Disclosure of Invention
The invention needs to solve a technical problem that: the scheduling problem of idle robot carrier to improve robot carrier's work efficiency.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a method for scheduling a robotic cart includes: dividing the warehouse picking area into a plurality of areas; determining an area where the number of the current robotic handling vehicles is less than the minimum configuration number of the robotic handling vehicles, and determining a target area of an idle robotic handling vehicle according to the determined area; an idle robotic vehicle is scheduled to a target area.
The minimum arrangement quantity of the robot carriers in each area is determined according to the distribution proportion of the robot carriers in the area and the total investment of the robot carriers.
And determining the area with the largest allocation proportion of the robot carriers in the area where the number of the current robot carriers is less than the minimum allocation number of the robot carriers as the target area of the idle robot carriers.
The allocation proportion of the robot transport vehicles in each area is determined according to the ratio of the number of the goods transport tools to be delivered in the area to the total number of the goods transport tools to be delivered in all the areas; alternatively, the allocation ratio for each of the zones of robotic vehicles may be determined based on a ratio of the historical frequency of the shipment in that zone to the historical total frequency of the shipment in all of the zones.
Preferably, dividing the warehouse pick zone into zones comprises: clustering the goods handling tools to be delivered according to the position distribution information of the goods handling tools to be delivered, and taking a goods handling tool gathering area to be delivered corresponding to each cluster as an area; or clustering the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools according to the position distribution information and the ex-warehouse frequency information of the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools, and taking a historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tool gathering area corresponding to each cluster as an area.
Preferably, the scheduling method of the robotic cart further includes: judging whether the number of the current robot carriers in the area where the idle robot carriers are located is larger than the minimum configuration number of the robot carriers in the area; if the judgment result is yes, determining a target area of the idle robot carrier according to the determined area; and if the judgment result is negative, determining the area where the idle robot transport vehicle is located as the target area of the idle robot transport vehicle.
Preferably, the scheduling method of the robotic cart further includes: monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle reaches a charging threshold value, if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is lower than or equal to the charging threshold value, scheduling the idle robot carrying vehicle to charge the electric pile, and if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is higher than the charging threshold value, executing a target area determining step and a step of scheduling the idle robot carrying vehicle to the target area.
Preferably, the scheduling method of the robotic cart further includes: selecting a position of the carrier near the center position in the target area as a target position; and scheduling the idle robotic vehicle to a target location of the target area.
Preferably, the scheduling method of the robotic cart further includes: when a new picking task exists, the idle robot carriers which reach the area where the picking task is located are dispatched to execute the picking task, or the idle robot carriers closest to the picking task are dispatched from the idle robot carriers going to the target area to execute the picking task.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scheduling apparatus for a robotic handling vehicle, comprising: the area dividing module is used for dividing the warehouse picking area into a plurality of areas; the system comprises a target area determining module, a judging module and a control module, wherein the target area determining module is used for determining an area where the number of the current robotic handling vehicles is less than the minimum configuration number of the robotic handling vehicles and determining a target area of an idle robotic handling vehicle according to the determined area; and the scheduling module is used for scheduling the idle robot truck to the target area.
Preferably, the scheduling apparatus of the robotic cart further includes: and the allocation quantity determining module is used for determining the minimum allocation quantity of the robotic porters in each area according to the allocation proportion of the robotic porters in each area and the investment total amount of the robotic porters.
The target area determining module is used for determining an area with the largest distribution proportion of the robot carriers in the area where the number of the current robot carriers is less than the minimum configuration number of the robot carriers as a target area of the idle robot carriers.
Preferably, the scheduling apparatus of the robotic cart further includes: the distribution proportion determining module is used for determining the distribution proportion of the robot transport vehicles in each area according to the ratio of the number of the goods transport tools to be delivered out of the area to the total number of the goods transport tools to be delivered out of the area; or, for determining the allocation ratio of robotic vehicles for each zone based on the ratio of the historical frequency of shipment of the goods handling tool in that zone to the historical total frequency of shipment of the goods handling tool in all zones.
Preferably, the region dividing module is used for clustering the goods handling tools to be delivered according to the position distribution information of the goods handling tools to be delivered, and taking the goods handling tool gathering region to be delivered corresponding to each cluster as a region; or clustering the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools according to the position distribution information and the ex-warehouse frequency information of the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools, and taking a historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tool gathering area corresponding to each cluster as an area.
