CN112371517B

CN112371517B - Article sorting system and method

Info

Publication number: CN112371517B
Application number: CN202011103648.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 兰邱丰; 张乾; 梁东; 彭锋
Original assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-15
Filing date: 2020-10-15
Publication date: 2022-06-24
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-15
Also published as: CN112371517A

Abstract

The invention discloses an article sorting system and method. The system comprises: a server and a plurality of transfer robots; a plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area, a plurality of groups of grids are deployed in the storage area, and each group of grids at least comprises: a first type of cell and a second type of cell; the server is configured to determine that a grid opening of which the quantity of articles loaded on the loading container reaches a preset threshold value is a target grid opening, determine a first obstacle grid opening hindering the movement of the target grid opening when the target grid opening is a second type grid opening, respectively allocate a transfer robot to the first obstacle grid opening and the target grid opening from the plurality of transfer robots, and send a transfer instruction to the transfer robots; the first transfer robot is configured to respond to the transfer command to travel to the first obstacle cell position and to separate the object container at the first obstacle cell position; the second transfer robot is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the object container at the target cell position to the packing stage. The invention improves the article sorting efficiency.

Description

Article sorting system and method

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of intelligent logistics, in particular to an article sorting system and method.

Background

With the development of electronic commerce, a severe demand is put on the logistics industry. Such as how to efficiently and accurately sort logistics items, etc.

Currently, two methods are commonly used for sorting articles: firstly, as shown in fig. 1(a), a steel platform type sorting structure is adopted, articles provided by an article supply platform are received on the steel platform through a control robot, and the articles are delivered to a grid opening on the steel platform by combining auxiliary equipment arranged on the steel platform; in the second mode, as shown in fig. 1(b), a floor saw-tooth type sorting structure is adopted, and the robot is controlled to receive the articles provided by the article supply table on the floor saw-tooth type sorting field with the grids so as to deliver the articles to the corresponding grids.

However, the two sorting methods have the following problems, which are specific to the first method: although the purpose of sorting articles can be achieved, a large amount of cost is consumed for building the steel platform, and the steel platform is not easy to expand, so that when a robot executes an article sorting task on the steel platform, the flexibility is poor, the limitation of the number of auxiliary equipment is easily caused, and the article sorting efficiency is reduced; in the second embodiment: when the number of the robots is large and the density is high, the robot executes the object sorting task and is easy to jam in a sawtooth area, so that the object sorting efficiency is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides an article sorting system and method, which improve article sorting efficiency.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an article sorting system, including: a server and a plurality of transfer robots; the plurality of transfer robots are in communication with the server, the plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area of the article sorting system, and a plurality of groups of cells are deployed in the storage area, wherein each group of cells includes M rows by N columns of cells, M and N are integers greater than 2, and each group of cells at least includes: the first type of lattice openings are arranged on a first layer of each group of lattice openings, the second type of lattice openings are arranged on a second layer of each group of lattice openings, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and each lattice opening in each group of lattice openings is correspondingly provided with a carrying container; wherein;

the server is configured to determine that at least one cell in which the quantity of articles loaded in the loading container reaches a preset threshold is a target cell, determine that a first type of cell obstructing the movement of the target cell is a first obstacle cell when the target cell is a second type of cell, allocate a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocate a second transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and send transfer instructions to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively;

the first transfer robot is configured to travel to the first obstacle cell position and to move the carrier container set at the first obstacle cell position away from the first obstacle cell position in response to the transfer command;

the second transfer robot is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging stage specified by the transfer command.

In addition, the article sorting system provided by the above embodiment of the present invention may further have the following additional technical features:

optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the server is further configured to determine whether there is an item being delivered in the first obstacle bay; if not, a first transfer robot is allocated to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot is allocated to the target cell from the plurality of transfer robots.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the server is further configured to, if it is determined that any one of the multiple groups of slots has a first type of slot in an idle state, determine that the first type of slot in the idle state is a first spare slot, and send a first transfer instruction to the first transfer robot; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

if it is determined that at least two groups of grids in the multiple groups of grids have a first class of grid in an idle state, and the distance between the first class of grid in the idle state in the first group of grids and the first obstacle grid is smaller than a distance threshold, determining that the first class of grid in the idle state in the first group of grids is a first standby grid, and sending a first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and if all the groups of grids are determined not to have the first type of grids in the idle state, sending a second conveying instruction to the first conveying robot.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the first carrying instruction is to carry the carrier container disposed at the first obstacle bay position to the first standby bay position;

and the second carrying instruction is used for carrying the object container arranged at the first obstacle cell position to rotate around the storage area, and carrying the object container arranged at the first obstacle cell position back to the first obstacle cell position when the second carrying robot is detected to carry the object container arranged at the target cell position away.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the second transfer robot is further configured to send alarm information to the server when it is determined that a waiting time period for traveling to the target bay position exceeds a time period threshold value;

