Warehouse Robot Obstacle Avoidance for Protruding Rack Goods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robots in warehousing environments face obstacles such as collisions with other robots or protruding goods, leading to operational interruptions and potential damage, which existing technologies have not adequately addressed.
Innovation Solution
An obstacle avoidance method and apparatus for robots that involve detecting suspected obstacles protruding from rack edges, determining their position relative to the target, and replanning the traveling route to avoid these obstacles, including adjusting direction, speed, or changing tasks to ensure safe navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If robots operate in warehousing environments with racks and goods, then productivity is improved through automated goods transfer, but collisions with protruding goods or other robots cause operational interruptions and potential damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of suspected obstacles protruding from rack edges before the robot reaches them. By identifying potential collision risks in advance and determining their relative positions to target points, the system can replan routes proactively, preventing operational interruptions and maintaining continuous productivity.
2Reliability
If the robot detects and avoids obstacles by replanning routes, then safety is improved, but path complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by focusing obstacle detection and route replanning only when suspected obstacles are detected near the robot's current path. Instead of globally complex path planning, the system locally adjusts routes based on specific obstacle positions relative to target points, maintaining simplicity while ensuring safety.
3Productivity
If the robot maintains straight path travel to efficiency, then productivity is improved, but collision risk with protruding goods increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary detection and evaluation mechanism between the robot's straight path travel and potential collisions. By detecting suspected obstacles protruding from rack edges and evaluating their relative positions to target points, the system acts as a mediator that only intervenes when necessary, allowing efficient straight travel while preventing collisions.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application provides an obstacle avoidance method and apparatus, an electronic device, and a storage medium. The obstacle avoidance method is applicable to a robot. The robot is configured to move along a track in a rack area, and the method includes: detecting whether a suspected obstacle exists in a traveling direction, where the suspected obstacle protrudes beyond an edge of a rack; determining a relative position relationship between the suspected obstacle and a target position that the robot is required to reach along a current traveling direction when the suspected obstacle exists in the traveling direction; determining that the suspected obstacle is an obstacle when the suspected obstacle is located between a current position of the robot and the target position; and replanning a traveling route to avoid the obstacle.