CN112418511A

CN112418511A - Cross-floor robot scheduling method and system

Info

Publication number: CN112418511A
Application number: CN202011301417.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王群
Original assignee: Shanghai Xiangong Intelligent Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Xiangong Intelligent Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-11-19
Filing date: 2020-11-19
Publication date: 2021-02-26

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of intelligent control, and provides a cross-floor robot scheduling method and a system, wherein the cross-floor robot scheduling method comprises the following steps: and editing related points in the moving path of the robot and the attribute of the path. A dispatch request of the robot is obtained and an elevator is called to go to a target floor. And inquiring the state of the elevator, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator and move to the station SM after the elevator reaches the floor where the robot is located and opens the door. When the elevator reaches the target floor, the map being used by the robot is switched to the map of the target floor at the station SM, and the robot is controlled to leave the elevator. The invention can flatten the map of multiple floors onto one map by editing attributes on the related paths and the stops of the cross-floors, and the robot can automatically switch to the map of the corresponding floor when the robot reaches the stop in the elevator of the target floor. The robot can be reasonably dispatched under the multi-floor multi-elevator application scene.

Description

Cross-floor robot scheduling method and system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of intelligent control, in particular to a cross-floor robot scheduling method and system.

Background

With the rapid development of science and technology, the robot technology has made great progress. Robots have freed people from heavy physical labor and hazardous environments.

Most of the traditional robot scheduling methods and systems are used for scheduling tasks issued by robots on a single floor plane. However, as the number of robots and application scenarios increase, robots are required to complete tasks in a multi-floor environment. However, the existing robot scheduling method cannot perform reasonable scheduling for robots in the case of multiple floors and multiple elevators.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a cross-floor robot dispatching method and a cross-floor robot dispatching system, which are used for solving the problem of multi-floor and multi-elevator dispatching of a robot.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cross-floor robot scheduling method. The cross-floor robot scheduling method comprises the following steps: the first step is as follows: and editing relevant points in the moving path of the robot and the attributes of the path, wherein the relevant points comprise a station SM arranged in the elevator and elevator front points LM arranged on each floor plane. The relevant paths include the path from the stop SM to the elevator lead point LM (SM → LM) and the path from the elevator lead point LM to the stop SM (LM → SM). The second step is that: a dispatch request of the robot is obtained and an elevator is called to go to a target floor. The third step: and inquiring the state of the elevator, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator and move to the station SM after the elevator reaches the floor where the robot is located and opens the door. When the elevator reaches the target floor, the map being used by the robot is switched to the map of the target floor at the station SM, and the robot is controlled to leave the elevator.

Further, the attributes of the relevant points and paths are edited by injection in the software Roboshop pro, including the call elevator command and the switch map command.

Further, the stop SM is an elevator car point, which is a shared stop that can appear in each floor.

Further, the cross-floor robot scheduling method further comprises the following steps: when the robot enters the elevator and arrives at a station SM in the elevator, the elevator is set to be in an occupied state; when the robot leaves the elevator and reaches the elevator front point LM of the target floor, the elevator is set to the release state.

Further, calling an elevator to a destination floor includes: and acquiring a target floor to which the robot arrives. According to the current floor position of the robot and the target floor position to be reached. And searching paths by adopting a directed graph, and selecting the path with the minimum sum of weights of all paths in the robot scheduling system as an optimal path. And issuing an instruction to enable the robot to move to a target floor along the optimal path.

Further, the weight of the path includes the actual path length and the dynamically changing portion.

Further, the path searching is carried out by adopting the directed graph and a least-cost path searching algorithm is adopted.