the server is further configured to prompt an operator to perform abnormality investigation and send a transfer task cancel instruction to the second transfer robot, according to the alarm information.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the server is further configured to update a mapping relationship between each of the slots disposed in each group of slots in the storage area and the destination of the article and/or the attribute information of the article.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: a plurality of supply stations;

the plurality of supply stations are configured to supply articles to be sorted;

the server is further configured to lock the first barrier bay if the delivered article exists, and determine whether a second spare bay exists in the first barrier bay when the delivery article is delivered to the first barrier bay and an object table provides a new delivery article of the first barrier bay; and if so, delivering the new delivery article to the second spare grid, and distributing a first transfer robot to the first obstacle grid and distributing a second transfer robot to the target grid from a plurality of transfer robots, wherein the second spare grid is a grid which has the same article destination and/or the same article attribute information as the first obstacle grid in a plurality of groups of grids.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the server is further configured to send a pause instruction to the object supplying station if the second spare bay does not exist in the first obstacle bay, where the pause instruction is an instruction to pause delivery of a new object to the first obstacle bay.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, each group of cells further includes: a third type of cell deployed on a third layer of each group of cells, the third layer being located inside the second layer;

the server is further configured to determine at least one cell in which the number of articles loaded in the loading container reaches a preset threshold as a target cell, determine a first type of cell obstructing movement of the target cell as a first obstacle cell and a second type of cell as a second obstacle cell when the target cell is a third type of cell, allocate a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell, allocate a second transfer robot to the second obstacle cell and allocate a third transfer robot to the target cell from among a plurality of transfer robots, and send transfer instructions to the first transfer robot, the second transfer robot and the third transfer robot, respectively;

the first transfer robot is further configured to travel to the first obstacle cell position and move the carrier container set at the first obstacle cell position away from the first obstacle cell position in response to the transfer instruction;

the second transfer robot is further configured to travel to the second obstacle cell position and transfer the carrier container set at the second obstacle cell position away from the second obstacle cell position in response to the transfer instruction;

the third transfer robot is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the package stage specified by the transfer command.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the server is further configured to determine that at least one of the lots with the number of articles loaded in the carrier container reaching a preset threshold is a target lot, and when the target lot is a first type of lot, assign a first transfer robot to the target lot from among the plurality of transfer robots, and send a transfer instruction to the first transfer robot;

the first transfer robot is further configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer instruction, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the package stage specified by the transfer instruction.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: a plurality of sorting robots; the sorting robots are in communication connection with the server and operate in a storage area of the article sorting system;

the server is further configured to determine a sorting cell from a plurality of groups of cells deployed in the storage area according to an article to be sorted, determine a target sorting robot from the plurality of sorting robots, and send a sorting instruction to the target sorting robot;

the target sorting robot is configured to deliver the item to be sorted to the sorting bin in response to the sorting instruction.

Alternatively, in one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of transfer robots operate in the storage area according to a first travel route; and the sorting robots operate in the storage area according to the second driving route.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an article sorting method, including:

the method comprises the steps that a server determines at least one grid opening, with the quantity of articles loaded in a loading container reaching a preset threshold value, as a target grid opening, determines a first type grid opening hindering the movement of the target grid opening as a first obstacle grid opening when the target grid opening is a second type grid opening, distributes a first transfer robot to the first obstacle grid opening and distributes a second transfer robot to the target grid opening from a plurality of transfer robots, and sends transfer instructions to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively;

the first transfer robot responds to the transfer command, travels to the first obstacle cell position, and transfers the loading container arranged at the first obstacle cell position away from the first obstacle cell position;

the second transfer robot responds to the transfer instruction, travels to the target cell position, and transfers the object container arranged at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging table specified by the transfer instruction;

wherein the plurality of transfer robots are in communication with the server, the plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area of the item sorting system, a plurality of sets of slots are deployed in the storage area, each set of slots includes M rows by N columns of slots, M and N are integers greater than 2, and each set of slots at least includes: the first type of cell openings are arranged on a first layer of each group of cell openings, the second type of cell openings are arranged on a second layer of each group of cell openings, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and each cell opening in each group of cell openings corresponds to a carrying container.

