Material transfer system and material transfer method

Abstract

The present application discloses a material transfer system and a material transfer method. The material transfer system comprises a stack rack and vertical-plane transfer robots; the stack rack is formed by stacking at least two rack units vertically; and, on a same side of the stack rack, each rack unit is provided with at least one vertical-plane transfer robot, wherein the vertical-plane transfer robot is movably mounted on a rack vertical plane of the rack unit, and the vertical-plane transfer robot is also configured to be capable of docking with any rack storage position of the rack unit on which the vertical-plane transfer robot is mounted. It can be understood that, in this way, a warehouse entry operation and a warehouse exit operation for a target item in the stacked rack unit can be realized at least by driving the vertical-plane transfer robot. The height of the application scenario for the vertical-plane transfer robot is expanded, and the technical problem that the vertical-plane transfer robot is not suitable for a high-level warehousing application scenario due to a carrying capacity limitation of a single vertical-plane transfer robot is solved.

Description

Material transfer system and method

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411566644.7, filed on November 4, 2024, and entitled "Material transfer system and method", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of logistics, and in particular to a material transfer system and a material transfer method. BACKGROUND

[0003] In automated warehousing, the transfer of materials, i.e. the storage and retrieval of materials, can be achieved by using a combination of a goods rail robot and a transfer robot. Specifically, the goods rail robot is a material handling robot that can move on a goods shelf rail and is mainly responsible for the transfer of materials in the height direction, while the transfer robot is a handling trolley that cooperates with the goods rail robot and is mainly responsible for the transfer of materials in the horizontal direction.

[0004] However, in the current scheme, due to the limitations of the bearing structure, control and other factors, the height of a single goods rail robot cannot be very high, usually 15m or less. As a result, due to the height limit of the goods rail robot, the height of the shelf in the above-mentioned application scenarios is mostly limited to 15m or less, and the application requirements of high-position warehousing, such as 20-30m, cannot be covered, resulting in a single use scenario of the goods rail robot and inconvenience in use. SUMMARY

[0005] To at least one aspect of the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a material transfer system and a material transfer method. The material transfer system is configured by stacking at least two shelf units one above the other and providing at least one facade handling robot (i.e. the above-mentioned goods rail robot) on the same side of each shelf unit. Thus, at least by controlling the facade handling robot, the storage and retrieval of target goods in the stacked shelf composed of at least two shelf units can be achieved. In this way, by stacking the shelf units and the facade handling robots provided on the shelf units in the height direction, the design limitations of a single facade handling robot (or goods rail robot) can be overcome in the application level, and higher warehousing applications can be achieved.

[0006] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a material transfer system, comprising:

[0007] a stacked shelf comprising at least two shelf units, the at least two shelf units being stacked one above the other in a height direction;

[0008] A facade handling robot is movably installed on a facade of the rack unit; wherein the facade of the rack unit is a vertical plane formed by the same direction of the storage position openings of all the rack storage positions in the rack unit, and each of the rack units is provided with at least one facade handling robot on the same side of the stacked rack;

[0009] A dispatch control device is used to control the facade handling robot;

[0010] The facade handling robot is configured to be docked with any rack storage position of the rack unit on which the facade handling robot is installed, so that the dispatch control device realizes the warehousing operation of the target goods transferred into the stacked rack and the de-warehousing operation of the target goods transferred out of the stacked rack at least by driving the facade handling robot.

[0011] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a material transfer method, which is applied to a material transfer system, and the material transfer system comprises:

[0012] A stacked rack comprises at least two rack units, and the at least two rack units are arranged in a stacked manner in a height direction;

[0013] A facade handling robot is movably installed on a facade of the rack unit; wherein the facade of the rack unit is a vertical plane formed by the same direction of the storage position openings of all the rack storage positions in the rack unit, and each of the rack units is provided with at least one facade handling robot on the same side of the stacked rack, and the facade handling robot is configured to be docked with any rack storage position of the rack unit on which the facade handling robot is installed;

[0014] The material transfer method comprises:

[0015] The material transfer method comprises:

[0016] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, and the computer readable storage medium stores computer execution instructions, and when a processor executes the computer execution instructions, the material transfer method is realized.

[0017] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, and the computer program product comprises a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a processor to realize the material transfer method.

[0018] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, and the electronic device comprises a memory for storing a computer program.

[0019] A processor is configured to implement the above material transfer method when executing a program stored in a memory.

[0020] The one or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application have at least the following technical effects or advantages:

[0021] The embodiments of the present application provide a material transfer system and a material transfer method. The material transfer system comprises a stacked shelf and a vertical transport robot. The stacked shelf is formed by stacking at least two shelf units one above another. Then, on the same side of the stacked shelf, each shelf unit is provided with at least one vertical transport robot. The vertical transport robot is movably installed on the vertical surface of the shelf unit, and the vertical transport robot is configured to be docked with any shelf storage position of the shelf unit on which the vertical transport robot is installed. It can be understood that, at least by controlling the vertical transport robot, the material transfer system can realize the storage and retrieval of target goods in the stacked shelf formed by at least two shelf units.

[0022] That is, in the embodiments, the shelf units and the vertical transport robots provided on the shelf units are stacked one above another, and on this basis, at least by controlling the vertically stacked vertical transport robots, the storage and retrieval of target goods in the stacked shelf can be realized, the height of the application scenario of the vertical transport robot is expanded, the technical problem that a single vertical transport robot or a goods rail robot is not suitable for a high storage application scenario due to the limitation of the carrying capacity of the vertical transport robot or the goods rail robot is solved, the application scenario of the vertical transport robot is greatly expanded, and higher storage applications can be realized. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0023] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the present application, form a part of the present application and illustrate the illustrative embodiments of the present application and its description, which do not constitute improper limitations on the present application.

[0024] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of the stacked arrangement of the shelf unit and the vertical transport robot in the embodiments of the present application.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a possible structural schematic diagram of the vertical transport robot in the embodiments of the present application.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of the vertical transport robot in FIG. 2 installed on a horizontal slide rail.

[0027] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of the height expansion frame in the embodiments of the present application.

[0028] FIG. 5 is a process schematic diagram of the storage of the target goods into the first storage position in the embodiments of the present application, in which the target goods are transferred in the direction of the dashed arrow.

[0029] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered from the first delivery storage location according to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the target goods are transferred along the direction of the dashed arrow.

[0030] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered to the second delivery storage location according to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the target goods are transferred along the direction of the dashed arrow, and the dashed box in Fig. 7 represents the transfer height position of the shelf unit.

[0031] Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered from the second delivery storage location according to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the target goods are transferred along the direction of the dashed arrow, and the dashed box in Fig. 8 represents the transfer height position of the shelf unit.

[0032] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered to the second delivery storage location according to another embodiment of the present application, wherein Fig. 9 adds a transfer storage location to Fig. 7.

[0033] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered from the second delivery storage location according to another embodiment of the present application, wherein Fig. 10 adds a transfer storage location to Fig. 8.

[0034] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered to the third delivery storage location according to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the target goods are transferred along the direction of the dashed arrow.

[0035] Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of the process of the target goods being delivered from the third delivery storage location according to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the target goods are transferred along the direction of the dashed arrow.

[0036] Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of the process of the material transfer method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0037] Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of one process of the target goods delivery operation in the material transfer method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0038] Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of one process of the target goods delivery operation in the material transfer method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0039] Fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of another process of the target goods delivery operation in the material transfer method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0040] Fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of another process of the target goods delivery operation in the material transfer method according an embodiment of the present application.

[0041] Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of another process of the target goods delivery operation in the material transfer method according another embodiment of the present application.

[0042] Fig. 19 is another flowchart of the method for transferring goods according to an embodiment of the present application, which is about the outbound operation of the target goods.

[0043] In the figure, reference numerals: 10 - shelf unit, 11 - horizontal slide rail, 12 - temporary storage location, 13 - transfer storage location, 20 - vertical transport robot, 21 - vertical slide rail, 22 - transport actuator, 23 - height extension frame, 231 - horizontal bar, 232 - vertical bar, 31 - first inbound storage location, 32 - first outbound storage location, 33 - second inbound storage location, 34 - second outbound storage location, 35 - third inbound storage location, 36 - third outbound storage location, 40 - horizontal transport robot, 50 - elevator unit, 51 - elevator, 60 - walking platform, 70 - sorting device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present application clearer, further embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0045] To solve the technical problem of limited shelf height for a single rail robot, the present application provides a goods transfer system and a goods transfer method. The goods transfer system is configured by stacking at least two shelf units one above the other, and on the same side, each shelf unit is provided with at least one vertical transport robot (i.e. rail robot). Thus, at least by driving the vertical transport robot, the inbound operation of the target goods to the stacked shelf and the outbound operation of the target goods from the stacked shelf can be realized. In this way, by stacking the shelf unit and the vertical transport robot provided on the shelf unit in the height direction, the design limitation of a single vertical transport robot (or rail robot) can be overcome in the application level, and higher storage application can be realized.

[0046] Please refer to Figs. 1-12, a goods transfer system, the goods transfer system includes a stacked shelf, a vertical transport robot 20 and a dispatch control device (not shown in the figure).

[0047] The stacked shelf comprises at least two shelf units 10, which are arranged in a stacked manner in a height direction; and a facade handling robot 20 is movably installed on a shelf facade of the shelf unit 10; wherein the shelf facade is a vertical plane formed by the storage openings of the same direction of all the storage spaces in the shelf unit 10, and on the same side of the stacked shelf, each shelf unit 10 is provided with at least one facade handling robot 20; a scheduling control device is used to control the facade handling robot 20; wherein the facade handling robot 20 is configured to be docked with any storage space of the shelf unit 10 on which the facade handling robot 20 is installed, so that the scheduling control device realizes the storage-in operation of the target goods into the stacked shelf and the storage-out operation of the target goods from the stacked shelf at least by driving the facade handling robot 20.

