workstation, reducing the labor intensity of the picker and reducing the mispicking rate.

[0017] In some embodiments, the candidate channel is also used for the first carrying robot in the first entrance channel to move in to adjust the second sequence.

[0018] In some embodiments, the first entrance channel, the candidate channel, the first exit channel, the second entrance channel, the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the second exit channel are all arranged in parallel along a first direction, the entrance direction of the first entrance channel and the exit direction of the first exit channel are opposite, and the entrance direction of the second entrance channel and the exit direction of the second exit channel are opposite.

[0019] In some embodiments, the first entrance channel, the candidate channel, and the first exit channel are all arranged in parallel along a second direction, the entrance direction of the first entrance channel and the exit direction of the first exit channel are opposite;

[0020] The second entrance channel, the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the second exit channel are all arranged in parallel along a first direction, the entrance direction of the second entrance channel and the exit direction of the second exit channel are opposite;

[0021] The first direction and the second direction are perpendicular, and in the first direction, the inventory box area and the order box area are respectively located on two sides of the picking position.

[0022] In some embodiments, the inventory box area further comprises a candidate pick-up station located upstream of the pick-up station, the candidate pick-up station and the pick-up station are arranged in sequence along the circular arc-shaped path between the first inbound channel and the first outbound channel;

[0023] The order box area further comprises a candidate delivery station located upstream of the delivery station, the candidate delivery station and the delivery station are arranged in sequence along the circular arc-shaped path between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel;

[0024] In the first direction, the inventory box area and the order box area are located on the same side of the picking station.

[0025] In some embodiments, the inventory box area further comprises a candidate pick-up station located upstream of the pick-up station, the candidate pick-up station, the pick-up station and the first outbound channel are arranged in sequence along the outbound direction of the first outbound channel;

[0026] The order box area further comprises a candidate delivery station located upstream of the delivery station, the candidate delivery station and the delivery station are arranged in sequence along the circular arc-shaped path between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel.

[0027] In some embodiments, the first temporary storage station is the temporary storage station closest to the delivery station among the plurality of temporary storage stations, and the candidate delivery station, the delivery station and the first temporary storage station are arranged in sequence along the roundabout path.

[0028] In some embodiments, the candidate channel is located between the first inbound channel and the first outbound channel.

[0029] In some embodiments, the work station further comprises a partitioning part arranged between the inventory box area and the picking station, and between the order box area and the picking station.

[0030] In some embodiments, the partitioning part comprises a first blocking part and a second blocking part, the first blocking part is located between the inventory box area and the picking station, and the second blocking part is located between the order box area and the picking station.

[0031] In some embodiments, the first inbound channel comprises a plurality of first queuing stations, the candidate channel comprises a plurality of candidate stations, the pick-up station, each of the first queuing stations and each of the candidate stations are provided with an identification part, and the identification part is used to be recognized by the first carrying robot to realize positioning of the first carrying robot;

[0032] The second inbound channel comprises a plurality of second queuing positions, the second outbound channel comprises a plurality of second outbound positions, the delivery position, each of the second queuing positions, each of the second outbound positions and each of the temporary storage positions are provided with an identification element, and the identification element is used to be recognized by the second transfer robot to realize positioning of the second transfer robot.

[0033] According to a second aspect of the embodiment of the present application, a workstation for picking goods is provided, the workstation comprising an inventory box conveying line, an order box area and a picking position;

[0034] The inventory box conveying line has a goods taking position, and a first transfer robot is used to sequentially transfer inventory boxes to an entrance of the inventory box conveying line, and the inventory box conveying line is used to convey the inventory boxes from the entrance to the goods taking position to provide the inventory boxes on the goods taking position in a second order, wherein the inventory boxes are used to store goods;

[0035] The inventory box conveying line is also used to convey the inventory boxes output from the goods taking position to an exit of the inventory box conveying line, and the first transfer robot is also used to transfer the inventory boxes to the entrance and then walk to the exit of the inventory box conveying line, and after taking out the inventory boxes at the exit, the first transfer robot drives out of the workstation;

[0036] The order box area comprises an order box inbound channel, a delivery position and an order box outbound channel arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the order box inbound channel and the order box outbound channel;

[0037] The order box inbound channel is used for a second transfer robot to drive into the order box area and walk to the delivery position, the second transfer robot carries an order box, and the order box is used to receive goods picked from the inventory boxes;

[0038] The plurality of temporary storage positions are used to temporarily store the second transfer robot carrying a first type of order box, the first type of order box is an order box containing part of the picked goods, the walking direction of the second transfer robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second transfer robot in the order box inbound channel or the order box outbound channel, the second transfer robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position enters the order box inbound channel according to a first order, and the first order is determined according to the second order to match the order box reaching the delivery position with the inventory box reaching the goods taking position;

[0039] The order box outbound channel is used for the second transfer robot driving out of the delivery position to drive out of the order box area or for the second transfer robot driving out of the delivery position to drive into the temporary storage position;

[0040] The picking position is adjacent to the projection of the ground of the goods taking position and the delivery position, and is used for accommodating a picker or a picking device, so that the picker or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box at the goods taking position and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery position.

[0041] In the embodiment, the work station is divided into an inventory box conveying line, an order box area and a picking position. A first carrying robot carrying the inventory box carries the inventory box to the inventory box conveying line in sequence. The inventory box conveying line conveys the inventory box to the goods taking position in sequence. A second carrying robot carrying the order box enters an order box access passage of the order box area in sequence, and then carries the order box to the delivery position of the order box area. The picker or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box at the goods taking position and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery position. The order box that does not complete all order tasks is carried away from the delivery position by the second carrying robot, and then is temporarily stored in a temporary storage position of the order box area. Then, the order box enters the order box access passage according to a first sequence. The first sequence is determined according to a second sequence of the inventory box on the inventory box conveying line, so that the order box that reaches the delivery position again is matched with the inventory box that reaches the goods taking position. In this way, the inventory box is conveyed to the goods taking position beside the picking position by the first carrying robot and the inventory box conveying line, and the order box is carried to the delivery position beside the picking position by the second carrying robot. The second carrying robot realizes the buffering, sequencing and switching of the order box according to the second sequence of the inventory box on the inventory box conveying line, so that the inventory box that reaches the goods taking position is matched with the order box that reaches the delivery position, for the picker or the picking device to pick, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the work station, reducing the labor intensity of the picker and reducing the mis-picking rate.

[0042] In some embodiments, in the vertical direction, the inventory box conveying line is located at the upper layer of the order box area.

[0043] In some embodiments, the inventory box conveying line comprises a first conveying line, a second conveying line and a third conveying line. The first conveying line and the second conveying line are arranged in parallel along a first direction. The third conveying line is arranged along a second direction and is used for connecting the first conveying line and the second conveying line. The goods taking position is located at the outlet of the third conveying line or at the inlet of the second conveying line. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. The conveying directions of the first conveying line and the second conveying line are opposite.

[0044] The first carrying robot is used for carrying the inventory box to the inlet of the first conveying line in sequence. The first conveying line is used for conveying the inventory box to the third conveying line. The third conveying line is used for conveying the inventory box to the goods taking position, so as to provide the inventory box on the goods taking position in the second sequence.

[0045] The second conveying line is used to convey the inventory box output from the picking location to an outlet of the second conveying line, and the first carrying robot is further used to carry the inventory box to the inlet of the first conveying line, and then walk to the outlet of the second conveying line, and then drive out of the work station after taking out the inventory box at the outlet of the second conveying line;

[0046] The order box inlet channel, the plurality of temporary storage locations and the order box outlet channel are arranged in parallel along the first direction, and an inlet direction of the order box inlet channel and an outlet direction of the order box outlet channel are opposite.

[0047] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a backup delivery location located upstream of the delivery location, and the backup delivery location and the delivery location are arranged in sequence along a circular arc path between the order box inlet channel and the order box outlet channel.

[0048] In the second direction, the inventory box conveying line and the order box area are located on the same side of the picking location.

[0049] In some embodiments, the temporary storage location closest to the delivery location among the plurality of temporary storage locations is a first temporary storage location, and the backup delivery location, the delivery location and the first temporary storage location are arranged in sequence along an island path.

[0050] In some embodiments, the work station further comprises an isolation part arranged between the order box area and the picking location.

[0051] In some embodiments, the order box inlet channel comprises a plurality of order box queuing locations, and the order box outlet channel comprises a plurality of order box outlet locations, and the delivery location, each of the order box queuing locations, each of the order box outlet locations and each of the temporary storage locations are provided with an identification member, and the identification member is used to be recognized by the second carrying robot to realize positioning of the second carrying robot.

[0052] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a warehouse system is provided, comprising a shelf, a first carrying robot, a second carrying robot, and a work station as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0053] The shelf is used to store the inventory box and the order box;

[0054] The first carrying robot is used to carry the inventory box to be picked from the shelf to the work station and carry the picked inventory box from the work station to the shelf;

[0055] The second carrying robot is used to carry the empty order box from the shelf to the work station and carry the order box after order task picking is completed out of the work station.

[0056] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a method for picking goods at a workstation is provided. The workstation comprises an inventory bin area, an order bin area and a picking station. The inventory bin area comprises a first inbound passage, a picking position and a first outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby passage adjacent to the first inbound passage. The first inbound passage is used for a first carrying robot entering the inventory bin area to walk to the picking position, and the first carrying robot carries an inventory bin storing goods. The standby passage is used for the first carrying robot entering the inventory bin area to stop and wait for moving into the first inbound passage when there is no idle queuing position in the first inbound passage. The first outbound passage is used for the first carrying robot entering the picking position to drive out of the inventory bin area. The order bin area comprises a second inbound passage, a delivery position and a second outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the second inbound passage and the second outbound passage. The second inbound passage is used for a second carrying robot entering the order bin area to walk to the delivery position, and the second carrying robot carries an order bin used for receiving goods picked from the inventory bin. The plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot carrying a first type of order bin, and the first type of order bin is an order bin filled with partially picked goods. The walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the second inbound passage or the second outbound passage. The second outbound passage is used for the second carrying robot entering the delivery position to drive out of the order bin area or for the second carrying robot entering the delivery position to drive into the temporary storage position. The picking station is adjacent to the picking position and the delivery position, and is used for accommodating picking personnel or setting picking devices, so that the picking personnel or the picking devices take goods from the inventory bin in the picking position and put the goods into the order bin in the delivery position.

[0057] The method comprises:

[0058] obtaining an order task;

[0059] controlling the first carrying robot to carry the inventory bin corresponding to the order task to the picking position;

[0060] controlling the second carrying robot to carry the empty order bin to the delivery position;

[0061] after determining that the goods to be picked in the inventory bin are delivered to the order bin, controlling the first carrying robot to drive out of the inventory bin area, and determining whether the order task is completed picking;

[0062] if the order task is completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to drive out of the order box area;

[0063] if the order task is not completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to enter an idle temporary storage position, and controlling the second carrying robot to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to a first sequence, so as to carry the order box to the delivery position again, wherein the first sequence is determined according to a second sequence of inventory boxes in the first inbound passage, so that the order box reaching the delivery position matches the inventory box reaching the picking position.

[0064] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0065] predicting an order of the inventory boxes reaching the workstations, determining the second sequence of inventory boxes in the first inbound passage according to the order of the inventory boxes reaching the workstations, and determining the first sequence according to the second sequence; or

[0066] obtaining a position of the first carrying robot in the first inbound passage, determining the second sequence of inventory boxes in the first inbound passage according to the position, and determining the first sequence according to the second sequence.

