CN110182529B - Warehouse-in and warehouse-out control method and conveying system for shelf array - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an in-out control method for a shelf array, which comprises the following steps: receiving a warehouse-out task of a target shelf; determining a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path, and then moving out the target shelf; and executing the carrying strategy and moving out the target shelf.

Description

Warehouse-in and warehouse-out control method and conveying system for shelf array

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of intelligent warehousing, in particular to a warehouse-in and warehouse-out control method, a carrying system and a storage medium with densely arranged shelves.

Background

Along with the rapid development of the e-commerce industry in China, diversified demands are met in each link of logistics, a parcel sorting system consisting of sorting robots is produced at the same time, and the system has the flexibility of instant response and distribution while guaranteeing high parcel sorting efficiency. In the current logistics warehousing field, Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have been increasingly used to replace or supplement manual labor. The automatic guided vehicle can automatically receive the object conveying task, reaches the first position under the control of a program, acquires the object, then travels to the second position, unloads the object, and continues to execute other tasks.

In addition, land is increasingly scarce as a resource, and particularly as the price of land in cities is increasing, the land cost of warehouses also becomes an important cost index affecting the economic benefit of enterprises or logistics companies. The current warehouse management mode source can not meet the actual intelligent warehouse-in and warehouse-out requirement

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

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides a method for controlling entry and exit of a shelf array, including: receiving a warehouse-out task of a target shelf; determining a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path, and then moving out the target shelf; and executing the carrying strategy and moving out the target shelf.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of removing the target shelf comprises: and moving the target shelf out by using an automatic guide vehicle.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: determining a target position of a blocking rack on the removal path, and transporting the blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding target position.

According to one aspect of the invention, said determining the removal position of a blocking rack on the removal path comprises selecting the target position of the blocking rack based on one or more of the following conditions: the target position does not block the ex-warehouse task; selecting an empty storage position with the deepest depth; the empty storage bit closest to itself is selected.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of selecting an exit path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis.

According to one aspect of the invention, the removal load comprises a weighted sum of the number of blocked shelves, the distance moved, and the number of turns.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: taking out an ex-warehouse task from the task queue according to a certain sequence, wherein the sequence factor for determining the task comprises the following steps: the priority of the ex-warehouse tasks, the waiting time of the ex-warehouse tasks, and the position and/or the execution complexity of a target shelf corresponding to the ex-warehouse tasks.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: after determining a handling strategy, generating a task group comprising moving out of a blocking rack on the removal path and moving out of the target rack; and allocating automatic guided vehicles according to the task groups.

According to one aspect of the invention, if the target positions of at least two blocking racks are in one unidirectional access, the target positions are set for the at least two blocking racks as entrances to the unidirectional access and filled to the deepest positions of the unidirectional access according to the precedence order of reaching the entrances.

The invention also relates to a scheduling device for a shelf array, comprising: the target shelf determining unit is used for receiving the warehouse-out task of the target shelf and determining the position of the target shelf in the shelf array; a handling strategy formulation unit configured to determine a handling strategy depending on the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path; and the execution unit is coupled with the carrying strategy making unit and is configured to control the automatic guided vehicle according to the carrying strategy.

According to an aspect of the invention, the handling strategy making unit is configured to determine the removal position of a blocking rack on the removal path and to handle the blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding removal position, wherein the step of selecting one removal path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis, wherein the shifting load comprises the weighted sum of the shifting distance and the turning times.

The invention also relates to a handling system comprising: a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves; the control system receives the ex-warehouse task of the target shelf, determines the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, and determines a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises the following steps: if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in one direction, directly carrying out the target shelf from the direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting an optimal moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path; and the one or more automatic guided vehicles are coupled with the control system, receive the conveying strategy and execute a conveying task according to the conveying strategy.

The invention also relates to a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program, when being executed by a processor, realizes the method for controlling access to a library as described above.

The invention also relates to an in-out control method for the shelf array, which comprises the following steps: receiving a warehousing task of a target shelf; obtaining available storage locations in the shelf array; determining a target location of the target shelf according to the type of the available storage location; and transporting the target shelf to the target location.

According to one aspect of the invention, the types of available storage devices include four types: the first type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on three sides, the second type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on two sides, the third type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on one side, and the fourth type is available storage locations without shelves and/or obstacles around.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of determining the target position of the target shelf comprises: the available storage locations are selected according to the following priority: a first category, a second category, a third category, a fourth category, wherein when there are multiple available storage locations in the same category, the available storage location with the shortest distance is selected as the target location of the target shelf.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of transporting the target shelf to the target location comprises: and carrying the target shelf to the target position by controlling an automatic guide vehicle.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: and selecting the automatic guide vehicle closest to the target shelf, and conveying the target shelf to the target position.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: taking out a warehousing task from the task queue according to a certain priority, and determining the priority factors of the tasks as follows: the priority of the task itself, the task creation time and/or the wait time, the execution complexity.

The invention also relates to an in-out control device for a shelf array, comprising: the warehousing task receiving unit is used for receiving warehousing tasks of the target shelf; a handling policy making unit configured to: acquiring available storage positions in the shelf array, and determining the target position of the target shelf according to the types of the available storage positions; and an automatic guided vehicle configured to transport the target rack to the target location.

According to one aspect of the invention, the types of available storage devices include four types: the first type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on three sides, the second type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on two sides, the third type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles, and the fourth type is available storage locations without shelves and/or obstacles around.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of determining the target position of the target shelf comprises: the available storage locations are selected according to the following priority: a first category, a second category, a third category, a fourth category, wherein when there are multiple available storage locations in the same category, the available storage location with the shortest distance is selected as the target location of the target shelf.

