CN109019005B - Material box grabbing mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a material box grabbing mechanism which is used for grabbing a material box and comprises a liftable gripper platform and grippers arranged on the gripper platform. The grippers are used for grabbing the frame of the material box. The bin gripping mechanism further comprises a positioning mechanism, the positioning mechanism comprises a plurality of positioning pieces arranged at corner positions of the gripper platform, each positioning piece comprises a vertical extending part which extends vertically downwards and a positioning inclined plane which extends downwards and outwards from the bottom end of the vertical extending part, when the bin gripping mechanism grips the bin, the vertical extending parts of all the positioning pieces are abutted against the outer surface of the frame of the bin, the positioning inclined planes are all positioned below the bottom of the bin, and the positioning inclined planes are configured to be in sliding contact with the upper edge of the frame of a second bin when the gripped bin deviates from the second bin below in the vertical direction.

Description

Material box grabbing mechanism

Technical Field

The invention relates to an automatic warehouse device, in particular to a bin grabbing mechanism of the automatic warehouse device.

Background

A large amount of shelves are required in existing logistics warehouse or warehouse. Many of the existing goods shelves are movable goods shelves with rollers, the movable goods shelves are arranged on the tracks, and the goods shelves run back and forth on the tracks through the driving device to convey goods. To increase efficiency, the pallet typically has multiple layers, each with goods placed on top of it. Because goods are loaded on the goods shelves, the goods shelves need to consume more electric energy in moving, and the whole goods shelf system needs to be started and moved integrally aiming at sorting, loading, unloading and other actions of one goods shelf, so that the energy consumption is higher, and particularly, the ineffective electric energy consumption is high, and the electric energy utilization rate is low. Each movable shelf usually weighs hundreds of kilograms, and the movable shelves collide with each other in the whole moving process, so that the loss is large, and the requirements on the track and the braking system are high. In the existing goods shelf circulating motion system, a common goods shelf steering design is a track loop design, namely a goods shelf track has a large turning radius, and the goods shelf performs steering circulation on the turning track. In the existing goods shelf rail-changing design, a traversing device is adopted, namely traversing rails are designed at two ends of a rail, a goods shelf transfer device is arranged on the traversing rails, and the goods shelf is transferred to another rail through the transfer device. Since the shelf is of a multi-layer structure, the shelf has a large weight, and the transfer device needs a large dragging power after being transferred into the transfer device. The structure has higher requirements on the bearing strength, the impact strength and the power of the transfer device. Such patents are, for example, chinese patent application number 201610955227.0, entitled: an automatic dense warehouse device, which discloses a warehouse system for placing shelves on rails, is disclosed in patent literature with publication date of 2017, 2 and 8. The goods shelf storage system is applicable to the condition that the goods stacking height is not high, but is too high for the condition of higher layers, unsafe in the movement process and too high in invalid transport energy loss.

In addition to the above-described shelving systems, there is also a way to stack a plurality of bins directly together in the vertical direction. To achieve vertical alignment of the upper and lower bins, a precision position detection mechanism may be used, but this adds to the cost.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, a bin gripping mechanism is provided herein, which adopts a physical structural design to realize an automatic alignment function of bins during stacking.

The application provides a material box grabbing mechanism which is used for grabbing a material box and comprises a lifting gripper platform and grippers arranged on the gripper platform. The grippers are used for grabbing the frame of the material box. The bin gripping mechanism further comprises a positioning mechanism, the positioning mechanism comprises a plurality of positioning pieces arranged at corner positions of the gripper platform, each positioning piece comprises a vertical extending part which extends vertically downwards and a positioning inclined plane which extends downwards and outwards from the bottom end of the vertical extending part, when the bin gripping mechanism grips the bin, the vertical extending parts of all the positioning pieces are abutted against the outer surface of the frame of the bin, the positioning inclined planes are all positioned below the bottom of the bin, and the positioning inclined planes are configured to be in sliding contact with the upper edge of the frame of a second bin when the gripped bin deviates from the second bin below in the vertical direction.