Preferably, the scheduling apparatus of the robotic cart further includes: at least one module of the judging module and the electric quantity detecting module;
the judging module is used for judging whether the number of the current robot carriers in the area where the idle robot carriers are located is larger than the minimum configuration number of the robot carriers in the area; and a target area determination module for performing a step of determining a target area of the idle robot truck according to the determined area, if the determination result is yes; determining the area where the idle robot carrying vehicle is located as a target area of the idle robot carrying vehicle under the condition that the judgment result is negative;
the electric quantity detection module is used for monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot transport vehicle reaches a charging threshold value; and the scheduling module is used for scheduling the idle robot carrier to charge the electric pile under the condition that the electric quantity of the idle robot carrier is lower than or equal to the charging threshold value, and scheduling the idle robot carrier to the target area under the condition that the electric quantity of the idle robot carrier is higher than the charging threshold value.
Preferably, the scheduling module is further configured to: selecting a carrier position near the center position in the target area as a target position, and scheduling the idle robotic carrier to the target position of the target area; or when a new picking task exists, scheduling the idle robot carrier reaching the area where the picking task is located to execute the picking task, or scheduling the idle robot carrier closest to the picking task from the idle robot carriers going to the target area to execute the picking task.
In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scheduling apparatus for a robotic handling vehicle, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the aforementioned method of scheduling a robotic cart based on instructions stored in the memory.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions for causing the computer to execute the aforementioned scheduling method of a robotic truck.
According to the scheme, the idle robot carrying vehicles can be adjusted to the areas which are possibly needed in advance, for example, the areas with the current number of the robot carrying vehicles lower than the minimum configuration number, the areas with intensive goods carrying tools to be delivered from a warehouse, the areas with intensive historical goods carrying tools to be delivered from the warehouse and the like, so that the response time of the idle robot carrying vehicles to the goods picking task is shortened, and the working efficiency of the robot carrying vehicles is improved.
Other features of the present invention and advantages thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In specific implementation, the target region may be determined by the following two methods, for example. The first method is to determine all areas where the number of current robotic vehicles is smaller than the minimum number of robotic vehicles to be deployed, and then determine the area where the allocation ratio of robotic vehicles is the largest among all the areas as the target area of the idle robotic vehicle. The second method is that the areas with the current number of the robot transport vehicles smaller than the minimum configuration number of the robot transport vehicles are searched according to the distribution proportion of the robot transport vehicles from large to small, and the areas which are searched firstly and meet the conditions are determined as the target areas of the idle robot transport vehicles. Compared with the first method, the second method can terminate the searching process for the idle robot transport vehicle once the target area is searched, and processing resources can be saved without traversing all areas.
The minimum number of the robotic trucks arranged in each area may be a fixed value, or may be determined according to the allocation ratio of the robotic trucks in the area and the total investment of the robotic trucks. For example, the product of the allocation ratio of the robotic truck in the area and the total amount of the robotic truck input is rounded down, and the obtained integer value is used as the minimum allocation number of robotic trucks in the area. The formula is expressed as follows:
Mi=rounddown(Ri×N,0)
where Mi represents the minimum number of robot carriers arranged in the area i, RiThe allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles in the area i is shown, N is the total amount of the robotic vehicle input, and rounddown is a function rounded down.
Wherein the allocation ratio for the robotic vehicles of each zone is determined based on the ratio of the number of the goods-handling tools to be delivered in that zone to the total number of the goods-handling tools to be delivered in all zones. Alternatively, the allocation ratio for each of the zones of robotic vehicles may be determined based on a ratio of the historical frequency of the shipment in that zone to the historical total frequency of the shipment in all of the zones. The formula is expressed as follows:
wherein R isiAssignment ratio Q of robot carriers in area iiRepresenting the number of cargo handlers to be shipped out of the area i or representing the historical frequency of shipment of the cargo handlers in the area i, and n represents the total number of areas.
And S106, scheduling the idle robot transport vehicle to a target area.
The dispatch station may issue a dispatch instruction to the idle robotic vehicle instructing the idle robotic vehicle to travel to a target area to wait for a next pick task. When a new picking task exists, the idle robot carriers which reach the area where the picking task is located are dispatched to execute the picking task, or the idle robot carriers closest to the picking task are dispatched from the idle robot carriers going to the target area to execute the picking task.