The invention also relates to a handling system comprising: a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves; the control system is used for receiving the warehousing task of the target shelf, acquiring the available storage positions in the shelf array and determining the target position of the target shelf according to the types of the available storage positions; one or more automated guided vehicles coupled with the control system configured to transport the target rack to the target location.

The invention also relates to a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program, when being executed by a processor, realizes the method for controlling access to a library as described above.

The invention also relates to an in-out warehouse scheduling method for the shelf array, which comprises the following steps: receiving at least two scheduling tasks, and judging whether the scheduling tasks are warehouse-out tasks or warehouse-in tasks, wherein each scheduling task comprises shelf information and priority; distributing automatic guide vehicles to the at least two scheduling tasks; planning the execution paths of the at least two scheduling tasks; and executing the at least two scheduling tasks by using the automatic guided vehicle, wherein if the priority of the ex-warehouse scheduling task is higher than that of the in-warehouse scheduling task, the target position of the in-warehouse task avoids opening the execution path of the ex-warehouse task.

According to an aspect of the invention, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks comprises: and for the warehousing task, selecting the available storage position according to the deepest depth principle.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for scheduling entry and exit further comprises: and after the automatic guide vehicle finishes the warehousing task, checking whether an available storage position with deeper depth exists around the target position, and if so, carrying the goods shelf corresponding to the warehousing task to the available storage position with deeper depth by using the automatic guide vehicle.

According to an aspect of the invention, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks comprises: for the ex-warehouse task, determining a handling strategy, wherein the handling strategy comprises the following steps: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks further comprises: determining the removal position of the blocking rack on the removal path, and transporting the blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding removal position.

According to one aspect of the invention, the determining the removal position of the blocking shelf on the removal path comprises selecting the removal position based on: the blocking goods shelf does not select an empty storage position which blocks the moving-away path; blocking the goods shelf from preferentially selecting the empty storage position with the deepest depth; the blocking shelf preferably selects the empty storage bit closest to itself.

According to one aspect of the invention, the step of selecting an exit path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis.

According to one aspect of the invention, the removal load comprises a weighted sum of the distance traveled and the number of turns.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method for controlling entry and exit further includes: taking out the scheduling tasks from the task queue according to a certain priority, and determining the priority factors of the tasks as follows: the priority of the task itself, the creation time and/or the wait time of the task, the shelf location, the execution complexity.

The invention also relates to a handling system comprising: a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves; one or more automated guided vehicles; the control system receives at least two scheduling tasks and judges whether the scheduling tasks are warehouse-out tasks or warehouse-in tasks, wherein each scheduling task comprises shelf information and priority; distributing automatic guide vehicles to the at least two scheduling tasks; planning the execution paths of the at least two scheduling tasks; and executing the at least two scheduling tasks by using the automatic guided vehicle, wherein if the priority of the ex-warehouse scheduling task is higher than that of the in-warehouse scheduling task, the target position of the in-warehouse task cannot be positioned on the execution path of the ex-warehouse task, the control system is coupled with the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle receives the carrying strategy and executes the carrying task according to the carrying strategy.

The invention also relates to a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program, when being executed by a processor, realizes the method for controlling access to a library as described above.

Drawings

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

FIG. 1 illustrates a framework of a warehousing system architecture and application scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an array arrangement of shelves/trays according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a method of access control for a shelf array according to a first aspect of the invention;

fig. 4 illustrates an in-out control method according to a preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a manner of determining a handling strategy according to a first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of calculating a blocked shelf target point;

FIG. 7 illustrates a scheduling apparatus for a shelf array according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a method of access control for a shelf array according to a second aspect of the invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an in-out control method in accordance with a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates an in-out control apparatus for a rack array according to one embodiment of a second aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of in-out scheduling for a rack array according to a third aspect of the present invention; and

fig. 12 shows a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

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

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

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

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

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of the invention. To simplify the disclosure of the present invention, the components and arrangements of specific examples are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present invention. Furthermore, the present invention may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples, such repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. In addition, the present invention provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or uses of other materials.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and it will be understood that they are described herein for the purpose of illustration and explanation and not limitation.

First, a brief description will be given of a framework of a warehousing system structure and an application scenario in an embodiment of the present invention with reference to fig. 1. As shown in fig. 1, the warehousing system includes an upstream management system 1 of a customer, a shelf/pallet scheduling system 2, a robot control system 3 and message middleware, a warehouse shelf/pallet 4, a transfer automated guided vehicle 5, a database server 6, and the like.

The warehouse rack/pallet 4 may have various items or containers placed thereon. A common pallet/tray, for example, comprises a plurality of compartments, each of which may be used for placing items or containers (typically bins), and legs. Gaps are formed among the support legs at the bottom, and the automatic guide vehicle 5 can pass through and carry. The shelves/trays 4 may be arranged generally in an array, for example as shown in fig. 2.

An Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV)5 is a robot capable of autonomous operation, and can autonomously navigate on the warehouse floor according to an operation or transport instruction. The automatic guided vehicle is provided with a battery, a motor and wheels, and can perform various motion operations such as forward movement, backward movement and turning. The automated lead vehicle 5, and having a lift mechanism, is able to travel to the bottom of the pallet/pallet 4, lift the pallet/pallet 4 in its entirety by the lift mechanism, and then transport it to a desired location (e.g., the job site 7 in fig. 1) for appropriate operations, such as sorting, etc. According to one mode of realization, the automatic guided vehicle 5 has a camera that can shoot the texture or two-dimensional code on the ground, so that navigation operations can be performed. The robot control system 3 in fig. 1 is a system for controlling the automatic guided vehicle 5, and transmits information such as a specific work order and route planning to the automatic guided vehicle 5. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the robotic control system 3 may be a separate system from the automated guided vehicle 5 or may be integrated into the automated guided vehicle 5.

