CN111620033A - Inventory management system and method - Google Patents
Inventory management system and method Download PDFInfo
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- CN111620033A CN111620033A CN202010485531.XA CN202010485531A CN111620033A CN 111620033 A CN111620033 A CN 111620033A CN 202010485531 A CN202010485531 A CN 202010485531A CN 111620033 A CN111620033 A CN 111620033A
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- inventory
- autonomous mobile
- mobile robot
- container
- control unit
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
- B65G1/00—Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
- B65G1/02—Storage devices
- B65G1/04—Storage devices mechanical
- B65G1/137—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
- B65G1/1373—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses
- B65G1/1376—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses the orders being assembled on a commissioning conveyor
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
- B65G2203/00—Indexing code relating to control or detection of the articles or the load carriers during conveying
- B65G2203/02—Control or detection
- B65G2203/0208—Control or detection relating to the transported articles
- B65G2203/0233—Position of the article
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
- B65G2203/00—Indexing code relating to control or detection of the articles or the load carriers during conveying
- B65G2203/04—Detection means
Abstract
The application provides an inventory management system and method, the inventory management system includes: an inventory area, an autonomous mobile robot, and a control unit; the autonomous mobile robot travels to a designated location of the inventory area according to the acquired at least one task information, and performs at least one of the following operations: taking out and placing the inventory container on the inventory support in the inventory area on a cache position of a cache mechanism, and taking out and placing the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism on the inventory support; the control unit performs at least one of the following controls: and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container taken out of the inventory support by the autonomous mobile robot, and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to reduce the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process that the autonomous mobile robot runs to the next designated position.
Description
Technical Field
The application relates to the technical field of warehouse logistics, in particular to a warehouse management system and method.
Background
The container robot can accurately carry the required containers to the picking station, and is suitable for the storage and picking scenes of multiple Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). The robot has the advantages of high running speed and reliable performance, and can also improve the utilization of high-level space of a warehouse and expand the capacity of the warehouse. Under the same scale, the picking efficiency and the storage capacity of the robot are equivalent to those of a multi-layer shuttle, but the cost is half of that of the multi-layer shuttle, and the return on investment is greatly improved.
In this solution, the stability of the robot handling process is the basis for the operation of the system. Therefore, how to improve the stability of robot transportation is an urgent problem to be solved.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide an inventory management system and method to solve the technical defects existing in the prior art.
According to a first aspect of embodiments herein, there is provided an inventory management system, comprising: an inventory area, an autonomous mobile robot, and a control unit; the autonomous mobile robot includes at least: robot body and the caching mechanism who is located the robot body top, caching mechanism includes the one or more cache position that sets up along vertical direction, wherein:
the autonomous mobile robot is configured to travel to a designated location of an inventory area according to the acquired at least one task information, and perform at least one of the following operations: taking out and placing the inventory container on the inventory support in the inventory area on the cache position of the cache mechanism, and taking out and placing the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism on the inventory support;
the control unit is configured to perform at least one of the following controls: and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container taken out of the inventory support by the autonomous mobile robot, and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to reduce the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process of driving to the next specified position by the autonomous mobile robot.
Optionally, the autonomous mobile robot further includes a weighing mechanism, the autonomous mobile robot reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit, and the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the inventory container on a buffer bit of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container.
Optionally, the control unit prestores the weight of the inventory receptacle on the inventory holder, and after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory receptacle from the inventory holder, the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken-out inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism according to the prestored weight of the inventory receptacle.
Optionally, the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the inventory receptacle of greater weight in a lower buffer level of the buffer mechanism.
Optionally, the buffer mechanism is fixedly connected to the robot body.
Optionally, the robot body further includes: and the robot body is in butt joint with or undocks from the cache mechanism through the connection unit.
Optionally, the docking unit is docked with or undocked from the cache mechanism by a lifting mechanism and/or an electromagnetic device.
Optionally, the robot further includes a lifting mechanism and a box taking mechanism connected to the lifting mechanism, and the lifting mechanism enables the box taking mechanism to move up and down and perform at least one of the following operations: and taking out and placing the inventory container on the inventory support on the cache position of the cache mechanism, and taking out and placing the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism on the inventory support.