[0067] In some embodiments, the second inbound passage, the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the second outbound passage are all arranged in parallel along a first direction, and an inbound direction of the second inbound passage and an outbound direction of the second outbound passage are opposite;

[0068] controlling the second carrying robot to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to a first sequence comprises:

[0069] determining a first position of the order box carried by the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position in the first sequence, and determining a second position in the second inbound passage which is side by side with the temporary storage position in a second direction, wherein the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction;

[0070] if a second carrying robot carrying an order box after the first position in the first sequence enters the second inbound passage, controlling the second carrying robot carrying the order box after the first position in the first sequence to wait upstream of the second position in the second inbound passage;

[0071] determining whether all order boxes before the first position in the first sequence are on the second inbound passage and all positions in the second inbound passage are downstream of the second position;

[0072] If yes, the second transfer robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position to the second position in the second inbound passage.

[0073] In some embodiments, the controlling the second transfer robot to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to the first sequence comprises:

[0074] determining whether the paths of all order boxes located before the order box in the first sequence to the delivery position are less than the path of the order box to the delivery position;

[0075] If yes, the second transfer robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position into the second inbound passage so that the position of the order box in the second inbound passage conforms to the first sequence.

[0076] If no, the second transfer robot is controlled to continue to be temporarily stored in the temporary storage position until the paths of all order boxes located before the order box in the first sequence to the delivery position are less than the path of the order box to the delivery position, and the second transfer robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position into the second inbound passage so that the position of the order box in the second inbound passage conforms to the first sequence.

[0077] In some embodiments, if the order task is not completed picking, the method further comprises:

[0078] determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence;

[0079] If the next position of the order box in the first sequence is adjacent to the current position, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0080] If the next position of the order box in the first sequence is adjacent to the current position, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0081] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a backup delivery position located upstream of the delivery position.

[0082] If the order task is not completed picking, the method further comprises:

[0083] determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence;

[0084] If the next position of the order box in the first sequence is adjacent to the current position, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0085] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a candidate delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, a first temporary storage position is the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position among the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the candidate delivery position, the delivery position and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the roundabout path.

[0086] The control of the second carrying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position comprises determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence.

[0087] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence are separated by two positions, the second carrying robot is controlled to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the first temporary storage position for temporary storage.

[0088] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a candidate delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, a first temporary storage position is the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position among the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the candidate delivery position, the delivery position and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the roundabout path.

[0089] The control of the second carrying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position comprises determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence.

[0090] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence are separated by at least three positions, it is determined whether there is an order box requiring the use of the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence.

[0091] If yes, the second carrying robot is controlled to drive out of the delivery position and drive into an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position for temporary storage.

[0092] If no, the second carrying robot is controlled to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the first temporary storage position for temporary storage.

[0093] In some embodiments, the determination of whether there is an order box requiring the use of the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence comprises:

[0094] It is determined whether there is an order box with at least one position repeated between the current position and the next position in the first sequence.

[0095] In some embodiments, the control of the second carrying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position for temporary storage comprises:

[0096] determining a staging location closest to the delivery location from all free staging locations except the first staging location;

[0097] controlling the second transporting robot to drive out of the delivery location and drive into the staging location closest to the delivery location.

[0098] In some embodiments, after the controlling the second transporting robot to drive out of the order box area, the method further comprises:

[0099] controlling the second transporting robot transporting the empty order box to drive into the order box area from the second inbound passage.

[0100] According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a method for picking goods at a workstation is provided, the workstation comprising an inventory box conveying line, an order box area and a picking location; the inventory box conveying line having a goods taking location; the order box area comprising an order box inbound passage, a delivery location and an order box outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprising a plurality of staging locations between the order box inbound passage and the order box outbound passage; the order box inbound passage being used for the second transporting robot to drive into the order box area and walk to the delivery location, the second transporting robot transporting an order box, the order box being used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box; the plurality of staging locations being used for staging the second transporting robot transporting a first type of order box, the first type of order box being an order box containing part of the picked goods, the walking direction of the second transporting robot staged at the staging location being perpendicular to the walking direction of the second transporting robot in the order box inbound passage or the order box outbound passage; the order box outbound passage being used for the second transporting robot driving out of the order box area from the delivery location or for the second transporting robot driving into the staging location from the delivery location; the picking location being adjacent to the projection of the goods taking location on the ground and the delivery location, and being used for accommodating a picking personnel or a picking device, so that the picking personnel or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box at the goods taking location and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery location;

[0101] The method comprises:

[0102] obtaining an order task;

[0103] controlling the first transporting robot to transport the inventory box corresponding to the order task to an entrance of the inventory box conveying line, so that the inventory box conveying line conveys the inventory box from the entrance to the goods taking location to provide the inventory box at the goods taking location in a second order, wherein the inventory box is used for storing goods; and controlling the first transporting robot to walk to an exit of the inventory box conveying line after transporting the inventory box to the entrance;

[0104] controlling the second carrying robot to carry the empty order box to the delivery position; after determining that the to-be-picked goods in the inventory box are delivered to the order box, controlling the inventory box conveying line to convey the inventory box output from the goods taking position to the outlet;

[0105] controlling the first carrying robot to drive out of the working station after taking out the inventory box located at the outlet, and determining whether the order task is completed picking;

[0106] if the order task is completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to drive out of the order box area;

[0107] if the order task is not completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position, and controlling the second carrying robot to enter the order box inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to a first sequence, so as to carry the order box to the delivery position again, wherein the first sequence is determined according to the second sequence, so that the order box reaching the delivery position is matched with the inventory box reaching the goods taking position.

[0108] According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is provided, the storage medium stores executable instructions, and the executable instructions, when executed on an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method for picking goods at a working station according to any one of the above embodiments.

[0109] The above description is only a summary of the technical solutions of the present application. In order to enable the technical means of the present application to be more clearly understood, and to be implemented according to the content of the description, and in order to enable the above and other purposes, characteristics and advantages of the present application to be more apparent and easy to understand, the following specific embodiments of the present application are described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0110] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a description of the preferred embodiments and are not meant to limit the present application. Moreover, the same reference numerals in the attached drawings indicate the same or similar components. In the drawings:

[0111] FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a warehouse system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0112] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a working station according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0113] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of another working station according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0114] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of still another working station according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0115] FIGS. 5a-5g show flow diagrams of picking goods at a workstation;

[0116] FIGS. 6a-6d show several flow diagrams of picking an order box at a delivery position;

[0117] FIGS. 7a-7d show several cases of an order box entering a second inbound passage from the temporary storage position;

[0118] FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of a method for picking goods at a workstation according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0119] FIG. 9a shows a structural diagram of another workstation according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0120] FIG. 9b shows a plan view of another workstation according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0121] FIG. 9c shows a structural diagram of an order box area of another workstation according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0122] FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of another method for picking goods at a workstation according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0123] The reference signs in the detailed description are as follows: 1, warehouse system; 10, shelf; 20, first transfer robot; 30, second transfer robot; 40, workstation; 50, server; 60, ground; 21, top holder; 41, inventory box area; 411, first inbound passage; 4111, first queuing position; 412, picking position; 413, first outbound passage; 414, standby passage; 4141, standby position; 415, standby picking position; 42, order box area; 421, second inbound passage; 4211, second queuing position; 422, delivery position; 423, second outbound passage; 4231, second outbound position; 424, temporary storage position; 4241, first temporary storage position; 425, standby delivery position; 43, picking position; 44, isolation part; 441, first blocking part; 442, second blocking part; 45, inventory box conveying line; 451, inlet; 452, outlet; 453, first conveying line; 454, second conveying line; 455, third conveying line; 4531, first gap; 4541, second gap. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0124] The embodiments of the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, and therefore only serve as examples, but cannot limit the protection scope of the present application.

[0125] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs; the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this application; the use of the terms "including," "comprising," or "having" and variations thereof herein is intended to be broad and encompass the terms "consisting of" and "consisting essentially of" and variations thereof. Unless otherwise noted, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended and do not exclude the presence of unrecited elements or limitations.

[0126] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number, specific order or primary and secondary relationship of the indicated technical features. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly and specifically limited.

[0127] Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearance of the phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment, nor is it necessarily independent or alternative embodiments to each other. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0128] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "and / or" is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating any combination of the listed objects. For example, "A and / or B" can mean that A exists, A and B exist at the same time, or B exists. In addition, the character " / " in this paper generally represents that the front and rear associated objects are a "or" relationship.

[0129] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "a plurality of" refers to two or more (including two), and similarly, "a plurality of groups" refers to two or more groups (including two groups), and "a plurality of pieces" refers to two or more pieces (including two pieces).

[0130] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "transverse", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present application and simplifying the description, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the embodiments of the present application. The orientation or position of the device or element indicated, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the embodiments of the present application.

[0131] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the technical terms "mount", "connect", "connect", "fix" and other terms should be understood in a broad sense, for example, can be fixedly connected, or can be detachably connected, or can be integrated; can be mechanically connected, or can be electrically connected; can be directly connected, or can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0132] When the goods are picked by the traditional seeding wall workstation, the picker needs to judge which gap of the seeding wall to deliver the goods, usually needs to walk a long distance to deliver the goods, and the picker needs to manually replace the empty and full boxes in the seeding wall. In this process, the picker needs to pick up and put down the code scanning gun multiple times to scan the code of the box. Therefore, this way of the related technology not only has poor man-machine engineering, poor picking experience, and low picking efficiency, but also is prone to delivery errors. In addition, after the deployment of the seeding wall workstation, due to poor flexibility, it cannot adapt to changes well and cannot be expanded or moved at any time, and the occupied area is large.

[0133] In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a workstation, a warehouse system, a method for picking goods at a workstation and a storage medium, which can improve the picking efficiency and reduce the mispicking rate.

[0134] In the following, some embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict between the embodiments.

[0135] For the convenience of description, the XY coordinate axis is defined in the embodiments of the present application. The X axis is the first direction, the Y axis is the second direction, the X axis includes the positive direction of the X axis and the negative direction of the X axis, and the Y axis includes the positive direction of the Y axis and the negative direction of the Y axis.

[0136] FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a warehouse system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the warehouse system 1 provided by the embodiment of the present application includes a shelf 10, a first carrying robot 20, a second carrying robot 30, and a workstation 40 for picking goods.

[0137] The shelf 10 is used to store inventory boxes and order boxes.

[0138] The inventory box stores goods, which can be industrial parts, electronic accessories or products, medicines, clothing accessories, food, books, etc. The first carrying robot 20 is used to carry the inventory box to be picked (i.e. the inventory box hit by the order task) from the shelf 10 to the workstation 40 and carry the picked inventory box from the workstation 40 to the shelf 10.

[0139] An order task is used for picking one or more kinds of goods, each order task includes the kind and quantity of goods to be picked. The inventory bins corresponding to the order task are hit according to the kind and quantity of goods of the order task. For example, the order task O1 is to pick 20 red pens, and the inventory bin S1 storing 100 red pens is hit by the order task O1. For another example, the order task O1 is to pick 20 red pens and 10 black pens, and the inventory bin S1 storing 100 red pens and the inventory bin S2 storing 200 black pens are hit by the order task O1.

[0140] An order bin is used for receiving the goods picked from the inventory bins. The inventory bins are hit by the order tasks, and the order bins corresponding to the order tasks are used for receiving the goods picked from the inventory bins corresponding to the order tasks. A single order bin is used for receiving the goods of one order task. The order bin can have multiple partitions inside for placing different kinds of goods respectively; of course, the order bin can also not have partitions inside, and different kinds of goods are placed together.

[0141] When an order task corresponding to an order bin includes multiple kinds of goods, multiple picking is needed to complete the picking of the order bin. For example, the order task O1 corresponding to the order bin A is to pick 20 red pens and 10 black pens, and the inventory bin S1 storing 100 red pens and the inventory bin S2 storing 200 black pens are hit by the order task O1. After 20 red pens are picked from the inventory bin S1 at the workstation 40, the order bin A only contains part of the picked goods, and 10 black pens need to be picked from the inventory bin S2 at the workstation 40 again, that is, two times of picking are needed to complete the picking of the order bin A.

