CN115215086A

CN115215086A - Article transportation method, article transportation device, computer equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN115215086A
Application number: CN202210833556.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 柳兵仁
Original assignee: Shenzhen Pudu Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Pudu Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-15
Filing date: 2022-07-15
Publication date: 2022-10-21

Abstract

The application relates to an article transportation method, an article transportation device, a computer device and a storage medium. The method comprises the following steps: the robot responds to the transportation instruction of the target object, and obtains a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target object; after the robot travels to a transportation departure place, an article clamping instruction is sent to the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is instructed to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot; and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm to instruct the robot arm to place and process the target article. So, instruct the arm to carry out the operation through the robot, can realize that article clamp gets-article transportation-full flow automation operation that article were placed, whole process need not manual operation, and article transportation is more intelligent.

Description

Article transportation method, article transportation device, computer equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of robotics, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transporting an article, a computer device, and a storage medium.

Background

Along with the development of science and technology, intelligent robot with food delivery function has appeared gradually in the food and beverage trade for solve the food delivery inefficiency that traditional dining room appears when adopting artifical service, personnel working strength height problem, improved the service efficiency in dining room to a certain extent, played fine effect of publicity moreover.

In the related art, after a meal delivery robot receives a meal delivery call, the robot in an idle state can go forward to a meal delivery point, and after the meal delivery point is reached, a worker puts a meal item into a tray of the robot, inputs a target meal table number on the robot, and clicks a meal delivery button. After the robot arrives at the target dining table, the staff takes out the corresponding meal, and after the meal delivery is completed by clicking, the robot navigates back to the stop point to wait for the next meal delivery call.

In the food delivery process, the robot can complete the whole food delivery task only by means of manual operation, so that the food delivery process is not intelligent enough.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is desirable to provide an article transport method, apparatus, computer device, storage medium, and program product capable of performing full-process automation work by a robot.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for transporting an article, for use in a robot, the method comprising:

responding to a transportation instruction of a target article, and acquiring a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target article;

the robot arm is driven to a transportation starting place, and after the robot arm arrives at the transportation starting place, an article clamping instruction is sent to the robot arm, and the robot arm is instructed to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot;

and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm, and the robot arm is instructed to place the target article.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

receiving a clamping completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the clamping completion message indicates that the mechanical arm stores the target object in the robot and returns to the initial state;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and receiving a placement completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the placement completion message indicates that the mechanical arm has completed the placement processing of the target object and has recovered to the initial state.

In one embodiment, driving to a transportation destination comprises:

acquiring a driving path according to a transportation departure place and a transportation destination;

and transporting the target object from the transportation starting place to the transportation destination according to the driving path.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

monitoring the pressure state of the article placement area;

determining a target article placement area with articles to be received according to the pressure state;

and when the robot moves to the preset range of the target article placement area, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm.

In a second aspect, the present application further provides a method for transporting an item, applied to a robot arm, the method including:

according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot, clamping a target article and storing the target article in the robot, wherein the article clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target article and drives to a transportation starting place of the target article;

sending a clamping completion message to the robot, instructing the robot to transport the target article to a transport destination of the target article, and receiving an article placement instruction sent by the robot;

and placing the target object according to the object placing instruction.

In one embodiment, the placing the target item according to the item placing instruction comprises the following steps:

acquiring environment information of a transportation destination;

acquiring a target placement area of a target object in a transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination;

the target item is placed in the target placement area.

In a third aspect, the present application also provides an article transport device comprising:

the acquisition module is used for responding to the transportation instruction of the target object and acquiring a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target object;

the first sending module is used for driving to a transportation departure place, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm after the robot arm arrives at the transportation departure place, and indicating the mechanical arm to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot;

and the second sending module is used for driving to a transportation destination, sending an article placing instruction to the mechanical arm after the vehicle reaches the transportation destination, and instructing the mechanical arm to place the target article.

In a fourth aspect, the present application also provides another article transport device, comprising:

the object clamping module is used for clamping a target object and storing the target object in the robot according to an object clamping instruction sent by the robot, and the object clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target object and travels to a transportation starting place of the target object;

the sending module is used for sending a clamping completion message to the robot, instructing the robot to transport the target article to a transport destination of the target article, and receiving an article placement instruction sent by the robot;

and the article placing module is used for placing and processing the target article according to the article placing instruction.

In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a computer device, which includes a memory and a processor, where the memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the steps of any one of the method embodiments in the first or second aspect when executing the computer program.

In a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method embodiments of any one of the first or second aspects.

In a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method embodiments of any one of the first or second aspects.

According to the article transportation method, the article transportation device, the computer equipment and the storage medium, the robot responds to the transportation instruction of the target article and acquires the transportation starting place and the transportation destination corresponding to the target article; after the robot travels to a transportation departure place, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm, and instructing the mechanical arm to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot; and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm to instruct the robot arm to place and process the target article. In the method, after the robot travels to a transportation departure place, the mechanical arm is instructed to finish the clamping operation of the target object, and then the target object is transported to a transportation destination by the robot. And after the target object arrives at the transportation destination, the mechanical arm is instructed to carry out placement processing on the target object. So, instruct the arm through the robot and carry out the operation, can realize that "article are got-article transportation-article are placed" full process automation operation, whole process need not manual operation, and article transportation process is more intelligent.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary environment in which a method of transporting items may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of transporting items in one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for item pickup in one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method of transporting items in another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method of article placement in one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method of transporting an item in yet another embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the construction of an article transport device in one embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the construction of an article transport device in another embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an internal structure of a computer device according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

For a robot in the catering industry, when a food delivery task is executed, a waiter of a restaurant needs to manually put food into a tray of the robot, and the robot starts to execute the food delivery task after clicking a food delivery button. When the standby robot travels to the dining table, the service personnel are also required to take the food out of the tray of the robot and place the food in the idle area of the dining table.