The operation of the warehousing system is briefly described below. The user generates an ex-warehouse task through the management system 1 and sends the out-warehouse task to the dispatching system 2, the dispatching system 2 receives the task and then puts the task into the task pool, the dispatching system arranges and dispatches the task according to the task priority sequence to generate a goods shelf/tray dispatching sequence and sends the goods shelf/tray dispatching sequence to the robot control system 3, the carrying automatic guiding vehicle 5 is driven to execute the goods shelf/tray 2 sequence to generate a task which is ex-warehouse to the operation point 7, and the ex-warehouse task releases the automatic guiding vehicle after the task reaches the operation point 7. After the task is finished at the operation point, the user generates a warehousing task through the management system 1, the scheduling system starts scheduling after receiving the task and sends the task to the robot control system 3, the robot control system drives the conveying automatic guiding vehicle to carry out warehousing operation on the goods shelves/trays 2 to be warehoused, and the automatic guiding vehicle 5 is released after the task is warehoused.

Different carrying strategies can be set in the shelf/tray scheduling system according to different service scenes. The shelf/tray scheduling system and the robot control system are communicated through message middleware to achieve production and consumption of messages.

The basic data of the warehouse, the operation data of the dispatching system and the robot control system are stored in the database server 6, so that the purpose of data persistence is achieved, and data loss in the system operation process is prevented.

Fig. 2 is an exemplary warehouse rack arrangement layout. As shown in fig. 2, the warehouse is divided into storage areas, and the shelves in the storage areas may be arranged in a dense arrangement (for example, two rows or more than two rows in the horizontal direction and/or the vertical direction). In addition to the storage area, there is a work point area and a robot pallet walking area. The storage rate of warehouse goods is improved due to the dense arrangement of the warehouse goods shelves, and the cost of wasting the using area of the warehouse is saved. Meanwhile, the normal warehouse-in and warehouse-out operation of the warehouse can be met.

For ease of understanding, in the present invention, "warehouse-out" refers to the handling of a shelf away from its own location in the shelf array, and "warehouse-in" refers to the handling of a shelf back to its location in the shelf array.

First aspect

A first aspect of the invention relates to a method 100 for in-out control of a shelf array. As shown in fig. 3, the method 100 for controlling entry and exit includes:

in step S101, a warehouse-out task of a target shelf is received. The ex-warehouse task can be directly issued by a task of an upstream management system, or can be a ex-warehouse task selected from a task pool of a scheduling system. These are all within the scope of the present invention.

In step S102, a handling strategy is determined according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array. Wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path, moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path, and then moving out the target shelf.

Taking fig. 5 as an example, of the racks 1-48, the racks 1-8 and the racks 9, 17, 25, 33, 41 do not have blocking racks or obstacles (e.g., warehouse boundaries, walls, or other types of obstacles) in at least one direction. Thus if the target shelf is one of 1-8, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, the handling strategy may be direct handling. However, if the target shelf is another shelf, it cannot be directly transported, and a removal path needs to be determined, and an optimal removal path needs to be determined among a plurality of removal paths if necessary. In this case, the transportation policy includes: and moving out the blocking goods shelf on the adopted moving-out path, and then moving out the target goods shelf. In addition, when judging whether the target shelf can be directly moved out, only the front, back, left and right directions of the target shelf are required to be judged whether to have the blocking shelf or the barrier, and the four directions of the opposite angles are not required to be judged. The scheduling system can query the current position distribution condition or distribution map of the shelves in the warehouse in real time to make corresponding judgment, which is not described herein again.

Note that, in the present invention, the "target rack" refers to a rack to which one of the transportation tasks is directed, and the "blocking rack" refers to a rack that blocks the target rack from being removed.

In step S103, the handling strategy is executed to move the target rack out, for example, the target rack is moved out by the AGV 5. Of course, the blocking rack can also be moved by the automated guided vehicle AGV if the handling strategy involves moving the blocking rack away.

Referring now to fig. 4, an in-out control method 200 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention is described.

As shown in fig. 4, in step S201, when an upstream system (e.g., the customer management system 1 in fig. 1) needs to transport a target shelf from a shelf array to a job site for accessing a job, the upstream system needs to send the target shelf to the scheduling system 2 in a task manner (ex-warehouse scheduling task), and the scheduling system receives the task and then puts the target shelf into a task pool in a unified manner, thereby facilitating subsequent scheduling. A task may include, for example: task number, shelf code, priority and other information can be added according to the needs.

In step S202, the scheduling system calculates the priority of the tasks according to the specific information of the tasks, and selects an appropriate task from the task pool to schedule. For example, the scheduling system may rank the tasks in the task pool or select one of the tasks to schedule for execution based on the priorities of the tasks, the creation or wait time of the tasks, the shelf location (e.g., which may be queried by shelf code), the execution complexity, and so on.

Specifically, the scheduling system may select the next task to be executed from the task pool according to a priority, a high priority usually meaning first execution. In addition, some priority may mean that a task needs to be executed immediately, and then the task with that priority will have to be checked out of the task pool immediately and scheduled for execution. Alternatively, the scheduling system may refer to the wait time to select the next task to be executed from the task pool, for example, select the task waiting for the longest time from the task pool, and then schedule the execution, so as to avoid that a certain task is stored in the task pool too long to be executed. Alternatively, the scheduling system may decide the next task to be performed based on the location of the shelf and/or the complexity of the execution. For example, for the ex-warehouse scheduling task, the tasks corresponding to the shelves capable of being directly transported may be scheduled to be executed first. Referring to fig. 5, for example, if both shelves 5 and 21 need to be taken out of stock, it may be decided to first take out of stock for the shelf 5 and then take out of stock for the shelf 21, depending on the location of the shelf and/or the complexity of the out-stock (which may be assessed by whether there are blocking shelves and the number of blocking shelves). Of course, one skilled in the art can also conceive that the above factors are combined together to select the next task to be executed from the task pool according to certain constraint conditions.

