CN111766854A

CN111766854A - Control system and control method for AGV cooperative transportation

Info

Publication number: CN111766854A
Application number: CN201910237095.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 徐炳炎
Original assignee: Hangzhou Hikrobot Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hangzhou Hikrobot Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-27
Filing date: 2019-03-27
Publication date: 2020-10-13

Abstract

The invention provides a control system for AGV cooperative transportation. Based on the control system provided by the invention, the control device can group the first AGV and the second AGV according to the carrying task and map the grouped first AGV and second AGV into one virtual AGV, so that the virtual AGV actually mapping the two AGVs can be controlled in a mode similar to that of controlling a single AGV, and the cooperative carrying of the two AGVs can be realized. The invention also provides a control method for AGV cooperative transportation.

Description

Control system and control method for AGV cooperative transportation

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of industrial automation, and in particular, to a system and a method for controlling cooperative transport of AGVs (automatic guided vehicles), and an AGV suitable for cooperative transport of dual AGVs.

Background

An AGV is a transport that can travel automatically. Through the reasonable scheduling of the AGV, various carrying tasks can be efficiently completed by utilizing the flexibility of the AGV.

However, current transport tasks are limited to the independent involvement of a single AGV.

Disclosure of Invention

In one embodiment, a control system for AGV coordinated transport is provided, the control system comprising a control device, and a first AGV and a second AGV, wherein:

the control device is used for mapping a first AGV and a second AGV which mutually determine master and slave identities into a virtual AGV and descending an operation instruction which indicates the virtual AGV to carry out carrying operation on the target object to the first AGV with the master AGV identity;

the first AGV is used for responding to an operation instruction issued by the control device and initiating the cooperative operation of the first AGV and the second AGV on the target;

and the second AGV is used for synchronously executing the cooperative operation on the target with the first AGV according to the identity of the slave AGV.

Optionally, the operation instruction issued by the control device to the first AGV includes a lift instruction instructing the virtual AGV to lift the target, and a move instruction instructing the virtual AGV to move the lifted target.

Optionally, the control device is further configured to issue a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV, respectively, and the first AGV and the second AGV are further configured to establish communication connection therebetween in response to the grouping instruction issued by the control device; or the control device is further used for issuing a grouping instruction to the first AGV, and the first AGV is further used for responding to the grouping instruction issued by the control device and initiating the establishment of the communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV.

Optionally, the control device is further configured to specify a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV in the grouping instruction, so that the grouping instruction is further configured to trigger the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities.

Optionally, the control device further issues a scheduling instruction for scheduling the virtual AGV to the position where the target corresponding to the transfer task is located to the first AGV before issuing the operation instruction to the first AGV, and the first AGV further moves to the position where the target is located in response to the scheduling instruction issued by the control device and initiates relay scheduling pointing to the position where the target is located to the second AGV; the second AGV further responds to the relay schedule of the first AGV to move to the position of the target; or the control device further issues independent dispatching instructions pointing to the positions of the targets to the first AGV and the second AGV respectively before issuing the operation instructions to the first AGV; the first AGV and the second AGV further move to the position of the object independently of each other in response to an independent dispatching command issued by the control device.

In another embodiment, a control method for AGV cooperative transport is provided, the control method including:

the control device maps a first AGV and a second AGV which mutually determine master-slave identities into a virtual AGV;

the control device sends an operating instruction to a first AGV with a master AGV identity, the operating instruction indicates a virtual AGV to carry out carrying operation on the target, and the operating instruction is used for triggering the first AGV to initiate and synchronously carry out cooperative operation on the target with a second AGV with a slave AGV identity.

Optionally, the operation instruction that the control device instructs the virtual AGV to perform the transport operation on the object to the first AGV includes: the control device first issues a lift instruction instructing the first AGV to lift the target object and a movement instruction instructing the virtual AGV to move the lifted target object.

Optionally, the control method further comprises: the control device respectively issues a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV, wherein the grouping instruction is used for triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to establish communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV; or, the control device issues a grouping instruction to the first AGV, and the grouping instruction is used for triggering the first AGV to initiate the establishment of the communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV.

Optionally, the control method further comprises: the control device specifies a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV in the grouping instruction, so that the grouping instruction is further used for triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities.

Optionally, the control method further comprises: the control device issues a dispatching instruction for dispatching the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task to the first AGV, wherein the dispatching instruction is used for triggering the first AGV to move to the position of the target and initiating relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target to the second AGV.

In another embodiment, a control device for AGV coordinated transport is provided, the control device comprising a processor for causing the control device to perform the steps of the control method as described above.

the method comprises the steps that a first AGV receives an operation instruction which is issued by a control device and indicates a virtual AGV to carry out carrying operation on a target, and the virtual AGV has a mapping relation with a first AGV and a second AGV which mutually determine master and slave identities;

and the first AGV responds to an operation instruction given by the control device and initiates the cooperative operation of the first AGV and the second AGV on the target.