In the process, the robot can only realize the automatic meal delivery function of replacing meal delivery of restaurant service staff, and the process of taking meal items at the meal delivery point and placing the meal items at the dining position of the customer still needs to be manually realized by the service staff. That is, the robot can only partially replace the work of service staff, and can not realize the full-automatic service of end-to-end in the food delivery process, so that the food delivery process can not realize unmanned and intelligentized.

Based on the above, the application provides an article transportation method, an article transportation device, computer equipment and a storage medium, so that full-process automation operation of 'article clamping-article transportation-article placement' is realized through mutual cooperation of a robot and a mechanical arm, manual operation is not needed in the whole process, and the 'end-to-end' article transportation process is more intelligent.

The article transportation method provided by the application can be applied to the application environment shown in fig. 1. Wherein the robot 110 may communicate with the robotic arm 120 over a network. In a possible design manner, the robot 110 and the robot arm 120 may be controlled by separate control systems, and the article transportation method provided by the present application is implemented by transmitting control instructions and data information between the two.

It should be noted that the mechanical arm 120 may be mounted on the body of the robot 110, or may be disposed at another device/position besides the robot 110, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Taking an application scenario of the robot as an example of a restaurant, the robot 110 in the embodiment of the present application is configured to implement automatic food delivery from end to end, that is, move in the restaurant in an autonomous navigation manner, so as to deliver food items for serving to a designated dining table; alternatively, empty trays in the table are collected and returned to the tray collection area.

Alternatively, the robot 110 may return/rest at the robot docking area when there is no meal delivery task, waiting for the next call by the attendant.

The robot arm 120 in the embodiment of the present application is used for picking up food items at a meal outlet and placing the food items in the robot 110 (the robot 110 is provided with a tray or a food storage box, etc.), and the robot 110 sends the food items to a designated table; the mechanical arm 120 is also used for taking out food in the robot 110 and placing the food in an idle area on a designated dining table when the robot 110 reaches the designated dining table; the robotic arm 120 is also configured to pick up empty trays from the table, place the empty trays in the robot 110, and return the empty trays to the tray retrieval area by the robot 110.

It should be noted that the article transportation method provided by the present application may also be applied to other scenarios in which an article is carried/transferred by a robot and a mechanical arm, and the application scenario is not limited in this embodiment. In addition, although the restaurant is taken as an example in the embodiments of the methods of the present application, the methods provided by the present application are not limited to being applied to the restaurant.

It should be understood that in effecting the transport of items, the robot and robotic arm may be viewed as separate computer devices comprising a processor, memory and network interface connected by a system bus. Wherein the processor is configured to provide computing and control capabilities. The memory includes a nonvolatile storage medium, an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system, a computer program, and a database. The internal memory provides an environment for the operation of an operating system and computer programs in the non-volatile storage medium. The database is used for storing environment data, interactive instructions/messages/data, article information, address information and other related data. The network interface is used for connecting and communicating with an external terminal (a robot or a mechanical arm) through a network. The computer program is executed by a processor to implement the article transportation method provided by the present application.

Next, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and how to solve the above technical problems will be specifically described in detail through embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. These several specific embodiments may be combined with each other below, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. It should be noted that, in the article transportation method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the execution subject may be a robot and a robot arm in the application environment, and article transportation is completed through interaction between the robot and the robot arm. In addition, the execution body of the robot may also be an article transportation device, and the device may be implemented as part or all of a robot or a mechanical arm through software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. It is to be understood that the embodiments described are only a subset of the embodiments in the present application and not all embodiments.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the present application provides a method for transporting an article, which is illustrated by applying the method to the robot 110 in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

step 210: and responding to the transportation instruction of the target object, and acquiring a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target object.

In one possible implementation, the transport instruction carries the item information of the target item, the transport origin and the transport destination. After receiving the transportation instruction, the robot can analyze the target object to be transported, and the transportation starting place and the transportation destination corresponding to the target object.

The target object can be one object to be transported or a plurality of objects to be transported; when the target object is a plurality of objects to be transported, the transportation destination may be one or a plurality of objects.

It should be understood that, when the transportation destinations are multiple, the robot circularly executes the following steps 220-230, after sequentially transporting multiple articles to be transported to the corresponding transportation destinations, instructing the robot arm to place the corresponding articles to be transported, and after the standby robot and the robot arm cooperate to complete the placement operation of all the articles to be transported at the corresponding transportation destinations, ending the task of transporting the articles this time.

As an example, when food delivery is performed by a robot in a restaurant, the transportation instruction may be embodied as a food delivery instruction. The goods information is food information, the transportation departure place is the position coordinates of the food output point, and the transportation destination is the position coordinates of the target dining table in the dining room.