Next, in step S203, an optimal conveyance strategy is determined. The optimal handling strategy is described below. For example, for a task to be delivered, if the target shelf is not blocked by other shelves, the transportation strategy is to directly transport the target shelf out of the warehouse, and the movement path of the task does not need to be calculated. If the target shelf is blocked by other blocking shelves, the optimal moving path of the task needs to be calculated to serve as an optimal carrying strategy. According to a preferred embodiment, the optimal moving path of the task is calculated by mainly considering the number of the blocked target shelves in each direction, calculating the number of the blocked shelves of the task target shelves in four directions, and taking the path with the minimum blocking number as the optimal path.

In addition, the optimal moving path can be preferably determined by combining the number of the blocked shelves and the shelf carrying strategy through breadth-first search. If there are multiple movable paths, each of the movable paths needs to be evaluated, and an optimal movable path is selected. For example, the total of the removal loads of the respective blocking racks on each removal path may be calculated, and the removal path with the smallest combination of the removal loads may be selected. The removal load may be, for example, a weighted sum of the number of blocking racks, the distance moved from the blocking racks, the number of turns moved from the blocking racks, or a combination of factors, wherein only one or more factors are considered. The corresponding evaluation index can be selected according to the needs of specific occasions. An embodiment of calculating the optimal movement path will be given later with reference to fig. 5.

In step S204, after the optimal moving path of the outbound task is determined, a target point of the blocking shelf (if any) needs to be calculated, so as to temporarily store the blocking shelf when the outbound task is executed. The calculation of the target point of the blocking shelf requires consideration: the conveying distance from the starting point of the blocking shelf to the target point is the minimum; the target point of the blocking shelf does not block the path of the ex-warehouse task; the depth of a target point of the shelf is deepest, and no hollow is generated; the closest target point is preferably selected. An example of calculating the blocked shelf target point will be given later with reference to fig. 6. Preferably, the above conditions are applied in the following order: firstly, filtering out idle storage points which do not block the outbound task path; and then selecting the idle storage point with the deepest depth, and determining an idle storage point through the shortest distance.

In the present invention, "hollow" means that, in the storage area, there are shelves at four-directional positions of a certain empty storage position that is not close to the path position. After creating empty storage locations, the empty storage locations are hardly available, thus reducing the shelf goods storage density of the warehouse. It is desirable to avoid creating hollow storage locations.

In calculating the carrying distance, the manhattan distance formula can be referred to: the sum of absolute values of the differences between the start point coordinates and the end point coordinates is the transport distance.

In step S205, after the target point of the blocking shelf is determined, an optimal moving path determined by the outbound task exists in the form of a task group, where the task group includes: and (4) transporting the blocking goods shelf to the target point of the blocking goods shelf, and moving out the target goods shelf. The execution of the task group requires the selection of one or more automatic guided vehicles AGV that are free to perform rack handling. Factors to consider in selecting an idle automatic guided vehicle AGV may include: the distance of the automatic guide vehicle, the idle state, the number of tasks of the task group, the number of the tasks being executed and the like.

In step S206, after the cart of the outbound task group is determined, the transportation of the racks is started, and after the racks are transported to the target positions, the carts of the task group are released. And reporting the task completion state to an upstream system.

And then, after checking that the tasks are not completed, continuing to circulate the process until all the tasks in the task pool are carried to the target position.

A method of determining a moving path of a target shelf (step S203) according to a preferred embodiment is described below with reference to fig. 5. As shown in fig. 5: and the 28 th shelf is taken as a target shelf and issued in a task mode. The number 28 shelf is found to be blocked by other shelves through calculation.

The blocking penalty for calculating the four-way path of shelf number 28 is: the blocking numbers in the four directions (upper, right, lower and left) are respectively (3, 4, 2 and 3);

after calculating or inquiring the map, finding that the right side and the lower side are walls, removing the corresponding optional paths, wherein the remaining optional paths are as follows: (upper, left), the blocking costs are (3, 3) respectively, and after the cost comparison, the direction with the smallest substitution value: above or to the left, the corresponding shelf number is: 20 or 27;

the blocking penalty for calculating the four directional paths for shelf 20 is: the blocking numbers of the four directions (upper, right, lower and left) are respectively (2, 4, 3 and 3);

after calculating or inquiring the map, finding that the right side and the lower side are walls, removing the corresponding optional paths, wherein the remaining optional paths are as follows: (upper, left), the blocking costs are (2, 3) respectively, and after the cost comparison, the direction with the smallest substitution value: above, the corresponding shelf number is: 12;

calculating the blocking cost of the four-direction path of the No. 12 shelf: the blocking numbers of the four directions (upper, right, lower and left) are respectively (1, 4, 4 and 3);

after calculating or inquiring the map, finding that the right side and the lower side are walls, removing the corresponding optional paths, wherein the remaining optional paths are as follows: (upper, left), the blocking costs are (1, 3) respectively, and after the cost comparison, the direction with the smallest substitution value: above, the corresponding shelf number is: 4. one possible path is thus obtained: 4- >12- >20- > 28.

The blocking penalty for calculating the four-way path for shelf # 27 is: the blocking numbers of the four directions (upper, right, lower and left) are respectively (3, 5, 2 and 2);

after calculating or inquiring the map, finding that the right side and the lower side are walls, removing the corresponding optional paths, wherein the remaining optional paths are as follows: (upper, left), the blocking costs are (3, 2) respectively, and after the cost comparison, the direction with the smallest substitution value: on the left, the corresponding shelf numbers are: 26;

the penalty for calculating the blocking of the four directional paths of shelf number 26 is: the blocking numbers of the four directions (upper, right, lower and left) are respectively (3, 6, 2 and 1);

after calculating or inquiring the map, finding that the right side and the lower side are walls, removing the corresponding optional paths, wherein the remaining optional paths are as follows: (upper, left), the blocking costs are (3, 1) respectively, and after the cost comparison, the direction with the smallest substitution value: on the left, the corresponding shelf numbers are: 25. one possible path is thus obtained: 25- >26- >27- > 28.