[0142] Based on this, the embodiments of the present application divide the order bins into first order bins and second order bins, the second order bins are empty order bins which do not contain goods, and the first order bins are order bins containing part of the picked goods. The second transfer robot 30 is used for transferring the second order bins on the goods shelf 10 to the workstation 40 and transferring the order bins whose picking is completed out of the workstation 40. The order bins whose picking is completed can be directly transferred out of the warehouse by the second transfer robot 30, or can be transferred to the goods shelf 10 by the second transfer robot 30 for temporary storage, waiting for other transfer robots to transfer the order bins out of the warehouse from the goods shelf 10.

[0143] The first transfer robot 20 and the second transfer robot 30 can be jacking type warehouse robots, which can take and place a single bin (inventory bin or order bin), have small size, fast running speed and low cost.

[0144] The warehouse system 1 further comprises a server 50 on which a dispatch system software is installed or which can call a dispatch system software in the cloud, and the first and second carrying robots 20 and 30 can be dispatched and interact with the workstation 40 to send picking information and receive picking completion information.

[0145] The workstation 40 of the embodiment of the application will be further described below in combination with FIG. 1, and the arrow shown in the figure indicates the moving direction of the first and second carrying robots 20 and 30. As shown in FIG. 1, the workstation 40 comprises an inventory box area 41, an order box area 42 and a picking position 43. In the first direction X, the inventory box area 41 and the order box area 42 are located on the same side of the picking position 43, for example, the inventory box area 41 and the order box area 42 are both located on the right side of the picking position 43 as shown in the figure. The inventory box area 41 and the order box area 42 are located on the same side of the picking position 43, which can save space.

[0146] The inventory box area 41 comprises a first inbound passage 411, a picking position 412 and a first outbound passage 413 arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby passage 414 adjacent to the first inbound passage 411. The order box area 42 comprises a second inbound passage 421, a delivery position 422 and a second outbound passage 423 arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions 424 located between the second inbound passage 421 and the second outbound passage 423. The picking position 43 is adjacent to the picking position 412 and the delivery position 422, respectively.

[0147] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the first inbound passage 411, the standby passage 414, the first outbound passage 413, the second inbound passage 421, the plurality of temporary storage positions 424 and the second outbound passage 423 are all arranged in parallel along the first direction X, the inbound direction (negative direction of the X axis) of the first inbound passage 411 and the outbound direction (positive direction of the X axis) of the first outbound passage 413 are opposite, and the inbound direction (negative direction of the X axis) of the second inbound passage 421 and the outbound direction (positive direction of the X axis) of the second outbound passage 423 are opposite.

[0148] The first inbound passage 411 is used for the first carrying robot 20 entering the storage box area 41 to walk to the picking position 412. The first inbound passage 411 has a plurality of first queuing positions 4111, each of which can queue one storage box, and the order of the storage boxes in the first inbound passage 411 is the second order. The standby passage 414 is used for the first carrying robot 20 entering the storage box area 41 to stop and wait to move into the first inbound passage 411 when there is no idle first queuing position 4111 in the first inbound passage 411. For example, the first inbound passage 411 includes four first queuing positions 4111, if the four first queuing positions 4111 are occupied by storage boxes S1, S2, S3 and S4 from left to right, then the carrying robot carrying the storage box S5 needs to stop at the standby passage 414 after entering the storage box area 41, and wait for the storage box S4 to move one position forward before moving into the first inbound passage 411.

[0149] In some embodiments, the standby passage 414 is also used for the first carrying robot 20 in the first inbound passage 411 to move in to adjust the order of the storage boxes in the first inbound passage 411. For example, the order of the storage boxes in the first inbound passage 411 is S1-S2-S3-S4 from left to right, and if the order of the storage boxes in the first inbound passage 411 needs to be adjusted to S1-S2-S4-S3, then the first carrying robot 20 carrying the storage box S3 moves from the first inbound passage 411 to the standby passage 414, waits for the first carrying robot 20 carrying the storage box S4 to move one position forward, and then the first carrying robot 20 carrying the storage box S3 enters the first inbound passage 411 from the standby passage 414, at this time the order of the storage boxes in the first inbound passage 411 is S1-S2-S4-S3.

[0150] As shown in FIG. 1, the standby passage 414 is located between the first inbound passage 411 and the first outbound passage 413. Since the inbound direction (negative direction of the X axis) of the first inbound passage 411 and the outbound direction (positive direction of the X axis) of the first outbound passage 413 are opposite, the first carrying robot 20 needs to turn when driving from the first inbound passage 411 to the picking position 412 and when driving from the picking position 412 to the first outbound passage 413, and turning requires space, so there is a certain distance between the first inbound passage 411 and the first outbound passage 413. By setting the standby passage 414 between the first inbound passage 411 and the first outbound passage 413, the space between the inbound and outbound passages can be reasonably utilized. In other embodiments, the standby passage 414 can also be located on the other side of the first inbound passage 411, for example, above the first inbound passage 411 in the orientation shown in FIG. 1.

[0151] The second inbound passage 421 is used for the second carrying robot 30 entering the order box area 42 to walk to the delivery position 422.

[0152] The picking station 43 is used to accommodate a picker or a picking device, so that the picker or the picking device picks the goods from the inventory box located at the picking position 412 and puts the goods into the order box located at the delivery position 422.

[0153] After the inventory box is picked at the picking position 412, the first conveying robot 20 conveying the inventory box can drive out of the inventory box area 41, and the first outbound passage 413 is used for the first conveying robot 20 driving out of the picking position 412 to drive out of the inventory box area 41.

[0154] After the picker or the picking device picks the inventory box and the order box, if the order task corresponding to the order box is completed picking (the picking of all goods categories under the order task corresponding to the order box is completed), the second conveying robot 30 conveying the order box can drive out of the order box area 42.

[0155] After the picker or the picking device picks the inventory box and the order box, if the order task corresponding to the order box is not completed picking (only the picking of part of the goods categories under the order task corresponding to the order box is completed), the order box belongs to the first type of order box, and the second conveying robot 30 conveying the order box cannot drive out of the order box area 42. At this time, the second conveying robot 30 can be temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424.

[0156] The second outbound passage 423 is also used for the second conveying robot 30 driving out of the delivery position 422 to drive into the temporary storage position 424. The plurality of temporary storage positions 424 are used to temporarily store the second conveying robot 30 conveying the first type of order box. The walking direction (Y-axis negative direction) of the second conveying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424 is perpendicular to the walking direction (X-axis negative direction or X-axis positive direction) of the second conveying robot in the second inbound passage 421 or the second outbound passage 423. The second conveying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424 enters the second inbound passage 421 according to the first sequence, and the first sequence is determined according to the second sequence of the inventory box in the first inbound passage 411, so that the order box reaching the delivery position 422 matches the inventory box reaching the picking position 412.

[0157] The first conveying robot 20 conveying the inventory boxes enters the first inlet passage 411 of the inventory box area 41 in turn to form a queue, and then conveys the inventory boxes to the picking positions 412 of the inventory box area 41 in turn. The second conveying robot 30 conveying the order boxes enters the second inlet passage 421 of the order box area 42 in turn, and then conveys the order boxes to the delivery positions 422 of the order box area 42. The goods in the inventory boxes at the picking positions 412 are taken out by the picking personnel or the picking device and put into the order boxes at the delivery positions 422. The order boxes that have not completed all order tasks are temporarily stored in the temporary storage positions 424 of the order box area 42 after being conveyed away from the delivery positions 422 by the second conveying robot 30, and then enter the second inlet passage 421 according to the first sequence, wherein the first sequence is determined according to the second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first inlet passage 411, so that the order boxes that reach the delivery positions 422 again are matched with the inventory boxes that reach the picking positions 412. In this way, the inventory boxes are conveyed by the first conveying robot 20 to the picking positions 412 beside the picking positions 43, the order boxes are conveyed by the second conveying robot 30 to the delivery positions 422 beside the picking positions 43, and the second conveying robot 30 realizes the caching, sequencing and switching of the order boxes according to the sequence of the inventory boxes in the first inlet passage 411, so that the inventory boxes that reach the picking positions 412 are matched with the order boxes that reach the delivery positions 422, for the picking personnel or the picking device to pick, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the workstation 40, reducing the labor intensity of the picking personnel, and reducing the mispicking rate.

[0158] In addition, the number of picking personnel is reduced, thereby reducing the cost; the workstation 40 only needs to divide regions on the ground (including the ground and the elevated support surface on the ground) to set the passages and positions, and multiple conveying robots are involved to realize flexible scheduling of picking, so that the workstation 40 has high equipment flexibility, is easy to expand and move, and has good adaptability to order structures and businesses.

[0159] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a workstation according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the inventory box area 41 further includes a standby picking position 415 located upstream of the picking position 412, and the standby picking position 415 and the picking position 412 are arranged in turn along the circular arc-shaped path between the first inlet passage 411 and the first outlet passage 413. The order box area 42 further includes a standby delivery position 425 located upstream of the delivery position 422, and the standby delivery position 425 and the delivery position 422 are arranged in turn along the circular arc-shaped path between the second inlet passage 421 and the second outlet passage 423.

[0160] By setting the candidate taking positions 415 and the candidate delivery positions 425, and arranging the candidate taking positions 415 and the candidate delivery positions 425 along the arc-shaped path between the inbound and outbound passages, the turning space of the first and second carrying robots 20 and 30 can be reasonably utilized, and the candidate delivery positions 425 can be used for order box sorting. When the order box currently located at the delivery position 422 is being delivered, the next order box can wait at the candidate delivery position 425. After the order box currently located at the delivery position 422 leaves the delivery position 422, the order box located at the candidate delivery position 425 can be directly moved into the delivery position 422 for picking. Compared with entering the delivery position 422 from the second inbound passage 421, the required time is shortened, and the picking efficiency is improved.

[0161] In some embodiments, the first inbound passage 411 includes a plurality of first queuing positions 4111, and the candidate passage 414 includes a plurality of candidate positions 4141. The taking positions 412, each of the first queuing positions 4111, and each of the candidate positions 4141 can be provided with an identifier, which is used to be recognized by the first carrying robot 20 to realize positioning of the first carrying robot 20. The second inbound passage 421 includes a plurality of second queuing positions 4211 (not all shown in the figure), and the second outbound passage 423 includes a plurality of second outbound positions 4231 (not all shown in the figure). The delivery position 422, each of the second queuing positions 4211, each of the second outbound positions 4231, and each of the temporary storage positions 424 can be provided with an identifier, which is used to be recognized by the second carrying robot 30 to realize positioning of the second carrying robot 30.

[0162] The identifier can be provided on the ground. The identifier can be a two-dimensional code, a bar code, or an electronic tag (such as an RFID tag), which can be recognized by the carrying robot to realize positioning. For example, each identifier is used to indicate the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value in the horizontal plane coordinate system, or each identifier is used to indicate the identification code of the position where it is provided (for example, the identification codes of each of the first queuing positions 4111 in the negative direction of the X axis are 101, 102, 103, and 104 in order, and the identification codes of each of the candidate positions 4141 in the negative direction of the X axis are 201, 202, 203, and 204 in order).

[0163] The workstation 40 further includes an isolation part 44, which is provided between the inventory box area 41 and the picking position 43, and between the order box area 42 and the picking position 43. By providing the isolation part 44, the picking personnel and the carrying robot are isolated, so as to prevent the carrying robot from colliding with the picking personnel and causing personal injury.

[0164] The isolation part 44 comprises a first blocking piece 441 and a second blocking piece 442. The first blocking piece 441 is located between the inventory box area 41 and the picking position 43, and the second blocking piece 442 is located between the order box area 42 and the picking position 43. The first blocking piece 441 and the second blocking piece 442 can be separately processed and then connected into one body, or can have a spacing therebetween, as long as each of them can realize isolation of the carrying robot and the picking personnel walking in the respective area. Compared with setting a whole complete isolation part 44, setting blocking pieces for the inventory box area 41 and the order box area 42 respectively facilitates the manufacturing of the isolation part 44 and the on-site installation.

