CN110780652A

CN110780652A - Automatic guide car system

Info

Publication number: CN110780652A
Application number: CN201911085625.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 兴磊磊; 黄润; 倪菲
Original assignee: Shanghai Quicktron Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Quicktron Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-08
Filing date: 2019-11-08
Publication date: 2020-02-11

Abstract

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an automated guided vehicle system, including: a first component, and a second component. The first component and the second component are respectively configured to, when data from different data sources are interacted between them, establish different bridge links between them by different device node numbers for the different data sources, and, in each bridge link, allocate two device node numbers, one of which is used for transmission of the data and the other is used for reception of the data. Therefore, an AGV control scheme with better expansibility is provided.

Description

Automatic guide car system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), and more particularly, to an Automated Guided Vehicle system.

Background

In the current logistics storage field, Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) are increasingly used to replace or supplement manual labor, and meanwhile, the transportation efficiency is effectively improved. An AGV is a transport vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic or optical automatic guide device, capable of traveling along a predetermined guide path, and having safety protection and various transfer functions. With the rapid development of logistics and related technologies, AGVs have been widely used in modern logistics systems such as Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), flexible handling systems, and automated warehouses, and their high efficiency and flexibility greatly improve the degree of automation of production.

The statements in the background section are merely prior art as they are known to the inventors and do not, of course, represent prior art in the field.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the objectives of the disclosed embodiments is to provide a solution for an AGV system with better scalability.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an automated guided vehicle system including:

a first component, and

a second component which is used for connecting the first component,

wherein the first component and the second component are each configured to, when communications from different data sources are interacted between them, establish different bridge links between them through different device node numbers for the different data sources, and, in each bridge link, allocate two device node numbers, one for transmission of data and the other for reception of data.

In one embodiment, the first component and the second component communicate via a serial port or bus.

In one embodiment, the first assembly and the second assembly are both interior assemblies of an automated guided vehicle.

In one embodiment, the first component and the second component are an industrial personal computer and a motion control card, respectively; or

The first component and the second component are a motion control card and a panel, respectively.

In one embodiment, the first and second components are internal components of an automated guided vehicle and external components of the automated guided vehicle.

In one embodiment, the internal components of the automated guided vehicle are an industrial personal computer,

the external component of the automatic guided vehicle is a control server or a PC terminal.

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, a bridge link is built among different components of the AGV system, for example, an end-to-end connection channel from an industrial personal computer to a motion control card and to a panel layer can be built, and data transparent transmission can be completed, so that functions such as firmware programming, data observation and diagnosis are realized.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure and are not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a structural frame diagram of an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a schematic diagram of a serial communication scheme between components for an automatic guided vehicle system, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an AGV map file according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a schematic view of a monitoring interface for an AGV according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the following, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art can appreciate, the described embodiments can be modified in various different ways, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "straight", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the present disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection: may be mechanically connected, may be electrically connected or may be in communication with each other; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In the present disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise the first and second features being in direct contact, or may comprise the first and second features being in contact, not directly, but via another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser level than the second feature.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of the disclosure. To simplify the disclosure of the present disclosure, specific example components and arrangements are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Moreover, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or reference letters in the various examples, which have been repeated for purposes of simplicity and clarity and do not in themselves dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present disclosure provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or use of other materials.

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are merely for purposes of illustrating and explaining the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a structural frame diagram of an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The AGV system includes an automatic guided vehicle AGV 100 and components outside the AGV as an upper computer of the AGV, for example, including a central control server (e.g., a dispatch server of a logistics center) and/or a PC terminal. FIG. 1 also schematically illustrates the manner of communication between the AGV internal components, and the interaction of the AGV with the host computer.

As shown in FIG. 1, an AGV 100 typically includes an industrial personal computer, a motion control card, and boards such as fascia, radar boards, etc. (e.g., stm32 boards). The industrial personal computer 110 is mainly responsible for receiving commands of the upper computer, and mainly functions to control program reception, recognize various processing commands, parameterize received information and the like. The motion control card 120 adjusts the position and direction of the AGV by controlling the driving motor based on reading the current motion parameter of the AGV according to the received information from the industrial personal computer, for example, the AGV is enabled to realize linear driving or differential steering, thereby realizing automatic navigation along the preset traveling route.