Specifically, when the robot is required to execute a food delivery task, the service staff calls the robot in an idle state, and sends a food delivery instruction to the robot through a robot caller (for example, a mobile phone), wherein the food delivery instruction carries position coordinates of a food delivery point, a food to be taken and table number/table position coordinates of a first target table. The robot receives the food delivery instruction, analyzes the transportation departure place from the food delivery instruction, and then autonomously navigates to the food delivery point, and executes the following step 220 to transport the food to the first target dining table.

Alternatively, if the robot is only used to perform a meal delivery task, the position coordinates of the restaurant food serving point may be set in the robot as the transportation origin in advance. When the robot is called, only the food information of the food to be taken and the table number/table position coordinates of the first target table are carried in the food delivery instruction sent to the robot.

It should be understood that, the robot stores a table profile in the restaurant in advance, and in the case of acquiring the table number, the robot may determine the position coordinates of the table in the restaurant corresponding to the table number according to the table number.

As another example, when the stock is taken by a robot in a restaurant, the transportation instruction may be embodied as a stock taking instruction. The transport origin is the position coordinate of any dining table with empty trays in the dining room, and the transport destination is the position coordinate of the dinner plate recovery area.

Specifically, when the robot executes the dish-receiving task, the service person calls the robot in the idle state, and sends a dish-receiving instruction to the robot through a robot caller (for example, a mobile phone), where the dish-receiving instruction carries the position coordinates of the second target dining table and the position coordinates of the dish-receiving area. The robot receives the order to collect the empty dishes from the second target table, and after analyzing the transportation departure place, the robot autonomously navigates to the second target table, and executes the following step 220.

The second target dining table is any one or more dining tables with empty dishes in the dining room.

It should be noted that the empty tray information does not need to be carried in the tray closing instruction, and after the robot moves to the second target table, the empty tray identification is performed through the vision sensor mounted on the robot and/or the mechanical arm, so that the tray closing operation is performed on one or more empty trays existing on the second target table.

Alternatively, if the robot is only used for performing the collection task, the position coordinates of the dinner plate collection area in the restaurant can be set in the robot in advance as the transportation destination. When the robot is called, the disc collection instruction sent to the robot only carries the table number/table position coordinates with the empty disc.

In addition, if the robot performs both the food delivery task and the food receiving task, the robot may previously store the position coordinates of the food serving point and the position coordinates of the food tray collecting area, and when the step 210 is performed, the transportation origin or the transportation destination of the target item is determined based on the received transportation command and the previously stored position information.

Step 220: and driving to a transportation starting place, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm after the robot arm arrives at the transportation starting place, and instructing the mechanical arm to clamp the target article and store the target article in the robot.

In one possible implementation manner, the implementation process of the robot driving to the transportation departure place may be as follows: the robot positions the current position of the robot, and plans a driving path for driving to a transportation starting place according to the current position and the sensor carried by the robot.

The planning of the driving path may be implemented by a laser Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) technology And/or a visual SLAM technology. In the case where the robot stores the restaurant map in advance, the travel route may be generated by using other route planning algorithms, such as an a-algorithm, a D-algorithm, a rapid-expansion route Trees (RRT) algorithm, an RRT-algorithm, and the like.

In this step, the robot sends an article gripping instruction to the robot arm, where the article gripping instruction carries information of an article to be gripped. After receiving the article clamping instruction, the mechanical arm determines one or more articles to be clamped, and sequentially clamps the articles to be clamped and places the articles in the robot.

If the to-be-gripped object is a part of the target object, the robot executes step 220 in a circulating manner to complete gripping operation of all the target objects.

As an example, when the target item is gripped, the robot arm may identify a specific placement position of the target item in a transportation departure place according to environmental information collected by a vision sensor on the robot arm, and then plan a collision-free robot arm operation path, so as to accurately grip the target item and store the target item in the robot.

It should be understood that a tray or an article placing bin or the like for placing articles is provided in the robot for carrying a target article to be transported.

When the robot arm places the target object in the robot, the robot arm may also collect environmental information by means of the visual sensor to determine a placement area of the target object in a tray or an object placement bin of the robot, and then store the target object in the corresponding placement area.

Further, after the robot arm stores the target item in the robot through one or more gripping operations, a gripping completion message may be sent to the robot to remind the robot that the gripping operation is completed, and the following step 230 may be performed.

Alternatively, the robot arm may return to the initial state after storing the target item in the robot, and then send a gripping completion message to the robot.

The initial state is the pose of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm does not work. For example, the initial state may be a "hand-lifting" posture, and after the robot performs the gripping operation, the end of the robot is rotated upward to be attached to the mounting end of the robot, so as to be fixed in the "hand-lifting" posture.

Optionally, before receiving the next operation instruction, the mechanical arm may be locked in a "hand-lifting" state, and is not moved, so as to avoid the mechanical arm movement caused by human collision.

Accordingly, prior to performing step 230, the method for transporting an item provided herein further comprises: the robot receives a clamping completion message sent by a mechanical arm; the gripping completion message indicates that the robot arm has deposited the target item in the robot and has returned to the initial state.

In this manner, according to the gripping completion message, the robot may determine that the robot arm has completed the gripping operation, and may perform the operation of transporting the target item in step 230 described below.

Step 230: and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm to instruct the robot arm to place and process the target article.

In one possible implementation, the robot may travel to the transportation destination by: acquiring a driving path according to a transportation departure place and a transportation destination; and transporting the target object from the transportation starting place to the transportation destination according to the driving path.