Optionally, the control unit is located in the autonomous mobile robot, or is located outside the autonomous mobile robot and wirelessly communicates with the autonomous mobile robot.
According to a second aspect of embodiments herein, there is provided an inventory management method, including:
an autonomous mobile robot acquires at least one task information, wherein the autonomous mobile robot includes at least: the robot comprises a robot body and a cache mechanism positioned above the robot body, wherein the cache mechanism comprises one or more cache positions arranged along the vertical direction;
the autonomous mobile robot drives to at least one designated position corresponding to the at least one task information according to the at least one task information;
the control unit controls the autonomous mobile robot to take out an inventory container corresponding to the at least one piece of task information on an inventory support in an inventory area, and schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container, and/or schedules the autonomous mobile robot to lower the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process of driving the autonomous mobile robot to a next designated position.
Optionally, the autonomous mobile robot includes a weighing mechanism, and the scheduling, by the control unit, of the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container includes:
the autonomous mobile robot reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit;
the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container.
Optionally, the pre-storing, in the control unit, a weight of the inventory receptacle on the inventory holder, and the scheduling, by the control unit, the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory receptacle on the buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken inventory receptacle includes:
and the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the pre-stored inventory container.
Optionally, the scheduling, by the control unit, the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container includes:
the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place inventory receptacles of greater weight in a lower buffer level of the buffer mechanism.
Optionally, the robot body further includes: the robot body is in butt joint with or is not in butt joint with the cache mechanism through the connection unit,
before the autonomous mobile robot travels to a designated location corresponding to the at least one task information, the inventory management method further includes:
the autonomous mobile robot drives to a position where the autonomous mobile robot is in butt joint with the cache structure;
the control unit controls the docking unit of the autonomous mobile robot to dock with the cache mechanism.
Optionally, after the autonomous mobile robot is scheduled to place the taken out inventory container on the buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container, the inventory management method further includes:
the autonomous mobile robot travels to a workstation;
the control unit controls the connection unit of the autonomous mobile robot to be disconnected from the cache mechanism, and the cache mechanism is unloaded to the workstation.
The present application executes at least one of the following controls by a control unit: the autonomous mobile robot is scheduled according to the weight of the inventory container taken out of the inventory support by the autonomous mobile robot, the taken out inventory container is placed on a cache position of the cache mechanism, the autonomous mobile robot is scheduled to reduce the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process that the autonomous mobile robot runs to the next designated position, the gravity center can be reduced in the process of carrying the autonomous mobile robot, and the stability of the robot in the carrying process is improved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory management system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an autonomous mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another autonomous mobile robot provided in the embodiment of the present application;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another autonomous mobile robot provided in the embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram of an inventory management method provided by an embodiment of the application;
fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another inventory management method provided in an embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. This application is capable of implementation in many different ways than those herein set forth and of similar import by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of this application and is therefore not limited to the specific implementations disclosed below.
The terminology used in the description of the one or more embodiments is for the purpose of describing the particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the description of the one or more embodiments. As used in one or more embodiments of the present specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used in one or more embodiments of the present specification refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein in one or more embodiments to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, a first can also be referred to as a second and, similarly, a second can also be referred to as a first without departing from the scope of one or more embodiments of the present description. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "when … …" or "in response to a determination", depending on the context.
First, the noun terms to which one or more embodiments of the present invention relate are explained.
Autonomous Mobile Robot (Autonomous Mobile Robot, AMR): an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is a transport Vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic or optical automatic guide device, capable of traveling along a predetermined guide path, and having safety protection and various transfer functions.