In an embodiment, the vertical extension portion of each alignment member includes a first alignment plate and a second alignment plate, where the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate are perpendicular to each other, so that a cross section of the alignment member parallel to a horizontal plane is L-shaped, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate are used to be abutted against outer surfaces of two adjacent frames of the magazine to be grabbed, and the alignment inclined plane includes a first alignment inclined plane extending downward and outward from a bottom end of the first alignment plate and a second alignment inclined plane extending downward and outward from a bottom end of the second alignment plate.

In one embodiment, the first alignment slope and the second alignment slope of each alignment member intersect; for each alignment piece, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate of the alignment piece are provided with first intersecting lines, the first alignment inclined plane and the second alignment inclined plane of the alignment piece are provided with second intersecting lines, and the first intersecting lines and the second intersecting lines are located in the same vertical plane.

In an embodiment, the alignment mechanism includes four alignment members corresponding to four corners of the bin.

In an embodiment, the alignment mechanism is provided with a mounting piece fixed with the gripper platform corresponding to each alignment piece, and the alignment piece is mounted to the gripper platform by using the mounting piece.

In an embodiment, a sliding rail component is arranged between the mounting piece and the alignment piece, and the damping force of the sliding rail is designed to be larger than the component force of the second feed box on the thrust force applied by the alignment inclined plane in the vertical direction.

In an embodiment, the mounting member extends vertically downward from the gripper platform, and the slide rail assembly includes a first slide rail fixed to the mounting member and a second slide rail fixed to the alignment member, the first and second slide rails being in sliding engagement.

In one embodiment, the gripper platform is provided with a mounting hole corresponding to each pair of the positioning pieces, and the positioning pieces are slidably mounted in the mounting holes.

In summary, the bin gripping mechanism is provided with a positioning mechanism, and the positioning mechanism includes a plurality of positioning members, each of which includes a vertically extending portion extending vertically downward and a positioning inclined surface extending downward and outward from a bottom end of the vertically extending portion. The vertical extension part is abutted to the outer surface of the frame of the feed box, so that shaking in the moving process of the feed box can be effectively reduced, and alignment accuracy is provided. Moreover, the alignment inclined surface is configured to be in sliding contact with the upper edge of the frame of the second bin when the gripped bin is deviated from the second bin below in the vertical direction, so as to realize the automatic alignment of the upper and lower likes. The high-cost position detection mechanism is not required to be arranged on the box taking robot, so that the cost is effectively reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a mobile dense picking device.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a skid-mounted outer case of the movable type closely-packed picking apparatus of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the movable compact culling device of fig. 1 with the skid-mounted outer case removed.

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the mobile dense picking device of fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a simplified schematic of a tank arrangement.

Fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the bin.

Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of another angle of the bin.

Fig. 8 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of a warehouse out station.

Fig. 9 is a partial schematic view of one track unit of the track assembly.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the bin picking robot of the movable type closely packed picking apparatus of fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is a schematic perspective view of the grasping mechanism of fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of an alignment member of the grasping mechanism of fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a partial perspective view of an alignment member of the grasping mechanism of fig. 11.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a picking robot of the movable type closely picking apparatus of fig. 3.

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the picking robot of fig. 14 with the mounting removed.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of a mount of the picking robot of fig. 14.

Detailed Description

Before the embodiments are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the application is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The application is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of the terms "comprising," "including," "having," and the like are intended to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. In particular, when "a certain element" is described, the present application is not limited to the number of the element as one, but may include a plurality of the elements.

The application discloses a movable dense picking device, which comprises: skid-mounted outer box, a plurality of feed boxes, a warehouse-out table, a track assembly, a box taking robot and a picking robot. The skid-mounted outer box is internally provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end. And a plurality of bins are positioned in the storage area, and each bin is used for accommodating commodities. The delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box. The track assembly is mounted in the skid-mounted outer box and is located above the feed box. The box taking robot is slidably mounted on the track assembly and located above the material box, and is used for carrying the material box where the ordered commodity is located from the storage area to the delivery platform. The picking robot is located in the skid-mounted outer box and is arranged adjacent to the delivery platform, and the picking robot is used for picking the order commodities from a bin located on the delivery platform. The movable dense storage and picking device can be realized into an automatic retail vehicle or a display vehicle and the like, adopts a skid-mounted outer box, and most of elements are arranged in the skid-mounted outer box, so that the movable function of the whole storage system can be realized.