[0048] For example, the scheduling control device can be in the form of software or hardware; if the scheduling control device is in the form of software, the scheduling control device can be a client software applied to a terminal device or a computer program applied to a server (also referred to as a server); if the scheduling control device is in the form of hardware, the scheduling control device can be an electronic device for material transfer control, such as a handheld terminal, a server, etc.

[0049] Overall, the embodiment realizes the storage-in operation of the target goods into the stacked shelf and the storage-out operation of the target goods from the stacked shelf by at least controlling the facade handling robots arranged in a stacked manner, thereby expanding the height of the application scene of the facade handling robot.

[0050] Specifically, the stacked shelf can comprise, for example, two shelf units arranged in a stacked manner, of course, the stacked shelf can also comprise three or more shelf units, which should also be arranged in a stacked manner. It should be noted that the present application does not limit the specific number of shelf units included in the stacked shelf, and in actual scenarios, the required number of shelf units can be selected according to the actual scene requirements; and in order to ensure stability, the shelf units can be stacked and installed by a specified installation method when stacked, the specified installation method can be any installation method that can achieve a stable effect, of course, the stacked shelf can also be a one-piece shelf, which is also reasonable; in addition, the size and number of storage spaces included in each shelf unit are not limited by the present application.

[0051] The facade carrying robot is movably installed on the facade of the rack unit, where movably can be understood as that the facade carrying robot can move horizontally relative to the rack unit, and then the carrying execution mechanism of the facade carrying robot can ascend and descend along the vertical slide rail of the facade carrying robot, so that the facade carrying robot can be docked with any rack storage position of the rack unit. That is, by controlling the horizontal movement of the facade carrying robot and / or the ascending and descending movement of the carrying execution mechanism of the facade carrying robot, the carrying execution mechanism can be moved to any rack storage position of the rack unit, so as to carry in or carry out the target goods in the rack storage position.

[0052] Each rack unit stacked up and down on the same side of the stacked rack is provided with at least one facade carrying robot. The facade carrying robot described in the present application can be a robot of this type for carrying along the facade of the rack unit, which can also be referred to as a rack rail robot or other name in actual application, which is not limited herein.

[0053] On the basis of the above, the material transfer system can be configured to control the facade carrying robot to realize the carrying-in operation of the target goods into the stacked rack and the carrying-out operation of the target goods from the stacked rack.

[0054] Optionally, the embodiment specifically discloses three configuration modes of the material transfer system, which will be described in detail as follows.

[0055] The embodiment of the present application provides a material transfer system and a material transfer method. The material transfer system comprises a stacked rack and a facade carrying robot. The stacked rack is formed by stacking at least two rack units up and down. Each rack unit on the same side of the stacked rack is provided with at least one facade carrying robot. The facade carrying robot is movably installed on the facade of the rack unit, and can be docked with any rack storage position of the rack unit. It can be understood that the material transfer system can realize the carrying-in operation and the carrying-out operation of the target goods in the stacked rack formed by the at least two rack units by controlling the facade carrying robot.

[0056] That is, the embodiment is to stack the shelf units and the facade handling robots arranged on the vertical surfaces of the shelf units upward and downward, and on this basis, the embodiment can realize the storage and retrieval of target goods in the stacked shelves by controlling the upward and downward stacked facade handling robots, expand the height of the application scenarios of the facade handling robots, solve the technical problem that a single facade handling robot or a goods rail robot is not applicable to high storage application scenarios due to its load capacity limitation (for example, height direction capacity limitation), greatly expand the application scenarios of the facade handling robots, and realize higher storage applications.

[0057] In addition, it can be understood that the facade handling robot of the embodiment can be provided with a material handling device such as a telescopic arm, so that after being docked with a certain shelf storage position of the shelf unit, the facade handling robot can transfer the target goods between the shelf storage position and itself through the material handling device such as the telescopic arm.

[0058] In a possible implementation, the facade handling robot 20 includes a vertical slide rail 21 and a handling execution mechanism 22 installed upward and downward on the vertical slide rail 21; wherein the shelf unit 10 is installed with a horizontal slide rail 11, the vertical slide rail 21 is installed on the horizontal slide rail 11 in a horizontal sliding manner, the height range of the vertical slide rail 21 covers at least the height range of all the storage layers in the shelf unit 10 where it is installed, and the length range of the horizontal slide rail 11 covers at least the width range of the shelf unit 10; and the dispatch control device is specifically used to control the upward and downward lifting of the handling execution mechanism 22 along the vertical slide rail 21 and the horizontal sliding of the vertical slide rail 21 along the horizontal slide rail 11, so that the handling execution mechanism 22 can be docked with any shelf storage position of the shelf unit 10 where it is installed, or the dispatch control device is used to send a control instruction to the facade handling robot 20, so that the facade handling robot 20 controls the upward and downward lifting of the handling execution mechanism 22 along the vertical slide rail 21 and the horizontal sliding of the vertical slide rail 21 along the horizontal slide rail 11 based on the received control instruction, so that the handling execution mechanism 22 can be docked with any shelf storage position of the shelf unit 10 where it is installed.

[0059] That is, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the facade handling robot can specifically include a pair of vertical slide rails 21, which are installed on the horizontal slide rail 11 of the shelf unit in a horizontal sliding manner, for example, through horizontal walking wheels; and on this basis, a handling execution mechanism 22 is arranged between the pair of vertical slide rails 21, which is installed on the vertical slide rails 21 in an upward and downward lifting manner, for example, through a transmission belt or a transmission chain.

[0060] In this way, it can be understood that, by setting the length of the vertical slide rail to match the height of all the storage layers in the rack unit, and setting the length of the horizontal slide rail to match the width of the rack unit, for example, the handling execution mechanism can be docked with any rack storage of the rack unit by lifting up and down relative to the vertical slide rail and moving horizontally relative to the rack unit.

[0061] Specifically, the telescopic arm or other material handling device mentioned above can be specifically installed on the handling execution mechanism, so that after the handling execution mechanism is docked with the rack storage, the telescopic arm or other material handling device can transfer the target goods between the handling execution mechanism and the rack storage.

[0062] Regarding the first configuration mode of the material transfer system, temporary storage can be provided in the rack unit, so that the transfer of goods in the temporary storage between adjacent two layers of facade robots can be realized by setting a height expansion frame between the handling execution mechanism of the facade robot and the vertical slide rail, for example, so that the facade handling robot of the next layer can be docked with the temporary storage of the upper layer of the rack unit to transfer the target goods between the facade handling robot of the next layer and the temporary storage of the upper layer of the rack unit, or the facade handling robot of the upper layer can be docked with the temporary storage of the lower layer of the rack unit to transfer the target goods between the facade handling robot of the upper layer and the temporary storage of the lower layer of the rack unit, so that the warehousing operation of the target goods can be realized by step-by-step increment, and the delivery operation of the target goods can be realized by step-by-step decrement; thus, the dispatching control device of the material transfer system can realize the transfer of the target goods in the stacking height range of at least two rack units by controlling or driving the facade handling robot, that is, realize the warehousing operation and delivery operation of the target goods in the stacked rack.

[0063] In addition, for the first configuration mode, the facade handling robot of any layer can also be docked with the temporary storage of the adjacent layer of the rack unit by means of telescopic door frame. Specifically, when the temporary storage includes the storage layer of the bottom layer of the rack unit, the telescopic door frame of the facade handling robot of any layer can be telescoped upward to the upper layer, so that the facade handling robot of any layer can be docked with the temporary storage of the upper layer; or when the temporary storage includes the storage layer of the top layer of the rack unit, the telescopic door frame of the facade handling robot of any layer can be telescoped downward to the lower layer, so that the facade handling robot of any layer can be docked with the temporary storage of the lower layer. It can be understood that the telescopic door frames of the adjacent layers of the rack unit can cooperate with each other to avoid conflict of the telescopic door frames.

[0064] It should be noted that, in the case of the first configuration mode described above, for the warehousing operation, the so-called step-by-step increasing mode can be understood as: the target goods are passed to the facade handling robot of the upper layer step by step (i.e. layer by layer) through the temporary storage, so as to be warehoused in the form of robot relay; and for the picking operation, the so-called step-by-step decreasing mode can be understood as: the target goods are passed to the facade handling robot of the lower layer step by step (i.e. layer by layer) through the temporary storage, so as to be picked in the form of robot relay.

[0065] For example, when the several temporary storages include the storage layer of the bottommost layer of the rack unit, the so-called step-by-step increasing mode can be specifically: the facade handling robot of any layer stores the goods in the temporary storage of the upper layer rack unit, the facade handling robot of the upper layer rack unit continues to take the goods from the temporary storage of the installed rack unit and transfer to the temporary storage of the upper layer rack unit, and so on; and the so-called step-by-step decreasing mode can be: the facade handling robot of any layer places the goods in the temporary storage of the rack unit where it is installed, the facade handling robot of the lower layer rack unit continues to take the goods from the temporary storage of the upper layer rack unit and transfer to the temporary storage of the lower layer rack unit, and so on.

[0066] For example, when the several temporary storages include the storage layer of the topmost layer of the rack unit, the so-called step-by-step increasing mode can be: the facade handling robot of any layer stores the goods in the temporary storage of the rack unit where it is installed, the facade handling robot of the upper layer rack unit of the facade handling robot (i.e. the facade handling robot of any layer) continues to take the goods from the temporary storage where the goods are placed and transfer to the temporary storage of the upper layer rack unit, and so on; and the step-by-step decreasing mode can be: the facade handling robot of any layer places the goods in temporary storage of the lower layer rack unit, the facade handling robot of the lower layer rack unit continues to take the goods from the temporary storages of the rack units where it is installed and transfer to the temporary storages of the lower layer rack units, and so on.