In the present application, an inventory management system and method are provided, which are described in detail in the following embodiments one by one.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory management system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the system includes: an inventory area 101, an autonomous mobile robot 102, and a control unit 103. The inventory area 101 has a plurality of rows/columns of inventory holders which may be multi-tiered overhead racks with each tier holding one or more SKU items, including but not limited to, cargo containers. The autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out an inventory receptacle of a predetermined level of the inventory holder at a specified position in the inventory area, or puts back an inventory receptacle carried by the autonomous mobile robot 102 to a predetermined level of the inventory holder at a specified position in the inventory area. The control unit 103 is configured to store a corresponding relationship between a position of the inventory receptacle on the inventory holder and an identification (number) of the inventory receptacle and inventory information, and can generate a task, such as a box picking task, according to a document to be operated, and allocate the task to the autonomous mobile robot 102 to execute the task. The control unit 103 may be located inside the autonomous mobile robot, the control unit 103 may also be located outside the autonomous mobile robot, and the control unit 103 and the autonomous mobile robot 102 implement communication and docking, so that information such as a working state, a position, and an identity of the autonomous mobile robot 102 can be obtained in real time. The control unit 103 may also have a part of functions located inside the autonomous mobile robot and another part of functions located outside the autonomous mobile robot. The system further comprises: the workstation 104 is provided with a plurality of operation stations 105 inside the workstation 104, and after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the target inventory receptacle from the inventory holder, the target inventory receptacle can be transported to the workstation 104, and the staff can pick up, count, sort or replenish the goods in the inventory receptacle, for example, the staff can put the SKU goods in the inventory receptacle, and the autonomous mobile robot 102 deposits the inventory receptacle to the inventory holder at a designated position.
In specific implementation, the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) is a robot that can be applied to a warehouse logistics scene, and can carry goods or sort goods, and the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) can build a map or pre-load a facility drawing navigation on site by carrying advanced software. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) can use data from cameras, built-in sensors such as lidar, laser scanners, and sophisticated software to detect the surrounding environment and select the most efficient path to the target. It can be operated completely autonomously and if a forklift, pallet, personnel or other obstacle is in front it can all use the best alternative route to achieve safe detour. In this way, it is ensured that the material conveying wave is kept in progress, thereby optimizing productivity.
Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an autonomous mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present application. The autonomous mobile robot 102 includes: robot body and the caching mechanism 1024 that is located the robot body top, caching mechanism 1024 includes the one or more cache position that set up along vertical direction, and the robot body includes: a box taking mechanism 1021, configured to take out and place the inventory container on the inventory holder on the cache position of the cache mechanism 1024, and take out and place the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism 1024 on the inventory holder; the lifting mechanism 1022 is configured to enable the box taking mechanism 1021 to be adjustable up and down, so that the box taking mechanism 1021 can take target inventory containers on inventory supports with different heights; a robot motion chassis 1023 configured to enable said autonomous mobile robot 102 to travel on a robot path according to a travel route planned by the control unit 103. The autonomous mobile robot 102 is configured to travel to a specified position of the inventory area 101 according to the acquired at least one task information, and perform at least one of the following operations: the inventory receptacles located on the inventory racks of the inventory area 101 are removed and placed on the cache bits of the caching mechanism 1024 and the inventory receptacles located on the cache bits of the caching mechanism 1024 are removed and placed on the inventory racks. That is, the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out and places the stock containers corresponding to at least one piece of task information on the stock racks in the stock area 101 one by one on the buffer positions of the buffer mechanism 1024 when picking up, and takes out and places the stock containers on the buffer positions of the buffer mechanism 1024 on the stock racks when stocking up. The inventory receptacles may be containers, for example, containers lacking at least one item.
Specifically, the picking process of the box picking mechanism 1021 is as follows: the robot drives to the designated position, the box taking mechanism is lifted to the designated height through the lifting mechanism, and the inventory container on the inventory support is taken out and placed on the cache position of the cache mechanism 1024. The box taking mechanism is stocked as follows: the robot drives to the designated position, the box taking mechanism takes out the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism 1024, the inventory container is lifted to the designated height through the lifting mechanism, and the inventory container is placed on the inventory support. The specific structure of the lifting mechanism and the box taking mechanism is not particularly limited herein.
In the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, the buffer mechanism 1024 of the autonomous mobile robot is fixedly connected to the robot body. After the goods taking process is completed, the autonomous mobile robot returns to the workstation together with the caching mechanism 1024, a worker of the workstation can put goods into the inventory receptacle, and the autonomous mobile robot stores the inventory receptacle on the caching mechanism 1024 to the inventory support at the designated position. Because the manual replenishment speed is high, the worker replenishes the goods and the autonomous mobile robot is responsible for transportation and carrying, and the overall inventory management efficiency is improved.