Embodiments of the movable type dense picking device component are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective assembly view of one embodiment of a mobile dense picking device. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a skid-mounted outer case of the movable type closely-packed picking apparatus of fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the movable type compact pick device of fig. 1 with the sled casing removed, and the internal structure of the movable type compact pick device can be seen. Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of fig. 3, showing the general arrangement of the internal components of the mobile dense pick device.

Referring to fig. 1-4, the movable type dense picking apparatus includes a skid-mounted outer box 10, a plurality of bins 12, a warehouse-out table 14, a rail assembly 16, a picking robot 18, a picking robot 20, and the like, which are accommodated in the skid-mounted outer box 10.

Referring to fig. 2, the skid-mounted outer box 10 is shown in a container-type design including a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24, and two side walls 26. In this embodiment, a storage area 28 is formed in the skid-mounted outer case 10, and both front and rear ends are open ends, wherein one end (rear end) is defined as a storage end 30, and the other end (front end) is defined as a delivery end 32. The loading end 30 is responsible for loading the goods, in this embodiment, the loading bin is added to the storage area 28 from the loading end 30, for example, the loading bin is carried to the storage area 28 when the storage area 28 is first loaded, or when a part of the bin located in the storage area 28 is empty, the loading bin is fed from the loading end 30 to replace the empty bin of the storage area 28. The delivery end 32 is responsible for delivering the goods, and in this embodiment, after a user orders the goods (hereinafter referred to as "ordered goods") in the warehouse 28, the bin 12 containing the ordered goods is transported to the delivery end 32, and then the ordered goods are sorted out from the bin 12 for pickup by the user. When the picking operation is completed, the bin 12 is again moved back to the warehouse 28.

To facilitate viewing of the operational status of the storage area 28, side windows 34 may be provided in the side walls 26. The skid-mounted outer box 10 can be further provided with a user interaction interface, for example, a display 36 is arranged, and the display 36 is in communication connection with the order system of the movable intensive picking device so as to display a purchase interface for the user to directly purchase goods or display a two-dimensional code for the user to scan so as to purchase goods on own terminal equipment.

With reference to fig. 3,4 and 5, the bins 12 are densely arranged in a three-dimensional direction to form a stereoscopic warehouse, and the bins 12 are directly stacked on each other without arranging a shelf, so that the bin density is further improved. Specifically, the bin 28 has a plurality of bin positions 40 (fig. 5) defined in two-dimensional coordinates in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of bins 12 are stacked in a vertical direction on each bin position 40. Thus, each bin can be identified in terms of three-dimensional coordinates (transverse coordinates, lengthwise coordinates, height coordinates). More specifically, the bins 12 are shown divided into three columns in the lateral direction and four rows in the longitudinal direction, while four layers are present in the height direction, so that they can be identified based on the number of columns, rows and layers in which the bins 12 are located.

Fig. 6 and 7 are perspective views of a single bin 12. The bin 12 includes four side walls 42 and a bottom wall 44, the side walls 42 and the bottom wall 44 defining a receiving space 46 for receiving articles, and an opening 48 is formed in the upper end of the bin 12 opposite the bottom wall 44. The bottom surface of the bottom wall 44 forms a boss 50, the boss 50 being shaped to conform to the shape of the opening 48, the boss 50 of a previous bin 12 being received in the opening 48 of an immediately next bin 12 when a plurality of bins 12 are stacked vertically. Since the boss 50 conforms to the shape of the opening 48, once the boss 50 is received in the opening 48, the stacked bins 12 do not move relative to each other in the horizontal plane, and a very clean stacking in the vertical direction can be ensured. The illustrated bin 12 is rectangular in shape, with four corners, as viewed from above, and the opening 48 and boss 50 are rectangular. It should be understood that the shape shown is merely an example and that other suitable shapes may be employed.