The moving cost of the two paths is evaluated, and the cost of moving away 25 th, 26 th and 27 th shelves to another storage area is smaller than that of moving away 4 th, 12 th and 20 th shelves, so that the optimal moving path is as follows: 25- >26- >27- > 28. Here, a plurality of factors, such as the number of turns required to move away from the blocking rack, the distance to move away from the blocking rack, and the like, may also be considered in evaluating the moving costs of the two paths. And will not be described in detail herein.

Fig. 6 shows one embodiment of determining a target point for a blocking shelf.

Assuming that the shelf 40 is a target shelf to be taken out of the warehouse, the blocking shelf 32 needs to be moved out to other empty storage locations in the storage area, and the shelf 10 is moved to the operation point as a target shelf, and the blocking shelf 9 needs to be moved out to other empty storage locations in the storage area. Target point locations need to be found for the blocking racks 32 and 9.

Firstly, finding an empty storage position of the region: (8, 16, 24, 41, 42, 43, 44);

filtering hinders the path of movement of the pallet 40 to the designated work point: (8, 16, 24), remaining feasible empty storage locations: (41, 42, 43, 44);

according to the deepest depth strategy, the target positions allocated to the shelf 32 are: 44; the target positions allocated to the shelves 9 are: 43.

preferably, in consideration of uncertainty of arrival at the target positions of the shelf 32 and the shelf 9, a situation where the shelf 9 arrives preferentially and the shelf 32 cannot arrive at the storage position 44 is avoided, and the target positions of the shelf 32 and the shelf 9 are both: 41;

one situation is: the shelf 32 reaches the storage position 41 first, then the shelf 32 continues to advance to the target position 44, the shelf 9 reaches the storage position 41 later, and the shelf 9 continues to advance to the target position 43;

the other situation is as follows: the shelf 9 reaches the storage position 41 first, the shelf 9 continues to travel to the target position 44, the shelf 32 reaches the storage position 41 later, and the shelf 32 continues to travel to the target position 43.

In other words, if the target positions of at least two blocking racks are in one unidirectional channel, the target positions are set as the entrances of the unidirectional channel for the at least two blocking racks, and the deepest positions of the unidirectional channel are respectively filled according to the sequence of reaching the entrances. In the present invention, the "one-way passage" is a shelf position passage indicating only one of an entrance and an exit, such as passages indicated at 41, 42, 43, and 44 in fig. 6, and passages indicated at 8, 16, and 24.

Fig. 7 shows a scheduling apparatus 300 for a shelf array according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention. As shown in fig. 7, the scheduling apparatus 300 includes: an ex-warehouse task receiving unit 301, a transportation policy making unit 302, and an executing unit 303.

Wherein the ex-warehouse task receiving unit 301 is for receiving an ex-warehouse task of a target shelf and determining a position of the target shelf in the shelf array, for example;

the handling strategy formulation unit 302 is configured to determine a handling strategy depending on the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path;

the execution unit 303 is coupled to the transportation policy making unit, and configured to control the automatic guided vehicle to execute the transportation policy according to the transportation policy, so as to complete the transportation task.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the target shelf determination unit 301, the handling strategy formulation unit 302, and the execution unit 303 may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

The handling strategy formulation unit 302 is also configured to perform the other steps in the control methods 100 and 200 as described above. For example, the transfer strategy formulation unit is configured to determine a removal position of a blocking rack on the removal path and transfer the blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding removal position, wherein the step of selecting one removal path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis, wherein the shifting load comprises the weighted sum of the number of the blocking shelves, the shifting distance and the turning times.

The first aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a handling system, comprising:

a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves;

the control system receives the ex-warehouse task of the target shelf, determines the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, and determines a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises the following steps: if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in one direction, directly carrying out the target shelf from the direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting an optimal moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path;

and the one or more automatic guided vehicles are coupled with the control system, receive the conveying strategy and execute a conveying task according to the conveying strategy.

The first aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the in-out library control method 100 or 200 as described above.

The first aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a handling method for a plurality of barrier racks in a rack array, comprising:

determining a set of available storage locations in the array of shelves;

filtering out from the set of available locations those storage locations that would block the blocking shelf;

target storage locations are set for the plurality of blocking shelves from the set of available locations according to a depth-first policy.

The following descriptions of the second and third aspects are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Second aspect of the invention

An in-out control method 400 for a shelf array according to a second aspect of the invention is described below with reference to fig. 8.

As shown in fig. 8, in step S401, an warehousing task of a target shelf is received. The warehousing task includes, for example, multivariate data such as (task number, priority, shelf code).

In step S402, available storage locations in the shelf array are obtained. By calculating or querying the map, the storage locations currently available in the shelf array may be obtained.

In step S403, a target location of the target shelf is determined according to the type of the available storage location. Specifically, the following four categories can be classified according to the depth of the free storage location. A first type of empty storage bit: shelves and/or obstacles are/is arranged on three sides; second type of empty memory bits: both sides are provided with goods shelves and/or barriers; a third type of empty memory bit: one side is provided with a goods shelf and/or a barrier; a fourth type of empty memory bit: there are no shelves and/or obstacles around. Empty memory bits are preferentially selected from the first class. And if a plurality of first-class empty storage positions exist, selecting one empty storage position which is closer to the target shelf as the target position according to the shortest distance principle. And if no empty storage bit meeting the condition exists in the first class, selecting from the second class, and repeating the steps to select a proper target position for the warehousing task.