In addition, the article sorting method provided by the above embodiment of the present invention may further have the following additional technical features:

optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, before allocating the first transfer robot to the first obstacle bay and allocating the second transfer robot to the target bay, the method further includes:

the server determining whether the first barrier bay has an item being delivered;

correspondingly, the allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell includes:

and if the server determines that the first obstacle cell does not have the delivered article, allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocating a second transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the allocating the first transfer robot to the first obstacle bay and the allocating the second transfer robot to the target bay, the method further includes:

if the server determines that any group of grids in the multiple groups of grids has a first class of grid in an idle state, the server determines that the first class of grid in the idle state is a first standby grid, and sends a first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

if the server determines that at least two groups of grids in the multiple groups of grids have a first class of grid in an idle state, and the distance between the first class of grid in the idle state in the first group of grids and the first obstacle grid is smaller than a distance threshold, determining that the first class of grid in the idle state in the first group of grids is a first standby grid, and sending a first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and if the server determines that all the groups of grids do not have the first class of grids in the idle state, the server sends a second conveying instruction to the first conveying robot.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the sending the transfer instruction to the second transfer robot, the method further includes:

when the second carrying robot determines that the waiting time for driving to the target grid position exceeds a time threshold, sending alarm information to the server;

and the server prompts an operator to perform exception checking according to the alarm information, and sends a carrying task canceling instruction to the second carrying robot.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the first transfer robot transfers the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging table specified by the transfer instruction, the first transfer robot further includes:

the server updates the mapping relation between each grid deployed in each set of grids in the storage area and the destination and/or the attribute information of the article.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell includes:

if the server determines that the first barrier bay has the delivered article, the server locks the first barrier bay, and when the delivered article is delivered to the first barrier bay and a new delivery article of the first barrier bay is provided for the platform, the server determines whether a second standby bay exists in the first barrier bay;

and if the server determines that a second spare bay exists in the first obstacle bay, delivering the new delivery item to the second spare bay, and allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle bay and a second transfer robot to the target bay from a plurality of transfer robots, wherein the second spare bay is a bay which has the same item destination and/or the same item attribute information as the first obstacle bay in a plurality of groups of bays.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, after determining whether the first obstacle cell has the second spare cell, the method further includes:

and if the server determines that the first obstacle slot does not have a second spare slot, sending a pause instruction to the object supplying platform, wherein the pause instruction is an instruction for pausing to deliver new objects to the first obstacle slot.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, each group of cells further includes: a third type of cell deployed on a third layer of each group of cells, the third layer being located inside the second layer; the method further comprises the following steps:

the server determines that at least one grid opening of which the quantity of articles loaded on the loading container reaches a preset threshold value is a target grid opening, determines that a first grid opening hindering the movement of the target grid opening is a first obstacle grid opening and a second grid opening hindering the movement of the target grid opening is a second obstacle grid opening when the target grid opening is a third grid opening, allocates a first transfer robot to the first obstacle grid opening, allocates a second transfer robot to the second obstacle grid opening and allocates a third transfer robot to the target grid opening from a plurality of transfer robots, and sends transfer instructions to the first transfer robot, the second transfer robot and the third transfer robot respectively;

the second transfer robot responds to the transfer instruction, travels to the second obstacle cell position, and transfers the loading container arranged at the second obstacle cell position away from the second obstacle cell position;

and the third transfer robot responds to the transfer command, travels to the target grid opening position, and transfers the object container arranged at the target grid opening position from the target grid opening position to the packaging platform specified by the transfer command.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:

the server determines that at least one cell, the quantity of articles loaded by the loading container of which reaches a preset threshold value, is a target cell, and when the target cell is a first type of cell, a first transfer robot is allocated to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and a transfer instruction is sent to the first transfer robot;

and the first transfer robot responds to the transfer command, travels to the target grid opening position, and transfers the object container arranged at the target grid opening position from the target grid opening position to the packaging platform appointed by the transfer command.

the server determines sorting grids from a plurality of groups of grids deployed in the storage area according to the articles to be sorted, determines a target sorting robot from the plurality of sorting robots, and sends a sorting instruction to the target sorting robot;

and the target sorting robot responds to the sorting instruction and delivers the to-be-sorted articles to the sorting grids.

The technical scheme disclosed by the embodiment of the invention has the following beneficial effects:

the method comprises the steps that a plurality of groups of grids are deployed in a storage area of an article sorting system, when a server determines that a grid at which the quantity of articles loaded on an article carrying container reaches a preset threshold value is a target grid, and the target grid is a second type of grid, the first type of grid obstructing the movement of the target grid is determined to be a first obstacle grid, a first transfer robot is allocated to the first obstacle grid and a second transfer robot is allocated to the target grid, meanwhile, the server can schedule the first transfer robot to run to the position of the first obstacle grid so as to move the article carrying container at the position of the first obstacle grid away from the position of the first obstacle grid, and the server can schedule the second transfer robot to run to the position of the target grid so as to transfer the article carrying container at the position of the target grid to a packaging table for packaging processing. By adopting the scheme, a large number of lattice floor type devices are arranged in the storage area, so that a steel platform is not required to be built when articles are sorted, the cost is saved, and the problem that the article sorting efficiency is reduced due to the limitation of the number of auxiliary equipment on the steel platform is avoided. Meanwhile, the first transfer robot is dispatched to remove the obstacle cell from the obstacle cell position, and then the second transfer robot is dispatched to smoothly transfer the loading container at the target cell position to the packaging table, so that the multiple transfer robots are matched for use, and the article sorting speed and efficiency can be improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1(a) is a schematic view of a related art sorted article using a steel platform;

fig. 1(b) is a schematic view illustrating a sorting structure of a floor zigzag type for sorting articles in the related art;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an article sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a grid deployment of a set of grids provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic front view of a loading container corresponding to a cell in a cell group according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a transfer robot and a sorting robot scheduling provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another article sorting system provided by the embodiment of the invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a specific article sorting system deployment provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a handling robot and a sorting robot respectively setting travel routes in a single bay according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of an article sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and embodiments. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention. It should be further noted that, for convenience of description, only some structures related to the embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of them.