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another autonomous mobile robot provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the buffer mechanism 1024 is not fixedly connected to the robot body, and the robot body further includes: and the robot body is in butt joint with or undock from the cache mechanism 1024 through the connection unit. After receiving the at least one piece of task information, the autonomous mobile robot 102 is connected with an empty caching mechanism 1024 through a docking unit, travels to a designated position corresponding to the at least one piece of task information according to a designated route to take out a corresponding inventory container, places a plurality of inventory containers one by one on a caching position of the caching mechanism 1024, then travels to a workstation together with the caching mechanism 1024, undocks from the docking unit and the caching mechanism 1024 to realize separation, unloads the caching mechanism 1024 storing the inventory containers at the workstation, a worker at the workstation can place goods in the inventory containers, and another autonomous mobile robot stores the inventory containers at the caching mechanism 1024 to an inventory support at the designated position. The autonomous mobile robot is in butt joint with the new caching mechanism to continue to execute the goods taking task, so that the working efficiency of the autonomous mobile robot is improved, and the recycling of the caching mechanism is realized.
Specifically, the docking unit is docked with or undocked from the cache mechanism through a lifting mechanism and/or an electromagnetic device.
A lifting mechanism of the structure shown in fig. 3 may be employed: the buffer mechanism 1024 is provided with a clamping fixing part 1041; the docking unit includes a lifting mechanism 1011 and a passive clamp 1012, the passive clamp 1012 being located above the lifting mechanism 1011.
If the lifting mechanism 1011 moves to the lower side of the clamping fixing part 1041 and then rises, the clamping fixing part 1041 rises and is clamped between the lifting mechanism 1011 and the passive clamp 1012, and at this time, the buffer mechanism 1024 is lifted off and is butted with the robot body. Conversely, if the height of the lifting mechanism 1011 is lowered below the clamp fixing portion 1041, the buffer mechanism 1024 is lowered to the ground, and then the lifting mechanism 11 is moved out from below the clamp fixing portion 1041, at this time, the buffer mechanism 1024 and the robot body are undocked, and separation is achieved.
Specifically, the passive clamping member 1012 may be a plate-shaped structural member, or may be a horizontally arranged cross bar, and for this, a person skilled in the art may specifically set the passive clamping member according to actual needs, and the present invention is not limited to this.
Specifically, the docking process of the robot body and the caching mechanism 1024 is as follows: the lifting mechanism 1011 extends to the lower part of the clamping fixing part 1041 of the caching mechanism 1024, and at this time, the passive clamping member 1012 is located above the clamping fixing part 1041, namely, located between the caching position located at the bottommost part on the caching mechanism 1024 and the clamping fixing part 1041; the lifting mechanism 1011 rises and lifts up with the clamp fixing part 1041 until the clamp fixing part 1041 is clamped between the lifting mechanism 1011 and the passive clamp 1012, at which time the buffer mechanism 1024 lifts up and abuts against the robot body.
Specifically, the process of separating the robot body from the caching mechanism 1024 (or the unloading process of the caching mechanism 1024) is as follows: the height of the lifting mechanism 1011 is lowered to lower the buffer mechanism 1024 to the ground, at this time, the passive clamp 1012 is released (i.e., out of the state of being clamped between the lifting mechanism 1011 and the passive clamp 1012), and then the lifting mechanism 1011 is moved out from below the clamp fixing portion 1041, at this time, the separation between the buffer mechanism 1024 and the robot body is achieved.
Of course, in the embodiment of the present application, the buffer mechanism 1024 may not be provided with the clamping fixing portion 1041, and the docking unit may not be provided with the passive clamping member 1012, and only the lifting mechanism 1011 and the buffer mechanism 1024 are used to realize docking and undocking.