The driving route may be acquired in real time or acquired in advance, which is not limited in this embodiment. The real-time acquisition of the driving path can be realized by a laser SLAM technology and/or a visual SLAM technology; the pre-acquisition of the driving path may be implemented by a map-based path planning algorithm.

Further, taking a restaurant as an example, when the transportation destination is the position coordinate of the target dining table, the article placing instruction sent by the robot to the mechanical arm at the transportation destination is used for instructing the mechanical arm to place the food in the robot on the target dining table; when the transportation destination is the position coordinates of the dinner plate recovery area, the robot sends an article placing instruction to the mechanical arm at the transportation destination, and the article placing instruction is used for instructing the mechanical arm to place an empty plate in the robot in the dinner plate recovery area.

Similarly, the mechanical arm can send a placement completion message to the robot after placing the target object in the robot in the object placement area of the transportation destination through one or more times of object placement operations so as to remind the robot that the object placement operations are completed.

Alternatively, the robot arm may return to the initial state after placing the target item in the item placement area of the transportation destination, and then send a placement completion message to the robot.

The initial state is the pose of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm does not work. For example, the initial state may be a "hand-up" posture, or may be other postures, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Therefore, after the robot travels to the transportation destination, the article transportation method provided by the application further comprises the following steps: the robot receives a placement completion message sent by the mechanical arm; the placement completion message indicates that the robot arm has completed the placement process for the target item and has returned to the initial state.

Therefore, according to the placement completion message, the robot can determine that the mechanical arm has completed the article placement operation, and the article transportation task is finished.

In the article transportation method, the robot responds to a transportation instruction of a target article and acquires a transportation departure place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target article; after the robot travels to a transportation departure place, an article clamping instruction is sent to the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is instructed to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot; and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm to instruct the robot arm to place and process the target article. In the method, after the robot travels to a transportation departure place, the mechanical arm is instructed to finish the clamping operation of the target object, and then the target object is transported to a transportation destination by the robot. And after the target object arrives at the transportation destination, the mechanical arm is instructed to carry out placement processing on the target object. So, instruct the arm to carry out the operation through the robot, can realize that "article are got and are got-article transportation-article are placed" full flow automation operation, whole process need not manual operation, and article transportation process is more intelligent.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the present application further provides an article collecting method, which is also exemplified by the application of the method to the robot 110 in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

step 310: the pressure state of the article placement area is monitored.

The article placement area may be one area or a plurality of areas. The pressure state may be a regional pressure variation value within a period of time, or may be a regional pressure value distribution map, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Taking a restaurant as an example, the article placement area may be a plurality of areas, and each article placement area is a table in the restaurant. That is, the robot monitors the table top pressure values of all the tables in the restaurant, and thus obtains the pressure state of each table.

In the embodiment of the present application, one or more pressure sensors may be installed in the table of the restaurant, and the robot stores a correspondence relationship between the table and the sensors in advance. In the practical application process, the robot detects the pressure value acquired by the pressure sensor on each dining table in real time or at regular time, so that the pressure state of the dining table is judged.

In a possible implementation manner, a pressure sensor is disposed in the dining table, and the pressure sensor may be disposed in the middle of the dining table, and the implementation process of step 310 may be: the robot obtains the pressure value change condition of at least one pressure sensor on the dining table within a period of time, so as to determine the pressure state of each dining table.

The pressure state may be a table pressure variation value.

In another possible implementation manner, a plurality of pressure sensors are disposed in the dining table, and the plurality of pressure sensors may be uniformly disposed in the dining table (for example, symmetrically disposed about a center point of the dining table), and then the implementation process of step 310 may be: for any dining table, the robot acquires the pressure values of the pressure sensors corresponding to the dining table so as to determine the pressure state of the dining table.

The pressure state may be a table top pressure distribution diagram.

Step 320: and determining a target article placement area where the article to be collected exists according to the pressure state.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, it is only necessary to determine whether an article to be collected exists in the article placement area without determining the number of the articles to be collected. The number of the articles to be received in the article placing area can be one or more.

If the pressure state is a zone pressure variation value, the implementation of step 320 may be: and judging whether the object to be collected exists in the object placing area or not according to the area pressure change value in a period of time and a preset pressure threshold value, thereby determining that the target object placing area for the object to be collected exists.

Wherein the pressure threshold value can be determined according to the initial pressure value of any placed object in the object placing area relative to the contact surface.

Taking a restaurant as an example, whether the table pressure change value is greater than the pressure threshold value can be determined according to the change situation of the table pressure value of the dining table within a period of time. If the pressure change value of the table top is greater than or equal to the pressure threshold value, the empty disc to be received on the dining table is considered to exist; and if the pressure change value of the table top is smaller than the pressure threshold value, the empty tray to be received does not exist on the dining table.

The desktop pressure change value may be determined according to a difference between the desktop pressure value at the first time and the desktop pressure value at the second time. The first time and the second time may be continuous times or discontinuous times, which is not limited in this embodiment.

If the pressure status is the regional pressure profile, the implementation of step 320 may be: and judging whether an area with a pressure value smaller than the pressure threshold exists in the article placement area according to the area pressure distribution map and a preset pressure threshold, so as to determine that the target article placement area for receiving the articles exists. If at least one area with the pressure value smaller than the pressure threshold exists, determining that an article to be collected exists in the article placement area, and determining the article placement area as a target article placement area; and if the area with the pressure value smaller than the pressure threshold value does not exist, the article to be collected does not exist in the article placement area.