Optionally, the control method further comprises: the first AGV responds to a grouping instruction of the appointed master-slave identity issued by the control device, and initiates establishment of communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV and mutual confirmation of the master-slave identity when the first AGV is appointed to have the master AGV identity in the grouping instruction.

Optionally, the control method further comprises: and the first AGV responds to a dispatching instruction which is issued by the control device and dispatches the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task, moves to the position of the target and initiates relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target to the second AGV.

In another embodiment, an AGV is provided that includes a processor for causing the AGV to perform the steps performed by the first AGV in the control method described above. .

Based on the above embodiment, the control device can group the first AGV and the second AGV for the transportation task and map the grouped first AGV and second AGV into one virtual AGV, so that the virtual AGVs actually mapping the two AGVs can be controlled in a manner similar to that of controlling a single AGV, and the cooperative transportation of the two AGVs can be realized.

Drawings

The following drawings are only schematic illustrations and explanations of the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an AGV grouping of a control system for coordinated transport of AGVs according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of AGV scheduling for the control system for collaborative handling of AGVs in one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an AGV cooperative transport of the control system for AGV cooperative transport in one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a synchronization verification interaction mechanism suitable for use in the AGV cooperative transport principle shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a synchronization instruction used in the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6 a-6 d are schematic diagrams of examples of the synchronization instruction shown in FIG. 5 in the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in FIG. 4;

FIGS. 7a to 7d are schematic diagrams of an example of a cooperative transport operation based on the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of AGV electrical configurations for use in a control system for coordinated transport of AGVs;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a control method for AGV cooperative transport in one embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an expanded flow diagram of the control method shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a further expanded flow of the control method shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the execution of cooperative operations in the control method shown in FIG. 11;

fig. 13 is an exemplary flow diagram of the synchronicity check mechanism during a cooperative operation as shown in fig. 12.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

In the embodiments described below, it is intended to allow the AGVs to cooperatively complete a transport job, and the AGVs cooperatively completing the transport job may be managed and controlled as one virtual AGV. The transportation task may include a scheduling stage of moving to the position of the object, and an operating stage of performing real transportation operation on the object at the position of the object or starting from the position of the object.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an AGV grouping for a control system for coordinated transport of AGVs according to one embodiment. Referring initially to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, a control system for cooperative transport of AGVs includes a control device 10 and a first AGV21 and a second AGV 22.

In order to support the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 to cooperatively complete the transport task, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be first grouped by the control device 10. Since the following description of the present embodiment will be given by taking the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 as an example, only the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 are shown in fig. 1, but this does not exclude the presence of other AGVs in the control system. It can be considered that the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 are two AGVs selected from a group of a plurality of AGVs.

The selection of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be performed in a random manner, or may be selected in consideration of other factors.

For example, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be selected from a plurality of AGVs in consideration of the vehicle distance, that is, the control device 10 may calculate that the distance between the parking positions of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 does not exceed the preset vehicle distance threshold value, and select the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 on this condition.

For example, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be selected from a plurality of AGVs in consideration of the remaining power, that is, the control device 10 may estimate that the remaining power of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 exceeds the power consumption required for the transport job and select the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 on this condition, or the control device 10 may estimate that the remaining power exceeds the power consumption required for the transport job and select the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 having close remaining power for the subsequent centralized charging management.

For another example, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be selected from a plurality of AGVs in consideration of the vehicle configuration, that is, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 selected by the control device 10 may have the same or close configuration, and the control device 10 may identify the degree of matching of the configurations between the different AGVs by the vehicle models of the AGVs.

For example, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be selected from a plurality of AGVs in consideration of the vehicle cooperation history, that is, although there is known standardized performance of AGVs having the same or similar configuration, there may be differences in actual performance of AGVs having the same or similar configuration due to unknown factors such as assembly and wear, and therefore, the control device 10 may select the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 having higher adaptability to be grouped by evaluating the cooperation history.

As shown in fig. 1, the control device 10 may group the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 in response to an externally input transport job and

issue group instructions

111 and 112 to the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, respectively. That is, the grouping of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may occur immediately when the control device 10 is reached by the transfer task.

Accordingly, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 establish a communication link 200 therebetween in response to the

grouping commands

111 and 112 issued by the control device 10, respectively. In addition, the control device 10 can further determine the master-slave identities of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 in the

formation commands

111 and 112 issued to the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, respectively, so that the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can mutually confirm the master AGV identity of the first AGV21 and the slave AGV identity of the second AGV22 after the communication connection between the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 is established.