The upper portions of two opposing side walls 42 of the bin 12 are each provided with a gripping aperture 52 for gripping by a gripper of the gripper robot 18 (as described below in connection with the figures).

As shown in fig. 3,4 and 8, the ejection station 14 is disposed at the ejection end 32 of the skid-mounted case 10 and is disposed on the bottom wall 24 of the skid-mounted case 10. The outfeed station 14 is configured to receive bins 12 that are transported from the stocker 28. The outfeed station 14 has a support surface 53 for supporting the received bin 12. In order to be able to receive a plurality of bins 12 simultaneously, a plurality of bins 54 are provided on the bins 14, each bin 54 occupying a portion of the support surface 53. In the illustrated embodiment, the output station 14 is provided with 3 output stations 54. Each of the off-warehouse locations 54 corresponds to a column of bins 12.

In order for the bin handling robot 18 to accurately pick up the bin 12 or place the bin 12 in the correct position, a bin positioning mechanism is provided on the delivery bin 54. In the illustrated embodiment, the bin positioning mechanism includes a lateral positioning tab 56 and a longitudinal positioning tab 58, the lateral positioning tab 56 and the longitudinal positioning tab 58 extending vertically upward from the support surface 53 of the output table 14 for positioning the bin 12 in the lateral and longitudinal directions, respectively, at the output location 54.

The warehouse entry end 30 of the skid-mounted outer box 10 is provided with a warehouse entry platform 60, and the structure and the function of the warehouse entry platform 60 are similar to those of the warehouse exit platform 14. In the embodiment shown, three bins are also provided thereon, each bin being positioned to correspond to one of the columns of bins 12 of the bin 28, and being receivable simultaneously. Structurally, the docking station 60 may be identical to the docking station 14 and will not be described in detail. In operation, the bin 12 containing the goods is manually or by other means transported to a warehouse entry location and then transported to the warehouse 28 by the bin removal robot 16.

As shown in fig. 3, 4 and 9, the track assembly 16 is mounted within the skid-mounted outer bin 10 above the bin 12 of the warehouse area 28. In the illustrated embodiment, the track assembly 16 includes 3 track units 62 located above the 3-column magazine 12, each of which slidably mounts one of the pick-up robots 18. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, there are a total of three pick-up robots 18, with each pick-up robot 18 corresponding to a column of bins 12.

In the above embodiment, three bins 12, three out-of-stock positions 54, three in-stock positions, three rail units 62, and three bin picking robots 18 are provided and correspond to each other. In other embodiments, N columns of bins 12, N out-of-stock positions 54, N in-stock positions, N track units 62, N bin picking robots 18 are provided, and are corresponding to each other, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. In other embodiments, the number of columns of the bins 12, the number of leaving bins 54, the number of entering bins, the number of track units 62, and the number of picking robots 18 may not be the same, and may be selected according to the actual situation.

As shown in fig. 9, a schematic view of a part of the structure of one of the track units 62 is shown. The track unit 62 comprises two rails 64 spaced apart in the lateral direction, each rail 64 being provided with a rail groove 66, the rail grooves 66 of the two rails 64 of the same track unit 62 being opposite for cooperation with the box-handling robot 18. Each rail includes a side wall 67 and top and bottom edges 68, 69 extending from upper and lower edges of the side wall 67 toward the other rail 64, wherein the side wall 67, top edge 68, and bottom edge 69 together form a C-shaped cross-section.

As shown in fig. 3, 4 and 10, the box-taking robot 18 includes a traveling mechanism 70 and a gripping mechanism 72 suspended below the traveling mechanism 70 and being liftable with respect to the traveling mechanism 70. Running gear 70 is slidably mounted on track assembly 16 for horizontal movement along track assembly 16 to move grasping mechanism 72 horizontally. The walking mechanism 70 is provided with walking rollers 74 and guide wheels 76 at both sides, and a driving device for driving the walking rollers 74 to roll is arranged inside. Four running rollers 74 are provided on either side of the running mechanism 70, two on each side. Two of the running rollers 74 on one side run on the bottom edge 69 of one of the rails 64 of the track unit 62 and two of the running rollers 74 on the other side run on the bottom edge 69 of the other rail 64 of the track unit 62. While the guide wheels 76 on both sides run on the side walls 67 of both rails. The running gear 70 can be moved in the longitudinal direction along the guide rail by driving the running rollers 74 by an internal driving device.