[0165] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of another work station according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, similar to the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2, the order box area 42 further comprises a candidate delivery position 425 located upstream of the delivery position 422. The candidate delivery position 425 and the delivery position 422 are arranged in sequence along the circular arc-shaped path between the second inlet passage 421 and the second outlet passage 423.

[0166] The inventory box area 41 further comprises a candidate picking position 415 located upstream of the picking position 412. Different from FIGS. 1 and 2, the candidate picking position 415, the picking position 412 and the first outlet passage 413 are arranged in sequence along the outlet direction (positive direction of the X axis) of the first outlet passage 413.

[0167] In the embodiment, the candidate picking position 415 of the inventory box area 41 is not located on the circular arc-shaped path in the walking path of the first carrying robot 20, but is located on a straight line segment in the walking path of the first carrying robot 20. In the process of moving the inventory box from the candidate picking position 415 to the picking position 412, the first carrying robot 20 walks along the straight line. Since the first carrying robot 20 needs to overcome a greater centrifugal force when walking along the arc, the first carrying robot 20 needs a shorter time to move from the candidate picking position 415 to the picking position 412 along the straight line. Further, the picking operation includes picking up goods and delivering goods, and picking up goods can only start after the inventory box reaches the picking position 412. Therefore, shortening the time for moving the inventory box from the candidate picking position 415 to the picking position 412 can further improve the picking efficiency.

[0168] In addition, in the embodiment, the candidate picking position 415 and the picking position 412 are arranged along a straight line on one side of the picking personnel, and the arm span of the picking personnel can cover the candidate picking position 415. Thus, for some goods that are easy to pick, the picking personnel can start picking up goods during the process of moving the first carrying robot 20 from the candidate picking position 415 to the picking position 412, thereby further improving the picking efficiency.

[0169] Fig. 4 shows a plan view of another work station according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Fig. 4, the first inbound passage 411, the candidate passage 414, and the first outbound passage 413 are arranged in parallel along the second direction Y, and the inbound direction (negative direction of Y axis) of the first inbound passage 411 and the outbound direction (positive direction of Y axis) of the first outbound passage 413 are opposite. The second inbound passage 421, the plurality of temporary storage positions 424, and the second outbound passage 423 are arranged in parallel along the first direction X, and the inbound direction (negative direction of X axis) of the second inbound passage 421 and the outbound direction (positive direction of X axis) of the second outbound passage 423 are opposite. In the first direction X, the inventory box area 41 and the order box area 42 are respectively located on the left and right sides of the picking position 43.

[0170] In the embodiment, the inventory box area 41 is located on the left side of the picking position 43, and the first conveying robot 20 only moves on the left side of the picking position 43; the order box area 42 is located on the right side of the picking position 43, and the second conveying robot 30 only moves on the right side of the picking position 43; the travel paths of the first conveying robot 20 and the second conveying robot 30 do not intersect each other, avoiding the situation that the traffic flow is reduced due to the need for yielding of the first conveying robot 20 and the second conveying robot 30 when entering and exiting the work station 40 because the paths are easily overlapped, and meeting the needs of high traffic flow scenarios.

[0171] Similarly to the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, in the embodiment, the candidate picking position 415 of the inventory box area 41 is also not located on the circular arc path in the travel path of the first conveying robot 20, but is located on the straight line segment in the travel path of the first conveying robot 20.

[0172] The number of the first queuing position 4111, the candidate position 4141, the second queuing position 4211, the second outbound position 4231, and the temporary storage position 424 shown in the above figures are only examples, and the number of these positions can also be other numbers, which are not limited in the present application. Among them, the more the number of temporary storage positions 424 is, the more the number of second conveying robots 30 that the order box area 42 can accommodate is, and the lower the interruption rate of the work station 40 is. However, too many temporary storage positions 424 will also bring the problem of subsequent scheduling inconvenience, and preferably seven temporary storage positions 424 can be provided.

[0173] The correspondence between the order task, the inventory box, and the order box will be described below.

[0174] After the server 50 of the warehouse system 1 acquires the order task, the server 50 controls the first transfer robot 20 to transfer the inventory box corresponding to the order task to the inventory box area 41, and the order of the inventory box in the first inbound passage 411 is a second order, and the inventory box reaches the picking position 412 in the second order. The server 50 also controls the second transfer robot 30 to transfer the empty order box to the delivery position 422. The empty order box is not bound to the order task before reaching the delivery position 422, and the second transfer robot 30 can transfer any empty order box to the delivery position 422; when the empty order box reaches the delivery position 422 for the first time, it will be bound to the order task corresponding to the inventory box that reaches the picking position 412 at substantially the same time, that is, the order box has the order task corresponding to it. The goods required for picking for an order task can be one or more, and the inventory box corresponding to an order task can be one or more, and the empty order box needs to receive the goods of one or more inventory boxes after being bound to the order task. For the order box that needs to receive the goods of multiple inventory boxes, the server 50 needs to control the order box to be temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424 and to reach the delivery position 422 again to complete the delivery of the remaining goods after each picking operation for the order task is performed before the order task is completed (i.e., before the order task is completed).

[0175] For example, the server 50 receives order tasks O1, O2 and O3, which include goods G1, G2, G3, G4 and G5, wherein the order task O1 includes goods G1 and G2, the order task O2 includes goods G3, and the order task O3 includes goods G4 and G5. The plurality of first carrying robots 20 respectively carry the inventory boxes corresponding to the goods required by all order tasks (for example, S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5, which respectively provide goods G1, G2, G3, G4 and G5) to the picking location 412 in turn. The plurality of second carrying robots 30 successively carry empty order boxes to the delivery location 422. After the first empty order box A arrives at the delivery location 422, it is bound to the order task O1 corresponding to the inventory box S1 that arrives at the picking location 412 at the same time. The order task O1 corresponding to the empty order box A needs to receive goods G1 and G2, and the corresponding inventory boxes are S1 and S2. After the empty order box A completes receiving the goods of the inventory box S1, since the order task O1 corresponding to the empty order box A has not been completed (it still needs to pick goods G2), the empty order box A is a first type of order box at this time. The server 50 needs to determine the order in which the empty order box A needs to arrive at the delivery location 422 again according to the order in which the inventory box S2 arrives at the picking location 412, and control the flow of the empty order box A according to the order in which the empty order box A needs to arrive at the delivery location 422 again. If the order task corresponding to the inventory box that arrives at the picking location 412 at the same time as the first time the empty order box A arrives at the delivery location 422 only includes one kind of goods, for example, the order task O2 (only corresponds to the inventory box S3), then the empty order box A can directly drive out of the order box area 42 after completing the reception of the goods of the inventory box S3.

[0176] Figures 5a-5g show the flow diagram of picking goods at the workstation, and the following describes the process of picking goods at the workstation 40 in combination with Figures 5a-5g. Figures 5a-5g take the workstation 40 shown in Figure 2 as an example to describe the process of picking goods at the workstation 40, and the process of picking goods at the workstation 40 of other embodiments of the present application is similar to this and will not be described one by one. In the figures, the first and second carrying robots 20 and 30 are marked with the code of the inventory box or order box they carry (for example, inventory boxes S1 / S2 / S3 / S4, etc., and order boxes A / B / C / D, etc.) for convenience of illustration. As shown in Figure 5a, the first carrying robots 20 carrying multiple inventory boxes (for convenience of illustration, only some of the first carrying robots 20 are marked, and all the first carrying robots are not marked) enter the first entrance channel 411 one after another, and the second carrying robots 30 carrying multiple order boxes (for convenience of illustration, only some of the second carrying robots 30 are marked, and all the second carrying robots are not marked) enter the second entrance channel 421 one after another. The four first queue positions 4111 of the first entrance channel 411 are all occupied by the first carrying robots 20, that is, there is no idle first queue position 4111, and at this time, the first carrying robot 20 carrying the inventory box S5 entering the inventory box area 41 is parked at the standby position 4141 in the standby channel 414.

[0177] Regarding the sequencing of the second carrying robots 30 in the second entrance channel 421, since there is a sequence of inventory boxes arriving at the picking position 412, and each inventory box corresponds to at least one order box, the sequence of the order boxes can be generated according to the sequence of the inventory boxes.

[0178] In some embodiments, the scheduling system software can predict the sequence of a plurality of inventory boxes arriving at the workstation 40 in the future, which is the sequence of the inventory boxes (for example, S1-S2-S3-S4-S5), and the sequence of the order boxes (for example, A-B-C-D-E) needs to match the sequence of the inventory boxes (for example, the order task corresponding to the order box A hits the inventory box S1, the order task corresponding to the order box B hits the inventory box S2, and so on). Therefore, the scheduling system software determines the second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first entrance channel 411 according to the sequence of the inventory boxes arriving at the workstation 40 by predicting the sequence of the inventory boxes arriving at the workstation 40, and then determines the first sequence of the second carrying robots 30 entering the second entrance channel 421 according to the second sequence, that is, the sequencing of the second carrying robots 30 in the second entrance channel 421.

[0179] In some embodiments, the sequence of the inventory bins can be determined by the dispatching system software based on the order of the inventory bins in the first inbound passage 411. Specifically, the dispatching system software determines the second order of the inventory bins in the first inbound passage 411 based on the position of the first handling robot 20 in the first inbound passage 411, and determines the first order of the second handling robot 30 entering the second inbound passage 421 based on the second order. For example, if the dispatching system software determines the second order of the inventory bins in the first inbound passage 411 based on the position of the first handling robot 20 in the first inbound passage 411 is S1-S2-S4-S5-S3, then the dispatching system software determines the first order of the second handling robot 30 entering the second inbound passage 421 is A-B-D-E-C, where the order bin A corresponds to the inventory bin S1, the order bin B corresponds to the inventory bin S2, the order bin D corresponds to the inventory bin S4, the order bin E corresponds to the inventory bin S5, and the order bin C corresponds to the inventory bin S3.

[0180] As shown in FIG. 5b, the first handling robot 20 carrying the inventory bin S1 arrives at the candidate pick location 415, and the first handling robot 20 behind it moves forward one position at a time. The first handling robot 20 carrying the inventory bin S5 moves into the last first queuing position 4111 in the first inbound passage 411. Similarly, the second handling robot 30 carrying the order bin A arrives at the candidate drop location 425.

[0181] As shown in FIG. 5c, the first handling robot 20 carrying the inventory bin S1 arrives at the pick location 412, and the first handling robot 20 carrying the inventory bin S2 arrives at the candidate pick location 415. Similarly, the second handling robot 30 carrying the order bin A arrives at the drop location 422, and the second handling robot 30 carrying the order bin B arrives at the candidate drop location 425.

[0182] As shown in FIG. 5d, after the picker picks the inventory bin S1 and the order bin A at the picking location 43, the first handling robot 20 carrying the inventory bin S1 drives out of the pick location 412 and enters the first outbound passage 413, and the subsequent directly flows out of the workstation 40 through the first outbound passage 413. The second handling robot 30 carrying the order bin A drives out of the drop location 422 and enters the second outbound passage 423.

[0183] As shown in Fig. 5e, since the order box A corresponding to the order task has been completed picking, the second carrying robot 30 carrying the order box A flows out of the working station 40 through the second outbound channel 423, while the second carrying robot 30 carrying the empty order box H flows in from the second inbound channel 421, so as to always keep a number of flowing order boxes in the working station 40.

[0184] As shown in Fig. 5f, the order box B has not completed all the order tasks after the picking at the delivery position 422, and is a first type order box which needs to be picked for the second time. After the second carrying robot 30 carrying the order box B exits the delivery position 422 and enters the idle temporary storage position 424 for temporary storage.

[0185] As shown in Fig. 5g, when the second carrying robot 30 carrying the order box B needs to enter the second inbound channel 421 according to the first sequence, the second carrying robot 30 moves from the temporary storage position 424 to the second inbound channel 421, and then the second picking of the order box B is performed according to the foregoing process. After the second picking, it is determined whether the order box B needs to be picked for the third time, and then it is determined whether the order box B can exit (as shown in Fig. 5e) or needs to continue to enter the idle temporary storage position 424 for temporary storage (for example, as shown in Fig. 5f).