In order to lower the center of gravity during the transfer of the autonomous mobile robot 102 and improve the stability of the robot transfer process, the control unit 103 is configured to perform at least one of the following controls: the autonomous mobile robot 102 is scheduled to place the taken out inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory receptacle taken out of the inventory holder by the autonomous mobile robot 102, and the autonomous mobile robot 102 is scheduled to lower the inventory receptacle height after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory receptacle from the inventory holder and during the travel of the autonomous mobile robot 102 to the next designated location.
In an embodiment of the present application, after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory receptacle from the inventory holder and during the autonomous mobile robot 102 travels to the next designated location, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to lower the height of the inventory receptacle, keeps the low center of gravity transportation, and schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken out inventory receptacle on the buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory receptacle before traveling to the next designated location.
In another embodiment of the present application, the control unit 103 does not control the autonomous mobile robot 102 to lower the height of the inventory receptacle, and after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory receptacle from the inventory holder, the autonomous mobile robot 102 is scheduled to place the taken out inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory receptacle.
In an embodiment of the present application, the autonomous mobile robot 102 further includes a weighing mechanism, the autonomous mobile robot 102 reports the weight of the inventory receptacle weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit 103, and the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the inventory receptacle on a buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory receptacle. For example, a weighing mechanism is provided in the box taking mechanism 1021, and when the box taking mechanism 1021 takes out an inventory container, the autonomous mobile robot 102 reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit.
In the embodiment of the present application, the control unit 103 prestores the weight of the inventory receptacle on the inventory holder, and after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory receptacle from the inventory holder, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken-out inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the prestored weight of the inventory receptacle.
The weight of an inventory container may be pre-stored in the control unit 103 in correspondence with the location information of the inventory container on the inventory racks in the inventory area, e.g., the weight of an inventory container is pre-obtained before it is placed in an inventory holder, stored in the control unit in correspondence with the identity of the inventory container. After the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory container, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the inventory container on a predetermined buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory container, and since the weight is stored in advance, the control unit can directly schedule the buffer position where the inventory container is placed by using the stored weight data, and the weighing mechanism is not required to weigh and report the weight, so that the inventory container can be quickly and efficiently placed on the corresponding buffer position.
In an embodiment of the present application, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place inventory receptacles of greater weight in the lower buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024.
When the weight of the stock container is prestored in the control unit 103, the control unit 103 obtains the weight of each stock container to be taken out corresponding to the weight of each stock container according to at least one piece of task information received by the autonomous mobile robot 102, ranks the weight of each stock container from high to low, and after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the stock container, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the stock container with the higher weight in the lower buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024, so that the gravity center of the autonomous mobile robot is further lowered, and the stability during the transportation process is further improved.
In the case where the weight of the stock container is not prestored but obtained by the weighing mechanism after the box taking mechanism 1021 takes out, the autonomous mobile robot 102 may place the taken-out stock container in the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 in accordance with the weight of the taken-out stock container. For example, inventory containers having a weight less than a first threshold may be placed in the uppermost cache bit of the caching mechanism 1024 and inventory containers having a weight greater than a second threshold may be placed in the lowermost cache bit of the caching mechanism 1024. When the weight of the newly taken out inventory container is larger than the weight of the inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken out inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level by using the cache mechanism 1024, specifically, the box taking mechanism 1021 places the newly taken out inventory container on the robot main body, takes out the inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level to place the inventory container on the upper cache level, and places the newly taken out inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level.
In another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, the autonomous mobile robot 102 may be a robot without a cache mechanism, wherein the autonomous mobile robot 102 includes:
a case fetching mechanism 1021 configured to fetch one or more target inventory containers;
the lifting mechanism 1022 is configured to enable the box taking mechanism 1021 to be adjustable up and down, so that the box taking mechanism 1021 can take target inventory containers on the inventory support with different heights;
a robot motion chassis 1023 configured to enable said autonomous mobile robot to travel on a robot path according to a travel route planned by the control unit.
Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of an inventory management method provided in an embodiment of the present application, including steps 502 to 506.
Step 502: an autonomous mobile robot acquires at least one task information, wherein the autonomous mobile robot includes at least: the robot comprises a robot body and a cache mechanism located above the robot body, wherein the cache mechanism comprises one or more cache bits arranged in the vertical direction.