Driven by the driving device, the 4 walking rollers 74 are synchronously driven to move in the track, and the load of the box taking robot 18 is uniformly dispersed to the 4 walking rollers 74. Since the running roller 74 moves in the track, contact between the roller and the side wall 67 of the guide rail may occur, and therefore, the guide wheel 76 can solve the problem, the running roller 74 keeps a stable distance from the side wall 67 of the guide rail under the action of the guide wheel 76, and the shaking of the vehicle body can be reduced and controlled, the stability of the vehicle body is increased, and the adverse shaking of the bin 12 under the bin picking robot 18 is avoided.

As shown in fig. 11, the gripping mechanism 72 includes a gripper platform 78, a gripper 80, and an alignment mechanism.

A lifting mechanism is arranged between the gripper platform 78 and the travelling mechanism 70 and is used for lifting the gripper platform 78. In the illustrated embodiment, the lift mechanism includes a lift bar 82 and a lift drive. The upper ends of the lifting bars 82 are connected to a lifting drive, and the lower ends of the lifting bars 82 are fixed to the gripper platform 78. Lifting of the gripper platform 78 may be accomplished by lifting the lift bar 82 up or down by a lift drive. In the illustrated embodiment, the lifting driving device is disposed in the traveling mechanism 70 and includes a driving motor and a winder connected to the driving motor, the upper end of the lifting bar 82 is wound on the winder, and the winder performs winding motion under the driving of the driving motor, thereby implementing lifting and releasing motions of the lifting bar 82. The lifting bar 82 may be a flexible steel bar or rope, or the like.

A gripper 80 is provided on the side of the gripper platform 78 for gripping the side wall 42 of the bin 12. In the illustrated embodiment, two grippers 80 are provided, one on each of the opposite sides of the gripper platform 78, for gripping the two gripper apertures 52 of the bin 12. A gripper drive is also provided on the gripper platform 78 for driving the gripper 80 in rotation about the rotation axis 86 between a gripping position and a release position. Wherein in the gripping position the grip 80 is rotated to extend into the gripping aperture 52 and in the release position the grip 80 is rotated outwardly out of the gripping aperture 52. The gripper driving means may be embodied in any suitable form. In the illustrated embodiment, the gripper drive includes a motor 84 and a linkage driven by the motor, one of the links 85 of the linkage being connected to the upper end of the gripper 80. When the motor 84 drives the linkage mechanism to move, the linkage 85 drives the gripper to rotate about the rotation axis 86 between the gripping position and the release position.

Referring to both fig. 12 and 13, the alignment mechanism includes a plurality of alignment members 90 disposed at corner locations of the gripper platform 78. In the illustrated embodiment, the number of pairs 90 is four, corresponding to the four corners of the bin 12, respectively. Each alignment member 90 includes a vertically downwardly extending vertical extension 92 and an alignment ramp 94 extending downwardly and outwardly from the bottom end of the vertical extension 92. When the gripping mechanism 72 grips one bin 12, the vertical extensions 92 of all of the alignment members 90 abut the outer surface of the side walls of the bin 12, and the downward extending length of the vertical extensions 90 is such that the alignment ramps 94 are all located below the bottom of the gripped bin 12. During stacking of the gripped bin 12 on a lower bin 12, if the gripped bin 12 and the lower bin 12 are not facing each other, the bosses 50 of the gripped bin 12 will be misaligned with the openings 48 of the lower bin 12 and normal stacking will not be achieved. At this time, the alignment slope 94 is brought into sliding contact with the upper edge of the side wall of the lower bin 12, thereby finely adjusting the position of the upper bin 12 on the horizontal plane, so that the gripped bin 12 is aligned with the lower bin 12. The application realizes accurate alignment in the vertical direction by arranging the alignment mechanism on the grabbing mechanism 72, and does not need to arrange a high-cost position detection mechanism on the box taking robot 18, thereby effectively reducing the cost.