It is understood that the control device 10 may issue a grouping command to only the first AGV21 designated as the master AGV, and the first AGV21 with the identity of the master AGV initiates the establishment of the communication link between the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 in response to the grouping command issued by the control device 10. As one implementation, the control may specify the first AGV21, the second AGV22, and the master and slave identities of the first AGV22 in the group command so that the first AGV21 can establish a communication link directly with the second AGV22 and ascertain the master and slave identities of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 in the group. Or, as another implementation, the control device may also only specify the master AGV identities of the first AGV21 and the first AGV21 in the grouping instruction, and then the first AGV21 may select the second AGV22 from the AGVs, establish a communication connection with the second AGV22, and notify the second AGV22 to confirm the master AGV identity of the first AGV21 and the slave AGV identity of the second AGV 22; for the selection of the second AGV22, the first AGV21 may adopt a random selection mode, or may be selected by considering other factors (such as vehicle distance, remaining power, vehicle configuration, cooperation history, etc.).

As can also be seen from fig. 1, the control device 10 may also map the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 grouped in response to the externally input transport job as one virtual AGV20 in order to manage and control the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 in the manner of one virtual AGV 20. Further, for the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 mapped as the virtual AGV20, the first AGV21 having the master AGV identity can be managed and controlled by the control device 10 as the master AGV, and the second AGV22 having the slave AGV identity can be regarded as the slave AGV following the first AGV 21.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of AGV scheduling for the control system for collaborative handling of AGVs in one embodiment. Referring to fig. 2, the control device 10 may issue a scheduling command 121 to the first AGV21 to schedule the virtual AGV20 to a position where the object corresponding to the transfer task is located.

Accordingly, the first AGV21 can move to the location of the destination in response to the dispatch instruction 121 issued by the control 10 and initiate a relayed dispatch to the location of the destination to the second AGV22, e.g., the first AGV21 can issue a relayed dispatch instruction 122 to the second AGV22 that is substantially consistent with the dispatch information in the dispatch instruction 121, whereby the second AGV22 can move to the location of the destination in response to the relayed dispatch by the first AGV.

The scheduling instruction 121 may include coordinate information of a position where the target object is located, where the coordinate information may be a center coordinate of the target object. For the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 each having the center coordinate of the object as the dispatching destination coordinate, the center coordinate of the object may not be the final moving object of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, but the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 determine a search range with the center coordinate of the object and respectively search for the operation bits each for performing the subsequent operation within the search range.

For example, taking a vehicle as an example of an object, the scheduling instruction 121 moves the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 relay-scheduled by the first AGV21 to the center coordinates of the vehicle, and searches for tires within a search range determined by the center coordinates of the vehicle, so that the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 relay-scheduled by the first AGV21 can determine the position between a pair of front wheels and the position between a pair of rear wheels as the respective operation positions.

The above process may also be considered that the scheduling stage includes a scheduling moving process taking the position of the target object as a scheduling purpose, and an operation position finding process taking the position of the target object as a reference.

In addition, the first AGV21 may report a response to the control device 10 that the virtual AGV is scheduled to complete after both the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 reach the target position.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of AGV cooperative transport in the control system for AGV cooperative transport according to one embodiment. Referring to fig. 3, after the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 relay-scheduled by the first AGV21 cooperate to complete the scheduling of the virtual AGV20, the control device 10 may download an operation instruction 131 instructing the virtual AGV20 to perform a transporting operation on the object to the first AGV21 having the master AGV identity.

Accordingly, the first AGV 10 can initiate the cooperative operation of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 with respect to the object in response to the operation instruction 131 issued by the control device 10, and the second AGV22 performs the cooperative operation with respect to the object in synchronization with the first AGV21 in accordance with the slave AGV identity.

Further, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may check the operation preparation state before the cooperative operation, notify each other of the operation schedules during the cooperative operation, and implement the synchronization constraint 132 with respect to each other by checking the synchronicity of the operation schedules of both the AGVs.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a synchronization verification interaction mechanism suitable for the AGV cooperative transport principle shown in FIG. 3. As shown in fig. 4:

the first AGV21 with the master AGV identity is used as the master of the system operation, and first checks the preparation status of the own at S410, and after checking that the preparation status of the own is qualified at S410, sends a synchronization request to the second AGV22 with the slave AGV identity through S420;

the second AGV22 checks the ready state of the present at S430 in response to the synchronization request of the first AGV21, and replies a synchronization confirmation to the first AGV21 through S440 after the check of the ready state of the present is passed;

after receiving the synchronization confirmation fed back by the second AGV22, the first AGV21 initiates a synchronous start to the second AGV22 through S450, and then the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can perform a cooperative operation and notify each other of the operation progress through S460 during the cooperative operation.