Similarly, the pressure threshold may be determined based on an initial pressure value of any placed item in the item placement area relative to the contact surface.

Similarly, taking a restaurant as an example, whether a table top area with a pressure value smaller than a pressure threshold exists in the dining table can be judged according to the table top pressure distribution map at the current moment of the table top. If at least one table top area with the pressure value smaller than the pressure threshold exists, the empty disc to be received on the dining table is considered to exist; and if the table top area with the pressure value smaller than the pressure threshold value does not exist, the empty tray to be received does not exist on the dining table.

Based on the step 320, it should be noted that the determined target object placement areas may be multiple or empty, which is not limited in this embodiment. And it should be understood that if the target item placement area is empty, the robot does not need to perform the operations of step 330 described below, and continues to perform the current task or is stationary at the robot docking area.

Step 330: and when the robot runs to the preset range of the target article placement area, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm.

That is, if there is an article to be collected, the robot autonomously navigates to the preset range of the corresponding target article placement area, and sends an article clamping instruction to the robot arm after entering the preset range of the target article placement area, instructs the robot arm to clamp the article to be collected in the article placement area, and stores the article to be collected in the robot.

Wherein the preset range can be determined according to the safe working distance between the robot and the article placement area. Taking a restaurant as an example, the target object placement area is a dining table with empty trays, and the preset range of the target object placement area may be an area range 20cm and 30cm away from the edge of the dining table.

It should be noted that, the pressure sensor detects the pressure value of the article placement area, and thus, whether there is an error in the article to be taken in the article placement area is determined. For example, the opposite pressure values of all the objects in the target object placement area are slightly reduced, so that the area pressure variation value of the whole target object placement area is larger than the pressure threshold value, but in actual situations, no object to be collected exists in the target object placement area.

Based on this, after the robot travels to the preset range of the target article placement area, the environment information of the target article placement area can be collected through the visual sensor carried by the robot, and whether the object to be collected exists in the target article placement area or not is identified. Therefore, through the secondary vision verification of the robot, the error of pressure monitoring can be reduced, and whether the object to be collected exists in the target object placement area or not can be accurately determined.

Optionally, after receiving the item clamping instruction, the mechanical arm may further identify whether the item to be collected exists in the target item placement area through a visual sensor mounted on the mechanical arm. So, through the secondary vision check-up of arm, can reduce pressure monitoring's error to whether there is the article of waiting to collect in the accurate target article placement area of confirming.

Further, after secondary vision verification, if it is determined that the object to be collected exists in the target object placement area, the mechanical arm clamps the object to be collected and stores the object in the robot, then the mechanical arm returns to the initial state, and a clamping completion message is sent to the robot; the gripping completion message indicates that the mechanical arm stores the article to be taken in the robot and returns to the initial state; and instructing the robot to perform subsequent article transporting operations through the gripping completion message.

Further, after the secondary vision verification, if the target article placement area is determined to have no article to be received, the mechanical arm sends a clamping cancellation message to the robot; the clip cancellation message is used for indicating that the object to be picked up does not exist in the robot target object placement area, and the object pickup operation does not need to be executed.

In this embodiment, the robot is through monitoring the pressure state that article placed the region, independently judges whether article exist in article placement region and wait to collect the article, can realize that the target article place the timely detection of waiting to collect article in the region. Further, when the object to be collected is determined to exist, the robot travels to the preset range of the target object placing area, and the mechanical arm is instructed to clamp the object to be collected and store the object in the robot. So, can in time collect the article of getting of waiting to receive in the region is placed to the target article, avoid the target article to place the article and pile up in the region, lead to the target article to place the region and can't continue to place article again.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the present application provides another article transportation method, which is illustrated by applying the method to the robot arm 120 in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

step 410: and according to the article clamping instruction sent by the robot, clamping the target article and storing the clamped object in the robot.

The object clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to the transportation instruction of the target object and drives to the transportation starting place of the target object.

With reference to step 210, after the robot responds to the transportation instruction of the target item and travels to the transportation departure place of the target item, an item clamping instruction is sent to the mechanical arm, where the item clamping instruction carries item information of an item to be clamped.

The object to be picked up may be a part of or all of the target object, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Based on this, after receiving the article clamping instruction sent by the robot, the mechanical arm executes the step 410, and analyzes the article clamping instruction to obtain the article information of the target article; and then, identifying the target object in the transportation departure place through a visual identification algorithm, and then clamping the target object through the mechanical arm and storing the target object in the robot.

It should be appreciated that to ensure gripping safety and item safety, the robotic arm grips only one item at a time. When the target items are multiple, the mechanical arm circularly executes multiple clamping operations so as to store the multiple target items in the robot.

It should be noted that, in the process of gripping the target item, if the robot arm recognizes that the target item cannot be placed in the robot any more and the target item at the transportation origin is not gripped, the robot arm may send a secondary transportation message to the robot. The secondary transportation message may include information of the articles that are not picked up, and the secondary transportation message is used to remind the robot to perform the above steps 210 to 230 in a circulating manner after completing the transportation, so as to transport the secondary articles to the transportation destination.

Step 420: and sending a clamping completion message to the robot, instructing the robot to transport the target item to the transport destination of the target item, and receiving an item placing instruction sent by the robot.

Wherein the gripping completion message indicates that the robot arm has stored the target item in the robot and has returned to the initial state. After receiving the gripping completion message, the robot can perform an operation of transporting the target item to a transportation destination.