The task information may include an identification (number) of the inventory container to be taken or position information of the inventory container to be taken on the inventory holder, and the control unit stores a corresponding relationship between the position of the inventory container on the inventory holder and the identification (number) of the inventory container. The autonomous mobile robot adopts a structure that the caching mechanism 1024 shown in fig. 2 is fixedly connected with the robot body or a structure that the caching mechanism 1024 shown in fig. 3 is in butt joint with the robot body through a connection unit.
Step 504: and the autonomous mobile robot drives to at least one designated position corresponding to the at least one task information according to the at least one task information.
And aiming at the at least one piece of task information, planning an operation route for the autonomous mobile robot according to the identity (number) of the inventory container to be taken or the position information of the inventory container to be taken on the inventory support, and driving the autonomous mobile robot to at least one specified position corresponding to the identity (number) of the inventory container to be taken or the position information of the inventory container to be taken on the inventory support according to the operation route.
Step 506: the control unit controls the autonomous mobile robot to take out an inventory container corresponding to the at least one piece of task information on an inventory support in an inventory area, and schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container, and/or schedules the autonomous mobile robot to lower the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process of driving the autonomous mobile robot to a next designated position. The weight of the stock container may be obtained every time one stock container is taken out, or may be prestored in the control unit, as will be described later.
In an embodiment of the present application, the autonomous mobile robot 102 includes a weighing mechanism, and the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the taken inventory receptacle by: the autonomous mobile robot 102 reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit 103, and the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory container.
Specifically, the autonomous mobile robot 102 reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit 103, and the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the inventory container on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory container. For example, a weighing mechanism may be provided in the box taking mechanism 1021, and when the box taking mechanism 1021 takes out an inventory container, the autonomous mobile robot reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit 103.
In an embodiment of the present application, the control unit 103 prestores the weight of the inventory receptacle on the inventory holder, and the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory receptacle on the buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the taken inventory receptacle by: after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out an inventory receptacle from the inventory holder, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken out inventory receptacle on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the pre-stored inventory receptacle.
The weight of an inventory container may be pre-stored in the control unit 103 in correspondence with the location information of the inventory container on the inventory racks in the inventory area, e.g., the weight of an inventory container is pre-obtained before it is placed in an inventory holder, stored in the control unit in correspondence with the identity of the inventory container. After the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the inventory container, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the inventory container on a predetermined buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory container, and since the weight is stored in advance, the control unit can directly schedule the buffer position where the inventory container is placed by using the stored weight data, and the weighing mechanism is not required to weigh and report the weight, so that the inventory container can be quickly and efficiently placed on the corresponding buffer position.
In an embodiment of the present application, the control unit 103 may schedule the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the taken out inventory container by: the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place inventory receptacles of greater weight in the lower buffer positions of the buffer mechanism 1024.
When the weight of the stock container is prestored in the control unit 103, the control unit 103 obtains the weight of each stock container to be taken out corresponding to the weight of each stock container according to at least one piece of task information received by the autonomous mobile robot 102, ranks the weight of each stock container from high to low, and after the autonomous mobile robot 102 takes out the stock container, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the stock container with the higher weight in the lower buffer position of the buffer mechanism 1024, so that the gravity center of the autonomous mobile robot is further lowered, and the stability during the transportation process is further improved.
In the case where the weight of the stock container is not prestored but obtained by the weighing mechanism after the box taking mechanism 1021 takes out, the autonomous mobile robot 102 may place the taken-out stock container in the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 in accordance with the weight of the taken-out stock container. For example, inventory containers having a weight less than a first threshold may be placed in the uppermost cache bit of the caching mechanism 1024 and inventory containers having a weight greater than a second threshold may be placed in the lowermost cache bit of the caching mechanism 1024. When the weight of the newly taken out inventory container is larger than the weight of the inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level, the control unit 103 schedules the autonomous mobile robot 102 to place the taken out inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level by using the cache mechanism 1024, specifically, the box taking mechanism 1021 places the newly taken out inventory container on the robot main body, takes out the inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level to place the inventory container on the upper cache level, and places the newly taken out inventory container on the lower predetermined cache level.