[0067] That is, in one possible implementation, referring to FIGS. 4-6, the rack unit 10 is provided with several temporary storages 12 for temporarily storing target goods, and the handling execution mechanism 22 is installed on the vertical slide rail 21 through the height expansion frame 23, which is configured to enable the handling execution mechanism 22 to be docked with the temporary storages 12 of the upper layer rack unit 10 of the rack unit 10 corresponding thereto; or the vertical slide rail can be specifically a telescopic door frame, and when the telescopic door frame is in the extended state, the position that the telescopic door frame can extend to enables the handling execution mechanism to be docked with the temporary storages of the upper layer rack unit of the rack unit corresponding thereto.

[0068] Based on the above-mentioned implementation mode of the high-expansion frame, or the implementation mode of the telescopic door frame, the dispatching control device is specifically used for:

[0069] For the warehousing operation of the target goods:

[0070] Obtaining the first warehousing storage position of the target goods, and determining the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located;

[0071] Driving the bottommost vertical transport robot to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, the sorting device being arranged on the ground, and the sorting device including a sorting conveying line or a sorting workbench;

[0072] By adopting the mode of driving the vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage position on the layer above the vertical transport robot, and obtaining the target goods from the vertical transport robot on the layer above, the target goods are transferred to the vertical transport robot arranged in the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located;

[0073] Driving the vertical transport robot arranged in the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located to transfer the target goods to the first warehousing storage position;

[0074] For the warehousing operation of the target goods:

[0075] Obtaining the first warehousing storage position of the target goods, and determining the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located;

[0076] Driving the vertical transport robot arranged in the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located to obtain the target goods from the first warehousing storage position;

[0077] By adopting the mode of driving the vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage position on the layer above the vertical transport robot, and obtaining the target goods from the vertical transport robot on the layer above, the target goods are transferred to the vertical transport robot arranged in the rack unit where the first warehousing storage position is located;

[0078] Driving the bottommost vertical transport robot to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, the sorting device being arranged on the ground, and the sorting device including a sorting conveying line or a sorting workbench;

[0079] To facilitate understanding of the above-mentioned process of the storage-in operation and the storage-out operation, the following will be introduced in combination with specific examples: the stacked shelves have three shelf units from bottom to top, which are shelf unit 1, 2 and 3, and the corresponding vertical transport robots are vertical transport robots 1, 2 and 3. Assuming that the storage-in location is in the shelf unit 3, and the temporary storage location of the current shelf unit is set in the storage location layer at the bottom of the current shelf unit, the horizontal transport robot will transport the target goods to the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 1, the vertical transport robot 1 will relay to transport the target goods from the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 1 to the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 2, the vertical transport robot 2 will relay to transport the target goods from the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 2 to the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 3, and the vertical transport robot 3 will relay to transport the target goods from the temporary storage location at the bottom of the shelf unit 3 to the storage-in location of the shelf unit 3.

[0080] Specifically, referring to FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, the temporary storage location can be set in the storage location layer at the bottom of the shelf unit, then the transport execution mechanism can expand the maximum height of its rising through the height expansion frame, for example, to the height of the temporary storage location 12 of the shelf unit 10 at the upper layer, or the transport execution mechanism can expand the maximum height of its rising through the telescopic door frame, for example, to the height of the temporary storage location 12 of the shelf unit 10 at the upper layer.

[0081] On this basis, for example, for the storage-in operation of the target goods, the scheduling control device should first obtain the first storage-in location of the target goods and the shelf unit where the first storage-in location is located; for example, referring to FIG. 5, the first storage-in location 31 is located in the shelf unit at the third layer (the present application sets the shelf units from bottom to top, in turn, as the bottom layer or the first layer, the second layer and the third layer); then, the scheduling control device can drive the vertical transport robot 20 at the bottom layer to first obtain the target goods; then, the vertical transport robot 20 at the bottom layer can transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location 12 of the shelf unit at the second layer through its transport execution mechanism, next, the vertical transport robot 20 of the shelf unit at the second layer can obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location 12 of the shelf unit at the second layer, and also transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location 12 of the shelf unit at the third layer; that is, by driving the vertical transport robot 20 to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one layer above the vertical transport robot 20, and by the vertical transport robot 20 one layer above to obtain the target goods, the target goods can be transferred to the shelf unit (i.e. the shelf unit at the third layer) where the first storage-in location 31 is located in a step-by-step incremental manner; then, the vertical transport robot 20 set in the shelf unit (i.e. the shelf unit at the third layer) where the first storage- in location is located is driven to transfer the target goods to the first storage-in location 31, and the storage-in operation of the target goods is completed.

[0082] For example, for the outbound operation of the target goods, the scheduling control device should first obtain the first outbound storage location 32 of the target goods and the rack unit where the first outbound storage location is located; for example, referring to FIG. 6, the first outbound storage location is also located in the rack unit of the third layer; then, the scheduling control device can drive the vertical transportation robot 20 of the rack unit (i.e., the rack unit of the third layer) where the first outbound storage location 32 is located to first obtain the target goods from the first outbound storage location 32; then, the vertical transportation robot 20 of the rack unit of the third layer can transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the third layer, next, the vertical transportation robot provided in the rack unit of the second layer can obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location of the third layer and transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location 12 of the rack unit of the second layer, similarly, the vertical transportation robot 20 provided in the rack unit of the first layer or the bottom layer can obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location 12 of the second layer; that is, by driving the vertical transportation robot 20 to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location 12 of the rack unit where the vertical transportation robot 20 is located, and by the vertical transportation robot 20 of the lower layer to obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location 12, the target goods can be transferred to the vertical transportation robot 20 of the bottom layer in a step-by-step decreasing manner, and then the vertical transportation robot 20 of the bottom layer is driven to transfer the target goods out, thereby completing the outbound operation of the target goods.

[0083] It should be noted that the sorting device in the present application can be understood as a sorting conveying line or a sorting workbench provided on the ground, the inbound operation of the target goods is transferring the target goods from the sorting device to the stacking rack, and the outbound operation of the target goods is transferring the target goods from the stacking rack to the sorting device. In addition, during the inbound operation of the target goods, the scheduling control device can position the inbound storage location, position the temporary storage location for transferring the target goods, and based on the positioning results, plan a route for the vertical transportation robot to move to the temporary storage location for transferring the target goods and / or the inbound storage location. Similarly, during the outbound operation of the target goods, the scheduling control device can position the outbound storage location, position the temporary storage location for transferring the target goods, and based on the positioning results, plan a route for the vertical transportation robot to move to the temporary storage location for transferring the target goods and / or the outbound storage location.

[0084] In addition, the above embodiment introduces the implementation mode when the temporary storage location includes the storage layer of the bottom layer of the rack unit, and it can be understood that in actual application, the temporary storage location can also be located in the highest layer of the rack unit, which is also feasible. The implementation mode when the temporary storage location includes the storage layer of the highest layer of the rack unit is introduced below.

[0085] Specifically, in one possible implementation, the shelf unit is provided with a plurality of temporary storage locations, and the temporary storage locations are used for temporarily storing target goods; the plurality of temporary storage locations include a storage location layer on the highest layer of the shelf unit;

[0086] The carrying execution mechanism is installed on the vertical slide rail through a height expansion frame, and the height expansion frame is configured to enable the carrying execution mechanism to be docked with the temporary storage locations of the shelf unit below the corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic door frame, and when the telescopic door frame is in an extended state, the position to which the telescopic door frame can be extended enables the carrying execution mechanism to be docked with the temporary storage locations of the shelf unit below the corresponding shelf unit.

[0087] Correspondingly, based on the implementation mode of the height expansion frame or the implementation mode of the telescopic door frame, the dispatching control device is specifically used for:

[0088] For the warehousing operation of the target goods:

[0089] obtaining a first warehousing storage location of the target goods and determining a shelf unit where the first warehousing storage location is located;

[0090] driving the vertical carrying robot on the bottommost layer to obtain the target goods from a sorting device, and the sorting device is arranged on the ground and includes a sorting conveying line or a sorting workbench;

[0091] by adopting a mode of driving the vertical carrying robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage locations of the shelf unit where the vertical carrying robot is located, and obtaining the target goods by the vertical carrying robot on the layer above, the target goods are transferred to the vertical carrying robot arranged in the shelf unit where the first warehousing storage location is located;

[0092] driving the vertical carrying robot arranged in the shelf unit where the first warehousing storage location is located to transfer the target goods to the first warehousing storage location;

[0093] For the delivery operation of the target goods:

[0094] obtaining a first delivery storage location of the target goods and determining a shelf unit where the first delivery storage location is located;

[0095] driving the vertical carrying robot arranged in the shelf unit where the first delivery storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the first delivery storage location;

[0096] by adopting a mode of driving the vertical carrying robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage locations of the shelf unit below the corresponding shelf unit, and obtaining the target goods from the temporary storage locations by the vertical carrying robot on the layer below, the target goods are transferred to the vertical carrying robot on the bottommost layer;

[0097] The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

[0098] Specifically, temporary storage locations can be set at the top storage level of the shelving unit, and the handling actuator can extend its maximum descent height via a height extension frame, for example, to the height to dock with the temporary storage location of the next shelf unit. Alternatively, the handling actuator can extend its maximum descent height via a telescopic frame, for example, to the height to dock with the temporary storage location of the next shelf unit.