In the illustrated embodiment, the vertical extension 92 of each alignment member 90 includes a first alignment plate 92A and a second alignment plate 92B. The first alignment plate 92A and the second alignment plate 92B are perpendicular to each other, so that the alignment member 90 has an L-shaped cross section parallel to the horizontal plane. The first and second alignment plates 92A, 92B are adapted to abut against the outer surfaces of two adjacent side walls of the gripped bin 12, i.e. the outer surfaces of two adjacent side walls forming one of the corners. Accordingly, the alignment slope 94 includes a first alignment slope 94A extending downward and outward from the bottom end of the first alignment plate 92A and a second alignment slope 94B extending downward and outward from the bottom end of the second alignment plate 92B.

The first alignment ramp 94A and the second alignment ramp 94B of each alignment member 90 intersect or there is a small gap therebetween (which may be considered an intersection). For each alignment member 90, the first and second alignment plates 92A, 92B have a first intersection line 92C, the first and second alignment inclined surfaces 94A, 94B have a second intersection line 94C, and the first and second intersection lines 92C, 94C lie in the same vertical plane. Thus, the relative positions of the upper and lower bins 12 can be successfully corrected by the first alignment inclined surface 94A and the second alignment inclined surface 94B.

The alignment mechanism provides a mounting member 96 for each alignment member 90 that is secured to the gripper platform 78. The alignment member 90 is mounted to the gripper platform 78 with a mounting member 96.

When the gripping mechanism 72 grips a bin and moves to a bin position, the bin may be above another bin (i.e., the bin is above the first floor in the height direction) or may be placed directly on a platform or floor (i.e., the bin is above the first floor in the height direction). In the latter case, the positioning member 90 will first contact the platform or ground, resulting in the gripped bin not being able to contact the platform or ground if the positioning member 90 has already contacted the platform or ground. If the hand grip 80 is released at this point, the bin 12 may fall onto a platform or floor and possibly damage the merchandise within the bin 12. Therefore, the present application provides a sliding rail assembly between the mounting member 96 and the alignment member 90, so that the alignment member 90 can slide upwards under the action of the platform or ground reaction force, and the bin 12 can slowly fall to the ground. As described above, in stacking the gripped bin 12 on the lower bin 12, if the gripped bin 12 and the lower bin 12 are not aligned, the alignment slope 94 of the positioning member 90 is brought into sliding contact with the upper edge of the side wall of the lower bin 12, and the upper edge of the side wall of the lower bin 12 applies a pushing force obliquely upward to the alignment slope 94. In order to prevent the thrust from pushing the positioning member 90 to slide upward, the present application designs the damping force of the slide rail assembly to be greater than the component force of the thrust force applied to the alignment slope 94 by the lower bin in the vertical direction.

Referring to fig. 13, the positioning member 90 is removed to more clearly show the mounting member 96 and the slide rail assembly. The mounting member 96 extends vertically downwardly from the gripping platform 78 and the slide rail assembly includes a first rail 98A secured to the mounting member and a second rail 98B secured to the alignment member 90, the first rail 98A and the second rail 98B being a sliding fit. In the illustrated embodiment, the first rail 98A includes two tabs, each tab forming a channel on a surface facing the second rail 98B, and the second rail 98B is slidably received in the channel of the two tabs. Furthermore, the gripper platform 78 is provided with a mounting hole 99 corresponding to each alignment member 90, and the alignment members 90 are slidably mounted in the mounting holes 99. In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting hole 99 is L-shaped.

Referring to fig. 14-16, picking robot 20 includes a mobile station 100 and a manipulator 102. The mobile seat 100 is movable with respect to the bin 12. The robot 102 is supported by the movable base 100 to be movable with the movable base 100. The robot 102 is used to pick order items in the bins to at least one outlet 104 (fig. 1 and 3). After a user orders a commodity, the bin 12 containing the ordered commodity is transported by the bin picking robot 18 to the exit station 54 of the exit station 14, and the robot arm 102 picks the ordered commodity from the bin 12 to the exit port 104 for pick up by the user.