Based on the operation schedules notified from S460, either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can slow down the operation schedule of this embodiment when the operation schedule of this embodiment reaches a preset threshold value as compared with the advance margin of the other, and either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can further stop the operation schedule of this embodiment when the operation schedule of this embodiment reaches a preset limit value as compared with the advance margin of the other until the operation schedule of the other advances to a degree that compensates for the advance margin, and then both ends and returns to S410 to restart the synchronism check.

In addition, the first AGV21 may report a response to the control device 10 that the operation of the target by the virtual AGV is completed, after the cooperative operation of the target by the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 is completed.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a synchronization instruction used in the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in fig. 4. Fig. 6a to 6d are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of the synchronization instruction shown in fig. 5 in the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in fig. 4. Referring to fig. 5 in conjunction with fig. 4 and fig. 6a to 6d, a sync message having a format shown in fig. 5 may be used in the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in fig. 4, where the sync message includes: an AGV identification field 51 in which an AGV identification of the first AGV21 or the second AGV22 can be filled; a task identifier field 52, in which a task identifier of a transport task corresponding to the cooperative operation currently performed by the first AGV21 or the second AGV22 can be filled; a message type field 53 in which the type of the sync message may be filled, fig. 6a illustrates the sync request message used at S420 in fig. 4, fig. 6b illustrates the sync confirm message used at S440 in fig. 4, fig. 6c illustrates the sync start message used at S450 in fig. 4, and fig. 6d illustrates the sync status message used at S460 in fig. 4.

Also, the message format shown in fig. 5 includes an additional information field 54, which can selectively carry information according to the message type. For example, the synchronization request message shown in fig. 6a may carry the synchronization preparation maturity information of the first AGV21 in the additional information field 54, the synchronization confirmation message shown in fig. 6b may carry the synchronization preparation maturity information of the second AGV22 in the additional information field 54, and the maturity information shown in fig. 6a and 6b may indicate the completion progress of the preparation work of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 that has reached the standard; the synchronization start message shown in fig. 6c may carry the synchronization target information of the cooperative operation (reference information for measuring whether the cooperative operation is completed) in the additional information field 54, and the synchronization status message shown in fig. 6d may carry status information such as the local operation progress of the first AGV21 or the second AGV22 in the additional information field 54.

In actual use, the operation instruction 131 issued by the control device 10 to the first AGV21 may include two instructions issued in sequence, that is, a lift instruction instructing the virtual AGV20 to lift the target and a move instruction instructing the virtual AGV20 to move the lifted target.

For example, fig. 3 shows that the gripping tooth 211 of the first AGV21 and the gripping tooth 221 of the second AGV22 are closed to grip the wheel 23 of the car as the target object, that is, after the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 grip the wheel 23 of the car to be lifted by using the gripping

teeth

211 and 221, the lifting mechanism (not shown in fig. 3) of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 drives the gripping

teeth

211 and 221 to lift the car in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface so as to lift the car for moving the car to be lifted subsequently. For the example shown in fig. 3, the aforementioned positioning can be considered as the positioning of the

gripping teeth

211 and 221 at positions that can accurately grip the wheel 23. Of course, the holding manner of the lifting mechanism and the clamping

teeth

211 and 221 can be replaced by other manners, for example, the clamping teeth can be linearly telescopic, and the horizontal height of the clamping teeth can be raised and lowered along with the telescopic degree.

Fig. 7a to 7d are schematic diagrams of an example of a cooperative transport operation based on the synchronization check interaction mechanism shown in fig. 4.

Referring first to fig. 7a, for cooperative lifting operation, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may utilize a difference between lifting heights to perform synchronization verification of the cooperative lifting operation, so as to form a synchronization constraint 132 with a virtual leveling function between the lifting mechanism 212 of the first AGV21 and the lifting mechanism 222 of the second AGV 22.

Accordingly, either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can slow down the lifting speed of this recipe when the lifting height of this recipe reaches a preset threshold value as compared with the advance width of the other one, and either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can further stop the lifting operation of this recipe when the lifting height of this recipe reaches a preset limit value as compared with the advance width of the other one until the lifting height of the other one advances to such an extent as to compensate for the advance width, and then both sides stop and restart the synchronism verification.

Referring to fig. 7b, for the cooperative moving operation, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can use the integral values of the linear velocity difference and the angular velocity difference to perform the synchronization check of the cooperative moving operation, so as to form the synchronization constraint 132 with the virtual bridging effect between the chassis mechanism of the first AGV21 and the chassis mechanism of the second AGV 22.