The following describes in detail an article sorting system and method according to embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an article sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the technical solution of the embodiment is applicable to an article sorting scenario. As shown in fig. 2, an article sorting system 100 provided by an embodiment of the present invention may include: a server 110 and a plurality of transfer robots 120. In the present embodiment, the plurality of transfer robots 120 communicate with the server 110, respectively, and the plurality of transfer robots 120 operate in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100. A plurality of groups of cells are disposed in the storage region 130, wherein each group of cells 140 includes M rows by N columns of cells, M and N are integers greater than 2, respectively, and each group of cells 140 at least includes: the first type of cell openings are arranged on the first layer of each group of cell openings 140, the second type of cell openings are arranged on the second layer of each group of cell openings 140, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and a carrying container is correspondingly arranged on each cell opening in each group of cell openings 140. For example, a plurality of groups of 3 × 3 cells, each group of cells 140 comprising 5 rows and 6 columns are exemplified, wherein:

the server 110 is configured to determine at least one cell in which the number of articles loaded in the loading container reaches a preset threshold value as a target cell, determine a first type of cell that hinders movement of the target cell as a first obstacle cell when the target cell is a second type of cell, assign a first transfer robot 120 to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot 120 to the target cell from among the plurality of transfer robots 120, and send transfer instructions to the first transfer robot 120 and the second transfer robot 120, respectively;

the first transfer robot 120 is configured to travel to the first obstacle bay position and transfer the carrier container set at the first obstacle bay position away from the first obstacle bay position in response to the transfer command;

the second transfer robot 120 is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the package stage 150 specified by the transfer command.

Alternatively, the server 110 may be wirelessly connected to the transfer robots 120 and other hardware devices or software systems in the article sorting system 100 for sending scheduling tasks to the transfer robots 120 and other hardware devices or software systems, detecting the operating status of the article sorting system 100, and counting the storage status of the loading containers in each group of slots in the storage area 130. The number of the servers 110 may be one or more in this embodiment, and is not limited herein.

In this embodiment, the grid deployed in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100 may be a virtual device such as a coordinate, a number, or a two-dimensional code with a unique identifier. The carrying containers correspondingly arranged on each grid are not fixed, namely the carrying containers correspondingly arranged on each grid can be changed according to the scheduling task. For example, in a first time period, the carrier container corresponding to the cell 1 is the container 1, and in a second time period, the carrier container corresponding to the cell 1 can be changed into the container 3.

In particular, the server 110 may count the number of articles loaded in the loading container corresponding to each compartment, and compare the number of articles with a preset threshold to determine whether the loading container is full. When the number of the loaded articles in the carrier container reaches a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the carrier container is full, and at this time, the full carrier container needs to be transported to the packing stage 150 for packing. Since the article sorting system 100 may comprise a plurality of packing tables 150, when the present embodiment transports the filled carrier containers to the packing tables 150, it is preferable that the packing tables 150 are idle. When all packetizing stations are in operation, it is preferable that packetizing station 150 be the one that has the least amount of packetizing tasks. In this embodiment, the preset threshold may be set according to the size of the carrying container, and is not limited in detail here.

Alternatively, the server 110 may determine whether the carrier container is full in a variety of ways, in addition to determining whether the carrier container is full based on the number of items loaded by the carrier container, such as:

in a first mode

Server 110 counts the volume of items in the carrier container for each bin and compares the counted volume of items to a volume threshold. When the volume of the object reaches the volume threshold value, it is determined that the carrier container is full. The volume threshold may be adaptively set according to the size of the carrier container, and is not specifically limited herein.

Mode two

The server 110 determines whether the depth of the loaded article in the loading container reaches the depth threshold value by receiving the depth information sent by the depth sensor. When the depth of the article reaches a depth threshold, it is determined that the carrier container is full. The depth threshold may be adaptively set according to the size of the carrier container, and is not specifically limited herein.

It should be noted that, the implementation manner of determining whether the carrier container is full according to the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned several manners, and may also be implemented in other manners, which are not specifically limited herein.