Further, after the robot travels to the transportation destination, an article placement command is sent to the robot arm, and the robot arm performs the following step 430 after receiving the article placement command.

Step 430: and carrying out placing processing on the target object according to the object placing instruction.

It should be noted that, when the transportation destination is an article placement area, the article placement instruction is used to instruct the robot arm to perform one or more placement processes on the target article; if the transportation destinations are multiple, the article placement instruction carries article information of the articles to be placed so as to instruct the mechanical arm to perform one or more placement processes on at least one article to be placed in the target article.

In the step, the mechanical arm identifies and clamps the target object from the robot according to the object placing instruction; and determining a target placement area in the transportation destination to complete the placement operation of the target item.

Optionally, after the robot arm completes placement of the target object, sending a placement completion message to the robot; the placement completion message indicates that the robot arm has completed the placement process for the target item and has returned to the initial state.

In the article transportation method, the mechanical arm clamps a target article and stores the target article in the robot according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot; sending a clamping completion message to the robot, instructing the robot to transport the target article to a transport destination of the target article, and receiving an article placement instruction sent by the robot; and carrying out placing processing on the target object according to the object placing instruction. According to the method, the mechanical arm carries out article clamping and article placing operations according to instructions of the robot, and sends a completion message to the robot after completion, so that the robot can conveniently carry out subsequent article transportation operations. So, cooperate the robot to carry out the operation through the arm, can realize that "article are got-article transportation-article are placed" full process automation operation, whole process need not manual operation, and the article transportation is more intelligent.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, the present application further provides an article placing method, also exemplified by the application of the method to the robot arm 120 in fig. 1, comprising the steps of:

step 510: environmental information of a transportation destination is acquired.

In one possible implementation manner, the implementation procedure of step 510 may be: the mechanical arm collects the environmental information of the transportation destination through a visual sensor and/or a touch sensor arranged on the mechanical arm.

As an example, the environment information may be an environment image, and a distribution of obstacles in the environment image.

Step 520: and acquiring a target placement area of the target object in the transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination.

The target placement area can be determined according to the article information of the target article, so that the target article can be safely placed in the target placement area, and the target article cannot collide with other placed articles in the transportation destination.

As an example, the item information of the target item includes geometric information such as a length, a width, and a height of the target item, and/or information such as an item type, a weight, and an occupied area of the target item, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In one possible implementation manner, the implementation process of step 520 is: the mechanical arm identifies and determines an idle placement area in the transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination; and determining a target placement area from the idle placement area according to the article information of the target article.

Taking a restaurant as an example, the target object is a meal item, the transportation destination may be a target dining table, and the target placement area is a placement position of the meal item on the target dining table. When the placement position of the food on the target dining table is determined, the placement position of the food in the target dining table can be determined according to the size information of the dinner plate where the food is located, so that the food can not be spilled after being placed at the position, and other food in the target dining table can not be spilled.

It should be understood that the plate on which the item is located may contact the plates of other items on the target table, so long as the plates of the other items are not bumped to spill the item.

Step 530: the target item is placed in the target placement area.

It should be noted that, in order to ensure the operation safety, at least one vision sensor is arranged on each of the robot and the mechanical arm. Therefore, the main body for performing

steps

510 and 520 may be a robot arm, or may be a robot.

If the robot obtains the environment information of the transportation destination and determines the target placement area, the implementation process of step 530 is: after determining a target placement area, the robot sends an article placement instruction to the mechanical arm, wherein the article placement instruction carries coordinate information of the target placement area; and after receiving the article placing instruction, the mechanical arm picks up the target article from the robot and places the target article in the target placing area.

If the robot arm obtains the environmental information of the transportation destination and determines the target placement area, the implementation process of step 530 may be: based on the determined target placement area, the robotic arm picks up the target item from the robot and places it in the target placement area.

In this embodiment, when the robot arm performs placement processing on the target item, the target placement area of the target item in the transportation destination may be determined according to the environmental information of the transportation destination, and then the target item is placed in the target placement area. Therefore, when the target object is automatically placed through the mechanical arm, the safety of the placed target object can be further guaranteed.

In summary of the above embodiments of the method, as shown in fig. 6, the present application further provides another article transportation method, which is exemplified by applying the method to the robot and the robot arm shown in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

step 601: the user sends an article transportation instruction to the robot, wherein the article transportation instruction comprises a target article to be transported, a transportation starting place and a transportation destination.

Taking a restaurant as an example, the user can be any worker in the restaurant, and the article transportation instruction is used for instructing the robot to take the target food from the meal-taking place and send the target food to the target dining table; alternatively, empty trays of the target table are collected and transported to the tray reclamation area.

The robot can be applied to any robot in an idle state in a scene.

Step 602: the robot receives the article transportation instruction, and obtains a transportation starting place and a transportation destination of the target article.

Step 603: and the robot autonomously plans a driving path and drives from the current position to a transportation departure place.

Step 604: and after the robot arrives at a transportation departure place, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm, and instructing the mechanical arm to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot.

Step 605: and the mechanical arm clamps the target object and stores the target object in the robot according to the object clamping instruction sent by the robot.

Step 606: the robot arm sends a gripping completion message to the robot, the gripping completion message indicating that the robot arm has deposited the target item in the robot and has recovered to the initial state.

Step 607: and the robot receives the clamping completion message, autonomously plans a driving path and transports the target object from the transport starting place to the transport destination.