In the embodiment of the present application, the cache mechanism 1024 is not fixedly connected to the robot body, and the robot body further includes: and the robot body is in butt joint with or undock from the cache mechanism 1024 through the connection unit.
Before the autonomous mobile robot travels to a designated location corresponding to the at least one task information, the inventory management method further includes: the autonomous mobile robot 102 travels to a position to interface with the cache structure 1024; the control unit 103 controls the docking unit of the autonomous mobile robot 102 to dock with the cache mechanism 1024.
After scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the taken out inventory container, the inventory management method further includes: the autonomous mobile robot travels to a workstation; the control unit controls the docking unit of the autonomous mobile robot to be undocked from the cache mechanism 1024, and unloads the cache mechanism 1024 on a workstation.
Specifically, after receiving at least one piece of task information, the autonomous mobile robot 102 travels to a position where the autonomous mobile robot is docked with an empty cache mechanism 1024, the control unit controls the docking unit to dock with the cache mechanism 1024, the autonomous mobile robot 102 travels to a designated position corresponding to the at least one piece of task information according to a designated route to take out corresponding inventory containers, the plurality of inventory containers are placed on cache positions of the cache mechanism 1024 one by one, then the autonomous mobile robot travels to a workstation together with the cache mechanism 1024, the docking unit is undocked from the cache mechanism 1024 to realize separation, the cache mechanism 1024 where the inventory containers are stored is unloaded to the workstation, and a worker at the workstation can place goods into the inventory containers, and another autonomous mobile robot stores the inventory containers on the cache mechanism 1024 to an inventory support at the designated position. The autonomous mobile robot is in butt joint with the new caching mechanism 1024 to continue to execute the goods taking task, so that the working efficiency of the autonomous mobile robot is improved, and the recycling of the caching mechanism is realized.
Specifically, the docking unit is docked with or undocked from the cache mechanism 1024 by a lifting mechanism and/or an electromagnetic device.
In the above, the control unit in the inventory management system exists in the inventory management system independently of the autonomous mobile robot, and in practical applications, the control unit may be located on the autonomous mobile robot, and the control unit on the autonomous mobile robot may schedule the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism or may schedule the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on the buffer bit of the buffer mechanism 1024 according to the weight of the pre-stored inventory container.
Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another inventory management method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the inventory management method includes steps 602 to 606.
Step 602: the autonomous mobile robot acquires at least one task information;
step 604: the autonomous mobile robot drives to at least one designated position corresponding to the at least one task information according to the at least one task information;
step 606: and the control unit controls the autonomous mobile robot to take out the inventory container corresponding to the at least one piece of task information on the inventory support in the inventory area, and dispatches the autonomous mobile robot to reduce the height of the inventory container in the process that the autonomous mobile robot runs to the next specified position.
Specifically, the autonomous mobile robot in the present embodiment is a robot without a cache mechanism as shown in fig. 4, and the inventory management method includes: the robot acquires at least one piece of task information, and the at least one piece of task information indicates that the robot takes at least one container; the autonomous mobile robot drives to the designated position corresponding to the at least one task information, the autonomous mobile robot is controlled to take out the container corresponding to the task information, and in the process of running to the next target position, the container taking mechanism is dispatched to reduce the height of the container, so that the gravity center of the autonomous mobile robot is reduced, and the stability in the carrying process is improved.
The foregoing description has been directed to specific embodiments of this disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in a different order than in the embodiments and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may also be possible or may be advantageous.
It should be noted that, for the sake of simplicity, the above-mentioned method embodiments are described as a series of acts or combinations, but those skilled in the art should understand that the present application is not limited by the described order of acts, as some steps may be performed in other orders or simultaneously according to the present application. Further, those skilled in the art should also appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are preferred embodiments and that the acts and modules referred to are not necessarily required in this application.
In the above embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have respective emphasis, and for parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference may be made to related descriptions of other embodiments.
The preferred embodiments of the present application disclosed above are intended only to aid in the explanation of the application. Alternative embodiments are not exhaustive and do not limit the invention to the precise embodiments described. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the application and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best understand and utilize the application. The application is limited only by the claims and their full scope and equivalents.