[0099] Based on this, for example, in the warehousing operation of target goods, the stacked racks have three layers, with the first warehousing location on the third layer (i.e., the top layer). The scheduling control device should first obtain the first warehousing location of the target goods and the rack unit where the first warehousing location is located. Then, the scheduling control device can drive the bottom-level vertical handling robot to first obtain the target goods. After that, the bottom-level vertical handling robot can use its handling actuator to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the bottom-level rack unit (this temporary storage location is set at the top storage layer of the bottom-level rack unit). Next, the vertical handling robot of the second-level rack unit can obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location of the bottom-level rack unit, and similarly transfer the target goods... The target goods are transferred to the temporary storage location of the second-level shelf unit (this temporary storage location is located on the highest storage level of the second-level shelf unit); that is, the target goods are transferred to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the vertical handling robot is located by driving the vertical handling robot, and the target goods are retrieved by the vertical handling robot on the next level. In this way, the target goods can be transferred to the shelf unit where the first inbound storage location is located (i.e., the third-level shelf unit) step by step; then, the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the first inbound storage location is located (i.e., the third-level shelf unit) is driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location of the second-level shelf unit to the first inbound storage location, thus completing the inbound operation of the target goods.

[0100] For example, regarding the outbound operation of target goods, the stacked racks have three layers, with the first outbound storage location on the third layer (i.e., the top layer). The scheduling control device should first obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods and the rack unit where the first outbound storage location is located. Then, the scheduling control device can drive the vertical handling robot of the rack unit where the first outbound storage location is located (i.e., the third-layer rack unit) to first retrieve the target goods from the first outbound storage location. After that, the vertical handling robot of the third-layer rack unit can transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the second-layer rack unit (this temporary storage location is located on the top layer of the second-layer rack unit). Next, the vertical handling robot located in the second-layer rack unit can retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location of the second-layer rack unit. The goods are transferred to a temporary storage location in the first-level shelf unit (this temporary storage location is located on the highest storage level of the first-level shelf unit). Similarly, the vertical handling robot located in the first-level shelf unit, or the bottom shelf unit, can retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location in the first-level shelf unit. In other words, by driving the vertical handling robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location in the shelf unit below it, and then having the vertical handling robot on the next lower level retrieve the target goods from that temporary storage location, the target goods can be transferred to the bottom vertical handling robot in a progressively decreasing manner. After that, the bottom vertical handling robot is driven to transfer the target goods out, thus completing the outbound operation of the target goods.

[0101] In addition, in this embodiment, the bottom storage layer of the bottom shelf unit can be set up with temporary storage space to receive target goods transported by the horizontal transport robot.

[0102] The above embodiments describe the unidirectional expansion of the handling actuator via a height extension frame. In another possible implementation provided in this application, the handling actuator can extend both its maximum descending height and its maximum ascending height via the height extension frame. In this case, temporary storage locations can be set, for example, at the top storage level and / or the bottom storage level of the racking unit. The principle of goods transfer in this case is the same as in the above embodiments, and will not be elaborated further here.

[0103] Furthermore, provided that the functionality of the height expansion frame in this application can be achieved, the specific structure of the height expansion frame in this application can exist in various ways, and this application does not impose any limitations. The following is an exemplary description of a specific implementation method for the height expansion frame.

[0104] In one specific embodiment, when the height extension rack is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with a temporary storage location in the shelf unit above its corresponding shelf unit, the height extension rack 23 includes a horizontally arranged crossbar 231 and a vertically arranged vertical bar 232. The end of the crossbar 231 near the shelf unit 10 is vertically mounted on a vertical slide rail 21, the end of the crossbar 231 away from the shelf unit 10 is fixedly connected to the bottom end of the vertical bar 232, and the handling actuator 22 is fixedly mounted at the top end of the vertical bar 232. In another specific embodiment, when the height extension rack is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with a temporary storage location in the shelf unit below its corresponding shelf unit, the height extension rack includes a horizontally arranged crossbar and a vertically arranged vertical bar. The end of the crossbar near the shelf unit is vertically mounted on a vertical slide rail, the end of the crossbar away from the shelf unit is fixedly connected to the top end of the vertical bar, and the handling actuator is fixedly mounted at the bottom end of the vertical bar.

[0105] That is, the height extension frame in this embodiment can be realized by horizontal bars and vertical bars, and the structure of the height extension frame is related to the location of the temporary storage location, so that the handling actuator installed on the height extension frame can dock with the temporary storage location; of course, it is not limited to this.

[0106] Specifically, referring to Figure 4, the end of the horizontal bar closest to the shelf unit is installed on the vertical slide rail for vertical movement. Then, the end of the horizontal bar away from the shelf unit is fixedly connected to the bottom of the vertical bar. The handling actuator is set at the top of the vertical bar, which can extend the maximum lifting height of the handling actuator to a certain extent. The handling actuator can then connect with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit on the upper level.

[0107] In one specific embodiment, a plurality of temporary storage locations 12 may be specifically located on the lowest storage layer of the shelving unit 10, thereby reducing the installation height of the aforementioned vertical bars. Of course, the plurality of temporary storage locations 12 may also be located on other storage layers within the shelving unit 10, and this application does not limit this to any particular type.

[0108] Furthermore, provided that the function of the telescopic gantry in this application can be realized, there can be various specific structures of the telescopic gantry in this application, and this application does not limit them; the specific implementation of the telescopic gantry is described below by way of example.

[0109] In one specific embodiment, the telescopic gantry includes an inner gantry and an outer gantry; a transport actuator is installed on the inner gantry, enabling the transport actuator to move up and down along the height direction of the inner gantry based on a first-stage lifting component; the inner gantry is located inside the outer gantry and can move up and down along the height direction of the outer gantry based on a second-stage lifting component, so that the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the top of the outer gantry, and / or, so that the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the bottom of the outer gantry. Understandably, depending on the location of the temporary storage location (lowest or highest level), the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the top of the outer gantry, or the inner gantry can extend or retract into the inner gantry of the outer gantry when it moves to the bottom of the outer gantry. Alternatively, the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the top of the outer gantry, and also extend or retract into the inner gantry of the outer gantry when it moves to the bottom of the outer gantry, so that a telescopic gantry can simultaneously adapt to temporary storage locations in different positions.

[0110] In one embodiment, the material handling system further includes a horizontal transport robot configured to walk on the ground. The horizontal transport robot is used to transfer target goods between the sorting device and the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot. Alternatively, it can be understood that the horizontal transport robot can transfer target goods between the sorting device and the temporary storage location of the bottom-level shelf unit.

[0111] Specifically, the warehousing operations for the target goods include:

[0112] The scheduling and control device drives the bottom-level facade handling robot and its self-sorting device to acquire the target goods, specifically including:

[0113] Drive the horizontal transport robot to acquire the target goods using its self-sorting device;

[0114] The horizontal transport robot is driven to dock with the transport actuator of the bottom vertical transport robot and transfer the target goods to the transport actuator, or the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit and the transport actuator of the bottom vertical transport robot is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location.

[0115] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0116] The dispatching and control device drives the bottom-level facade handling robot to transfer the target goods, specifically including:

[0117] The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the bottom-level shelf unit, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location to the sorting device; or, the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to dock with the horizontal transport robot and transfer the target goods to the horizontal transport robot, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

[0118] In this embodiment, a horizontal transport robot can be set up between the bottom-level vertical transport robot and the sorting device. In this way, for the warehousing operation of the target goods, the horizontal transport robot can first transfer the target goods from the sorting device to the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit or the vertical transport robot. Similarly, for the outbound operation of the target goods, the horizontal transport robot can finally transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit or the vertical transport robot to the sorting device.

[0119] Regarding the second configuration of the material handling system, a hoist unit can be set up at one end of the stacking rack. In this way, the hoist unit can directly transfer the target goods to the vertical handling robot of the rack unit where the storage location is located for direct storage, or the vertical handling robot of the rack unit where the storage location is located can transfer the target goods to the hoist unit for direct storage, thereby improving the transfer efficiency.

[0120] That is, in one possible implementation, the material transfer system further includes a hoist unit 50; the hoist unit 50 is located next to the stacking rack, and the hoist unit 50 includes a vertical lifting elevator 51; wherein, the handling actuator 22 is configured to transfer the target goods between itself and the elevator 51 when docking with the elevator 51.

[0121] Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for:

[0122] For the warehousing operations of the target goods:

[0123] Obtain the second storage location 33 for the target goods and determine the shelf unit 10 where the second storage location 33 is located;

[0124] The elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device 70 to obtain the target goods, or the elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot to obtain the target goods obtained by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device 70, or the elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to obtain the target goods in the predetermined storage location, the target goods in the predetermined storage location being transferred from the sorting device by the horizontal transport robot, the horizontal transport robot being configured to walk on the ground, the sorting device 70 being located on the ground, and the sorting device 70 including a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench;

[0125] The elevator 51 is driven to rise to the intermediate height position of the shelf unit 10 where the second storage position 33 is located, so that the vertical handling robot 20 set in the shelf unit 10 where the second storage position 33 is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator 51. The intermediate height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism 22 set in the shelf unit 10 docks with the elevator 51.

[0126] The vertical handling robot 20, which is set in the shelf unit 10 where the second storage location 33 is located, is driven to transfer the target goods to the second storage location 33;

[0127] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0128] Obtain the second outbound storage location 34 of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit 10 where the second outbound storage location 34 is located;

[0129] The vertical handling robot 20, which is set in the shelf unit 10 where the second outbound storage location 34 is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the second outbound storage location 34;

[0130] The elevator 51 is driven to rise to the transfer height position of the rack unit 10 where the second outbound storage position 34 is located, so that the vertical handling robot 20 set in the rack unit 10 where the second outbound storage position 34 is located docks with the elevator 51 and transfers the target goods to the elevator 51. The transfer height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism 22 set in the rack unit 10 docks with the elevator 51.