Step 608: after the robot reaches a transportation destination, sending an article placing instruction to the mechanical arm, and instructing the mechanical arm to place a target article;

step 609: the mechanical arm receives an article placing instruction and obtains environment information of a transportation destination.

Step 610: the mechanical arm obtains a target placement area of the target object in the transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination.

Step 611: the robot arm picks up the target item from the robot and places the target item in the target placement area.

Step 612: the mechanical arm sends a placement completion message to the robot, and the placement completion message indicates that the mechanical arm has completed placement processing of the target object and has recovered to an initial state.

Step 613: the robot receives a placement completion message.

It should be noted that, if there are multiple target items to be transported, the robot may perform the above steps 601 to 613 in a cycle, so as to transport all the target items to the transportation destination and complete the safe placement.

Step 614: the robot sends a transport task completion message to the user, the transport task completion message indicating that the robot has completed a transport task for the target item.

Step 615: the robot plans a path autonomously, moves to a robot stop point and waits for the next call of the user.

It should be noted that the implementation principle and technical effect of each step in the article transportation method provided in this embodiment are similar to those of the foregoing method embodiments, and specific limitations and explanations may refer to the foregoing method embodiments, which are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowcharts related to the embodiments as described above are sequentially displayed as indicated by arrows, the steps are not necessarily performed sequentially as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not performed in the exact order shown and described, and may be performed in other orders, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Moreover, at least a part of the steps in the flowcharts related to the embodiments described above may include multiple steps or multiple stages, which are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, and the execution order of the steps or stages is not necessarily sequential, but may be rotated or alternated with other steps or at least a part of the steps or stages in other steps.

Based on the same inventive concept, referring to fig. 7 and 8, the present application also provides an article transportation device for implementing the article transportation method. The solution of the problem provided by the device is similar to the solution described in the above method, so the specific limitations in one or more embodiments of the article transportation device provided below can be referred to the limitations of the article transportation method in the above, and are not described herein again.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 7, the present application provides an article transport device 700 comprising: an obtaining module 710, a first sending module 720 and a second sending module 730, wherein:

the obtaining module 710 is configured to obtain a transportation starting location and a transportation destination corresponding to the target item in response to the transportation instruction of the target item;

the first sending module 720 is configured to travel to a transportation departure place, and send an article clamping instruction to the robot arm after arriving at the transportation departure place, instruct the robot arm to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot;

and a second sending module 730, configured to drive to the transportation destination, and send an article placement instruction to the robot arm after the destination is reached, and instruct the robot arm to perform placement processing on the target article.

In one embodiment, the apparatus 700 further comprises:

the first receiving module is used for receiving a clamping completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the clamping completion message indicates that the mechanical arm stores the target object in the robot and returns to an initial state;

and/or the presence of a gas in the atmosphere,

and the second receiving module is used for receiving a placement completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the placement completion message indicates that the mechanical arm has completed the placement processing of the target object and has recovered to the initial state.

In one embodiment, the second sending module 730 includes:

the route planning unit is used for acquiring a driving route according to a transportation departure place and a transportation destination;

and the article transportation unit is used for transporting the target article from the transportation starting place to the transportation destination according to the driving path.

In one embodiment, the apparatus 700 further comprises:

the monitoring module is used for monitoring the pressure state of the article placing area;

the determining module is used for determining a target article placing area with articles to be received according to the pressure state;

and the article collecting module is used for driving to the preset range of the target article placing area and executing the step of sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm.

The various modules in the article transport device 700 described above may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, and combinations thereof. Each functional module in the article transportation device 700 may be embedded in a hardware form or independent from a processor in the robot, or may be stored in a memory in the robot in a software form, so that the processor can call and execute operations corresponding to the above modules.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 8, the present application provides an article transport device 800 comprising: an item picking module 810, a sending module 820, and an item placement module 830, wherein:

the article clamping module 810 is configured to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot, where the article clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target article and travels to a transportation starting place of the target article;

a sending module 820, configured to send a clamping completion message to the robot, instruct the robot to transport the target item to a transport destination of the target item, and receive an item placement instruction sent by the robot;

and the article placement module 830 is configured to perform placement processing on the target article according to the article placement instruction.

In one embodiment, the article placement module 830 comprises:

a first acquisition unit configured to acquire environmental information of a transportation destination;

a second acquisition unit, configured to acquire a target placement area of the target item in the transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination;

and the placing unit is used for placing the target object in the target placing area.

The various modules in the article transport device 800 described above may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, and combinations thereof. Each functional module in the article transportation device 800 may be embedded in a hardware form or may be independent from a processor in the robot arm, or may be stored in a memory in the robot arm in a software form, so that the processor can call and execute operations corresponding to each module.

In one embodiment, a computer device is provided, which may be a robot or a robotic arm, and whose internal structure may be as shown in fig. 9. The computer device comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface, a display screen and an input device which are connected through a system bus. Wherein the processor of the computer device is configured to provide computing and control capabilities. The memory of the computer device comprises a nonvolatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system and a computer program. The internal memory provides an environment for the operating system and the computer program to run on the non-volatile storage medium. The communication interface of the computer device is used for carrying out wired or wireless communication with an external terminal, and the wireless communication can be realized through WIFI, an operator network, NFC (near field communication) or other technologies. The computer program is executed by a processor to realize the article transportation method provided by the method embodiments. The display screen of the computer equipment can be a liquid crystal display screen or an electronic ink display screen, and the input device of the computer equipment can be a touch layer covered on the display screen, a key, a track ball or a touch pad arranged on the shell of the computer equipment, an external keyboard, a touch pad or a mouse and the like.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the architecture shown in fig. 9 is merely a block diagram of some of the structures associated with the disclosed aspects and is not intended to limit the computing devices to which the disclosed aspects apply, as particular computing devices may include more or less components than those shown, or may combine certain components, or have a different arrangement of components.