In step S404, the target rack is transported to the target position, and a transport operation is performed by an unmanned guided vehicle, for example.

Fig. 9 illustrates a warehousing scheduling flow implemented by the in-out control method 500 in accordance with a preferred embodiment.

As shown in fig. 9, in step S501, the upstream system needs to transport the shelf (shelf to be put in storage) with the job-site completed to the storage area of the warehouse, needs to send the shelf to the scheduling system in the form of a task (task number, priority, shelf code), and the scheduling system receives the put-in task and puts the shelf into the task pool.

In step S502, the scheduling system calculates the priority of the tasks according to the specific information of the warehousing tasks, and selects an appropriate task from the task pool to schedule. The scheduling system may determine the priority order of the tasks according to the order of the task sending time, for example, and determine a task to be executed. Alternatively, the scheduling system may sort the tasks in the task pool or select one task from the task pool to perform scheduling according to the priority of the tasks, the creation time or the waiting time of the tasks, the target location, the execution complexity, and other factors.

In particular, the scheduling system may choose the next task to be executed from the task pool based on priority, e.g., some priority means that the task is executed immediately, then the task with that priority will have to be checked out of the task pool immediately and scheduled for execution. Alternatively, the scheduling system may refer to the wait time to select the next task to be executed from the task pool, for example, select the task waiting for the longest time from the task pool, and then schedule the execution, so as to avoid that a certain task is stored in the task pool too long to be executed. Alternatively, the scheduling system may decide the next task to be performed based on the shelf target location and/or the complexity of the execution. Of course, one skilled in the art can also conceive that the above factors are combined together to select the next task to be executed from the task pool according to certain constraint conditions.

In step S503, a target area of the task is calculated. The storage area can be divided into a plurality of areas according to the sorting of the shelves, the shelf distribution density (the number of the existing shelves/the number of the storage bits in the area) of each area is calculated, and the area with lower density is selected.

In step S504, a target position of the task is determined. After the target area is determined, the free storage positions in the area are screened, and classification is performed according to the depth of the free storage positions, for example, the following four categories can be classified. A first type of empty storage bit: shelves and/or obstacles are/is arranged on three sides; second type of empty memory bits: both sides are provided with goods shelves and/or barriers; a third type of empty memory bit: one side is provided with a goods shelf and/or a barrier; a fourth type of empty memory bit: there are no shelves and/or obstacles around. Empty memory bits are preferentially selected from the first class. If a plurality of empty storage positions of the first type exist, one empty position with a shorter distance to the target shelf is selected according to the shortest distance principle. And if no empty storage bit meeting the condition exists in the first class, selecting from the second class, and repeating the steps to select a proper target position for the warehousing task. If in a target area no empty memory bits can be found that satisfy the four categories, one target area may be reselected, for example, the area with the lowest shelf distribution density among the remaining target areas.

In step S505, after the warehousing task determines the target position, an idle trolley is selected, and an idle trolley closest to the shelf to be warehoused is determined according to the principle that the distance to the task is closest.

In step S506, after the warehousing task carrier is determined, the warehousing task carrier starts to be executed. Preferably, the task states in the execution process can be reported simultaneously (the shelf is lifted up and starts to move, the shelf is put down, and the movement is finished). And after the warehousing task is moved to the target position of the storage area, reporting that the task of the upstream system is completed, and simultaneously releasing the carrying trolley.

And finally, after checking that the tasks are not completed, continuing to circulate the process until all the tasks in the task pool are carried to the target position.

Fig. 10 shows an in-out control apparatus 600 for a shelf array according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention. As shown in fig. 10, the scheduling apparatus 600 includes: an warehousing task receiving unit 601, a transportation strategy making unit 602, and a warehousing execution unit 603.

The warehousing task receiving unit 601 is used for receiving warehousing tasks of the target shelves; the handling strategy making unit 602 is configured to obtain available storage positions in the shelf array and determine a target position of the target shelf according to the types of the available storage positions; the warehousing execution unit 603 is coupled to the transportation strategy making unit 602, and is configured to transport the target shelf to the target position, thereby completing the warehousing task.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the warehousing task receiving unit 601, the transportation policy making unit 602, and the warehousing execution unit 603 may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

According to a preferred embodiment, the types of available storage devices include four types: the first type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on three sides, the second type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles on two sides, the third type is available storage locations with shelves and/or obstacles, and the fourth type is available storage locations without shelves and/or obstacles around.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of determining the target position of the target shelf comprises: the available storage locations are selected according to the following priority: a first category, a second category, a third category, a fourth category, wherein when there are multiple available storage locations in the same category, the available storage location with the shortest distance is selected as the target location of the target shelf.

A second aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a handling system comprising: a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves; the control system is used for receiving the warehousing task of the target shelf, acquiring the available storage positions in the shelf array and determining the target position of the target shelf according to the types of the available storage positions; one or more automated guided vehicles coupled with the control system configured to transport the target rack to the target location. The control system is configured to perform the above-described access control method 400 or 500.

The second aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the in-out library control method 400 or 500 as described above.

The above description of the first aspect and the following description of the third aspect are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Third aspect of the invention

A method 700 for in-out scheduling for a shelf array according to the third aspect of the invention is described below with reference to fig. 11. As shown in fig. 11, the method 700 for scheduling entry and exit includes:

in step S701, at least two scheduling tasks are received, and it is determined whether the scheduling task is an ex-warehouse task or an in-warehouse task, where each scheduling task includes shelf information and priority.