As previously described, the docking station 14 has a plurality of docking stations 54, each docking station 54 for receiving a bin 12. The movable base 100 is movable along the direction of arrangement of the delivery stations 54, so that if the bin 12 in which the ordered product is located further from the robot 102, the movable base 100 can slide toward the bin 12 to improve the picking operation without lengthening the robot 102.

The picking robot 18 is located within the skid-mounted enclosure 10 with its movable carriage 100 movably supported on a fixed carriage 106, wherein the fixed carriage 106 is fixedly disposed within the skid-mounted enclosure 10 adjacent to the deposit out table 14. The fixed base 106 is provided with a supporting table 108, one of the supporting table 108 and the movable base 100 is provided with a guide rail, and the other of the supporting table 108 and the movable base 100 is provided with a guide groove, and the guide rail is slidably accommodated in the guide groove, so that the movable base 100 moves on the fixed base 106.

In the illustrated embodiment, at least one protrusion 110 is disposed on two side edges of the bottom surface of the movable base 100, and each protrusion 110 is provided with a groove 112, and the grooves 112 form the guide grooves. As shown in fig. 15, four protrusions 110 are disposed on the bottom surface of the movable base 100, wherein the grooves 112 of two protrusions 110 form one guiding groove, and the grooves 112 of the other two protrusions 110 form another guiding groove. Two guide rails are correspondingly and fixedly arranged on the supporting table top 108 of the fixing seat 106. A stop 116 is also provided at each of the four corners of the support table 108 to limit the movement of the movable base 100.

The support table 106 is provided with a rack 118, and the rack 118 is parallel to the moving direction of the picking robot 20. The movable base 100 is provided with a motor 120, and a gear 122 is fixedly arranged on an output shaft of the motor 120, so that the gear 122 can rotate along with the output shaft. The gear 122 is meshed with the rack 118. When the gear 122 is driven to rotate by the motor 120, the gear 122 will walk along the rack 118, thereby driving the movable base 100 to move. Of course, the rack and pinion arrangement is merely exemplary, and other suitable driving arrangements may be employed for the mobile station 100 in other embodiments.

In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the number of outlets 104 is four, and in other embodiments, the number of outlets 104 may be other numbers, which the present application is not limited to.

Additionally, in the illustrated embodiment, the picking robot 18 is located between the restocking station 14 and the shipment port 104, and the shipment port 104 is located outside of the skid-mounted outer box 10. In other embodiments, the outlet 104 may also be located within the skid-mounted outer box 10.

By way of the above description of the picking robot 18, the present application also discloses a commodity picking assembly for an automated warehouse system comprising:

at least one bin 12, said bin 12 for holding goods;

at least one outlet 104 (e.g., four outlets shown) for receiving a commodity from the at least one bin 12;

a pick robot 18, the pick robot 18 comprising:

A mobile seat 100, said mobile seat 100 being movable with respect to said tank 12; and

A manipulator 102, the manipulator 102 being supported by the movable base so as to be movable with the movable base 100, the manipulator 102 being configured to sort the ordered products in the bin 12 to the outlet 104.

The automated warehouse system item picking assembly described above may be used in other automated warehouse systems in addition to the mobile, dense picking devices shown.

The automated warehouse system item picking assembly described above may be used in other automated warehouse systems in addition to the mobile, dense picking devices shown.