[0131] The elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device 70 to transfer the target goods to the sorting device 70; or, the elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device 70; or, the elevator 51 is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods are transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device 70. The sorting device 70 is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0132] Optionally, the transfer height position can be, for example, the height position of the corresponding storage location, so that the elevator can dock with the vertical handling robot of the shelf unit where the corresponding storage location is located at the height position of the corresponding storage location. The corresponding storage location can be an outbound storage location or an inbound storage location. Alternatively, during inbound operations, the transfer height position can be a specified height position of the shelf unit to which the inbound storage location belongs within the height range of the stacked shelves. Similarly, during outbound operations, the transfer height position can be a specified height position of the shelf unit to which the outbound storage location belongs within the height range of the stacked shelves.

[0133] In the aforementioned method of using a horizontal transport robot to transfer goods between a sorting device and an elevator, the horizontal transport robot can be driven to transfer the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device, or it can be driven to transfer the target goods from the sorting device to the elevator. During the transfer of the target goods, the height of the elevator can remain consistent with the height of the horizontal transport robot. Furthermore, after obtaining the goods to be transferred, the horizontal transport robot can move between the elevator and the sorting device according to a preset route. Also, the predetermined storage location in this application can be a transit storage location in the lowest shelf unit, but it is not limited to this. Specifically, referring to Figure 7 or Figure 8, a lifting unit can be installed at one end of the stacking rack (e.g., the direction in which the stacking rack extends along the horizontal slide rail, which can also be called the width direction of the stacking rack). Then, each rack unit can be preset with a transfer height position (the height position indicated by the dashed box in Figure 7 or Figure 8). For example, the height position of the bottom storage layer of the rack unit can be set as the transfer height position. In this way, for each rack unit, the lifting machine and the handling actuator installed in the rack unit can be driven to dock at the transfer height position, thereby completing the transfer of the target goods.

[0134] Based on this, for example, for the warehousing operation of target goods, the scheduling control device should first obtain the second warehousing location of the target goods and the shelf unit where the second warehousing location is located; for example, referring to Figure 7, the second warehousing location is located in the shelf unit on the third floor; then, the scheduling control device can drive the elevator to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, and drive the elevator to lift the target goods to the transfer height position of the third shelf unit; after that, the scheduling control device can drive the vertical handling robot located in the third shelf unit to transfer the target goods from the elevator to the second warehousing location, thus completing the warehousing operation of the target goods.

[0135] For example, for outbound operations of target goods, the scheduling and control device should first obtain the second outbound storage location of the target goods and the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; for example, referring to Figure 8, the second outbound storage location is located in the shelf unit on the third floor; then, the scheduling and control device can drive the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit on the third floor to obtain the target goods from the second outbound storage location; after that, the scheduling and control device can drive the elevator to rise to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, and then drive the vertical handling robot to dock with the elevator and transfer the obtained target goods to the elevator; finally, the scheduling and control device can drive the elevator to transfer the target goods to the sorting device, thus completing the outbound operation of the target goods.

[0136] Preferably, in one specific embodiment, referring to Figures 9 and 10, the lifting unit 50 is located at one end of the stacking rack (e.g., one end of the stacking rack extending along the horizontal slide rail). The material transfer system further includes a transfer storage location 13, which is located at one end of the rack unit 10 in the width direction and between the lifting unit 50 and the rack unit 10. The height of the transfer storage location 13 on the rack unit 10 coincides with the transfer height. The elevator 51 is configured to transfer target goods between itself and the transfer storage location 13 when docking with it. For example, the elevator 51 may be equipped with a telescopic arm or other material handling mechanism, which can transfer material boxes or target goods between the elevator itself and the transfer storage location. The width direction of the rack unit 10 refers to the direction in which the rack unit 10 extends along the horizontal slide rail.

[0137] Specifically, the warehousing operations for the target goods include:

[0138] The dispatch control device drives the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set up in the rack unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator. Specifically, this includes:

[0139] Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second storage location is located;

[0140] Drive the elevator to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second inbound storage location is located;

[0141] The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, retrieves the target goods from the transfer storage location;

[0142] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0143] The dispatch control device drives the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set up in the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located can dock with the elevator and transfer the target goods to the elevator. Specifically, this includes:

[0144] Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located;

[0145] The vertical handling robot, which is set up in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, will transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

[0146] The drive elevator retrieves the target goods from the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

[0147] In other words, this embodiment can specifically set up a transfer storage location on each shelf unit. In this way, the transfer of target goods between the elevator and the vertical handling robot (or handling execution mechanism) can be carried out through the transfer storage location, which frees up the elevator and improves the transfer efficiency.

[0148] In one specific embodiment, the lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking rack along the extension direction of the horizontal slide rail, and at one end of the rack unit 10, a transfer storage position 13 is provided. The horizontal slide rail 11 is protruding so that the horizontal sliding stroke of the handling actuator 22 covers the transfer storage position 13. The transfer storage position 13 is at the same height as the bottom storage layer of the rack unit 10.

[0149] That is, the horizontal slide rail of the facade handling robot can be extended to cover the transfer storage location. In this way, the handling execution mechanism of the facade handling robot can be easily connected to the transfer storage location, thereby realizing the transfer of target goods between the handling execution mechanism and the transfer storage location.

[0150] Regarding the third configuration of the material transfer system, based on the second configuration mentioned above, a horizontal transport robot and temporary storage location can be set up in each shelf unit. In this way, for each shelf unit, the target goods can be transferred between the transfer storage location and the temporary storage location on that floor by the horizontal transport robot. Since multiple temporary storage locations can be set up, the temporary redundancy of the target goods is increased, and the transfer efficiency is improved.

[0151] That is, in one possible implementation, the material transfer system further includes temporary storage locations 12, a hoisting unit 50, a transfer storage location 13, a walking platform 60, and a horizontal transport robot 40; a plurality of temporary storage locations 12 are located at the bottom storage layer of the shelf unit 10; the hoisting unit 50 is located at one end of the stacking shelf, and the hoisting unit 50 includes a lift 51 for vertical lifting; the transfer storage location 13 is located at one end of the width direction of the shelf unit 10 and is located between the hoisting unit 50 and the shelf unit 10; the walking platform 60 includes the ground and a bearing surface located between adjacent shelf units 10; the horizontal transport robot 40 is located on the walking platform 60 and moves horizontally on the walking platform 60, and the horizontal transport robot 40 is used to transfer target goods between the temporary storage locations 12 and the transfer storage locations 13 located in the same shelf unit 10;

[0152] Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for:

[0153] For the warehousing operations of the target goods:

[0154] Obtain the third storage location for the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third storage location is located;

[0155] The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground to retrieve the target goods retrieved by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to retrieve the target goods transferred from the sorting device to the predetermined storage location by the horizontal transport robot; and the elevator is driven to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location located in the shelf unit where the third inbound storage location is located. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0156] The horizontal transport robot located in the third warehouse storage unit retrieves the target goods from the intermediate storage location and transfers the target goods to the temporary storage location located in the third warehouse storage unit.

[0157] The vertical handling robot, which is located in the shelf unit of the third warehouse storage location, retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfers the target goods to the third warehouse storage location.

[0158] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0159] Obtain the third outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located;

[0160] The vertical handling robot, which is driven to the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located, retrieves the target goods from the third outbound storage location and transfers the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located.

[0161] The horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located.

[0162] The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods are transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device; the sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0163] It is understood that target goods can be transferred from the elevator to the sorting device or from the sorting device to the elevator, either using a horizontal transport robot or without one. Specifically, referring to Figure 11 or Figure 12, a traveling platform can be set up between stacked shelf units, and the traveling platform is equipped with a horizontal transport robot. In this way, the horizontal transport robot can transfer target goods between the transfer storage location and the temporary storage location of the shelf unit on that level.

[0164] Based on this, for example, for the warehousing operation of target goods, the scheduling control device should first obtain the third warehousing location of the target goods and the shelf unit where the third warehousing location is located; for example, referring to Figure 9, the third warehousing location is located on the shelf unit on the third floor; then, the scheduling control device can first drive the elevator to obtain the target goods from the sorting device and transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location located on the shelf unit on the third floor; then, the horizontal handling robot located on the shelf unit on the third floor can transfer the target goods from the transfer storage location to the vacant temporary storage location on the shelf unit on the third floor; then, the vertical handling robot located on the shelf unit on the third floor can be driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location to the third warehousing location, thus completing the warehousing operation of the target goods.

[0165] For example, for outbound operations of target goods, the scheduling and control device should first obtain the third outbound storage location of the target goods and the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located; for example, referring to Figure 10, the third outbound storage location is located in the shelf unit on the second floor; then, the scheduling and control device can drive the vertical handling robot of the second-floor shelf unit to obtain the target goods from the third outbound storage location and transfer the target goods to an empty temporary storage location in the second-floor shelf unit; then, the horizontal handling robot located in the second-floor shelf unit will transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location in the second-floor shelf unit; then, the elevator can be driven to obtain the target goods from the transfer storage location in the second-floor shelf unit and transfer the target goods to the sorting device, thus completing the outbound operation of the target goods.

[0166] In one specific embodiment, the scheduling and control device is also specifically used to: dynamically adjust the number of horizontal transport robots on each walking platform according to the scheduling instructions via the elevator.

[0167] That is, for example, when a certain shelf unit has a large number of transactions, the horizontal transport robots of other shelf units can be dynamically adjusted to that shelf unit through the elevator to improve the transfer efficiency.

[0168] Based on the aforementioned material transfer system, this application also discloses a material transfer method, which is applied to the material transfer system, the material transfer system comprising:

[0169] A stacking rack, comprising at least two rack units, wherein the at least two rack units are stacked vertically along the height direction;

[0170] A vertical transport robot is movably installed on the vertical surface of a rack unit; wherein the rack vertical surface is a vertical surface formed by the storage openings of all rack storage positions in the rack unit facing the same direction, and on the same side of the stacked rack, each rack unit is provided with at least one vertical transport robot, and the vertical transport robot is configured to dock with any rack storage position of the rack unit to which it is installed.