[0186] For the order box which needs to be picked for the second time, when the order box area 42 further comprises the backup delivery position 425, the order box can be temporarily stored in the backup delivery position 425 in addition to the temporary storage position 424 to wait for the second picking. The following describes the flow of the order box after the picking at the delivery position 422.

[0187] Figs. 6a to 6d show several flow diagrams of the order box after the picking at the delivery position 422. As shown in the figures, the temporary storage position 424 closest to the delivery position 422 among the plurality of temporary storage positions 424 is the first temporary storage position 4241, and the backup delivery position 425, the delivery position 422 and the first temporary storage position 4241 are sequentially arranged along the roundabout path. Such arrangement can facilitate the order box sorting. After the picking, the order box which has not completed all the goods category picking can return to the delivery position 422, the backup delivery position 425 or the idle temporary storage position 424 through the second outbound channel 423 according to the subsequent order box sequence.

[0188] As shown in FIG. 6a, the sequence of order bins determined according to the sequence of inventory bins S1-S2-S3-S4-S5 is A-A-B-C-D (the goods in inventory bins S1 and S2 are both the goods corresponding to the order task of order bin A), that is, after order bin A completes a picking process, since the next position of order bin A in the sequence of order bins is adjacent to its current position, the first transfer robot 20 carrying order bin A stops at the delivery position 422 without moving, only the first transfer robot 20 carrying the inventory bin is transferred, and after the first transfer robot 20 carrying inventory bin S2 reaches the picking position 412, the second picking of the order task corresponding to order bin A is performed.

[0189] As shown in FIG. 6b, the sequence of order bins determined according to the sequence of inventory bins S1-S2-S3-S4-S5 is A-B-A-C-D (the goods in inventory bins S1 and S3 are both the goods corresponding to the order task of order bin A), that is, after order bin A completes a picking process, since the next position of order bin A in the sequence of order bins is separated from its current position by one position, the first transfer robot 20 carrying order bin A is transferred to the standby delivery position 425 through the roundabout (before this, the second transfer robot 30 carrying order bin B enters the delivery position 422 from the standby delivery position 425), and waits for the second picking of the order task corresponding to order bin A.

[0190] As shown in FIG. 6c, the sequence of order bins determined according to the sequence of inventory bins S1-S2-S3-S4-S5 is A-B-C-A-D (the goods in inventory bins S1 and S4 are both the goods corresponding to the order task of order bin A), that is, after order bin A completes a picking process, since the next position of order bin A in the sequence of order bins is separated from its current position by two positions, the first transfer robot 20 carrying order bin A is transferred to the first temporary storage position 4241 through the roundabout (before this, the second transfer robot 30 carrying order bin B enters the delivery position 422 from the standby delivery position 425, and the second transfer robot 30 carrying order bin C enters the standby delivery position 425), and waits for the second picking of the order task corresponding to order bin A.

[0191] In a preferred embodiment, when order bin A completes a picking process, there is also the Nth inventory bin, and before the order bin is delivered again, no other order bin needs to occupy the first temporary storage position 4241, then the second transfer robot 30 carrying the order bin can enter the first temporary storage position 4241 as shown in FIG. 6c, and prepare for the next picking process. Wherein, N is a positive integer, N≥5, that is, the next position of order bin A in the first sequence is separated from its current position by at least three positions.

[0192] As shown in FIG. 6d, the sequence of order bins determined according to the sequence S1-S2-S3-S4-S5 of inventory bins is A-B-C-B-A (the goods in inventory bins S1 and S5 are all the goods corresponding to the order task of order bin A, and the goods in inventory bins S2 and S4 are all the goods corresponding to the order task of order bin B), that is, when order bin A completes a picking process, the next position of order bin A in the first sequence is three positions away from the current position, and order bin B needs to enter the standby delivery position 425 through the first temporary storage position 4241 to wait for the second picking after completing the first picking (order bin B belongs to the order bin that appears at least once between the current position and the next position of order bin A in the order bin sequence), and the sequence of the second picking of order bin A in the order bin sequence is after the second picking of order bin B, which means that the first temporary storage position 4241 is reserved by the more urgent order bin B, and then the first order bin carrying robot 20 carrying order bin A needs to return to the delivery position 422 according to the urgency of the order bin again, and enter one of the idle temporary storage positions 424 for temporary storage, and re-enter the second inlet channel 421 for queuing when the sorting condition is met. When selecting an idle temporary storage position 424 according to the urgency of the order bin that needs to return to the delivery position 422 again, the earlier in time in the order bin sequence, the higher the urgency, and the earlier idle temporary storage position 424 can be selected. In some embodiments, the temporary storage position 424 closest to the delivery position 422 can also be selected from the idle temporary storage positions 424 for temporary storage, so as to shorten the path and time of the order bin to the delivery position 422.

[0193] The following describes how the order bin enters the second inlet channel 421 from the temporary storage position 424 (the situation shown in FIG. 5f). FIGS. 7a-7d show several situations of order bins entering the second inlet channel 421 from the temporary storage position 424.

[0194] First, the spatial relationship between order bins in the order bin sequence is described. The path of an order bin from a position in the order bin area 42 to the delivery position 422 is relatively fixed, for example, from the delivery position 422 to the delivery position 422, it needs to pass through the first temporary storage position 4241-the standby delivery position 425-the delivery position 422, or pass through the second outlet channel 423-an idle temporary storage position 424-the second inlet channel 421-the standby delivery position 425-the delivery position 422. If the path of each order bin from its current position to the delivery position 422 is shorter, the order bin is said to be more forward in space.

[0195] As shown in FIG. 7a, the current order bin sequence is A-B-D-E-F, and order bin C does not appear in the current order bin sequence, so order bin C is temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424.

[0196] After the order bin C appears in the current order bin sequence, the dispatch system software detects whether there is an order bin earlier than order bin C in time:

[0197] As shown in FIG. 7b, the current order bin sequence is C-G-H-I-J, and there is no order bin earlier than order bin C in time, so the dispatch system software dispatches the second carrying robot 30 carrying order bin C to directly go to the delivery position 422 for picking;

[0198] As shown in FIG. 7c, the current order bin sequence is G-H-C-I-J, and there are order bins G and H earlier than order bin C in time, so the dispatch system software dispatches to detect whether order bins G and H are also earlier than order bin C in space. Since order bins G and H are earlier than order bin C in space, the second carrying robot 30 carrying order bin C is dispatched to leave the staging position 424 and queue behind order bins G and H;

[0199] As shown in FIG. 7d, the current order bin sequence is G-H-C-I-J, and order bins G and H are later than order bin C in space, so order bin C is first staged at the staging position 424, and then the second carrying robot 30 carrying order bin C is dispatched to move from the staging position 424 to the second inbound passage 421 to queue.

[0200] In some embodiments, a first position of the order bin carried by the second transfer robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424 in the first sequence can be determined, and a second position P (shown in FIG. 7c) in the second inbound passage 421 in the second direction Y which is in parallel with the temporary storage position 424 and where the second transfer robot 30 just moves into the second inbound passage 421 from the temporary storage position 424 after moving out of the temporary storage position 424 can be determined; if the second transfer robot 30 carrying the order bin after the first position in the first sequence enters the second inbound passage 421, the second transfer robot 30 carrying the order bin after the first position in the first sequence can be controlled to wait in the second inbound passage 421 upstream of the second position P (e.g., the positions of I and J in FIG. 7c); it can be determined whether the order bins before the first position in the first sequence are all on the second inbound passage 421 and are all in the second inbound passage 421 downstream of the second position P (e.g., in FIGS. 7a-7c, the left side of the second inbound passage 421 is downstream and the right side is upstream); if so, the second transfer robot 30 can be controlled to move from the temporary storage position 424 to the second position P in the second inbound passage 421. By determining whether the order bins before the first position (e.g., the order bins G and H before the first position of the order bin C in the order bin sequence G-H-C-I-J) are all on the second inbound passage 421 and are all in the second inbound passage 421 downstream of the second position P, it can be determined whether the order bins in the order bin sequence which are more forward in time than the order bin carried by the second transfer robot 30 are also more forward in space than the order bin. If the order bins before the first position in the first sequence are all on the second inbound passage 421 and are all in the second inbound passage 421 downstream of the second position P, the second transfer robot 30 can be controlled to move into the second inbound passage 421.

[0201] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a method for picking goods at a workstation 40 according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to a server 50 in a warehouse system 1. The workstation 40 comprises an inventory bin area 41, an order bin area 42, and a picking station 43. The inventory bin area 41 comprises a first inbound passage 411, a picking position 412, and a first outbound passage 413 arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby passage 414 adjacent to the first inbound passage 411. The first inbound passage 411 is used for a first carrying robot 20 carrying an inventory bin storing goods to travel to the picking position 412. The standby passage 414 is used for the first carrying robot 20 to stop and wait for moving into the first inbound passage 411 when there is no idle queuing position in the first inbound passage 411. The first outbound passage 413 is used for the first carrying robot 20 to travel out of the inventory bin area 41. The order bin area 42 comprises a second inbound passage 421, a delivery position 422, and a second outbound passage 423 arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions 424 between the second inbound passage 421 and the second outbound passage 423. The second inbound passage 421 is used for a second carrying robot 30 carrying an order bin to travel to the delivery position 422. The order bin is used for receiving goods picked from the inventory bin. The plurality of temporary storage positions 424 are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot 30 carrying a first type of order bin. The first type of order bin is an order bin storing part of the picked goods. The travel direction of the second carrying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position 424 is perpendicular to the travel direction of the second carrying robot 30 in the second inbound passage 421 or the second outbound passage 423. The second outbound passage 423 is used for the second carrying robot 30 to travel out of the order bin area 42 or for the second carrying robot 30 to travel into the temporary storage position 424 from the delivery position 422. The picking station 43 is adjacent to the picking position 412 and the delivery position 422, respectively, and is used for accommodating a picker or setting a picking device, so that the picker or the picking device picks goods from the inventory bin at the picking position 412 and puts the goods into the order bin at the delivery position 422. The workstation 40 can also be the workstation 40 in any of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 7d.

[0202] As shown in FIG. 8, the method comprises the following steps:

[0203] Step 810: obtaining an order task;

[0204] Step 820: controlling the first carrying robot to carry an inventory bin corresponding to the order task to the picking position;

[0205] Step 830: controlling the second carrying robot to carry an empty order bin to the delivery position;

[0206] Step 840: After determining that the to-be-picked goods in the inventory box are delivered to the order box, the first carrying robot is controlled to drive out of the inventory box area, and it is determined whether the order task is completed picking;

[0207] Step 850: If the order task is completed picking, the second carrying robot is controlled to drive out of the order box area;

[0208] Step 860: If the order task is not completed picking, the second carrying robot is controlled to enter the idle temporary storage position, and the second carrying robot is controlled to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to the first sequence, so as to carry the order box to the delivery position again.

[0209] The first sequence is determined according to the second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first inbound passage, so that the order box reaching the delivery position matches the inventory box reaching the picking position.

[0210] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0211] predicting the sequence of the inventory boxes reaching the workstation, determining the second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first inbound passage according to the sequence of the inventory boxes reaching the workstation, and determining the first sequence according to the second sequence; or,

[0212] obtaining the position of the first carrying robot in the first inbound passage, determining the second sequence of the inventory boxes in the first inbound passage according to the position, and determining the first sequence according to the second sequence.

[0213] In some embodiments, controlling the second carrying robot to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to the first sequence comprises:

[0214] determining the first position of the order box carried by the second carrying robot in the temporary storage position in the first sequence, and determining the second position of the second carrying robot in the second inbound passage, wherein the second position is a position that is side by side with the temporary storage position in the second direction;

[0215] determining whether all the order boxes before the order box in the first sequence are on the second inbound passage and the positions in the second inbound passage are all downstream of the second position;

[0216] If yes, the second carrying robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position to the second position in the second inbound passage.