In summary, the present invention provides a movable dense picking device, which includes: skid-mounted outer box, a plurality of feed boxes, a warehouse-out table, a track assembly, a box taking robot and a picking robot. The skid-mounted outer box is internally provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end. And a plurality of bins are positioned in the storage area, and each bin is used for accommodating commodities. The delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box. The track assembly is mounted in the skid-mounted outer box and is located above the feed box. The box taking robot is slidably mounted on the track assembly and located above the material box, and is used for carrying the material box where the ordered commodity is located from the storage area to the delivery platform. The picking robot is located in the skid-mounted outer box and is arranged adjacent to the delivery platform, and the picking robot is used for picking the order commodities from a bin located on the delivery platform. The movable dense storage and picking device can be realized into an automatic retail vehicle or a display vehicle and the like, adopts a skid-mounted outer box, and most of elements are arranged in the skid-mounted outer box, so that the movable function of the whole storage system can be realized. In addition, the bin gripping mechanism is provided with an alignment mechanism, and the alignment mechanism comprises a plurality of alignment members, wherein each alignment member comprises a vertical extension part which extends vertically downwards and an alignment inclined plane which extends downwards and outwards from the bottom end of the vertical extension part. The vertical extension part is abutted to the outer surface of the frame of the feed box, so that shaking in the moving process of the feed box can be effectively reduced, and alignment accuracy is provided. And moreover, the alignment inclined plane is configured to be in sliding contact with the upper edge of the frame of the second bin when the grabbed bin and the second bin below deviate in the vertical direction, so that the automatic alignment of the upper material idea and the lower material idea is realized, a high-cost position detection mechanism is not required to be arranged on the box taking robot, and the cost is effectively reduced. Moreover, the design of the slidable picking robot can improve picking operation without lengthening the manipulator.

The concepts described herein may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or characteristics thereof. The particular embodiments disclosed are illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Any changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims (4)

1. The utility model provides a bin grabbing mechanism, is used for grabbing a bin, including liftable tongs platform and install the tongs on the tongs platform, the tongs is used for grabbing the frame of bin, a serial communication port, still include counterpoint mechanism, counterpoint mechanism includes setting up a plurality of counterpoints piece in the corner position of tongs platform, every counterpoint piece includes vertical extension portion that vertical downward and from the bottom of vertical extension portion downwards and outwards extend counterpoint inclined plane, when bin grabbing mechanism has grabbed the bin, all vertical extension portions of counterpoint piece all are in contact with the frame surface of bin, and counterpoint inclined plane is located the bottom below of bin entirely, counterpoint inclined plane is structured in order that when the bin that has grabbed has the deviation in vertical direction with the second bin of a below, counterpoint inclined plane and the frame upper edge sliding contact of second bin;

The alignment mechanism is provided with a mounting piece which is fixed with the gripper platform and extends vertically downwards from the gripper platform, the alignment piece is mounted to the gripper platform by using the mounting piece, the gripper platform is provided with a mounting hole corresponding to each alignment piece, and the alignment piece is slidably mounted in the mounting hole;

A sliding rail component is arranged between the mounting piece and the alignment piece, so that when the grasped position of the bin to be moved to is positioned on a platform or the ground, the alignment piece can slide upwards under the reaction of the platform or the ground, and the damping force of the sliding rail is designed to be greater than the component force of the second bin on the thrust force applied to the alignment inclined plane in the vertical direction; the sliding rail assembly comprises a first guide rail fixed on the mounting piece and a second guide rail fixed on the alignment piece, the first guide rail and the second guide rail are in sliding fit, a guide groove is formed on the surface, facing the second guide rail, of the first guide rail, and the second guide rail is slidingly accommodated in the guide groove.

2. The bin gripping mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the vertical extension of each alignment member includes a first alignment plate and a second alignment plate, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate being perpendicular to each other such that the cross section of the alignment member parallel to the horizontal plane is L-shaped, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate being adapted to abut against the outer surfaces of two adjacent rims of the bin being gripped, the alignment ramps including a first alignment ramp extending downwardly and outwardly from the bottom end of the first alignment plate and a second alignment ramp extending downwardly and outwardly from the bottom end of the second alignment plate.

3. The bin gripping mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the first alignment slope of each alignment member intersects the second alignment slope; for each alignment piece, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate of the alignment piece are provided with first intersecting lines, the first alignment inclined plane and the second alignment inclined plane of the alignment piece are provided with second intersecting lines, and the first intersecting lines and the second intersecting lines are located in the same vertical plane.

4. A bin gripping mechanism according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said alignment means comprises four of said alignment members, disposed in correspondence with the four corners of the bin.