[0171] Specifically, the material transfer system may further include a scheduling and control device, and the material transfer method can be specifically applied to the scheduling and control device. The scheduling and control device has been specifically described in the above embodiments and will not be repeated here. Referring to Figure 13, the material transfer method includes:

[0172] S1. At least by driving the vertical handling robot, the inbound operation of transferring the target goods into the stacking rack and the outbound operation of transferring the target goods out of the stacking rack can be realized.

[0173] That is, by stacking shelf units equipped with vertical transport robots, this embodiment can achieve both the inbound and outbound operations of target goods by driving the vertical transport robots. Here, on the one hand, this embodiment can achieve both the inbound and outbound operations of target goods simply by driving the vertical transport robots; on the other hand, this embodiment can achieve both the inbound and outbound operations of target goods by driving the vertical transport robots and other devices that cooperate with the vertical transport robots. The other devices mentioned here are, for example, the hoist unit and the horizontal transport robot described above, but of course, other devices are not limited to these.

[0174] In one possible implementation, the vertical transport robot includes a vertical slide rail and a transport actuator mounted vertically and vertically on the vertical slide rail; wherein, the shelf unit is equipped with a horizontal slide rail, the vertical slide rail is mounted horizontally on the horizontal slide rail, the height range of the vertical slide rail at least covers the height range of all storage layers in the shelf unit on which it is installed, and the length range of the horizontal slide rail at least covers the width range of the shelf unit.

[0175] Step S1 includes: at least by driving the handling actuator to move up and down along the vertical slide rail and the vertical slide rail to slide horizontally along the horizontal slide rail, to realize the inbound operation of transferring the target goods into the stacking rack and the outbound operation of transferring the target goods out of the stacking rack.

[0176] Alternatively, the scheduling and control device can send control commands to the facade handling robot, so that the facade handling robot can control the handling actuator to move up and down along the vertical slide rail and slide horizontally along the horizontal slide rail based on the received control commands, so that the handling actuator can dock with any shelf storage position of the shelf unit to which it is installed.

[0177] In one possible implementation, the shelving unit has several temporary storage locations for temporarily storing target goods; the handling actuator is mounted on a vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, the height extension frame being configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelving unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic mast; wherein, when the telescopic mast is in the extended state, the telescopic mast can extend to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelving unit;

[0178] Specifically, step S1 includes:

[0179] Refer to Figure 14 for the warehousing operations of the target goods:

[0180] S101, Obtain the first storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first storage location is located;

[0181] S102. Drive the bottom-level facade handling robot to obtain the target goods from the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0182] S103. The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location one floor above the facade handling robot, and the facade handling robot on the upper floor retrieves the target goods.

[0183] S104. Drive the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the first storage location is located to transfer the target goods to the first storage location.

[0184] Refer to Figure 15 for the outbound operation of the target goods:

[0185] S105. Obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located;

[0186] S106. Drive the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the first outbound storage location;

[0187] S107. The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the vertical transport robot is located, and the target goods are retrieved from the temporary storage location by the vertical transport robot on the next lower level.

[0188] S108, drive the bottom-level facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0189] That is, the inbound operation of transferring the target goods into the stacking rack and the outbound operation of transferring the target goods out of the stacking rack can be achieved by at least driving the conveying actuator to move up and down along the vertical slide rail and sliding the vertical slide rail along the horizontal slide rail.

[0190] That is, by utilizing the temporary storage space of the shelving unit and the height extension frame of the vertical handling robot, this embodiment discloses a method to realize the warehousing and outbound operations of target goods by simply driving the vertical handling robot.

[0191] In one possible implementation, the shelving unit is provided with a plurality of temporary storage locations for temporarily storing the target goods; the plurality of temporary storage locations include the storage layer at the top of the shelving unit;

[0192] The handling actuator is mounted on a vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, which is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with a temporary storage location in the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail on which the handling actuator is mounted is a telescopic gantry, which, when in the extended state, can extend to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with a temporary storage location in the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit.

[0193] The material transfer method includes:

[0194] For the warehousing operation of the target goods, the first warehousing location of the target goods can be obtained, and the shelf unit where the first warehousing location is located can be determined;

[0195] The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0196] The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the facade handling robot is located, and the target goods are retrieved by the facade handling robot on the upper level.

[0197] The vertical handling robot, which is set up in the shelf unit where the first storage location is located, will transfer the target goods to the first storage location.

[0198] For outbound operations of target goods, the first outbound storage location of the target goods can be obtained, and the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located can be determined.

[0199] The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the first outbound storage location;

[0200] The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive-type vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location in a shelf unit one level below the vertical transport robot, and then the vertical transport robot one level below retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location.

[0201] The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

[0202] In one possible implementation, the material handling system further includes a horizontal transport robot configured to walk on the ground. The horizontal transport robot is used to transfer target goods between the sorting device and the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot. Alternatively, it can be understood that the horizontal transport robot can transfer target goods between the sorting device and a temporary storage location of the bottom-level shelf unit.

[0203] Specifically, the warehousing operations for the target goods include:

[0204] Step S102 specifically includes:

[0205] S1021, Drive the horizontal transport robot's self-sorting device to acquire the target goods;

[0206] S1022, Drive the horizontal transport robot to dock with the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot and transfer the target goods to the transport execution mechanism, or drive the horizontal transport robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit and drive the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location.

[0207] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0208] Step S108 specifically includes:

[0209] The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the bottom-level shelf unit, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location to the sorting device; or, the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to dock with the horizontal transport robot and transfer the target goods to the horizontal transport robot, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

[0210] In one possible implementation, the material transfer system further includes a hoist unit located next to the stacking rack. The hoist unit includes a lift that moves up and down vertically. The handling actuator is configured to transfer the target goods between itself and the lift when docking with the lift.

[0211] Specifically, step S1 includes:

[0212] Refer to Figure 16 for the warehousing operations of the target goods:

[0213] S201, Obtain the second storage location for the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the second storage location is located;

[0214] S202. Drive the elevator to the height of the sorting device to obtain the target goods. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0215] S202 is only one optional implementation. In other implementations, the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot to obtain the target goods obtained by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, or the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to obtain the target goods in the predetermined storage location, the target goods in the predetermined storage location being transferred in by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, the horizontal transport robot being configured to walk on the ground.

[0216] S203. Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position of the handling execution mechanism set in the shelf unit and the elevator.

[0217] S204. Drive the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located to transfer the target goods to the second storage location;

[0218] Refer to Figure 17 for the outbound operation of the target goods:

[0219] S205, Obtain the second outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located;

[0220] S206. Drive the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the second outbound storage location;

[0221] S207. Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located can dock with the elevator and transfer the target goods to the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position of the handling execution mechanism set in the rack unit docking with the elevator.

[0222] S208. Drive the elevator to the height of the sorting device to transfer the target goods to the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0223] That is, by means of a lifting unit located adjacent to the shelving unit, this embodiment discloses a method for realizing the inbound and outbound operations of target goods by driving a vertical transport robot and other devices that cooperate with the vertical transport robot. In another implementation, the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot so that the horizontal transport robot can transfer the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods can be transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot can be driven to transfer the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device.

[0224] In one specific embodiment, the elevator unit is located at one end of the stacking shelf edge. The material transfer system also includes a transfer storage location located at one end of the shelf unit in the width direction and between the elevator unit and the shelf unit. The height position of the transfer storage location at the shelf unit is consistent with the transfer height position. The elevator is configured to transfer the target goods between itself and the transfer storage location when docking with the transfer storage location.

[0225] Specifically, the warehousing operations for the target goods include:

[0226] Step S203 specifically includes:

[0227] S2031. Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second storage location is located.

[0228] S2032, Drive the elevator to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second inbound storage location is located;

[0229] S2033, Drive the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location;

[0230] For outbound operations of the target goods:

[0231] Step S207 specifically includes:

[0232] S2071. Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

[0233] S2072. Drive the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

[0234] S2073, Drive the elevator to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

[0235] In one possible implementation, the material handling system further includes temporary storage locations, a hoist unit, a transfer storage location, a traveling platform, and a horizontal transport robot; several temporary storage locations are located at the bottom storage layer of the rack unit; the hoist unit is located at one end of the stacked rack, and the hoist unit includes a lift for vertical movement; the transfer storage location is located at one end of the rack unit in the width direction and is situated between the hoist unit and the rack unit; the traveling platform includes the ground and a bearing surface located between adjacent rack units; the horizontal transport robot is located on the traveling platform and moves horizontally on the traveling platform, and the horizontal transport robot is used to transfer target goods between temporary storage locations and transfer storage locations located in the same rack unit;

[0236] Specifically, step S1 includes:

[0237] Refer to Figure 18 for the warehousing operations of the target goods:

[0238] S301, Obtain the third storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third storage location is located;

[0239] S302. Drive the elevator to obtain the target goods from the sorting device and transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the third storage location is located. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0240] S302 is only one implementation method. In other implementation methods, the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot to obtain the target goods obtained by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, or the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to obtain the target goods in the predetermined storage location. The target goods in the predetermined storage location are transferred from the sorting device by the horizontal transport robot, which is configured to walk on the ground.

[0241] S303. Drive the horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located.

[0242] S304. Drive the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the third warehouse storage location.

[0243] Refer to Figure 19 for the outbound operation of the target goods:

[0244] S305, Obtain the third outbound storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located;

[0245] S306. Drive the vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the third outbound storage location and transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located.

[0246] S307. Drive the horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located to obtain the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located.

[0247] S308. Drive the elevator to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

[0248] S308 is only one implementation method; in other implementation methods, after the elevator retrieves the target goods from the transfer storage location, it can also be driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot so that the horizontal transport robot can transfer the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device, or the elevator can be driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods can be transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot can be driven to transfer the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device.