And the scheduling system comprehensively calculates the priority order of the tasks according to the specific information of the tasks, and takes at least two suitable tasks from the task pool for scheduling. For example, the scheduling system may order the tasks in the task pool or select one or two tasks to schedule for execution based on the priority of the tasks, the creation or wait time of the tasks, the shelf location (e.g., which may be queried by shelf code), the execution complexity, and so on.

In particular, the scheduling system may choose the next or two tasks to be executed from the task pool based on priority, e.g., some priority means that the tasks are executed immediately, then the tasks with that priority will have to be retrieved from the task pool immediately and scheduled for execution. Alternatively, the scheduling system may refer to the wait time to select the next task to be executed from the task pool, for example, select the task waiting for the longest time from the task pool, and then schedule the execution, so as to avoid that a certain task is stored in the task pool too long to be executed. Alternatively, the scheduling system may decide the next task to be performed based on the location of the shelf and/or the complexity of the execution. For example, for the ex-warehouse scheduling task, the tasks corresponding to the shelves which can be directly transported can be firstly scheduled to be executed.

In step S702, an automatic guided vehicle is assigned to the at least two scheduling tasks.

In step S703, an execution path of the at least two scheduling tasks is planned. The warehousing task includes determining a target position of a shelf to be warehoused, for example, as described in steps S403 and S504 in the second aspect of the present invention, and details thereof are not repeated here.

In step S704, the automatic guided vehicle is used to execute the at least two scheduling tasks, wherein if the priority of the ex-warehouse scheduling task is higher than the priority of the in-warehouse scheduling task, it is ensured that the target position of the in-warehouse task is not located on the execution path of the ex-warehouse task, that is, the execution path of the ex-warehouse task is avoided.

A preferred embodiment is described with reference to fig. 12: the method can realize warehousing mixing operation and avoid hollowness.

The shelf 50 is the object of the warehousing task and has a higher task priority, and the shelf 28 is the object of the ex-warehousing task and has a lower task priority.

2 tasks are received in the scheduling process, and the shelf 50 is scheduled first according to the priority order of the tasks.

Screening the empty storage positions of the storage areas: (4, 12, 20)

According to the strategy of selecting the empty position with the deepest depth, the target position of the shelf 50 is determined as follows: 20

The pallet 50 selects an empty dolly to begin execution.

The shelf 28 is not blocked and therefore the allocation of empty trolleys is started.

In one case, the shelf 50 reaches the target position: 20, the shelf 28 has not yet begun execution, and the shelf 28 task is rescheduled.

In one case, the shelf 50 reaches the target position: 20, the shelf 28 has started to leave the home position, and at this time, the shelf 50 detects whether there are empty storage positions with deeper depth in four directions of the original target position, and the shelf 28 has left through detection and is empty storage positions, so the actual target position of the shelf 50 is: 28

In a warehouse shelf/tray dense arrangement layout, shelf/tray in-out mixed operation is a business scene which often occurs.

1. Receiving the goods shelf/tray warehouse-in and warehouse-out tasks, putting the goods shelf/tray warehouse-out and warehouse-out tasks into a task pool and waiting for scheduling.

2. Selecting one task according to task priority

3. And if the task is a warehousing task, calculating a warehousing area and a target position.

4. And distributing and executing the idle carrying trolley for the warehousing task.

5. And if the task is the ex-warehouse task, calculating the moving path of the ex-warehouse task and evaluating an optimal moving path.

6. If the blocking shelf/tray exists in the optimal moving path, calculating the target position of the blocking shelf/tray.

7. The rack/pallet is blocked from allocating free trolleys and executing.

8. And if the blocking goods shelf/tray does not exist in the optimal moving path, distributing idle carrying trolleys for the ex-warehouse task and executing the idle carrying trolleys.

9. And after the carrying trolley carries the task to the target position, the trolley resource is released, and the task is completed.

10. And if the ex-warehouse task and the in-warehouse task generate service deadlock in the carrying process, unlocking the deadlock by adopting an avoidance mode.

11. If the priority of the ex-warehouse task is higher than that of the in-warehouse task, the path of the ex-warehouse shelf cannot be used as the target position by the in-warehouse shelf.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks comprises: and for the warehousing task, selecting the available storage position according to the deepest depth principle. For example, using fig. 12 as an example, assuming that there is only a warehousing task for shelves 50, then the deepest depth principle is used, and location 20 will be selected as the target location instead of location 12.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method 700 of warehouse entry and exit scheduling further comprises: after the automatic guide vehicle finishes the warehousing task, namely after the goods shelves to be warehoused are conveyed to the target position, whether deep available storage positions exist around the target position or not is continuously checked, and if the deep available storage positions exist, the goods shelves corresponding to the warehousing task are conveyed to the deep available storage positions by the automatic guide vehicle.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks comprises: for the ex-warehouse task, determining a handling strategy, wherein the handling strategy comprises the following steps: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, and when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, selecting one moving-out path from the moving-out paths, and moving out the blocking shelf on the moving-out path.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of planning the execution paths of at least two scheduling tasks further comprises: determining the removal position of the blocking rack on the removal path, and transporting the blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding removal position.

According to a preferred embodiment, said determining the removal position of the blocking shelf on the removal path comprises selecting the removal position based on: the blocking goods shelf does not select an empty storage position which blocks the moving-away path; blocking the goods shelf from preferentially selecting the empty storage position with the deepest depth; the blocking shelf preferably selects the empty storage bit closest to itself.

According to a preferred embodiment, the step of selecting an exit path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis.

According to a preferred embodiment, the removal load comprises a weighted sum of the distance traveled and the number of turns.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method 700 further comprises: taking out the scheduling tasks from the task queue according to a certain priority, and determining the priority factors of the tasks as follows: the priority of the task itself, the depth of the task (the number of blocked tasks), the delivery time of the task, and the urgency of the task (the difference between the delivery time and the current time).