For example, the linear velocity ν 1 of the first AGV21 may be decomposed into components ν 1X and ν 1Y in two directions of an X axis and a Y axis of a reference coordinate system, the linear velocity ν 2 of the second AGV22 may be decomposed into components ν 2X and ν 2Y in two directions of an X axis and a Y axis of a reference coordinate system, and the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 each have an angular velocity ω 1 and ω 2, then the integral values ^ Δ ν X and ^ Δ ν Y of the linear velocity difference and the integral value ^ Δ ω of the angular velocity difference may be obtained according to the following formulas 1 to 3:

═ Δ ν x formula 1 (ν 1x- ν 2x) ═ Δ ν x formula 1

═ v 1 y-v 2y ═ Δ v y formula 2

Integral (ω 1- ω 2) ═ Δ ω formula 3

Since the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 move while supporting the same object together, the positional deviation between the two is not so large. By using the above-described integrated values to characterize the positional deviation between the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, the synchronization constraint 132 having a virtual characteristic of rigidity without losing flexibility can be formed more accurately between the first AGV21 and the second AGV 22.

Accordingly, either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can slow down the traveling speed of this method when at least one of the integrated values calculated by this method is a positive value and reaches the preset threshold value, and further, either one of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 can stop the traveling operation of this method until the other traveling position advances to the extent of reducing the integrated value, and then both ends stop and restart the synchronism check when at least one of the integrated values calculated by this method is a positive value and reaches the preset threshold value.

Referring again to fig. 7c and 7d, during the lifting operation shown in fig. 7a and the moving operation shown in fig. 7b, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be further physically connected via the docking mechanism 70 to achieve physical integration of the first AGV21 and the second AGV 22. The physical connection formed by the docking structure 70 may place constraints on the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 that are more conducive to performing the cooperative operation simultaneously. The docking mechanism 70 may dock after the first AGV21 receives the lift instruction (it may be considered that the docking process of the docking mechanism 70 is part of the operation preparation), that is, the first AGV21 may further respond to the lift instruction issued by the control device 10 to initiate the physical docking between the first AGV21 and the second AGV21 by using the docking mechanism 70. Also, the docking mechanism 70 may be disconnected after the completion of the moving operation to release the flexibility of independent movement of the first AGV21 and the second AGV 22.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary AGV electrical configuration for use in a control system for coordinated transport of AGVs according to one embodiment. Referring to fig. 8, the first AGV21 may have a first processor 810, an upstream communication module 811 for establishing a communication connection with the control apparatus 10, and a grouping communication module 812 for establishing a communication connection with the second AGV22, and the second AGV22 may have a second processor 820 and a multiplexing communication module 821, and the multiplexing communication module 821 may establish a communication connection with the grouping communication module 812 of the first AGV21 during the period when the second AGV22 is grouped with the first AGV21 from the AGV's identity, and establish a communication connection with the control apparatus 10 before the successful grouping and after the grouping cancellation.

As can be further seen from fig. 8, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 respectively have

respective sensor modules

813 and 823, and the

sensor modules

813 and 823 may include an avoidance detection sensor for avoiding obstacles (including mutual avoidance) of the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, an object detection sensor for realizing positioning of the operation positions by the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, a lift progress detection sensor for detecting lift heights by the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, a speed detection sensor for detecting a linear speed and an angular speed of travel by the first AGV21 and the second AGV22, and the like.

In addition, the control device 10 shown in fig. 8 may include a processor 11 and a communication module 12, wherein the processor 10 may be used to implement the AGV grouping and the generation and issuing of the aforementioned various commands, and the communication module 12 may implement the communication connection with one or more AGVs (including the first AGV21 and the second AGV 22).

As can be seen from the above-described embodiment, the control device 10 can group the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 for a transfer task and map the grouped first AGV21 and second AGV22 into one virtual AGV20, whereby the virtual AGVs 20 actually mapping the two AGVs can be controlled in a manner similar to controlling a single AGV, so that the cooperative transfer of the double AGVs can be realized.

In the above embodiment, the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 trigger grouping when the control device 10 receives the transport job, the control device 10 maps the virtual AGV20 immediately after the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 are grouped, and the control device 10 schedules the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 with the virtual AGV20 as the control object, but it is understood that the timing of grouping and the timing of mapping the virtual AGV20 may be delayed until the cooperative operation is performed, and accordingly, the control manner of scheduling the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 may be adjusted to be independently scheduled along with the delay of grouping and mapping the virtual AGV 20. For example, the control device 10 may issue independent scheduling commands directed to the position where the object is located to the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 respectively before issuing the operation commands to the first AGV21, so that the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 move to the position where the object is located independently of each other in response to the independent scheduling commands issued respectively by the control device 10, and then the control device 10 maps the first AGV21 and the second AGV22 to the virtual AGV20 and issues the operation commands to the first AGV21 indicating that the virtual AGVs 20 cooperatively transport.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a control method for AGV cooperative transport according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 9, in one embodiment, a control method for AGV cooperative transport includes:

s910: the control device maps a first AGV and a second AGV which mutually confirm master-slave identities into a virtual AGV.