[0249] In one possible implementation, step S1 further includes:

[0250] S309. According to the scheduling instructions, the number of horizontal transport robots on each walking platform is dynamically adjusted through the elevator.

[0251] Based on the above-described material transfer method, this application also discloses a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions. When the processor executes the computer-executable instructions, the material transfer method described above is implemented.

[0252] Based on the above-described material transfer method, this application also discloses a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the material transfer method as described above.

[0253] Based on the above-described material transfer method, this application also discloses an electronic device, comprising:

[0254] Memory, used to store computer programs;

[0255] When the processor executes the program stored in the memory, it implements the material transfer method described above. If the scheduling and control device is in hardware form, the electronic device may be the scheduling and control device; if the scheduling and control device is in software form, it may be a device on which the scheduling and control device is deployed.

[0256] The basic principles of this application have been described above with reference to specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the advantages, benefits, and effects mentioned in this application are merely examples and not limitations, and should not be considered as essential features of each embodiment of this application. Furthermore, the specific details disclosed above are for illustrative and facilitative purposes only, and are not limitations. These details do not limit the application to the necessity of employing the aforementioned specific details for implementation.

[0257] The block diagrams of devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems involved in this application are merely illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that they must be connected, arranged, or configured in the manner shown in the block diagrams. As those skilled in the art will recognize, these devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems can be connected, arranged, and configured in any manner. Words such as “comprising,” “including,” “having,” etc., are open-ended terms meaning “including but not limited to,” and are used interchangeably with them. The terms “or” and “and” as used herein refer to the terms “and / or,” and are used interchangeably with them unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term “such as” as used herein refers to the phrase “such as but not limited to,” and is used interchangeably with it.

[0258] It should also be noted that in the apparatus, equipment, and methods of this application, the components or steps can be disassembled and / or recombined. These disassemblies and / or recombinations should be considered as equivalent solutions of this application.

[0259] The above description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use this application. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects without departing from the scope of this application. Therefore, this application is not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but rather to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0260] The above description has been given for illustrative and descriptive purposes. Furthermore, this description is not intended to limit the embodiments of this application to the forms disclosed herein. Although numerous exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above, those skilled in the art will recognize that certain variations, modifications, alterations, additions, and sub-combinations thereof should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

[0261] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A material transfer system, the material transfer system comprising: A stacking rack, comprising at least two rack units, wherein the at least two rack units are stacked vertically along the height direction; A vertical transport robot is movably installed on the vertical surface of the shelving unit; wherein the vertical surface of the shelving unit is a vertical surface formed by the storage openings of all the storage positions in the shelving unit facing the same direction, and on the same side of the stacked shelving, each shelving unit is provided with at least one vertical transport robot. A scheduling and control device is used to control the facade handling robot; The vertical transport robot is configured to dock with any shelf storage location of the rack unit it is installed on, so that the scheduling and control device can at least drive the vertical transport robot to realize the inbound operation of transferring the target goods into the stacked rack and the outbound operation of transferring the target goods out of the stacked rack.

2. The material transfer system according to claim 1, wherein, The facade handling robot includes a vertical slide rail and a handling actuator mounted on the vertical slide rail for vertical lifting; The shelving unit is equipped with a horizontal slide rail, and the vertical slide rail is slidably installed on the horizontal slide rail. The height range of the vertical slide rail at least covers the height range of all storage layers in the shelving unit on which it is installed. Furthermore, the scheduling and control device is specifically used to control the vertical lifting and lowering of the transport actuator along the vertical slide rail, and the horizontal sliding of the vertical slide rail along the horizontal slide rail, so that the transport actuator can dock with any shelf storage location of the rack unit to which it is installed, or to send control commands to the vertical transport robot, so that the vertical transport robot controls the transport actuator to lift and lower along the vertical slide rail, and the horizontal sliding of the vertical slide rail along the horizontal slide rail based on the received control commands, so that the transport actuator can dock with any shelf storage location of the rack unit to which it is installed.

3. The material transfer system according to claim 2, wherein, The shelving unit is provided with several temporary storage locations, which are used to temporarily store the target goods. The handling actuator is mounted on the vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, which is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic gantry, which, when extended, extends to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelf unit. Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the first storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first storage location is located; The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location one level above the facade handling robot, and the facade handling robot on the upper level retrieves the target goods. A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first storage location, transfers the target goods to the first storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first outbound storage location, retrieves the target goods from the first outbound storage location. The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location in the shelf unit where the vertical transport robot is located, and then the vertical transport robot on the next lower level retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location. The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

4. The material transfer system according to claim 2, wherein, The shelving unit is provided with several temporary storage locations, which are used to temporarily store the target goods; the several temporary storage locations include the storage layer at the top of the shelving unit. The handling actuator is mounted on the vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, which is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic mast, which, when extended, extends to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit. Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the first storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first storage location is located; The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the facade handling robot is located, and the target goods are obtained by the facade handling robot on the upper layer. A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first storage location, transfers the target goods to the first storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first outbound storage location, retrieves the target goods from the first outbound storage location. The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location in a shelf unit one level below the vertical transport robot, and then the vertical transport robot one level below retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location. The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

5. The material transfer system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein, When the height extension rack is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level above its corresponding shelf unit, the height extension rack includes a horizontally arranged crossbar and a vertically arranged vertical bar, wherein the end of the crossbar near the shelf unit is mounted vertically on the vertical slide rail, the end of the crossbar away from the shelf unit is fixedly connected to the bottom end of the vertical bar, and the handling actuator is fixedly mounted on the top end of the vertical bar; or, When the height extension rack is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit, the height extension rack includes a horizontally arranged crossbar and a vertically arranged vertical bar, wherein the end of the crossbar near the shelf unit is mounted vertically on the vertical slide rail, the end of the crossbar away from the shelf unit is fixedly connected to the top of the vertical bar, and the handling actuator is fixedly mounted at the bottom of the vertical bar; or, The telescopic gantry includes an inner gantry and an outer gantry. The transport actuator is mounted on the inner gantry so that it can move up and down along the height direction of the inner gantry based on a first-stage lifting assembly. The inner gantry is located inside the outer gantry and can move up and down along the height direction of the outer gantry based on a second-stage lifting assembly, so that the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the top of the outer gantry, and / or so that the inner gantry can extend or retract into the outer gantry when it moves to the bottom of the outer gantry.

6. The material transfer system according to claim 3, wherein, The temporary storage locations include the bottom storage layer of the shelving unit.

7. The material transfer system according to any one of claims 3, 4 and 6, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: A horizontal transport robot, configured to walk on the ground, is used to transfer the target goods between the sorting device and the transport actuator of the bottom vertical transport robot; Specifically, the warehousing operation for the target goods includes: The scheduling and control device drives the bottom-level facade handling robot's self-sorting device to obtain the target goods, specifically including: Drive the horizontal transport robot to retrieve the target goods from the sorting device; The horizontal transport robot is driven to dock with the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot and transfer the target goods to the transport execution mechanism, or the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit and the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: The scheduling and control device drives the bottom-level facade handling robot to transfer the target goods, specifically including: The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the bottom-level shelf unit, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location to the sorting device; or, the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to dock with the horizontal transport robot and transfer the target goods to the horizontal transport robot, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

8. The material transfer system according to claim 2, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: A lifting unit is provided alongside the stacking rack, and the lifting unit includes a lift that moves up and down vertically. The transport actuator is configured to transfer the target cargo between itself and the elevator when docking with the elevator; Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the second storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the second storage location is located; The elevator is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device to obtain the target goods; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot to obtain the target goods obtained by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to obtain the target goods in the predetermined storage location, wherein the target goods in the predetermined storage location are transferred from the sorting device by the horizontal transport robot, the horizontal transport robot is configured to walk on the ground, the sorting device is located on the ground, and the sorting device includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench; The elevator is driven to rise to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism set in the shelf unit docks with the elevator. The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, is driven to transfer the target goods to the second storage location; For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the second outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, installed in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the second outbound storage location; The elevator is driven to rise to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located docks with the elevator and transfers the target goods to the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism set in the shelf unit docks with the elevator. The elevator is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device to transfer the target goods to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to transfer the target goods to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

9. The material transfer system according to claim 8, wherein, The lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking rack. The material transfer system further includes a transfer storage location. The transfer storage location is located at one end of the rack unit in the width direction and between the lifting unit and the rack unit. The height position of the transfer storage location on the rack unit is consistent with the transfer height position. The lifting unit is configured to transfer the target goods between itself and the transfer storage location when docking with the transfer storage location. The width direction of the rack unit is the direction in which the rack unit extends along the horizontal slide rail. Specifically, the warehousing operation for the target goods includes: The scheduling and control device drives the elevator to rise to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set up in the rack unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator. Specifically, this includes: Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located; Drive the elevator to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second inbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location; For the outbound operation of the target goods: The scheduling and control device drives the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located docks with the elevator and transfers the target goods to the elevator. Specifically, this includes: Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot, which is driven to be installed in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, transfers the target goods to the transfer storage location in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

10. The material transfer system according to claim 9, wherein, The lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking rack along the extension direction of the horizontal slide rail, and at the end of the rack unit where the transfer storage position is located, the horizontal slide rail is convex so that the horizontal sliding stroke of the handling actuator covers the transfer storage position.