Through the scheme, the idle robot carriers can be pre-adjusted to the area where the number of the current robot carriers is lower than the minimum configuration number, so that the response time of the idle robot carriers to the picking task is shortened, and the working efficiency of the robot carriers is improved.
In addition, if the warehouse picking area is dynamically divided into a plurality of areas according to the aggregation degree of the goods carriers to be delivered in the dispatching process, and/or if the allocation proportion of the robot carriers in each area is determined according to the ratio of the number of the goods carriers to be delivered in the area to the total number of the goods carriers to be delivered in all the areas in the dispatching process, and then the minimum allocation number of the robot carriers in the area is determined, the idle robot carriers can be further preset to the areas with the intensive goods carriers to be delivered, so that the response time of the idle robot carriers to picking tasks is shortened, and the working efficiency of the robot carriers is improved.
Similarly, if the warehouse picking area is dynamically divided into a plurality of areas according to the aggregation degree of the historical delivery goods handling tools in the scheduling, and/or if the allocation proportion of the robot handling vehicles in each area is determined according to the ratio of the historical delivery frequency of the goods handling tools in the area to the historical delivery total frequency of the goods handling tools in all the areas in the scheduling, and then the minimum allocation number of the robot handling vehicles in the area is determined, the idle robot handling vehicles can be further adjusted to the intensive area of the historical delivery goods handling tools in advance, so that the response time of the idle robot handling vehicles to the picking tasks is shortened, and the working efficiency of the robot handling vehicles is improved.
The above scheduling method may be further optimized, and the optimized scheduling method for robotic vehicles is described below in conjunction with fig. 2.
Figure 2 is a flow diagram of another embodiment of a method of scheduling robotic vehicles of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 2, the scheduling method 200 of this embodiment includes:
s202, the warehouse picking area is divided into a plurality of areas.
S204, monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle reaches a charging threshold value, if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is lower than or equal to the charging threshold value, scheduling the idle robot carrying vehicle to charge the pile, and if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is higher than the charging threshold value, continuing to execute the subsequent steps.
And S206, judging whether the number of the current robot carriers in the area where the idle robot carriers are located is larger than the minimum configuration number of the robot carriers in the area.
If the determination result is no, the area where the idle robot cart is located is determined as the target area of the idle robot cart (S207). Thereby, scheduling idle robotic vehicles too frequently is avoided.
If the determination result is yes, the area where the allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles is the largest among the areas where the number of the current robotic vehicles is smaller than the minimum number of the robotic vehicles is determined as the target area of the idle robotic vehicle (S208).
S210, a position of the conveyance tool near the center position in the target area is selected as a target position.
S212, the idle robotic truck is scheduled to a target location in the target area.
When a new picking task exists, the idle robot carriers which reach the area where the picking task is located are dispatched to execute the picking task, or the idle robot carriers closest to the picking task are dispatched from the idle robot carriers going to the target area to execute the picking task.
By means of the scheme, the response time of the idle robot carrier to the picking task can be shortened, and occupation of warehouse channel resources can be reduced.
The scheduling method for the robotic truck in the foregoing embodiment may implement a scheduling process for a free robotic truck based on information of goods to be delivered from warehouse or based on information of goods delivered from warehouse in history, for example, and the two scheduling methods are specifically described below.
Fig. 3A is a flowchart illustrating a method for scheduling a robotic van based on information of goods to be delivered.
As shown in fig. 3A, the scheduling method 300 of this embodiment includes:
s302, the warehouse picking area is divided into a plurality of areas according to the aggregation degree of the goods carrying tools to be delivered.
Specifically, the goods handling tools to be delivered are clustered according to the position distribution information of the goods handling tools to be delivered, and a goods handling tool gathering area to be delivered corresponding to each cluster is used as an area. The clustering method can be realized by adopting a k-means clustering algorithm, for example. Fig. 3B is a diagram illustrating the result of Zone division according to the degree of aggregation of the to-be-out cargo handlers, and the warehouse pick Zone is divided into 6 zones, which are respectively represented as Zone1, Zone2, Zone3, Zone4, Zone5, and Zone 6.
Then, optionally, steps S304 and S306 are performed, or step S308 is directly performed.
S304, monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle reaches a charging threshold value, if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is lower than or equal to the charging threshold value, scheduling the idle robot carrying vehicle to charge the pile, and if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is higher than the charging threshold value, continuing to execute the subsequent steps.