S920: the control device issues an operation instruction to a first AGV having a master AGV identity, the operation instruction instructing the virtual AGV to perform a transport operation on the target.

S930: the first AGV receives an operation instruction which is sent by the control device and instructs the virtual AGV to carry out carrying operation on the target object. The first AGV has the capacity of recognizing that the virtual AGV has a mapping relation with the first AGV and the second AGV which mutually determine the master-slave identity.

S940: the first AGV initiates the cooperative operation of the target object to be executed synchronously with the second AGV having the slave AGV identity in response to the operation instruction issued by the control device.

In the above-described flow, S910 and S920 may be regarded as steps included in a control method executed by the control apparatus, and S930 and S940 may be regarded as steps included in a control method executed by the AGV.

After the process, the first AGV can report to the control device that the operation of the virtual AGV on the target is completed after the cooperative operation of the first AGV and the second AGV on the target is completed.

The above-described flow enables the first AGV and the second AGV to control and execute the transport operation by the control device in such a manner as to be regarded as one virtual AGV. As an extension, the first AGV and the second AGV are scheduled by the control device in a manner that is considered to be one virtual AGV.

Fig. 10 is an expanded flow diagram of the control method shown in fig. 9. As shown in fig. 10, in one embodiment, the control method for AGV cooperative transport may be extended to:

s1010: the control device groups the first AGV and the second AGV in response to the externally input carrying task and issues a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV respectively. The control device can further specify a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV in the grouping instruction, so that the grouping instruction further has an additional function of triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities on the basis of having a basic function of triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to group.

S1020: the first AGV and the second AGV respond to a grouping instruction issued by the control device to establish communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV, and mutually confirm the identity of the master AGV of the first AGV and the identity of the slave AGV of the second AGV.

For the grouping stage of S1010-S1020: as an alternative to S1010, the control device may issue a grouping instruction only to the first AGV determined as the master AGV after grouping the first AGV and the second AGV in response to the externally input transport task; accordingly, as an alternative to S1020, the first AGV may initiate establishment of a communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV in response to a grouping instruction issued by the control device, and mutually confirm the master AGV identity of the first AGV and the slave AGV identity of the second AGV. It is understood that, for such an alternative, if the control device chooses to issue a grouping command to the second AGV, the first AGV and the second AGV can also establish a communication connection and mutually confirm the master and slave identities.

S1030: the control device maps a first AGV and a second AGV which confirm the master-slave identities after marshalling into a virtual AGV.

S1040: and the control device issues a dispatching instruction for dispatching the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task to the first AGV with the identity of the main AGV.

S1050: the first AGV responds to a dispatching instruction issued by the control device to move to the position of the target object, and initiates relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target object to the second AGV with the slave AGV identity.

In step S1050, the first AGV reports completion of scheduling of the virtual AGV to the control device after the first AGV and the second AGV both reach the position of the target.

For the scheduling phase of S1040-S1050: as an alternative of S1040, the control device may issue independent scheduling instructions pointing to the positions of the objects to the first AGV and the second AGV, respectively, and accordingly, as an alternative of S1050, the first AGV and the second AGV may move to the positions of the objects independently of each other in response to the independent scheduling instructions issued by the control device, and report completion of scheduling to the control device after reaching the positions of the objects, respectively.

S1060: the control device issues an operation instruction to a first AGV having a master AGV identity, the operation instruction instructing the virtual AGV to perform a transport operation on the target.

If the first AGV and the second AGV are equipped with the matching docking mechanism, the first AGV may further initiate physical docking between the first AGV and the second AGV after S1060 by using the docking mechanism.

S1070: the first AGV initiates the cooperative operation of the target object to be executed synchronously with the second AGV having the slave AGV identity in response to the operation instruction issued by the control device.

In addition, S1060 in the above flow may specifically include: the control device first issues a lift instruction instructing the first AGV to lift the target object and a movement instruction instructing the virtual AGV to move the lifted target object. Accordingly, S1070 needs to be executed correspondingly once for both the lift instruction and the move instruction.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a further expanded flow of the control method shown in fig. 9. Referring to fig. 11, the flow shown in fig. 9 can be further expanded to:

s1110: the control device groups the first AGV and the second AGV in response to the externally input carrying task and issues a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV respectively. The control device can further specify a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV in the grouping instruction, so that the grouping instruction further has an additional function of triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities on the basis of having a basic function of triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to group.

S1120: the first AGV and the second AGV respond to a grouping instruction issued by the control device to establish communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV, and mutually confirm the identity of the master AGV of the first AGV and the identity of the slave AGV of the second AGV.