According to another aspect of the invention, a cross-floor robot dispatching system is also provided. The cross-floor robot scheduling system includes: and the editing unit is used for editing the related points in the robot moving path and the attributes of the path. The relevant points include a stop SM placed in the elevator and elevator lead points LM placed at the floor levels. The relevant paths include the path from the stop SM to the elevator lead point LM (SM → LM) and the path from the elevator lead point LM to the stop SM (LM → SM). And the first acquisition unit is used for acquiring the dispatching request of the robot and calling the elevator to the target floor. And the inquiry and control unit is used for inquiring the state of the elevator, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator and move to the station SM after the elevator reaches the floor where the robot is located and opens the door. When the elevator reaches the target floor, the map being used by the robot is switched to the map of the target floor at the station SM, and the robot is controlled to leave the elevator.

Further, the cross-floor robot scheduling method further comprises the following steps: and the elevator state display unit is used for setting the elevator to be in an occupied state after the robot enters the elevator and arrives at the station SM in the elevator. When the robot leaves the elevator and reaches the elevator front point LM of the target floor, the elevator is set to the release state.

Further, the cross-floor robot scheduling method further comprises the following steps: and the second acquisition unit is used for acquiring a target floor to which the robot arrives. And the path searching unit is used for searching paths by adopting directed graphs according to the current floor position of the robot and the target floor position to be reached. And the selection unit is used for selecting the path with the minimum sum of the weights of all paths in the robot scheduling system as the optimal path. And the control unit is used for issuing instructions to enable the robot to move to a target floor along the optimal path.

The invention has the advantages that: by editing attributes on cross-floor related paths and stations, a multi-floor map is flattened onto one map, and when the robot reaches an intra-elevator station of a target floor, the robot can automatically switch to the map of the corresponding floor. By adopting the cross-floor robot scheduling method and system, the reasonable scheduling of the robot is realized in the application scene of multiple floors and multiple elevators.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an elevator floor where attributes of relevant points in a robot movement path are edited by the method of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified map of the actual floor of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified multi-floor map according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a simplified map of a multi-floor multi-elevator according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a cross-floor robot scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a topological diagram of three floors produced by the project implementation software Roboshop pro.

Detailed Description

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present invention and in the drawings described above are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used is interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

In the invention, SM is short for Shared Mark, namely a Shared site of multiple floors. LM is short for Location Mark and refers to a common site.

As shown in fig. 1, the method of the present invention is used to edit the elevator floor map of the relevant point attribute in the robot moving path. The elevator at floor 1 is Lift1, the station in the elevator is SM1, and the elevator front point is LM 1. The elevator front point of 2 th floor is LM2, and the same elevator is used in 1 st floor and 2 nd floor, so the elevator is still Lift1, and the station in the elevator is still SM 1.

It should be noted here that there is no particular requirement for an elevator to have only one SM point, i.e. one position in the car.

The line attributes of LM1 → SM1 and SM1 → LM2 are edited in the project implementation software Roboshop pro. For example, on the path LM1 → SM1, an attribute is injected to indicate "call the Lift1 to the first floor and open the door", then the dispatch will read this attribute when directing the robot to pass the path LM1 → SM1, thus initiating a request to Lift 1. For another example, in the path SM1 → LM2, an attribute is injected to indicate "switch map to second floor map", and when the robot is instructed to pass through the path, the robot is instructed to be instructed to transmit an instruction for switching the map.

In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the line attributes may be further edited into the following modes: (1) at the elevator front point LM1 the elevator is called (call) to floor 1 while the elevator status is queried. (2) And dispatching and inquiring that the elevator arrives at the floor 1, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator after the elevator door is opened. (3) When the robot has reached the stop SM1 inside the elevator, the elevator is set to the occupied state. (4) From (1) to (3), the dispatch will call (call) the elevator every second to floor 1, thus ensuring to some extent that the elevator is not called to other floors in the process. In this case the robot can call an elevator to go to floor 2 at floor 1 elevator lead point LM 1. When the robot reaches the destination floor level 2, the dispatch controller switches the map being used to the floor 2 map within the elevator (i.e., point SM 1). And after the switching is successful, the dispatching control robot leaves the elevator. When the robot reaches LM2, the elevator is released and the door is closed.