S306, it is determined whether the current number of robotic vehicles in the area where the idle robotic vehicle is located is greater than the minimum number of robotic vehicles in the area (the first number of robotic vehicles).
Wherein the minimum allocation quantity (first allocation quantity) of the robotic vehicles is determined according to the allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles in the area and the total input quantity of the robotic vehicles, and the allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles in the area is determined according to the ratio of the number of the goods-handling tools to be delivered in the area to the total number of the goods-handling tools to be delivered in all the areas.
If the determination result is no, the area where the idle robot cart is located is determined as the target area of the idle robot cart (S307). Thereby, scheduling idle robotic vehicles too frequently is avoided.
If the determination result is yes, an area where the allocation ratio of the robot carriers is the largest among areas where the number of the current robot carriers is smaller than the minimum number of the robot carriers (first number of the robot carriers) is determined as a target area of the idle robot carrier (S308).
Then, optionally, step S310 is performed, or step S312 is directly performed.
S310, a position of the conveyance tool near the center position in the target area is selected as a target position.
S312, the idle robotic truck is scheduled to a target area or a target location.
By means of the scheme, the response time of the idle robot carrier to the picking task can be shortened, and occupation of warehouse channel resources can be reduced. In addition, based on the scheduling scheme realized by the information of the goods to be delivered, the region division can more accurately reflect the aggregation degree of the goods to be transported, and can more accurately determine the allocation proportion of the robot carrying vehicles in each region, so that the idle robot carrying vehicles are pre-adjusted to the regions with dense goods carrying tools to be delivered, and the scheduling efficiency of the idle robot carrying vehicles is further improved.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for implementing scheduling of robotic vehicles based on historical shipment information.
As shown in fig. 4, the scheduling method 400 of this embodiment includes:
s402, the warehouse sorting area is dynamically divided into a plurality of areas according to the aggregation degree of the historical goods carrying tools which are out of the warehouse.
Specifically, the historical ex-warehouse cargo handling tools are clustered according to the position distribution information and ex-warehouse frequency information of the historical ex-warehouse cargo handling tools, and a historical ex-warehouse cargo handling tool gathering area corresponding to each cluster is used as one area.
Then, optionally, steps S404 and S406 are performed, or step S408 is directly performed.
S404, monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle reaches a charging threshold value, if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is lower than or equal to the charging threshold value, scheduling the idle robot carrying vehicle to charge the pile, and if the electric quantity of the idle robot carrying vehicle is higher than the charging threshold value, continuing to execute the subsequent steps.
S406, it is determined whether the current number of the robotic vehicles in the area where the idle robotic vehicle is located is greater than the minimum number of the robotic vehicles arranged in the area (the second number of the robotic vehicles arranged).
Wherein the minimum allocation quantity (second allocation quantity) of the robotic vehicles is determined according to the allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles in the area and the total investment of the robotic vehicles, and the allocation ratio of the robotic vehicles in the area is determined according to the ratio of the historical frequency of delivery of the goods handling tools in the area to the historical frequency of delivery of the goods handling tools in all areas.
If the determination result is no, the area where the idle robot cart is located is determined as the target area of the idle robot cart (S407). Thereby, scheduling idle robotic vehicles too frequently is avoided.
If the determination result is yes, an area where the allocation ratio of the robot carriers is the largest among areas where the number of the current robot carriers is smaller than the minimum number of the robot carriers (second number of the robot carriers) is determined as the target area of the idle robot carrier (S408).
Then, optionally, step S410 is performed, or step S412 is directly performed.
And S410, selecting the position of the conveying tool close to the central position in the target area as a target position.
And S412, scheduling the idle robot truck to the target area or the target position.
By means of the scheme, the response time of the idle robot carrier to the picking task can be shortened, and occupation of warehouse channel resources can be reduced. In addition, based on the scheduling scheme realized by the historical warehouse-out goods information, the region division can more accurately reflect the aggregation degree of the historical warehouse-out goods, and can more accurately determine the allocation proportion of the robot carrying vehicles in each region, so that the idle robot carrying vehicles are scheduled to the regions with dense historical warehouse-out goods carrying tools in advance, and the scheduling efficiency of the idle robot carrying vehicles is further improved.