Since each set of cells 140 deployed in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100 at least includes a first type cell and a second type cell, and the first type cell is located outside the second type cell, it is necessary to determine whether the target cell corresponding to the filled carrier container belongs to the first type cell or the second type cell when the filled carrier container is transported from the storage area to the packing table 150. Optionally, it may be determined whether the target cell belongs to the first type of cell or the second type of cell according to a position of the object carrying container corresponding to the target cell in the group of cells to which the target cell belongs. For example, when the target cell belongs to group 2 cell 140 in the plurality of groups of cells, then if the target cell is located in row 2, column 2 of group 2 cell 140, i.e., the target cell is located in the second level of the group 2 cell, then it is determined that the target cell belongs to the second type of cell. If the target cell is row 3, column 1 of the group 2 cell 140, i.e., the target cell is located in the first layer of the group 2 cell, then the target cell is determined to belong to the first type of cell, as shown in fig. 3.

When the target cell is determined to be the second type of cell, the carrier container at the first obstacle cell position that obstructs the movement of the target cell needs to be removed before the full carrier container can be transported from the target cell position to the packaging stage 150. To this end, the server 110 of the present embodiment may allocate a first transfer robot to a first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to a target cell from among the plurality of transfer robots 120, and send transfer commands to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot, respectively, so that the first transfer robot may transfer the container at the first obstacle cell position from the first obstacle cell, and the second transfer robot may transfer the container filled with the target cell position to the packaging stage. When the number of first obstacle cells that hinder the movement of the target cell is plural, any one of the first obstacle cells, the first obstacle cells that do not have the item being delivered, or the like is selected, and the first transfer robot is assigned to the first obstacle cell.

When the target cell is determined to be the first type cell, it indicates that there is no obstacle cell for the target cell, and at this time, the server 110 may assign a first transfer robot to the target cell from among the plurality of transfer robots 120, and send a transfer instruction to the first transfer robot to cause the first transfer robot to travel to the target cell position, and transfer the filled container at the target cell position to the packing table.

When the server 110 allocates the transfer robots to the first obstacle cell and the target cell from the plurality of transfer robots 120, the allocation may be implemented in different manners, for example, a transfer robot that does not perform a transfer task may be allocated to the first obstacle cell and the target cell; alternatively, a transfer robot which has not performed a transfer task and is close to the first obstacle bay and the target bay is assigned to the first obstacle bay, the target bay, and the like. The advantage of this arrangement is that it is preferred to select the first obstacle cell to be close to the first obstacle cell and to be in an idle state; or the transfer robot in the idle state is allocated to the first obstacle cell and the target cell, so that the normal operation of the transfer robot which is executing the transfer task can be prevented from being influenced, the resources of the transfer robot can be fully utilized, and the transfer speed is increased.

In this embodiment, after the transfer robot transfers the object container at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging stage, the server 110 may reassign an object container to the target cell position, and at the same time, the destination and/or attribute information of the object corresponding to the target cell may change, at this time, the server 110 may update the mapping relationship between each cell of each group of cells in the storage area of the object sorting system 100 and the destination and/or attribute information of the object, so that the object sorting cell may be accurately located during the subsequent object sorting. Wherein the destination of the article refers to the receiving address of the article; the article attribute information refers to at least one of a category, a size, and a color of the article. In the present embodiment, each of the plurality of sets of pockets disposed in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100 may correspond to at least one article destination and/or article attribute information, and each of the article destination and/or article attribute information may correspond to at least one pocket. When the mapping relationship is updated, the mapping relationship between the grid and the destination of the article and/or the attribute information of the article may be updated, and the mapping relationship between the grid and the store, the order of the article, and the route may be updated.

According to the scheme, a large number of cell floor type devices are arranged in the storage area, so that a steel platform does not need to be built when articles are sorted, cost is saved, and the problem that article sorting efficiency is reduced due to the limitation of the number of auxiliary equipment on the steel platform is solved. Meanwhile, the first transfer robot is dispatched to remove the obstacle cell from the obstacle cell position, and the second transfer robot is dispatched to smoothly transfer the loading container at the target cell position to the packaging table, so that the multiple transfer robots are matched for use, and the article sorting speed and efficiency can be improved.

In an alternative to this embodiment, this embodiment may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. As shown in fig. 2, in the article sorting system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the first transfer robot is further configured to: responding to a carrying instruction sent by the server 110, driving to the position below the first obstacle cell, lifting the carrying container at the first obstacle cell position by adopting a lifting mechanism, and carrying the carrying container away from the first obstacle cell position; the second transfer robot is further configured to: and responding to the conveying instruction sent by the server 110, driving to the position below the target grid opening, lifting the object carrying container at the target grid opening position by adopting the lifting mechanism, and conveying the object carrying container to the packaging table specified by the conveying instruction. Fig. 4 is a schematic front view of a loading container corresponding to a cell in a cell group according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4, the distance between the bottom lower surface of the loading container of each cell and the surface of the storage area 130 is greater than the carrying height of the carrying robot 120 when carrying the loading container, so as to ensure that the carrying robot 120 can smoothly travel to the position below the first obstacle cell or the target cell, and prevent the carrying robot 120 from being stuck below the loading container and being unable to travel when carrying the loading container.