Since all the maps are stored in the robot, the maps can be switched between the points of the attribute route. A multi-floor map can be flattened onto one map by editing attributes on the relevant paths and sites across the floors. Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the map is simplified for the actual floor of fig. 1. The first floor map and the second floor map can be flattened onto one map by the station SM1 in the elevator, the elevator front point LM1 of the first floor level, the elevator front point LM2 of the second floor level, and the paths LM1 → SM1 and SM1 → LM2 from the first floor to the elevator and from the elevator to the second floor. The multi-floor map can be flattened onto one map in the same way as described above, and specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the map is simplified for multi-floors. Further, the method can also be applied to a multi-elevator scene, and a multi-floor multi-elevator map is flattened on one map, as shown in fig. 4, so that the map is simplified for the multi-floor multi-elevator.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a cross-floor robot scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cross-floor robot scheduling method comprises the following steps: (1) the robot travels to the elevator lead point LM. (2) According to the line attribute of LM → SM, the elevator is called to the current floor of the robot. (3) Judging whether the elevator is opened on the floor where the robot is located, if not, returning to the previous step, and continuing to call the elevator to the current floor of the robot; if yes, the next step is entered. (4) And when the elevator arrives, the robot enters the elevator, sets the elevator to be in an occupied state and calls the elevator to go to a target floor. (5) And judging whether the elevator is opened at the target floor of the robot or not, if not, returning to the previous step, and if so, entering the next step. (6) The robot switches to the current floor map at SM point and leaves the elevator. (7) The robot travels to the LM point of the SM → LM attribute path, and the elevator door is closed.

Fig. 6 is a topological diagram of three floors created by the project implementation software Roboshop pro, wherein three blocks are shown as topological diagrams included in each of the three floors. The SM elevator car point appears in each floor, being a Shared stop (Shared Mark). The full name of the front point LM1 of the first-floor elevator is as follows: the first floor map is deployed at a stop outside the elevator car door. LM11, LM12 are simplifications of the first floor map. Between LM11 and LM12 there is a path LM11 → LM12, and a path LM12 → LM 11. Similarly, LM2 is the second floor elevator forward point, LM21, LM22 are the simplification of the second floor map. Between LM21 and LM22 there is a path LM21 → LM22, and a path LM22 → LM 21. Similarly, LM3 is the three-floor elevator front point, LM31, LM32 are the simplification of the three-floor map. Between LM31 and LM32 there is a path LM31 → LM32, and a path LM32 → LM 31. Therefore, after the three-dimensional topology of the multiple floors is two-dimensionally rolled up in the graph mode, all the route searching and planning algorithms in the digraph can be applied to the situation of the multiple floors.

In addition, the directed graph used in the scheduling system of the invention has the path weight value which is dynamically changed. The path weights of the directed graph are composed of actual path lengths and dynamically changing parts. The dynamically changing part contains a number of situations, for example: when a persistent obstacle appears in a certain path, the dynamic change weight of the path is adjusted to be extremely high, so that the route searched by the least-cost route searching algorithm (such as A, djstra algorithm) cannot pass through the path. In addition, when an elevator is occupied by a robot, all paths entering the elevator, such as LM1 → SM and LM2 → SM, etc., will be weighted up. If there are multiple elevators, when other robots need to search for a path across floors, they will find some unoccupied elevator, and although it appears that the actual path length is farther, the total cost (i.e. the sum of the dynamic path weights at this time on the whole route) is lower. Therefore, the robot can be matched with an idle elevator more easily, and the effect of dynamically selecting the elevator by the robot is achieved.

The preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed above are intended to be illustrative only. The preferred embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise embodiments disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention. The invention is limited only by the claims and the full scope and equivalents thereof, and any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the invention should be included in the protection scope of the invention.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in addition to implementing the system, apparatus and various modules thereof provided by the present invention in the form of pure computer readable program code, the same procedures may be implemented entirely by logically programming method steps such that the system, apparatus and various modules thereof provided by the present invention are implemented in the form of logic gates, switches, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic controllers, embedded microcontrollers and the like. Therefore, the system, the device and the modules thereof provided by the present invention can be considered as a hardware component, and the modules included in the system, the device and the modules thereof for implementing various programs can also be considered as structures in the hardware component; modules for performing various functions may also be considered to be both software programs for performing the methods and structures within hardware components.

In addition, all or part of the steps of the method according to the above embodiments may be implemented by a program instructing related hardware, where the program is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a single chip, a chip, or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

In addition, any combination of various different implementation manners of the embodiments of the present invention is also possible, and the embodiments of the present invention should be considered as disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention as long as the combination does not depart from the spirit of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A cross-floor robot scheduling method comprises the following steps: editing relevant points in a robot moving path and attributes of the path, wherein the relevant points comprise a station SM arranged in an elevator and elevator front points LM arranged on each floor plane; acquiring a dispatching request of the robot and calling an elevator to go to a target floor; inquiring the state of the elevator, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator and move to the station SM when the elevator reaches the floor where the robot is located and opens the door; when the elevator reaches the target floor, the map in use by the robot is switched to the map of the target floor at the station SM, and the robot is controlled to leave the elevator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the relevant points and paths are edited by injection in a software Roboshop pro, including an elevator call command and a map switch command.

3. The cross-floor robot scheduling method of claim 1, wherein the stop SM is an elevator car point, which is a shared stop that can appear in each floor.

4. The cross-floor robot scheduling method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: when the robot enters the elevator and arrives at a station SM in the elevator, setting the elevator to be in an occupied state; when the robot leaves the elevator and reaches the elevator front point LM of the target floor, the elevator is set to the release state.

5. The cross-floor robot dispatching method of claim 1, wherein calling an elevator to a target floor comprises: acquiring a target floor to which the robot arrives; searching a path by adopting a directed graph according to the current floor position of the robot and the target floor position to be reached; selecting a path with the minimum sum of the weights of all paths in the robot scheduling system as an optimal path; and issuing an instruction to enable the robot to move to a target floor along the optimal path.

6. The cross-floor robot scheduling method of claim 5, wherein the weight of the path comprises an actual path length and a dynamically changing portion.

7. The method for scheduling robot across floors according to claim 5, wherein the path search using directed graph uses a least cost path search algorithm.

8. A cross-floor robotic dispatch system, comprising: the editing unit is used for editing relevant points in the moving path of the robot and the attributes of the path, wherein the relevant points comprise a stop SM arranged in an elevator and elevator preposed points LM arranged on each floor plane; the first acquisition unit is used for acquiring a dispatching request of the robot and calling an elevator to go to a target floor; the inquiry and control unit is used for inquiring the state of the elevator, and controlling the robot to enter the elevator and move to the station SM when the elevator reaches the floor where the robot is located and opens the door; when the elevator reaches the target floor, the map in use by the robot is switched to the map of the target floor at the station SM, and the robot is controlled to leave the elevator.

9. The cross-floor robot scheduling method of claim 8, further comprising: the elevator state display unit is used for setting the elevator to be in an occupied state after the robot enters the elevator and arrives at a station SM in the elevator; when the robot leaves the elevator and reaches the elevator front point LM of the target floor, the elevator is set to the release state.

10. The cross-floor robot scheduling method of claim 8, further comprising: the second acquisition unit is used for acquiring a target floor to which the robot arrives; the path searching unit is used for searching paths by adopting directed graphs according to the current floor position of the robot and the target floor position to be reached; the selection unit is used for selecting the path with the minimum sum of the weights of all paths in the robot scheduling system as an optimal path; and the control unit is used for issuing instructions to enable the robot to move to a target floor along the optimal path.