11. The material transfer system according to claim 2, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: Temporary storage locations, a number of said temporary storage locations are located at the bottom storage layer of said shelving unit; A lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking rack, and the lifting unit includes a lifting mechanism for vertical movement; A transfer storage location is provided at one end of the width direction of the rack unit and between the elevator unit and the rack unit, wherein the width direction of the rack unit is the direction in which the rack unit extends along the horizontal slide rail; The walking platform includes the ground and a load-bearing surface located between the vertically adjacent shelving units; A horizontal transport robot is mounted on the walking platform and moves horizontally on the walking platform. The horizontal transport robot is used to transfer the target goods between the temporary storage location and the transfer storage location located in the same shelf unit. Specifically, the scheduling and control device is used for: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the third storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third storage location is located; The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground to retrieve the target goods retrieved by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to retrieve the target goods transferred from the sorting device to the predetermined storage location by the horizontal transport robot; and the elevator is driven to transfer the target goods to a transfer storage location located in the shelf unit where the third inbound storage location is located. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. A horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located. The vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the third storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the third outbound storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the third outbound storage location and transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located. A horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the transit storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located. The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods are transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

12. The material transfer system according to claim 11, wherein, The scheduling and control device is also specifically used to: dynamically adjust the number of horizontal transport robots on each walking platform according to the scheduling instructions via the elevator.

13. A material transfer method, said material transfer method being applied to a material transfer system, said material transfer system comprising: A stacking rack, comprising at least two rack units, wherein the at least two rack units are stacked vertically along the height direction; A vertical transport robot is movably installed on the vertical surface of the shelving unit; wherein the vertical surface is a vertical surface formed by the storage openings of all the storage positions in the shelving unit facing the same direction, and on the same side of the stacked shelving, each shelving unit is provided with at least one vertical transport robot, and the vertical transport robot is configured to dock with any storage position of the shelving unit to which it is installed. The material transfer method includes: At least by driving the facade handling robot, the inbound operation of transferring target goods into the stacking rack and the outbound operation of transferring target goods out of the stacking rack can be realized.

14. The material transfer method according to claim 13, wherein, The facade handling robot includes a vertical slide rail and a handling actuator mounted on the vertical slide rail for vertical lifting; The shelving unit is equipped with a horizontal slide rail, and the vertical slide rail is slidably installed on the horizontal slide rail. The height range of the vertical slide rail at least covers the height range of all storage layers in the shelving unit on which it is installed. The material transfer method includes: At least by driving the handling actuator to move up and down along the vertical slide rail and the vertical slide rail to slide horizontally along the horizontal slide rail, the inbound operation of transferring target goods into the stacking rack and the outbound operation of transferring target goods out of the stacking rack can be realized. Alternatively, by sending control commands to the vertical handling robot, the vertical handling robot can control the handling actuator to move up and down along the vertical slide rail and the vertical slide rail to slide horizontally along the horizontal slide rail based on the received control commands, so that the handling actuator can dock with any rack storage position of the rack unit to which it is installed.

15. The material transfer method according to claim 14, wherein, The shelving unit is provided with several temporary storage locations, which are used to temporarily store the target goods. The handling actuator is mounted on the vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, which is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic gantry, which, when extended, extends to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit above its corresponding shelf unit. The material transfer method specifically includes: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the first storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first storage location is located; The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location one level above the facade handling robot, and the facade handling robot on the upper level retrieves the target goods. A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first storage location, transfers the target goods to the first storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first outbound storage location, retrieves the target goods from the first outbound storage location. The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location in the shelf unit where the vertical transport robot is located, and then the vertical transport robot on the next lower level retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location. The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

16. The material transfer method according to claim 14, wherein, The shelving unit is provided with several temporary storage locations, which are used to temporarily store the target goods; the several temporary storage locations include the storage layer at the top of the shelving unit. The handling actuator is mounted on the vertical slide rail via a height extension frame, which is configured to allow the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit; or, the vertical slide rail is specifically a telescopic mast, which, when extended, extends to a position that allows the handling actuator to dock with the temporary storage location of the shelf unit one level below its corresponding shelf unit. The material transfer method includes: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the first storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the first storage location is located; The bottom-level facade handling robot is driven to obtain the target goods from the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. The target goods are transferred to the shelf unit where the first storage location is located by using a drive facade handling robot to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the shelf unit where the facade handling robot is located, and the target goods are obtained by the facade handling robot on the upper layer. A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first storage location, transfers the target goods to the first storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the first outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the first outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, driven by a rack unit located at the first outbound storage location, retrieves the target goods from the first outbound storage location. The target goods are transferred to the bottommost vertical transport robot by using a drive vertical transport robot to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location in a shelf unit one level below the vertical transport robot, and then the vertical transport robot one level below retrieves the target goods from the temporary storage location. The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device, which is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

17. The material transfer method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: A horizontal transport robot, configured to walk on the ground, is used to transfer the target goods between the sorting device and the transport actuator of the bottom vertical transport robot; Specifically, the warehousing operation for the target goods includes: The steps for the bottom-level facade handling robot to acquire the target goods specifically include: Drive the horizontal transport robot to retrieve the target goods from the sorting device; The horizontal transport robot is driven to dock with the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot and transfer the target goods to the transport execution mechanism, or the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location of the bottom shelf unit and the transport execution mechanism of the bottom vertical transport robot is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: The specific steps for driving the bottom-level facade handling robot to transfer the target goods include: The bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the bottom-level shelf unit, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods from the temporary storage location to the sorting device; or, the transport actuator of the bottom-level vertical transport robot is driven to dock with the horizontal transport robot and transfer the target goods to the horizontal transport robot, and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the target goods to the sorting device.

18. The material transfer method according to claim 14, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: A lifting unit is provided alongside the stacking rack, and the lifting unit includes a lift that moves up and down vertically. The transport actuator is configured to transfer the target cargo between itself and the elevator when docking with the elevator. The material transfer method specifically includes: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the second storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the second storage location is located; The elevator is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device to obtain the target goods; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot to obtain the target goods obtained by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to obtain the target goods in the predetermined storage location, wherein the target goods in the predetermined storage location are transferred from the sorting device by the horizontal transport robot, the horizontal transport robot is configured to walk on the ground, the sorting device is located on the ground, and the sorting device includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench; The elevator is driven to rise to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism set in the shelf unit docks with the elevator. The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, is driven to transfer the target goods to the second storage location; For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the second outbound storage location of the target goods, and determine the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; A vertical handling robot, installed in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the second outbound storage location; The elevator is driven to rise to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located docks with the elevator and transfers the target goods to the elevator. The transfer height position indicates the height position at which the handling execution mechanism set in the shelf unit docks with the elevator. The elevator is driven to rise to the height of the sorting device to transfer the target goods to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to transfer the target goods to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

19. The material transfer method according to claim 18, wherein, The lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking shelf edge. The material transfer system further includes a transfer storage location. The transfer storage location is located at one end of the shelf unit in the width direction and between the lifting unit and the shelf unit. The height position of the transfer storage location on the shelf unit is consistent with the transfer height position. The lifting unit is configured to transfer the target goods between itself and the transfer storage location when docking with the transfer storage location. The width direction of the shelf unit is the direction in which the shelf unit extends along the horizontal slide rail. Specifically, the warehousing operation for the target goods includes: The step of driving the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located can obtain the target goods from the elevator, specifically includes: Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the shelf unit where the second storage location is located; Drive the elevator to transfer the target goods to the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second inbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot, which is set in the shelf unit where the second storage location is located, is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location; For the outbound operation of the target goods: The step of driving the elevator to the transfer height position of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the vertical handling robot set in the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located can dock with the elevator and transfer the target goods to the elevator, specifically includes: Drive the elevator to the transfer height position of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, so that the elevator docks with the transfer storage location of the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot, which is driven to be installed in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located, transfers the target goods to the transfer storage location in the shelf unit where the second outbound storage location is located; The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location of the rack unit where the second outbound storage location is located.

20. The material transfer method according to claim 14, wherein, The material transfer system also includes: Temporary storage locations, a number of said temporary storage locations are located at the bottom storage layer of said shelving unit; A lifting unit is located at one end of the stacking rack, and the lifting unit includes a lifting mechanism for vertical movement; A transfer storage location is provided at one end of the rack unit and located between the elevator unit and the rack unit; The walking platform includes the ground and a load-bearing surface located between the vertically adjacent shelving units; A horizontal transport robot is mounted on the walking platform and moves horizontally on the walking platform. The horizontal transport robot is used to transfer the target goods between the temporary storage location and the transfer storage location located in the same shelf unit. The material transfer method specifically includes: For the warehousing operation of the target goods: Obtain the third storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third storage location is located; The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground to retrieve the target goods retrieved by the horizontal transport robot from the sorting device, or to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location to retrieve the target goods transferred from the sorting device to the predetermined storage location by the horizontal transport robot; and the elevator is driven to transfer the target goods to a transfer storage location located in the shelf unit where the third inbound storage location is located. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench. A horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to a temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third warehouse storage location is located. The vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the third storage location. For the outbound operation of the target goods: Obtain the third outbound storage location of the target goods and determine the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located; The vertical handling robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the third outbound storage location and transfer the target goods to the temporary storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located. A horizontal transport robot located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located is driven to retrieve the target goods from the temporary storage location and transfer the target goods to the transit storage location located in the shelf unit where the third outbound storage location is located. The elevator is driven to retrieve the target goods from the transfer storage location and transfer the target goods to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a horizontal transport robot located on the ground so that the horizontal transport robot transfers the target goods from the elevator to the sorting device; or, the elevator is driven to rise to the height of a predetermined storage location so that the target goods are transferred to the predetermined storage location and the horizontal transport robot is driven to transfer the goods from the predetermined storage location to the sorting device. The sorting device is located on the ground and includes a sorting conveyor line or a sorting workbench.

21. The material transfer method according to claim 20, wherein, The material transfer method further includes: According to the scheduling instructions, the number of horizontal transport robots on each walking platform is dynamically adjusted via the elevator.

22. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the material transfer method as described in any one of claims 13 to 21.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the material transfer method as described in any one of claims 13 to 21.

24. An electronic device, comprising: Memory, used to store computer programs; A processor, when executing a program stored in memory, implements the method described in any one of claims 13 to 21.

Images