For the grouping phase of S1110-S1120: as an alternative to S1110, the control device may issue a grouping instruction only to the first AGV determined as the master AGV after grouping the first AGV and the second AGV in response to the externally input transport task; accordingly, as an alternative to S1120, the first AGV may initiate establishment of a communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV in response to a grouping instruction issued by the control device and mutually confirm the master AGV identity of the first AGV and the slave AGV identity of the second AGV. It is understood that, for such an alternative, if the control device chooses to issue a grouping command to the second AGV, the first AGV and the second AGV can also establish a communication connection and mutually confirm the master and slave identities.

S1130: the control device maps a first AGV and a second AGV which confirm the master-slave identities after marshalling into a virtual AGV.

S1140: and the control device issues a dispatching instruction for dispatching the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task to the first AGV with the identity of the main AGV.

S1150: the first AGV responds to a dispatching instruction issued by the control device to move to the position of the target object, and initiates relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target object to the second AGV with the slave AGV identity.

In step S1150, the first AGV reports completion of scheduling of the virtual AGVs to the control device after the first AGV and the second AGV both reach the position of the target.

For the scheduling phases S1140-S1150: as an alternative of S1140, the control device may issue independent scheduling instructions pointing to the positions of the targets to the first AGV and the second AGV, respectively, and accordingly, as an alternative of S1150, the first AGV and the second AGV may move to the positions of the targets independently of each other in response to the independent scheduling instructions issued by the control device, and report completion of scheduling to the control device, respectively, after reaching the positions of the targets.

S1161: the control device sends a lifting instruction to a first AGV with the identity of the main AGV, and the lifting instruction indicates that the virtual AGV carries out lifting operation on the target.

S1162: and the first AGV responds to the lifting instruction given by the control device to initiate and synchronously execute the cooperative lifting of the target object with the second AGV with the slave AGV identity.

And S1162, after the first AGV and the second AGV complete cooperative lifting, reporting the lifting completion of the virtual AGV on the target object to the control device.

S1171: the control device issues a move command to a first AGV having a master AGV identity, the move command instructing the virtual AGV to perform a move operation on the lifted target.

S1172: the first AGV initiates the cooperative movement of the lifted target synchronously with the second AGV having the slave AGV identity in response to the movement instruction issued by the control device.

After the process, after the cooperative movement of the first AGV and the second AGV to the target is completed, the first AGV can report to the control device that the transport operation of the virtual AGV to the target is completed.

Fig. 12 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating the execution of the cooperative operation in the control method shown in fig. 11. Referring to fig. 12, S930 in the control method shown in fig. 9 may specifically include the following steps:

s1210: the first AGV and the second AGV check the operation readiness state with each other.

S1220: after the mutual checking operation preparation state of the first AGV and the second AGV passes, the first AGV starts the first AGV and the second AGV to synchronously execute the cooperative operation of the target.

S1230: the first AGV and the second AGV mutually inform each other of the operation progress, and the synchronization constraint between the first AGV and the second AGV is realized through the synchronization verification of the operation progress of the two AGVs until the cooperative operation is completed.

Fig. 13 is an exemplary flow diagram of the synchronicity check mechanism during a cooperative operation as shown in fig. 12. Referring to fig. 13, when the first AGV starts the first AGV and the second AGV to synchronously execute the cooperative operation on the target, the synchronization verification adopted in fig. 12 may specifically include the following steps executed by each of the first AGV and the second AGV:

s1310: and judging whether the difference of the operation progress of the two parties reaches a preset threshold value, if so, indicating that the synchronism of the two parties is abnormal and jumping to S1320, otherwise, confirming that the synchronism of the two parties reaches the standard and jumping to S1360.

S1320: and judging whether the operation progress of the local side is ahead of that of the other side, if so, indicating that the local side is required to be adjusted and jumping to S1330 if the synchronism of the two sides is abnormal, and otherwise, confirming that the local side is not required to be adjusted and jumping to S1380.

S1330: and judging whether the advance difference amplitude of the operation progress of the local is up to the limit, if so, confirming that the abnormal degree of the synchronism exceeds the adjustable range, and jumping to S1340, otherwise, confirming that the adjustable synchronism of the local is abnormal, and jumping to S1350.

S1340: the method stops the operation progress due to the abnormal degree of the synchronism exceeding the adjustable range, informs the other party, and then waits for restarting the cooperative operation synchronously executed by the two parties.

S1350: this suspends the operation progress and then jumps to S1380.

S1360: and judging whether the opposite side stops operating progress due to the fact that the abnormal degree of the synchronism exceeds the adjustable range at present, if so, confirming that the cooperative operation which is close to synchronous execution is restarted and jumping to S1370, and otherwise, confirming that the synchronism is normal and jumping to S1380.