The third aspect of the present invention also relates to a handling system comprising:

a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves;

one or more automated guided vehicles;

the control system receives at least two scheduling tasks and judges whether the scheduling tasks are warehouse-out tasks or warehouse-in tasks, wherein each scheduling task comprises shelf information and priority; distributing automatic guide vehicles to the at least two scheduling tasks; planning the execution paths of the at least two scheduling tasks; executing the at least two scheduling tasks by using the automatic guided vehicle, wherein if the priority of the ex-warehouse scheduling task is higher than that of the in-warehouse scheduling task, the target position of the in-warehouse task cannot be positioned on the execution path of the ex-warehouse task,

the control system is coupled with the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle receives the carrying strategy and executes a carrying task according to the carrying strategy.

A third aspect of the present disclosure also relates to a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the in-out control method 700 as described above.

The above description of the first and second aspects is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The methods for scheduling entry and exit according to the first, second and third aspects of the present disclosure are described above, respectively, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the first, second and third aspects may be combined with each other although they have respective emphasis points.

For example, the first aspect is directed to the storage-leaving control of the racks, the second aspect is directed to the storage-entering control of the racks, and the third aspect is directed to the storage-leaving mixing control. The technical features of the above aspects may be combined with each other and applied. For example, the method or feature for controlling the drawing of the warehouse according to the first aspect may be applied to the second aspect and the third aspect, the method or feature for controlling the drawing of the warehouse according to the second aspect may be applied to the first aspect and the third aspect, and the characteristic for mixing the drawing of the warehouse according to the third aspect may be applied to the first aspect and the second aspect.

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.

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

Claims (10)

1. A method for in-out control of a shelf array, comprising:

receiving a warehouse-out task of a target shelf;

determining a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, selecting one moving-out path from the target shelf when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, determining a target position of a blocking shelf on the moving-out path, moving the blocking shelf on the moving-out path out and carrying the blocking shelf to the corresponding target position, and then moving the target shelf out; if the target positions of at least two blocking goods shelves are in one unidirectional channel, setting the target positions of the at least two blocking goods shelves as the inlets of the unidirectional channel, and filling the deepest positions of the unidirectional channel according to the sequence of reaching the inlets;

executing the carrying strategy and moving out the target shelf;

wherein the determining a target position of a blocking rack on the removal path comprises selecting the target position of the blocking rack based on one or more of the following conditions: the target position does not block the ex-warehouse task; selecting an empty storage position with the deepest depth; the empty storage bit closest to itself is selected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of removing the target shelf comprises: and moving the target shelf out by using an automatic guide vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a removal path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the removal load comprises a weighted sum of the number of blocked shelves, the distance traveled, and the number of turns.

5. The method of controlling entry and exit according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: taking out an ex-warehouse task from the task queue according to a certain sequence, wherein the sequence factor for determining the task comprises the following steps: the priority of the ex-warehouse tasks, the waiting time of the ex-warehouse tasks, and the position and/or the execution complexity of a target shelf corresponding to the ex-warehouse tasks.

6. The method of controlling entry and exit according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: after determining a handling strategy, generating a task group comprising moving out of a blocking rack on the removal path and moving out of the target rack; and allocating automatic guided vehicles according to the task groups.

7. A scheduling apparatus for a shelf array, comprising:

the target shelf determining unit is used for receiving the warehouse-out task of the target shelf and determining the position of the target shelf in the shelf array;

a handling strategy formulation unit configured to determine a handling strategy depending on the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises: directly carrying out the target shelf if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in at least one direction; if the target positions of at least two blocking shelves are in a one-way channel, setting the target positions of the at least two blocking shelves as entrances of the one-way channel, and filling the deepest positions of the one-way channel according to the sequence of reaching the entrances; wherein the determining a target position of a blocking rack on the removal path comprises selecting the target position of the blocking rack based on one or more of the following conditions: the target position does not block the ex-warehouse task; selecting an empty storage position with the deepest depth; selecting the empty storage bit closest to the user; and

and the execution unit is coupled with the carrying strategy making unit and is configured to control the automatic guided vehicle according to the carrying strategy.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the handling strategy formulation unit is configured to determine a removal position of a blocking rack on the removal path and to handle a blocking rack on the removal path to the corresponding removal position, wherein the step of selecting a removal path comprises: and calculating the sum of the shifting loads of the blocking shelves on each shifting path, and selecting the shifting path with the minimum shifting load synthesis, wherein the shifting load comprises the weighted sum of the shifting distance and the turning times.

9. A handling system, comprising:

a shelf array comprising a plurality of shelves;

the control system receives the ex-warehouse task of the target shelf, determines the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, and determines a handling strategy according to the position of the target shelf in the shelf array, wherein the handling strategy comprises the following steps: if the target shelf does not have a blocking shelf or an obstacle in one direction, directly carrying out the target shelf from the direction; otherwise, determining a moving-out path of the target shelf, selecting an optimal moving-out path from the moving-out paths when the target shelf has a plurality of moving-out paths, determining a target position of a blocking shelf on the moving-out path, moving the blocking shelf on the moving-out path out and carrying the blocking shelf to a corresponding target position, and then moving the target shelf out; if the target positions of at least two blocking goods shelves are in one unidirectional channel, setting the target positions of the at least two blocking goods shelves as the inlets of the unidirectional channel, and filling the deepest positions of the unidirectional channel according to the sequence of reaching the inlets; wherein the determining a target position of a blocking rack on the removal path comprises selecting the target position of the blocking rack based on one or more of the following conditions: the target position does not block the ex-warehouse task; selecting an empty storage position with the deepest depth; selecting the empty storage bit closest to itself

And the one or more automatic guided vehicles are coupled with the control system, receive the conveying strategy and execute a conveying task according to the conveying strategy.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the access control method of any one of claims 1-6.

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