In an alternative to the present embodiment, the present embodiment may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 5, in the article sorting system according to the embodiment of the present invention, a first travel route for use by a plurality of transfer robots 120 is provided in a storage area 130 of the article sorting system. The first driving route is arranged around the outer edge area of each group of the grids, and specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the dotted line is a schematic diagram of the transfer robot driving according to the first driving route.

The first transfer robot is further configured to: responding to a carrying instruction sent by the server 110, driving to the position below the first obstacle cell according to the first driving route, lifting the carrying container at the first obstacle cell position by using a lifting mechanism, and carrying the carrying container away from the first obstacle cell position;

the second transfer robot is further configured to: in response to the transport instruction sent by the server 110, the vehicle travels to a position below the target cell position according to the first travel route, and lifts the object container at the target cell position by using the lifting mechanism, and transports the object container to the packaging table specified by the transport instruction.

In an optional example, the second transfer robot is further configured to send alarm information to the server when it is determined that a waiting time period for traveling to the target slot position exceeds a time period threshold value;

the server is further configured to prompt an operator to perform abnormality investigation and send a carrying task cancellation instruction to the second carrying robot according to the alarm information.

The duration threshold may be set according to actual needs, and is not particularly limited herein.

Specifically, when the second transfer robot travels to a first obstacle bay position to be moved away according to a transfer instruction due to a failure of the communication link or the first transfer robot, the carrier container arranged on the first obstacle bay position is not moved away, and the waiting time of the second transfer robot near the first obstacle bay position exceeds the time threshold. In order to avoid the problem that the second transfer robot is always in a waiting state and cannot perform the transfer task, which results in the reduction of the article sorting efficiency. The embodiment of the invention can also set a timer for the transfer robot, so that the timer is started to time when the second transfer robot runs to the first obstacle position, and when the waiting time counted by the timer reaches the time threshold, the second transfer robot can send alarm information to the server 110, so that the server 110 prompts an operator to perform exception checking according to the alarm information fed back by the second transfer robot, and cancels the transfer task of the second transfer robot. The advantage that sets up like this can avoid leading to the unanimous waiting state that is in of second transfer robot because of communication link or first transfer robot break down, and can't carry out the transport task, effectively improves article letter sorting efficiency.

In an alternative to this embodiment, this embodiment may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 5, in the article sorting system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of sorting robots 160 are further included. A plurality of sorting robots 160 are communicatively coupled to the server 110, and the plurality of sorting robots 160 operate in the storage area 130 of the item sorting system 100. Wherein, the first and the second end of the pipe are connected with each other,

the server 110 is further configured to determine a sorting cell from a plurality of sets of cells deployed in the storage area 130 based on the item to be sorted, and to determine a target sorting robot from the plurality of sorting robots 160 and to send a sorting instruction to the target sorting robot;

the target sorting robot 160 is configured to deliver the items to be sorted to the sorting bays in response to the sorting instructions. The sorting grid is specifically a target grid to be delivered by the article to be sorted.

In an alternative example, referring to fig. 6, the item sortation system 100 further includes: a plurality of supply stations 170. A plurality of object stations 170 are in communication with the server 110. Wherein the plurality of supply stations 170 are configured to provide items to be sorted;

the target sorting robot 160 is further configured to receive an item to be sorted from the supply table and deliver the item to be sorted to the sorting bay in response to the sorting instruction.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the server 110 may determine the sorting slots from the plurality of groups of slots before sending the sorting command to the target sorting robot. Optionally, the server 110 determines the sorting pockets from the plurality of groups of pockets by determining the item destination and/or item attribute information for the items to be sorted and then based on the item destination and/or item attribute information for the items to be sorted.

For example, determining item destination and/or item attribute information for an item to be sorted may include the following:

situation one

And determining the object destination and/or the object attribute information of the object to be sorted according to the acquired object information table.

Specifically, the item information table may be obtained from a providing end of the item to be sorted, so that the server analyzes the item information table to determine an item destination and/or item attribute information of the item to be sorted.

Situation two

Destination and/or article attribute information of the articles to be sorted sent by the article table is received.

Specifically, the upper-layer device may send the item destination and/or item attribute information of the item to be sorted to the item-providing station, and the item-providing station may forward the item destination and/or item attribute information of the item to be sorted sent by the upper-layer device to the server, so that the server determines the item destination and/or item attribute information of the item to be sorted based on the information forwarded by the item-providing station.

Further, sorting pockets are determined from the plurality of groups of pockets based on the determined article destination and/or article attribute information for the articles to be sorted.