[0217] In some embodiments, controlling the second carrying robot to enter the second inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to the first sequence comprises:

[0218] determining whether the paths of all the order boxes before the order box in the first sequence to the delivery position are all less than the path of the order box to the delivery position;

[0219] If yes, the second transfer robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position to the second entry channel so that the order box is in the second entry channel in the first order;

[0220] If no, the second transfer robot is controlled to continue to be temporarily stored in the temporary storage position until the paths of all order boxes located before the order box in the first order to reach the delivery position are less than the path of the order box to reach the delivery position, and the second transfer robot is controlled to move from the temporary storage position to the second entry channel so that the order box is in the second entry channel in the first order.

[0221] In some embodiments, if the order task is not completed picking, the method further comprises:

[0222] determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order;

[0223] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order are adjacent, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0224] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order are adjacent, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0225] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a backup delivery position located upstream of the delivery position;

[0226] If the order task is not completed picking, the method further comprises:

[0227] determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order;

[0228] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order are adjacent, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0229] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a backup delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position is the first temporary storage position, and the backup delivery position, the delivery position and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the island path;

[0230] controlling the second transfer robot to enter the idle temporary storage position, including determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order;

[0231] If the next position and the current position of the order box in the first order are adjacent, the second transfer robot is controlled to stop at the delivery position to wait for the next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

[0232] In some embodiments, the order box area further comprises a backup delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, a temporary storage position closest to the delivery position in the plurality of temporary storage positions is a first temporary storage position, the backup delivery position, the delivery position and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the island path;

[0233] controlling the second conveying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position comprises determining a relationship between a next position and a current position of the order box in the first sequence;

[0234] if the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence are separated by at least three positions, determining whether there is an order box that needs to use the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence;

[0235] if yes, controlling the second conveying robot to enter an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position after driving out of the delivery position;

[0236] if no, controlling the second conveying robot to enter the first temporary storage position after driving out of the delivery position.

[0237] In some embodiments, the determining whether there is an order box that needs to use the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence comprises:

[0238] determining whether there is an order box that repeats at least once with a separation of at least one position between the current position and the next position in the first sequence.

[0239] In some embodiments, the controlling the second conveying robot to enter an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position after driving out of the delivery position comprises:

[0240] determining a temporary storage position closest to the delivery position from all idle temporary storage positions other than the first temporary storage position;

[0241] controlling the second conveying robot to enter the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position after driving out of the delivery position.

[0242] In some embodiments, after controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the order box area, the method further comprises:

[0243] controlling the second conveying robot conveying the empty order box to drive into the order box area from the second access channel.

[0244] The embodiment of the present application also provides a workstation in a warehouse system. FIG. 9a shows a structural schematic diagram of another workstation provided by the embodiment of the present application, FIG. 9b shows a plan schematic diagram of another workstation provided by the embodiment of the present application, and FIG. 9c shows a structural schematic diagram of an order box area of another workstation provided by the embodiment of the present application. For the convenience of description, XYZ coordinate axes are defined in the embodiment of the present application, the X axis is a first direction, the Y axis is a second direction, and the Z axis is a third direction. The X axis includes a positive X axis direction and a negative X axis direction, and the Y axis includes a positive Y axis direction and a negative Y axis direction.

[0245] As shown in FIGS. 9a-9c, the workstation 40 includes an inventory box conveying line 45, an order box area 42, and a picking position 43. The conveying direction of the inventory box conveying line 45 is shown by arrows in the figure.

[0246] The inventory box conveying line 45 is arranged on the ground 60, and the conveying plane of the inventory box conveying line 45 has a spacing from the ground 60, so that in the vertical direction (the third direction Z), the inventory box conveying line 45 is located on the upper layer of the order box area 42, that is, in the workstation 40, the upper layer is used for conveying inventory boxes, and the lower layer is used for conveying order boxes. The space between the inventory box conveying line 45 and the ground 60 can be used for the movement of the first and second carrying robots 20 and 30, so as to save space. The first and second carrying robots 20 and 30 can be jacking warehouse robots, which can take and place a single box (inventory box or order box), have small size, high running speed, and low cost.

[0247] The inventory box conveying line 45 has a picking position 412, and the first carrying robot 20 is used to sequentially carry inventory boxes to the entrance 451 of the inventory box conveying line 45. The inventory box conveying line 45 is used to convey the inventory boxes from the entrance 451 to the picking position 412, so as to provide the inventory boxes on the picking position 412 in a second order, wherein the inventory boxes are used to store goods. After carrying the inventory boxes to the entrance 451, the first carrying robot 20 walks to the exit 452 of the inventory box conveying line 45, and waits for the inventory boxes conveyed to the exit 452 to be taken away.

[0248] The inventory box conveying line 45 is also used to convey the inventory boxes output from the picking position 412 to the exit 452 of the inventory box conveying line 45, and the first carrying robot 20 drives out of the workstation 40 after taking the inventory boxes at the exit 452.

[0249] Specifically, the inventory box conveying line 45 can include a first conveying line 453, a second conveying line 454, and a third conveying line 455, the first conveying line 453 and the second conveying line 454 are arranged in parallel along the first direction X, wherein the conveying direction (negative direction of X axis) of the first conveying line 453 and the conveying direction (positive direction of X axis) of the second conveying line 454 are opposite, the third conveying line 455 is arranged along the second direction Y and is used to connect the first conveying line 453 and the second conveying line 454, the conveying direction of the third conveying line 455 is the positive direction of Y axis, forming a U-shaped conveying structure, which can save space in the first direction X. Of course, if the area allows, the inventory box conveying line 45 and the order box area 42 can also be arranged along the first direction X. The picking position 412 is located at the exit of the third conveying line 455 or the entrance of the second conveying line 454. The first carrying robot 20 is used to carry the inventory boxes to the entrance 451 of the first conveying line 453 in sequence, and then walks to the exit 452 of the second conveying line 454 to wait. The first conveying line 453 is used to convey the inventory boxes to the third conveying line 455, and the third conveying line 455 is used to convey the inventory boxes to the picking position 412 to provide the inventory boxes on the picking position 412 in the second order. The second conveying line 454 is used to convey the inventory boxes output from the picking position 412 to the exit 452 of the second conveying line 454. The first carrying robot 20 located at the exit 452 drives out of the workstation 40 after taking out the inventory box located at the exit 452 of the second conveying line 454.

[0250] The inventory box conveying line 45 can be a belt conveying line, a roller conveying line, etc. Since the inventory boxes need to be conveyed from the first conveying line 453 to the third conveying line 455 and from the third conveying line 455 to the second conveying line 454, the conveying directions of the first conveying line 453 and the third conveying line 455 are perpendicular, and the conveying directions of the second conveying line 454 and the third conveying line 455 are also perpendicular, so a transfer mechanism, such as a movable push rod or a baffle, can also be arranged on one or more of the first conveying line 453, the second conveying line 454, and the third conveying line 455, and the conveying of the inventory boxes between the conveying lines is realized by the movement of the transfer mechanism.

[0251] As shown in the drawings, a first gap 4531 is formed at the entrance 451, and the first conveying robot 20 carrying the inventory box walks to the vicinity of the entrance 451, the top-holding piece 21 of the first conveying robot 20 carrying the inventory box can be inserted into the first gap 4531, and then walks a short distance along the conveying direction of the first conveying line 453, and then controls the top-holding piece 21 to descend to place the inventory box on the first conveying line 453. A second gap 4541 is also formed at the exit 452, and after the first conveying robot 20 walks to below the second gap 4541, when the inventory box conveyed by the second conveying line 454 reaches above the second gap 4541, the top-holding piece 21 of the first conveying robot 20 in the lowered state can be raised and inserted into the second gap 4541, hold the inventory box and walk a short distance along the conveying direction of the second conveying line 454 to take out the inventory box from the second conveying line 454.

[0252] The connection mode of the first conveying robot 20 and the conveying line can also be other connection modes, which are not limited in the present application. For example, a comb structure is arranged at the entrance 451 or the exit 452 for connection, and a top-holding piece adapted to the comb structure is arranged on the first conveying robot 20, and the top-holding piece can pass through the comb structure to realize the connection with the conveying line.

[0253] The order box area 42 comprises an order box inbound passage, a delivery position 422 and an order box outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the order box inbound passage and the order box outbound passage. The order box inbound passage, the plurality of temporary storage positions and the order box outbound passage are all arranged in parallel along the first direction X, the inbound direction (negative direction of the X axis) of the order box inbound passage and the outbound direction (positive direction of the X axis) of the order box outbound passage are opposite, forming a U-shaped passage structure, which can save space in the first direction X.

[0254] The order box inbound passage is used for the second carrying robot 30 to drive into the order box area 42 and walk to the delivery position 422, and the second carrying robot 30 carries an order box used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box. The plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot 30 carrying the first type of order box, i.e., the order box containing partially picked goods, and the walking direction of the second carrying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot 30 in the order box inbound passage or the order box outbound passage, and the second carrying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position enters the order box inbound passage according to the first sequence, which is determined according to the second sequence, so as to match the order box arriving at the delivery position 422 with the inventory box arriving at the goods taking position 412. The order box outbound passage is used for the second carrying robot 30 driving out of the delivery position 422 to drive out of the order box area 42 or for the second carrying robot 30 driving out of the delivery position 422 to drive into the temporary storage position. In the embodiment, the specific structure and working principle of the order box area 42 are similar to those of the embodiments in FIGS. 1-7d, and the foregoing embodiments can be referred to, and the order box area 42 is not shown in detail in FIGS. 9a-9c.

[0255] The picking position 43 is adjacent to the projection of the goods taking position 412 on the ground 60 and the delivery position 422, and is used for accommodating a picking personnel or a picking device, so that the picking personnel or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box located at the goods taking position 412 and puts the goods into the order box located at the delivery position 422.

[0256] In the embodiment, in the second direction Y, the inventory box conveying line 45 and the order box area 42 are located on the same side of the picking position 43. For example, the inventory box conveying line 45 and the order box area 42 are both located on the left side of the picking position 43. The inventory box conveying line 45 and the order box area 42 located on the same side of the picking position 43 can save space.

[0257] The work station 40 further comprises an isolation part 44 arranged between the order box area 42 and the picking position 43. The isolation part 44 is arranged to isolate the picking personnel and the second carrying robot 30, so as to prevent the second carrying robot 30 from colliding with the picking personnel and causing personal injury.

[0258] The difference between the embodiment and the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-8 is mainly that the flow mode of the inventory box is different. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-8, the first carrying robot 20 walks in the set channel in the inventory box area 41 to realize the conveying of the inventory box, and specifically, the first carrying robot 20 directly carries the inventory box to the picking position 412. In the embodiment, the flow mode of the inventory box is that the first carrying robot 20 carries the inventory box to the entrance 451 of the inventory box conveying line 45, the inventory box conveying line 45 conveys the inventory box to the picking position 412, the inventory box conveying line 45 conveys the picked inventory box to the exit 452 of the inventory box conveying line 45, the first carrying robot 20 goes to the exit 452 after carrying the inventory box to the entrance 451, and waits, when the picked inventory box is conveyed to the exit 452, the first carrying robot 20 takes out the inventory box at the exit 452, and then leaves the workstation 40. In the embodiment, the first carrying robot 20 and the inventory box conveying line 45 jointly realize the carrying of the inventory box. In the embodiment, the inventory box conveying line 45 and the order box area 42 can share a part of the floor area, and the floor area can be saved.

[0259] In the embodiment, the flow mode of the order box is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-8.