S1370: and judging whether the difference of the operation processes of the two parties is eliminated, if so, skipping to S1340 to wait for restarting the synchronous execution cooperative operation of the two parties, and otherwise, confirming that the method still needs to continue to advance the operation process and skipping to S1380.

S1380: and judging whether the operation progress of the method is finished, if so, ending the current process, and otherwise, returning to the step S1310.

For the cooperative lifting corresponding to the lifting instruction, the difference of the operation progress in the above flow may be a lifting height difference between the two parties. For the system movement corresponding to the movement command, the difference of the operation progress in the above-mentioned flow may be the integral value ^ Δ ν x and ^ Δ ν y of the aforementioned linear velocity difference, and the integral value ^ Δ ω of the angular velocity difference, and when at least one of the integral values ^ Δ ν x, ^ Δ ν y, and ^ Δ ω reaches a threshold or a limit of the advance degree, a condition of "yes" may be satisfied at S1310 and S1330, and only when all of the integral values ^ Δ ν x, ^ Δ ν y, and ^ Δ ω do not reach the threshold or the advance degree does not reach the limit, a condition of "no" may be satisfied at S1310 and S1330.

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 made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A control system for AGV cooperative transportation, comprising a control device, and a first AGV and a second AGV, wherein:

2. The control system of claim 1 wherein the operating commands issued by the control to the first AGV include lift commands instructing the virtual AGV to lift the object and move commands instructing the virtual AGV to move the lifted object.

3. The control system of claim 1,

the control device is further used for respectively issuing a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV, and the first AGV and the second AGV are further used for responding to the grouping instruction issued by the control device to establish communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV; or

The control device is further used for issuing a grouping instruction to the first AGV, and the first AGV is further used for responding to the grouping instruction issued by the control device and initiating the establishment of the communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV.

4. A control system according to claim 3, wherein the control means is further adapted to specify in the grouping instruction a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV, such that said grouping instruction is further adapted to trigger the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities.

5. The control system of claim 1,

the control device further sends a dispatching instruction for dispatching the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task to the first AGV before sending an operation instruction to the first AGV; the first AGV further responds to a dispatching instruction issued by the control device to move to the position of the target object and initiates relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target object to the second AGV; the second AGV further responds to the relay schedule of the first AGV to move to the position of the target; or

The control device further issues independent dispatching instructions pointing to the positions of the targets to the first AGV and the second AGV respectively before issuing operation instructions to the first AGV; the first AGV and the second AGV further move to the position of the object independently of each other in response to an independent dispatching command issued by the control device.

6. A control method for AGV cooperative transportation is characterized by comprising the following steps:

7. The control method according to claim 6, wherein the operation instruction that the control device instructs the virtual AGV to perform the transport operation on the object to the first AGV includes: the control device first issues a lift instruction instructing the first AGV to lift the target object and a movement instruction instructing the virtual AGV to move the lifted target object.

8. The control method according to claim 6, characterized by further comprising:

the control device respectively issues a grouping instruction to the first AGV and the second AGV, wherein the grouping instruction is used for triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to establish communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV; or

Control device issues the marshalling instruction to first AGV, the marshalling instruction is used for triggering first AGV and initiates the establishment of the communication connection between first AGV and the second AGV.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized by further comprising: the control device specifies a master AGV identity of the first AGV and a slave AGV identity of the second AGV in the grouping instruction, so that the grouping instruction is further used for triggering the first AGV and the second AGV to mutually determine the master-slave identities.

10. The control method according to claim 6, characterized by further comprising: the control device issues a dispatching instruction for dispatching the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task to the first AGV, wherein the dispatching instruction is used for triggering the first AGV to move to the position of the target and initiating relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target to the second AGV.

11. A control device for AGV coordinated transport, characterized in that the control device comprises a processor for causing the control device to carry out the steps of the control method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

12. A control method for AGV cooperative transportation is characterized by comprising the following steps:

13. The control method according to claim 12, characterized by further comprising: the first AGV responds to a grouping instruction of the appointed master-slave identity issued by the control device, and initiates establishment of communication connection between the first AGV and the second AGV and mutual confirmation of the master-slave identity when the first AGV is appointed to have the master AGV identity in the grouping instruction.

14. The control method according to claim 12, characterized by further comprising: and the first AGV responds to a dispatching instruction which is issued by the control device and dispatches the virtual AGV to the position of the target corresponding to the carrying task, moves to the position of the target and initiates relay dispatching pointing to the position of the target to the second AGV.

15. An AGV, characterised in that it comprises a processor for causing the AGV to carry out the steps of the control method of any one of claims 12 to 14 performed by the first AGV.