It is understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the item destination and/or the item attribute information may be an item destination; alternatively, it may be article attribute information; alternatively, the destination of the article and the attribute information of the article may be used, and the information is not particularly limited.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 5 and 6, in order to ensure that the transfer robot 120 and the sorting robot 160 do not generate a traveling collision, a second traveling route for the sorting robot 160 may be provided in the storage area 130 in advance. That is, the target sorting robot 160 is further configured to travel to the sorting bay location according to the second travel route and deliver the item to be sorted to the sorting bay in response to the sorting instruction sent by the server 110. The second driving route is disposed between any adjacent rows of cells and surrounds the outer edge area of each group of cells, and specifically, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the solid line is a schematic driving diagram of the sorting robot 160 according to the second driving route. The advantage of such an arrangement is that by setting different travel routes for the transfer robot 120 and the sorting robot 160, respectively, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of a situation where there is a conflict or a jam when the robots perform the article sorting task again due to the number of the robots (the sorting robot and the transfer robot) being plural. It should be noted that, during the article sorting process, when the working state of the sorting robots in this embodiment is idle, one article supplying station that is closest to the sorting robots and has a queuing number smaller than the threshold value is automatically screened out, and the sorting is performed in the queuing area of the article supplying station. When any sorting robot travels to the goods taking point of the goods supplying platform, the goods supplying platform automatically places the goods to be sorted on the goods placing platform of the sorting robot through the mechanical arm. In the embodiment of the present invention, when the article to be sorted is placed on the placing table of the sorting robot, the article to be sorted on the article supplying table may be placed on the placing table of the sorting robot by an operator, which is not limited herein.

In an alternative to this embodiment, this embodiment may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 6, server 110 is further configured to determine whether there is an item being delivered in the first obstacle bay; if not, assigning a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell from among the plurality of transfer robots 120; if yes, the first barrier bay is locked, so that the delivered goods are normally delivered to the first barrier bay.

Alternatively, the server 110 may determine whether the first obstacle bay has an item being delivered by querying the first obstacle bay for the item currently being delivered. For example, if the number of the delivery item tasks is 0 as a result of the query, determining that no delivery item exists in the first obstacle bay; and if the number of the delivery item tasks is a non-zero value as a result of the query, determining that the delivery item exists in the first obstacle lattice.

When the first obstacle bay does not have the delivered article, the first transfer robot can transfer the carrying container at the position of the first obstacle bay away from the first obstacle bay, so that the normal article sorting operation is not influenced. Further, the server 110 may assign the transfer robots to the first obstacle cell and the target cell, respectively. When the first obstacle bay has the delivered articles, it indicates that the first transfer robot cannot directly transfer the carrying containers at the position of the first obstacle bay from the first obstacle bay, and the transfer operation needs to be executed after the delivered articles are delivered to the first obstacle bay, so as to reduce the influence on article sorting.

In this embodiment, after determining that the first obstacle bay does not have an item being delivered and assigning the first transfer robot to the first obstacle bay, the server 110 in the item sorting system 100 is further configured to determine whether there is a first type of bay in an idle state among the plurality of sets of bays disposed in the storage area 130 of the item sorting system 100. If the first type of cell in the idle state exists in any one group of cells 140 in the plurality of groups of cells, determining that the first type of cell in the idle state is a first standby cell, and sending a first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot; or if it is determined that at least two groups of the cells 140 in the plurality of groups of cells have the first type of cell in the idle state and the distance between the first type of cell in the idle state in the first group of cells and the first obstacle cell is smaller than the distance threshold, determining that the first type of cell in the idle state in the first group of cells is the first standby cell and sending the first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot; or if all the groups of grids are determined not to have the first type of grids in the idle state, sending a second conveying instruction to the first conveying robot. When the distance between the first class of grids in the idle state and the first obstacle grid in the first group of grids is calculated, the distance can be calculated by using a two-point distance formula according to the position of the first class of grids and the position of the first obstacle grid. The distance threshold may be adaptively set according to the cell setting position of each group of cells in the storage area 130, which is not specifically limited herein.

The first carrying instruction is used for carrying the loading container arranged at the first obstacle cell position to the first standby cell position; and the second carrying instruction is used for carrying the object container arranged at the first obstacle cell position to rotate around the storage area, and carrying the object container arranged at the first obstacle cell position back to the first obstacle cell position when the second carrying robot is detected to carry the object container arranged at the target cell position away.

Optionally, in this embodiment, whether a delivery item exists in the first type of slot in each group of slots may be queried, if not, it is determined that a first type of slot in an idle state exists in any group of slots of the plurality of groups of slots, and if so, it is determined that the first type of slot in an idle state does not exist in the plurality of groups of slots.