Assuming that the reduction amount of the response time of each robot carrier to a new task after being idle at every time is T, the total number of the robot carriers is N, the idle frequency of the robot carriers is F, and the total saved time is as follows:
fig. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of a scheduling apparatus of a robotic van according to the present invention.
As shown in fig. 5, the scheduling apparatus 500 of this embodiment includes:
an area dividing module 502 for dividing the warehouse pick zone into a number of areas;
a target area determination module 504 for determining an area where the number of current robotic vehicles is less than the minimum configured number of robotic vehicles and determining a target area of an idle robotic vehicle based on the determined area;
a scheduling module 506 for scheduling the idle robotic vehicle to the target area.
The region dividing module 502 is configured to cluster the goods handling tools to be delivered according to the position distribution information of the goods handling tools to be delivered, and use a region where the goods handling tools to be delivered are clustered as a region; or clustering the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools according to the position distribution information and the ex-warehouse frequency information of the historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tools, and taking a historical ex-warehouse goods carrying tool gathering area corresponding to each cluster as an area.
The target area determining module 504 is configured to determine, as the target area of the idle robotic truck, an area where the allocation ratio of robotic trucks is the greatest among areas where the number of current robotic trucks is less than the minimum number of robotic trucks.
Wherein, the scheduling module 506 is further configured to: selecting a carrier position near the center position in the target area as a target position, and scheduling the idle robotic carrier to the target position of the target area; or when a new picking task exists, scheduling the idle robot carrier reaching the area where the picking task is located to execute the picking task, or scheduling the idle robot carrier closest to the picking task from the idle robot carriers going to the target area to execute the picking task.
As shown in fig. 5, the scheduling apparatus 500 further includes: the allocation quantity determining module 5031 is used for determining the minimum allocation quantity of the robotic porters in each area according to the allocation proportion of the robotic porters in each area and the investment total of the robotic porters.
As shown in fig. 5, the scheduling apparatus 500 further includes: an allocation proportion determining module 5032, configured to determine an allocation proportion of the robotic truck in each region according to a ratio of the number of the goods handling tools to be delivered to the region to the total number of the goods handling tools to be delivered to the region; or, for determining the allocation ratio of robotic vehicles for each zone based on the ratio of the historical frequency of shipment of the goods handling tool in that zone to the historical total frequency of shipment of the goods handling tool in all zones.
As shown in fig. 5, the scheduling apparatus 500 further includes: at least one of the determining module 5033 and the electric quantity detecting module 5034;
a determining module 5033, configured to determine whether the number of current robotic trucks in the area where the idle robotic truck is located is greater than the minimum configuration number of robotic trucks in the area; a target area determination module 504, configured to, if the determination result is yes, perform a step of determining a target area of the idle robot cart based on the determined area; determining the area where the idle robot carrying vehicle is located as a target area of the idle robot carrying vehicle under the condition that the judgment result is negative;
an electric quantity detection module 5034 for monitoring whether the electric quantity of the idle robot carrier reaches a charging threshold; and the scheduling module 506 is configured to schedule the idle robot truck to charge the pile when the electric quantity of the idle robot truck is less than or equal to the charging threshold, and schedule the idle robot truck to the target area when the electric quantity of the idle robot truck is greater than the charging threshold.
Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a scheduling apparatus of a robotic cart according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 6, the apparatus 600 of this embodiment includes: a memory 610 and a processor 620 coupled to the memory 610, the processor 620 configured to perform a method of scheduling a robotic vehicle in any of the foregoing embodiments based on instructions stored in the memory 610.
Memory 610 may include, for example, system memory, fixed non-volatile storage media, and the like. The system memory stores, for example, an operating system, an application program, a Boot Loader (Boot Loader), and other programs.
Fig. 7 is a structural view of a scheduling apparatus of a robotic truck according to still another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, the apparatus 700 of this embodiment includes: the memory 610 and the processor 620 may further include an input/output interface 730, a network interface 740, a storage interface 750, and the like. These interfaces 730, 740, 750, as well as the memory 610 and the processor 620, may be connected, for example, by a bus 760. The input/output interface 730 provides a connection interface for input/output devices such as a display, a mouse, a keyboard, and a touch screen. The network interface 740 provides a connection interface for various networking devices. The storage interface 750 provides a connection interface for external storage devices such as an SD card and a usb disk.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable non-transitory storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.
The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.