Claims (10)
1. An inventory management system, comprising: an inventory area, an autonomous mobile robot, and a control unit; the autonomous mobile robot includes at least: robot body and the caching mechanism who is located the robot body top, caching mechanism includes the one or more cache position that sets up along vertical direction, wherein:
the autonomous mobile robot is configured to travel to a designated location of an inventory area according to the acquired at least one task information, and perform at least one of the following operations: taking out and placing the inventory container on the inventory support in the inventory area on the cache position of the cache mechanism, and taking out and placing the inventory container on the cache position of the cache mechanism on the inventory support;
the control unit is configured to perform at least one of the following controls: and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container taken out of the inventory support by the autonomous mobile robot, and scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to reduce the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process of driving to the next specified position by the autonomous mobile robot.
2. The inventory management system of claim 1, wherein said autonomous mobile robot further comprises a weighing mechanism, said autonomous mobile robot reporting the weight of the inventory receptacle weighed by said weighing mechanism to said control unit, said control unit scheduling said autonomous mobile robot to place the inventory receptacle on a buffer location of a buffer mechanism based on the weight of the inventory receptacle.
3. The inventory management system of claim 1, wherein the control unit prestores weights of the inventory receptacles on the inventory holders, and wherein after the autonomous mobile robot removes an inventory receptacle from an inventory holder, the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the removed inventory receptacle on a buffer bit of the buffer mechanism according to the prestored weights of the inventory receptacles.
4. The inventory management system according to any of claims 1-3, wherein said control unit schedules said autonomous mobile robot to place inventory receptacles of greater weight in a lower buffer position of a buffer mechanism.
5. The inventory management system of claim 1, wherein said cache mechanism is fixedly attached to said robot body.
6. An inventory management method, comprising:
an autonomous mobile robot acquires at least one task information, wherein the autonomous mobile robot includes at least: the robot comprises a robot body and a cache mechanism positioned above the robot body, wherein the cache mechanism comprises one or more cache positions arranged along the vertical direction;
the autonomous mobile robot drives to at least one designated position corresponding to the at least one task information according to the at least one task information;
the control unit controls the autonomous mobile robot to take out an inventory container corresponding to the at least one piece of task information on an inventory support in an inventory area, and schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the taken out inventory container, and/or schedules the autonomous mobile robot to lower the height of the inventory container after the autonomous mobile robot takes out the inventory container from the inventory support and in the process of driving the autonomous mobile robot to a next designated position.
7. The inventory management method of claim 6, wherein said autonomous mobile robot includes a weighing mechanism, and wherein said control unit scheduling said autonomous mobile robot to place a removed inventory receptacle on a buffer location of a buffer mechanism according to a weight of the removed inventory receptacle includes:
the autonomous mobile robot reports the weight of the inventory container weighed by the weighing mechanism to the control unit;
the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken out inventory container on a buffer position of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the inventory container.
8. The inventory management method of claim 6, wherein the control unit prestores weights of the inventory receptacles on the inventory holders, and wherein the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the retrieved inventory receptacles on the buffer locations of the buffer mechanism according to the weights of the retrieved inventory receptacles comprises:
and the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place the taken inventory container on a buffer position of the buffer mechanism according to the weight of the pre-stored inventory container.
9. The inventory management method according to any of claims 6-8, wherein said control unit scheduling the autonomous mobile robot to place the removed inventory receptacle on a buffer location of a buffer mechanism according to the weight of the removed inventory receptacle comprises:
the control unit schedules the autonomous mobile robot to place inventory receptacles of greater weight in a lower buffer level of the buffer mechanism.
10. The inventory management method as recited in claim 6 wherein said robot body further comprises: the robot body is in butt joint with or is not in butt joint with the cache mechanism through the connection unit;
before the autonomous mobile robot travels to a designated location corresponding to the at least one task information, the inventory management method further includes:
the autonomous mobile robot drives to a position where the autonomous mobile robot is in butt joint with the cache structure;
the control unit controls the docking unit of the autonomous mobile robot to dock with the cache mechanism.
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