[0260] In the embodiment, the workstation 40 is divided into the inventory box conveying line 45, the order box area 42, and the picking position 43, the first carrying robot 20 carrying the inventory box carries the inventory box to the inventory box conveying line 45 in turn, the inventory box conveying line 45 conveys the inventory box to the picking position 412 in turn, the second carrying robot 30 carrying the order box enters the order box entrance channel of the order box area 42 in turn, and then carries the order box to the delivery position 422 of the order box area 42, the picker or the picking device takes out the goods from the inventory box at the picking position 412 and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery position 422. The order box that does not complete all order tasks is carried away from the delivery position 422 by the second carrying robot 30, enters the temporary storage position of the order box area 42, and then enters the order box entrance channel according to the first order, wherein the first order is determined according to the second order of the inventory box on the inventory box conveying line 45, so that the order box that reaches the delivery position 422 again matches the inventory box that reaches the picking position 412. In this way, the first carrying robot 20 and the inventory box conveying line 45 convey the inventory box to the picking position 412 beside the picking position 43, the second carrying robot 30 carries the order box to the delivery position 422 beside the picking position 43, and the second carrying robot 30 realizes the buffering, sorting, and switching of the order box according to the second order of the inventory box on the inventory box conveying line 45, so that the inventory box that reaches the picking position 412 matches the order box that reaches the delivery position 422, for the picker or the picking device to pick, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the workstation 40, reducing the labor intensity of the picker, and reducing the mis-picking rate.

[0261] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of another method for picking goods at a workstation, which is applied to the server 50 in the warehouse system 1, and the workstation 40 includes an inventory box conveying line 45, an order box area 42, and a picking station 43; the inventory box conveying line 45 has a taking position 412; the order box area 42 includes an order box entry passage, a delivery position 422, and an order box exit passage arranged in sequence, and further includes a plurality of temporary storage positions between the order box entry passage and the order box exit passage; the order box entry passage is used for the second carrying robot 30 to drive into the order box area 42 and walk to the delivery position 422, and the second carrying robot 30 carries an order box used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box; the plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot 30 carrying a first type of order box, and the first type of order box is an order box containing part of the picked goods, and the walking direction of the second carrying robot 30 temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot 30 in the order box entry passage or the order box exit passage; the order box exit passage is used for the second carrying robot 30 driving out of the delivery position 422 to drive out of the order box area 42 or for the second carrying robot 30 driving out of the delivery position 422 to drive into the temporary storage position; the picking station 43 is adjacent to the projection of the taking position 412 on the ground 60 and the delivery position 422, and is used for accommodating a picker or setting a picking device, so that the picker or the picking device takes goods from the inventory box at the taking position 412 and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery position 422. The workstation 40 can also be the workstation 40 in the above-mentioned embodiment of FIG. 9.

[0262] As shown in FIG. 10, the method includes the following steps:

[0263] Step 1010: obtaining an order task;

[0264] Step 1020: controlling the first carrying robot to carry an inventory box corresponding to the order task to an entrance of the inventory box conveying line, so that the inventory box conveying line conveys the inventory box from the entrance to the taking position to provide the inventory box on the taking position in a second order;

[0265] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the inventory box is used for storing goods;

[0266] Step 1030: controlling the first carrying robot to walk to an exit of the inventory box conveying line after carrying the inventory box to the entrance;

[0267] Step 1040: controlling the second carrying robot to carry an empty order box to the delivery position;

[0268] Step 1050: after determining that the goods to be picked in the inventory box are delivered to the order box, controlling the inventory box conveying line to convey the inventory box output from the taking position to the exit;

[0269] Step 1060: control the first carrying robot to drive out of the work station after picking up the inventory box located at the outlet, and determine whether the order task is completed picking;

[0270] Step 1070: if the order task is completed picking, control the second carrying robot to drive out of the order box area;

[0271] Step 1080: if the order task is not completed picking, control the second carrying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position, and control the second carrying robot to enter the order box inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to the first sequence, so as to carry the order box to the delivery position again.

[0272] The first sequence is determined according to the second sequence, so that the order box reaching the delivery position is matched with the inventory box reaching the picking position.

[0273] The order box flow steps in the embodiment are the same as those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, and will not be described here.

[0274] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium stores at least one executable instruction. When the executable instruction runs on an electronic device, the electronic device executes the operation of the method for picking goods at a work station in the above embodiment. The computer readable storage medium is a non-volatile storage medium. The electronic device can be a server of a warehouse system.

[0275] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the operation of the method for picking goods at a work station in the above embodiment is realized.

[0276] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer program. The computer program can be called by a processor to make an electronic device execute the operation of the method for picking goods at a work station in the above embodiment. The electronic device can be a server of a warehouse system.

[0277] The algorithms or displays provided herein are not inherently related to any particular computer, virtual system, or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems can be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it can prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will be apparent from the description above. In addition, the present embodiments are not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages can be used to implement the teachings of the present application as described herein, and any references below to specific languages are provided for disclosure of enablement only.

[0278] In the specification provided herein, a large number of specific details are described. However, it can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can be practiced without these specific details. In some examples, well-known methods, structures and techniques are not described in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of the specification.

[0279] Similarly, it is to be understood that the features of the embodiments of this application that are of a reciprocal nature may be performed in any order that is technically appropriate, that the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both depending on the application and preferences of the designer. These various implementations can be handcrafted

[0280] Those skilled in the art can understand that the modules in the device in the embodiments can be adaptively changed and arranged in one or more devices different from the embodiments. The modules or units or components in the embodiments can be combined into one module or unit or component, and can be divided into multiple sub-modules or sub-units or sub-components. Except that at least some of such features and / or processes or units are mutually exclusive, all combinations of all features disclosed in this specification (including accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) and all processes or units of any method or device disclosed herein can be adopted. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed in this specification (including accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) can be replaced by an alternative feature providing the same, equivalent or similar purpose.

[0281] It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the application, and that one skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word 'comprising' does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word 'a' or 'an' preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The application can be implemented by means of both hardware and software, and any combination thereof. In a unit claim, several devices can be listed with a comma. These are considered individually listed devices. These devices can be combined into a single device, and a single device can implement several of the listed devices. The use of the word 'any' in introducing an element does not exclude the presence of two or more such elements. The use of the words 'comprise', 'comprising', 'comcluded', 'comcluding', 'contain' or 'containing' or 'include' or 'including' when used in this specification is taken as specifying the presence of stated features but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features. The application encompasses several distinct inventions with independent utility.

Claims

1. A workstation for picking items, characterized in that, The workstation comprises an inventory box area, an order box area and a picking position; The inventory box area comprises a first inbound passage, a picking position and a first outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby passage adjacent to the first inbound passage; The first inbound passage is used for the first carrying robot entering the inventory box area to walk to the picking position, and the first carrying robot carries an inventory box storing goods; The standby passage is used for the first carrying robot entering the inventory box area to stop and wait for moving into the first inbound passage when there is no idle queuing position in the first inbound passage; The first outbound passage is used for the first carrying robot entering the picking position to drive out of the inventory box area; The order box area comprises a second inbound passage, a delivery position and a second outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the second inbound passage and the second outbound passage; The second inbound passage is used for the second carrying robot entering the order box area to walk to the delivery position, and the second carrying robot carries an order box used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box; The plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot carrying a first type of order box, the first type of order box is an order box containing part of the picked goods, the walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the second inbound passage or the second outbound passage, the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position enters the second inbound passage according to a first order, and the first order is determined according to a second order of the inventory box in the first inbound passage, so that the order box reaching the delivery position matches the inventory box reaching the picking position; The second outbound passage is used for the second carrying robot entering the temporary storage position or driving out of the order box area from the delivery position; The picking position is adjacent to the picking position and the delivery position, and is used for accommodating picking personnel or setting picking devices, so that the picking personnel or the picking devices take goods from the inventory box in the picking position and put the goods into the order box in the delivery position.

2. The workstation of claim 1, wherein, The standby passage is also used for the first carrying robot in the first inbound passage to move in to adjust the second order.

3. The workstation of claim 1, wherein, The first inbound passage, the standby passage, the first outbound passage, the second inbound passage, the plurality of temporary storage positions and the second outbound passage are arranged in parallel along a first direction, the inbound direction of the first inbound passage and the outbound direction of the first outbound passage are opposite, and the inbound direction of the second inbound passage and the outbound direction of the second outbound passage are opposite.

4. The workstation of claim 1, wherein, The first inbound passage, the standby passage and the first outbound passage are arranged in parallel along a second direction, and the inbound direction of the first inbound passage and the outbound direction of the first outbound passage are opposite. The second inbound channel, the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the second outbound channel are arranged in parallel along a first direction, and an inbound direction of the second inbound channel and an outbound direction of the second outbound channel are opposite. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction, and in the first direction, the inventory box area and the order box area are located on the same side of the picking position.

5. The workstation of claim 3, wherein, The inventory box area further comprises a candidate picking position located upstream of the picking position, and the candidate picking position and the picking position are arranged in sequence along an arc-shaped path between the first inbound channel and the first outbound channel. The order box area further comprises a candidate delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, and the candidate delivery position and the delivery position are arranged in sequence along an arc-shaped path between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel. In the first direction, the inventory box area and the order box area are located on the same side of the picking position.

6. A station according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that The inventory box area further comprises a candidate picking position located upstream of the picking position, and the candidate picking position, the picking position, and the first outbound channel are arranged in sequence along an outbound direction of the first outbound channel. The order box area further comprises a candidate delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, and the candidate delivery position and the delivery position are arranged in sequence along an arc-shaped path between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel.

7. The workstation of claim 6, wherein, The temporary storage position closest to the delivery position among the plurality of temporary storage positions is a first temporary storage position, and the candidate delivery position, the delivery position, and the first temporary storage position are arranged in sequence along the roundabout path.

8. A station according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that The candidate channel is located between the first inbound channel and the first outbound channel.

9. The workstation of claim 1, wherein, The workstation further comprises a partition located between the inventory box area and the picking position, and between the order box area and the picking position.

10. The workstation of claim 9, wherein, The partition comprises a first blocking member located between the inventory box area and the picking position, and a second blocking member located between the order box area and the picking position.

11. The workstation of claim 1, wherein, The first inbound channel comprises a plurality of first queuing positions, the candidate channel comprises a plurality of candidate positions, the picking position, each of the first queuing positions, and each of the candidate positions are provided with an identification member, and the identification member is used to be recognized by the first carrying robot to realize positioning of the first carrying robot. The second inbound channel comprises a plurality of second queuing positions, the second outbound channel comprises a plurality of second outbound positions, the delivery position, each of the second queuing positions, each of the second outbound positions, and each of the temporary storage positions are provided with an identification member, and the identification member is used to be recognized by the second carrying robot to realize positioning of the second carrying robot.

12. A workstation for picking items, characterized in that The workstation comprises an inventory box conveying line, an order box area, and a picking position. The inventory box conveying line has a picking position, and a first carrying robot is used to carry inventory boxes to an entrance of the inventory box conveying line in sequence, and the inventory box conveying line is used to convey the inventory boxes from the entrance to the picking position to provide the inventory boxes on the picking position in a second order, wherein the inventory boxes are used to store goods. The inventory box conveying line is also used to convey the inventory box output from the goods taking position to an outlet of the inventory box conveying line, and the first carrying robot is also used to carry the inventory box to the outlet of the inventory box conveying line, and drive out of the working station after taking the inventory box at the outlet; The order box area comprises an order box inbound passage, a delivery position and an order box outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the order box inbound passage and the order box outbound passage; The order box inbound passage is used for the second carrying robot to drive into the order box area and walk to the delivery position, the second carrying robot carries an order box, and the order box is used to receive the goods picked from the inventory box; The plurality of temporary storage positions are used to temporarily store the second carrying robot carrying the first type of order box, the first type of order box is an order box containing part of the picked goods, the walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the order box inbound passage or the order box outbound passage, the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position enters the order box inbound passage according to a first sequence, the first sequence is determined according to the second sequence, so that the order box reaching the delivery position is matched with the inventory box reaching the goods taking position; The order box outbound passage is used for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery position to drive out of the order box area or for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery position to drive into the temporary storage position; The picking position is adjacent to the projection of the goods taking position on the ground and the delivery position, and is used to accommodate a picking personnel or set a picking device, so that the picking personnel or the picking device takes the goods from the inventory box at the goods taking position and puts the goods into the order box at the delivery position.