The industrial personal computer 110 communicates with the motion control card 120 through a network port or a serial port (e.g., RS-232 interface), and communicates with an upper computer such as a central control server (e.g., a dispatch server of a logistics center) 210 and/or a PC end 220 in a wired or wireless (e.g., Wifi or bluetooth) manner. The motion control card is connected with board cards such as a panel, a radar board and the like on the basis of a bus, such as a CAN (controller area network), so as to conveniently hang various motion panels, such as a driving motor, a universal motion mechanism and the like, or various radar boards, such as a radar, a camera, a vision sensor and the like.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the configuration of the AGV system shown in fig. 1 is not intended to be limiting of AGV systems and may include more or fewer components than those shown, or some components in combination, or a different arrangement of components. For example, the universal motion mechanism may include two driving wheels (the number of the driving wheels may also be more than two), the driving wheels are driven by the driving motor to rotate, the driving motor is controlled by the motion control card to rotate, and the driving motor is generally a servo motor or other motor with a closed-loop control module such as an encoder or a hall sensor. The AGV body can be driven to move forward, backward, rotate in place and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an automated guided vehicle system including: a first component, and a second component. The first component and the second component are respectively configured to, when data from different data sources are interacted between them, establish different bridge links between them by different device node numbers for the different data sources, and, in each bridge link, allocate two device node numbers, one of which is used for transmission of the data and the other is used for reception of the data.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a schematic diagram of a serial communication scheme between components for an automatic guided vehicle system, according to an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in fig. 2, two bridge links are established on the serial communication interface between the AGV's internal components, the industrial computer 110 and the motion control card 120, for whether the source data to be transferred to the motion control card is from the control server 210 or the PC side 220, as shown by the solid and dashed lines in fig. 2. For example, the industrial personal computer 110 and the motion control card 120 communicate via a serial port, two bridge links are established on one serial connection line between the industrial personal computer 110 and the motion control card 120 according to the difference between the source and the destination of the transmitted data (such as the control server 210 and the PC end 220), and device node numbers 0x9104/0x9105 and 0x9108/0x9109 are respectively allocated, wherein 0x9104/0x9105 are respectively a sending node and a receiving node, and are used for data flow from the control server to the industrial personal computer; and 0x9108/0x9109 is a sending node and a receiving node respectively, and is used for data flow from a PC (personal computer) end to an industrial personal computer. Therefore, a plurality of single-channel communications can be carried out by different equipment node numbers aiming at one-channel serial ports.

As shown in fig. 2, the industrial personal computer and the control server inside the AGV communicate via serial ports to assign a device node number 0x9102/0x9103, where 0x9102/0x9103 is a sending node and a receiving node respectively for use in a data stream interacting with the motion control card. The industrial personal computer and the PC end inside the AGV communicate through serial ports, and an equipment node number 0x9106/0x9107 is distributed, wherein the 0x9106/0x9107 is a sending node and a receiving node respectively, and is used for data flow interactive with the motion control card.

According to the embodiment of the invention, for example, after the industrial personal computer receives the data of the control server through wifi, the industrial personal computer needs to operate the motion control card through a serial port, and meanwhile, the industrial personal computer also needs to receive the data of the PC end through wifi and operate the motion control card through the serial port. On the same serial port channel, in order to realize that the data of the two are not influenced mutually, equipment nodes are established for the industrial personal computer, and the equipment node numbers are as shown in figure 2. It should be understood that this approach is applicable to establishing device nodes at both the motion control card and the panel layer. After the link is opened, the intermediate link is invisible to the user, and the user can directly communicate with the end equipment without paying attention to the intermediate link. Therefore, through the establishment of bridge links among different components, an end-to-end connection channel from the industrial personal computer to the motion control card and to the panel layer can be established, data transmission can be completed, and functions of firmware programming, data observation and diagnosis and the like can be realized.

According to the method and the device for accessing the AGV, a bridge link can be built between two components in the AGV system by distributing different equipment node numbers to one component of the AGV system, so that access to different equipment in the same hardware channel can be realized. The main principle of the bridge link is to add equipment nodes in the protocol, so that different equipment nodes are set when different external equipment accesses the same channel, thereby ensuring that the equipment nodes do not influence each other during protocol analysis.

During the movement of the AGV, the AGV executes a designated action according to the scheduling information from the control server. According to the method and the device for monitoring the AGV board card running condition, the AGV board card program can be upgraded, abnormal log information can be acquired, the AGV running condition can be monitored and the like in the moving process of the AGV, because the AGV internal component can distinguish interaction from a control server and data from an external PC end.

The program upgrading function is that firmware programs of board cards such as a motion control card, a panel and a radar board are upgraded, a PC (personal computer) end is connected to an industrial personal computer through wifi, program data needing to be updated are sent to the industrial personal computer through an upgrading instruction, the industrial personal computer forwards the instruction to the motion control card, and the motion control card analyzes the instruction and then carries out program upgrading, so that the operation of board card upgrading is completed.

In the process of AGV movement, the movement control card reports the running state of the AGV (such as driving wheel speed, radar obstacle information, trolley state information, error codes and the like) to the industrial personal computer in real time and stores the running state to a log file. When the AGV is abnormal, the PC end can be remotely connected to the industrial personal computer to obtain the current log file, so that data information in the log file is displayed in an interface and fault analysis is carried out.

When the program is compiled through Keil software, a map file is generated, and position information of all global variables in the program is recorded. The monitoring system at the PC end can know the address of each variable in the board card by loading the map file compiled by the program, as shown in fig. 3. The variable of the designated address in the board card is set and acquired in an instruction form, so that the program can be conveniently diagnosed and debugged, and the variable data can be monitored in real time. For example, the commanded speeds and feedback speeds for the left and right motors are captured and displayed in the system interface, as shown in FIG. 4.

It should be noted that although several components of the AGV system are mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory only. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more of the modules described above may be embodied in one component in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Conversely, the features and functions of one module described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of modules.

Finally, it should be noted that: although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiments and/or equivalents thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An automated guided vehicle system comprising:

a first component, and

a second component which is used for connecting the first component,

2. The automated guided vehicle system of claim 1, wherein the first component and the second component communicate via a serial port or bus.

3. The automated guided vehicle system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first component and the second component are each internal components of an automated guided vehicle.

4. The automated guided vehicle system of claim 3, wherein,

the first component and the second component are an industrial personal computer and a motion control card respectively; or

5. The automated guided vehicle system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first and second components are internal components of the automated guided vehicle and external components of the automated guided vehicle.

6. The automated guided vehicle system of claim 5, wherein,

the internal components of the automatic guided vehicle are an industrial personal computer,