In one embodiment, there is provided a robot comprising a robot arm, a memory and a processor, the memory having stored therein a computer program which when executed by the processor performs the steps of:

the robot moves to a transportation starting place, sends an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm after arriving at the transportation starting place, and instructs the mechanical arm to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot;

and the robot arm is driven to a transportation destination, and after the robot arm reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the robot arm to instruct the robot arm to place and process the target article.

In another embodiment, a robot is provided, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having a computer program stored therein, the processor implementing the following steps when executing the computer program:

according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot, clamping a target article and storing the target article in the robot, wherein the article clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target article and travels to a transportation starting place of the target article;

and carrying out placing processing on the target object according to the object placing instruction.

The robot and the mechanical arm provided by the above embodiments have the similar implementation principle and technical effect as those of the above method embodiments, and are not described again here.

In one embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having a computer program stored thereon, which when executed by a processor, performs the steps of:

the robot responds to the transportation instruction of the target object, and obtains a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target object;

the robot travels to a transportation departure place, and after the robot arrives at the transportation departure place, an article clamping instruction is sent to the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is instructed to clamp a target article and store the target article in the robot;

the robot drives to the transportation destination, and after the robot reaches the transportation destination, an article placing instruction is sent to the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is instructed to place the target article.

Alternatively, the computer program when executed by the processor implements the steps of:

the mechanical arm clamps a target article and stores the target article in the robot according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot, wherein the article clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target article and travels to a transportation starting place of the target article;

the mechanical arm sends a clamping completion message to the robot, instructs the robot to transport the target article to a transport destination of the target article, and receives an article placement instruction sent by the robot;

and the mechanical arm places the target object according to the object placing instruction.

The implementation principle and technical effect of the computer-readable storage medium provided by the above embodiments are similar to those of the above method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In one embodiment, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of:

The computer program product provided by the above embodiment has similar implementation principles and technical effects to those of the above method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above may be implemented by hardware instructions of a computer program, which may be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, may include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, database or other medium used in the embodiments provided herein can include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile Memory may include Read-Only Memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash Memory, optical Memory, or the like. Volatile Memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache Memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can take many forms, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) or Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), for example.

All possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments may not be described for the sake of brevity, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present disclosure as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which falls within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent application shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. An article transportation method, applied to a robot, the method comprising:

the robot moves to the transportation starting place, and after the robot arrives at the transportation starting place, an article clamping instruction is sent to a mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is instructed to clamp the target article and store the target article in the robot;

and driving to the transportation destination, sending an article placing instruction to the mechanical arm after the target article is transported to the transportation destination, and instructing the mechanical arm to place the target article.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a gripping completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the gripping completion message indicates that the mechanical arm stores the target item in the robot and returns to an initial state;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

receiving a placement completion message sent by the mechanical arm, wherein the placement completion message indicates that the mechanical arm has completed placement processing of the target object and has recovered to an initial state.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said driving to the transportation destination comprises:

acquiring a driving path according to the transportation starting place and the transportation destination;

and transporting the target object from the transportation starting place to the transportation destination according to the traveling path.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

monitoring the pressure state of the article placement area;

determining a target article placing area with articles to be received according to the pressure state;

and when the robot arm moves to the preset range of the target article placement area, sending an article clamping instruction to the robot arm.

5. A method of transporting an item, for use in a robotic arm, the method comprising:

according to an article clamping instruction sent by the robot, clamping the target article and storing the target article in the robot, wherein the article clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target article and runs to a transportation starting place of the target article;

and carrying out placement processing on the target object according to the object placement instruction.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the placing the target item according to the item placing instruction comprises:

acquiring environmental information of the transportation destination;

acquiring a target placement area of the target object in the transportation destination according to the environment information of the transportation destination;

placing the target item in the target placement area.

7. An article transport apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

the acquisition module is used for responding to a transportation instruction of a target article and acquiring a transportation starting place and a transportation destination corresponding to the target article;

the first sending module is used for driving to the transportation departure place, sending an article clamping instruction to the mechanical arm after the transportation departure place is reached, and indicating the mechanical arm to clamp the target article and store the target article in the robot;

and the second sending module is used for driving to the transportation destination, sending an article placing instruction to the mechanical arm after the transportation destination is reached, and instructing the mechanical arm to place the target article.

8. An article transport device, the device comprising:

the object clamping module is used for clamping the target object and storing the target object in the robot according to an object clamping instruction sent by the robot, wherein the object clamping instruction is sent after the robot responds to a transportation instruction of the target object and travels to a transportation starting place of the target object;

the sending module is used for sending a clamping completion message to the robot, instructing the robot to transport the target article to the transport destination of the target article, and receiving an article placing instruction sent by the robot;

and the article placing module is used for placing the target article according to the article placing instruction.

9. A computer device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program, characterized in that the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 6.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.