13. The workstation of claim 12, wherein, In the vertical direction, the inventory box conveying line is located at the upper layer of the order box area.

14. A station according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The inventory box conveying line comprises a first conveying line, a second conveying line and a third conveying line, the first conveying line and the second conveying line are arranged in parallel along a first direction, the third conveying line is arranged along a second direction and is used to connect the first conveying line and the second conveying line, and the goods taking position is located at an outlet of the third conveying line or at an inlet of the second conveying line, wherein the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction, and the conveying directions of the first conveying line and the second conveying line are opposite; The first carrying robot is used to carry the inventory box to the inlet of the first conveying line in sequence, the first conveying line is used to convey the inventory box to the third conveying line, the third conveying line is used to convey the inventory box to the goods taking position, and the inventory box is provided at the goods taking position in the second sequence; The second conveying line is used for conveying the inventory box output from the taking location to an outlet of the second conveying line, and the first carrying robot is further used for carrying the inventory box to an inlet of the first conveying line, walking to the outlet of the second conveying line, and driving out of the work station after taking out the inventory box at the outlet of the second conveying line; The order box inbound passage, the plurality of temporary storage locations and the order box outbound passage are arranged in parallel along the first direction, and an inbound direction of the order box inbound passage and an outbound direction of the order box outbound passage are opposite.

15. The workstation of claim 14, wherein, The order box area further comprises a backup delivery location upstream of the delivery location, and the backup delivery location and the delivery location are arranged in sequence along an arc-shaped path between the order box inbound passage and the order box outbound passage. In the second direction, the inventory box conveying line and the order box area are located on the same side of the picking location.

16. The workstation of claim 15, wherein, The temporary storage location closest to the delivery location among the plurality of temporary storage locations is a first temporary storage location, and the backup delivery location, the delivery location and the first temporary storage location are arranged in sequence along an island path.

17. The workstation of claim 12 or 13, wherein, The work station further comprises an isolation part arranged between the order box area and the picking location.

18. The workstation of claim 12 or 13, wherein, The order box inbound passage comprises a plurality of order box queuing locations, and the order box outbound passage comprises a plurality of order box outbound locations, and the delivery location, each order box queuing location, each order box outbound location and each temporary storage location are provided with an identification element, and the identification element is used to be recognized by the second carrying robot to realize positioning of the second carrying robot.

19. A warehousing system characterized by The system comprises a shelf, a first carrying robot, a second carrying robot, and a work station as claimed in any one of claims 1-18; The shelf is used for storing the inventory box and the order box; The first carrying robot is used for carrying the inventory box to be picked from the shelf to the work station and carrying the picked inventory box from the work station to the shelf; The second carrying robot is used for carrying the empty order box from the shelf to the work station and carrying the order box after completion of order task picking out of the work station. The system comprises a shelf, a first carrying robot, a second carrying robot, and a work station as claimed in any one of claims 1-18; The shelf is used for storing the inventory box and the order box; The first carrying robot is used for carrying the inventory box to be picked from the shelf to the work station and carrying the picked inventory box from the work station to the shelf; The second carrying robot is used for carrying the empty order box from the shelf to the work station and carrying the order box after completion of order task picking out of the work station.

20. A method of picking items at a workstation, applied to a server in a warehouse system, characterized by: The workstation comprises an inventory box area, an order box area and a picking position; the inventory box area comprises a first inbound channel, a picking position and a first outbound channel arranged in sequence, and further comprises a standby channel adjacent to the first inbound channel; the first inbound channel is used for the first carrying robot driving into the inventory box area to walk to the picking position, and the first carrying robot carries an inventory box storing goods; the standby channel is used for the first carrying robot driving into the inventory box area to stop and wait for moving into the first inbound channel when there is no idle queuing position in the first inbound channel; the first outbound channel is used for the first carrying robot driving out of the inventory box area from the picking position; the order box area comprises a second inbound channel, a delivery position and a second outbound channel arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the second inbound channel and the second outbound channel; the second inbound channel is used for the second carrying robot driving into the order box area to walk to the delivery position, and the second carrying robot carries an order box used for receiving goods picked from the inventory box; the plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot carrying a first type of order box, the first type of order box being an order box filled with part of the picked goods, and the walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the second inbound channel or the second outbound channel; the second outbound channel is used for the second carrying robot driving out of the order box area from the delivery position or for the second carrying robot driving into the temporary storage position from the delivery position; the picking position is adjacent to the picking position and the delivery position, and is used for accommodating picking personnel or setting picking devices, so that the picking personnel or the picking devices take goods from the inventory box located at the picking position and put the goods into the order box located at the delivery position; The method comprises: obtaining an order task; controlling the first carrying robot to carry the inventory box corresponding to the order task to the picking position; controlling the second carrying robot to carry the empty order box to the delivery position; after determining that the goods to be picked in the inventory box are delivered to the order box, controlling the first carrying robot to drive out of the inventory box area, and determining whether the order task is completed picking; if the order task is completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to drive out of the order box area; if the order task is not completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to enter the idle temporary storage position, and controlling the second carrying robot to enter the second inbound channel from the temporary storage position according to a first sequence to carry the order box to the delivery position again, wherein the first sequence is determined according to a second sequence of the inventory box in the first inbound channel, so that the order box reaching the delivery position matches the inventory box reaching the picking position.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, The method further comprises: predicting an order in which the inventory bins arrive at the work station, determining the second order of inventory bins in the first inbound passage according to the order in which the inventory bins arrive at the work station, and determining the first order according to the second order; or acquiring a position of the first conveying robot in the first inbound passage, determining the second order of inventory bins in the first inbound passage according to the position, and determining the first order according to the second order.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein, The second inbound passage, the plurality of temporary storage positions, and the second outbound passage are arranged in parallel along a first direction, and an inbound direction of the second inbound passage and an outbound direction of the second outbound passage are opposite. The method further comprises: determining a first position of the order box carried by the second conveying robot in the first order, and determining a second position in the second inbound passage which is parallel to the temporary storage position in a second direction, wherein the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction; if a second conveying robot carrying an order box after the first position in the first order enters the second inbound passage, controlling the second conveying robot carrying the order box after the first position in the first order to wait upstream of the second position in the second inbound passage; determining whether all order boxes before the first position in the first order are on the second inbound passage and whether positions of all order boxes in the second inbound passage are downstream of the second position; if so, controlling the second conveying robot to move from the temporary storage position to the second position in the second inbound passage.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein, The method further comprises: determining whether a path of all order boxes before the order box in the first order to the delivery position is less than a path of the order box to the delivery position; if so, controlling the second conveying robot to move from the temporary storage position to the second inbound passage so that a position of the order box in the second inbound passage conforms to the first order; if not, controlling the second conveying robot to continue to be temporarily stored in the temporary storage position until paths of all order boxes before the order box in the first order to the delivery position are less than a path of the order box to the delivery position, and controlling the second conveying robot to move from the temporary storage position to the second inbound passage so that a position of the order box in the second inbound passage conforms to the first order.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein, if the order task is not completed, the method further comprises: determining a relationship between a next position and a current position of the order box in the first order; if the next position of the order box in the first order is adjacent to the current position, then controlling the second conveying robot to stay at the delivery position to wait for a next inventory box to arrive at the picking position for re-picking.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein, The order box area further comprises a backup delivery position upstream of the delivery position. If the order task is not completed picking, the method further comprises: determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence; if the next position of the order box in the first sequence is separated from the current position by one position, controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the standby delivery position to wait after the second conveying robot located at the standby delivery position drives into the delivery position.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein, The order box area further comprises a standby delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position in the plurality of temporary storage positions is the first temporary storage position, and the standby delivery position, the delivery position, and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the roundabout path. The control of the second conveying robot into the idle temporary storage position comprises: determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence; 27. The method of claim 20, wherein, if the next position of the order box in the first sequence is separated from the current position by two positions, controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the first temporary storage position for temporary storage. The order box area further comprises a standby delivery position located upstream of the delivery position, the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position in the plurality of temporary storage positions is the first temporary storage position, and the standby delivery position, the delivery position, and the first temporary storage position are sequentially arranged along the roundabout path. The control of the second conveying robot into the idle temporary storage position comprises: determining the relationship between the next position and the current position of the order box in the first sequence; if the next position of the order box in the first sequence is separated from the current position by at least three positions, determining whether there is an order box that needs to use the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence; 28. The method of claim 27, wherein, if yes, controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position for temporary storage; if no, controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the first temporary storage position for temporary storage.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein, The determination of whether there is an order box that needs to use the first temporary storage position among the order boxes located between the current position and the next position in the first sequence comprises: determining whether there is an order box that repeats at least once between the current position and the next position in the first sequence. The control of the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into an idle temporary storage position other than the first temporary storage position for temporary storage comprises:

30. The method of claim 20, wherein, determining the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position from all idle temporary storage positions other than the first temporary storage position; controlling the second conveying robot to drive out of the delivery position and drive into the temporary storage position closest to the delivery position for temporary storage. After the control of the second conveying robot to drive out of the order box area, the method further comprises: controlling the second conveying robot conveying the empty order box to drive into the order box area from the second entrance channel.

31. A method of picking items at a workstation, characterized by: The workstation comprises an inventory box conveying line, an order box area and a picking position; the inventory box conveying line has a picking position; the order box area comprises an order box inbound passage, a delivery position and an order box outbound passage arranged in sequence, and further comprises a plurality of temporary storage positions between the order box inbound passage and the order box outbound passage; the order box inbound passage is used for the second carrying robot to drive into the order box area and walk to the delivery position, the second carrying robot carries an order box used for receiving goods picked from inventory boxes; the plurality of temporary storage positions are used for temporarily storing the second carrying robot carrying a first type of order box, the first type of order box is an order box containing part of the picked goods, the walking direction of the second carrying robot temporarily stored in the temporary storage position is perpendicular to the walking direction of the second carrying robot in the order box inbound passage or the order box outbound passage; the order box outbound passage is used for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery position to drive out of the order box area or for the second carrying robot driving out of the delivery position to drive into the temporary storage position; the picking position is adjacent to the projection of the picking position and the delivery position on the ground, and is used for accommodating picking personnel or arranging picking devices, so that the picking personnel or the picking devices take goods from the inventory boxes at the picking position and put the goods into the order boxes at the delivery position; The method comprises: obtaining an order task; controlling the first carrying robot to carry the inventory box corresponding to the order task to an entrance of the inventory box conveying line, so that the inventory box conveying line conveys the inventory box from the entrance to the picking position to provide the inventory box on the picking position in a second order, wherein the inventory box is used for storing goods; controlling the first carrying robot to walk to an exit of the inventory box conveying line after carrying the inventory box to the entrance; controlling the second carrying robot to carry the empty order box to the delivery position; after determining that the goods to be picked in the inventory box are delivered to the order box, controlling the inventory box conveying line to convey the inventory box output from the picking position to the exit; controlling the first carrying robot to drive out of the workstation after taking the inventory box at the exit, and determining whether the order task is completed picking; if the order task is completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to drive out of the order box area; if the order task is not completed picking, controlling the second carrying robot to enter an idle temporary storage position, and controlling the second carrying robot to enter the order box inbound passage from the temporary storage position according to a first order, so as to carry the order box to the delivery position again, wherein the first order is determined according to the second order, so that the order box reaching the delivery position matches the inventory box reaching the picking position.

32. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, characterized in that, The computer program is executed by a processor to implement the method of picking goods at the workstation according to any one of claims 20-31.

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