In this embodiment, upon determining that there is an item being delivered in the first obstacle bay, the server 110 may monitor whether the item being delivered is delivered to the first obstacle bay. When a delivery item is delivered to a first obstacle bay and a new delivery item for which the rack is provided with the first obstacle bay is determined, the server 110 in the item sorting system 100 is further configured to determine whether a second standby bay is present in the first obstacle bay; if so, the new delivery item is delivered to the second standby bay, and the first transfer robot is assigned to the first obstacle bay and the second transfer robot is assigned to the target bay from among the plurality of transfer robots. And the second spare grid is a grid which has the same article destination and/or the same article attribute information with the first obstacle grid in the plurality of groups of grids. This has the advantage that the object container in the position of the first obstacle compartment can be removed without affecting the operation of delivering a new delivery item to the first obstacle compartment.

In this embodiment, the server 110 in the item sorting system 100 is further configured to send a pause instruction to the item supply stand 170 if it is determined that the first obstacle bay does not have the second standby bay. Wherein the pause instruction is an instruction to pause delivery of the new item to the first obstacle bay. That is, when the first obstacle bay has no second spare bay, in order to determine the delivery accuracy of the new item and timely move the carrier container of the first obstacle bay away from the first obstacle bay, the present embodiment sends a pause instruction to the object support 170, so that the first obstacle bay has no delivered items, and the first transfer robot can move the carrier container of the first obstacle bay away from the first obstacle bay.

In an alternative to the present embodiment, the present embodiment may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. As shown in fig. 2 and 3, in the article sorting system of an embodiment of the present invention, each group of bays further includes a third type of bay from among the groups of bays deployed in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system. The third type of grid is arranged on the third layer of each group of grids, and the third layer is positioned on the inner side of the second layer. Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the server 110 is further configured to determine at least one of the cells where the number of articles loaded in the loading container reaches a preset threshold as a target cell, determine a first cell hindering the movement of the target cell as a first obstacle cell and a second cell hindering the movement of the target cell as a second obstacle cell when the target cell is a third cell, assign a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell, assign a second transfer robot to the second obstacle cell and assign a third transfer robot to the target cell from among the plurality of transfer robots, and send transfer instructions to the first transfer robot, the second transfer robot and the third transfer robot, respectively;

the first transfer robot 120 is further configured to travel to the first obstacle cell position and transfer the carrier container set at the first obstacle cell position away from the first obstacle cell position in response to the transfer instruction;

the second transfer robot 120 is further configured to travel to the second obstacle cell position and transfer the carrier container set at the second obstacle cell position away from the second obstacle cell position in response to the transfer instruction;

the third transfer robot 120 is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the package stage specified by the transfer command.

It should be noted that each group of cells in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100 in this embodiment may further include a fourth type of cell or a fifth type of cell, and the specific implementation of the article sorting process is similar to that in the above embodiment, and the description thereof is not repeated here.

By adopting the mode, when the target cell is in the inner area of each group of cells, the object carrying container at the position of the target cell is carried to the packaging table by controlling the plurality of sorting robots to be matched with each other, so that the article sorting efficiency can be improved.

To more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, an overall description of an article sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided below with reference to fig. 7. An exemplary inventive article sortation system 100 comprises: the server 110, the plurality of transfer robots 120, the plurality of packing stages 150, the plurality of sorting robots 160, and the plurality of object supply stages 170. Wherein the plurality of transfer robots 120, the plurality of packing stations 150, the plurality of sorting robots 160, and the plurality of object supply stations 170 communicate with the server 110, respectively. The plurality of transfer robots 120 and the plurality of sorting robots 160 are respectively operated in the storage area 130 of the article sorting system 100. Multiple sets of slots 140 are deployed in storage area 130 of article sorting system 100. Referring to fig. 7, a plurality of supply stations 170 may be located in a first area 211 of article sorting system 100, a plurality of groups of bays 140 may be located in a storage area 130 of article sorting system 100, and a plurality of packing stations 150 may be located in a third area 233 of article sorting system 100. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first area 211, the storage area 130, and the third area 233 are distributed in the same plane on the floor of the item sorting system 100, and the first area 211, the storage area 130, and the third area 233 do not overlap. For example, as shown in fig. 7, the first region 211 is distributed in the upper edge region and the lower edge region of the same plane, the storage region 130 is distributed in the center region of the same plane, and the third region 233 is distributed in the left edge region and the right edge region of the same plane. In fig. 7, the multi-group cell is exemplified by 3 × 3, the plurality of object supplying stations is exemplified by 6, and the plurality of packing stations is exemplified by 6, which may be further configured according to actual needs, and is not limited herein.

The plurality of sorting robots 160 and the plurality of transfer robots 120 may travel within the storage area 130 of the item sorting system 100 for the purpose of sorting items according to item sorting requirements. That is, the floor with the supply table, the packing table, the plurality of groups of cells and the robots (the sorting robot and the transfer robot) is the article sorting field. Therefore, according to the article sorting demand, the flexible adjustment and expansion can be carried out on the article sorting field, the steel platform does not need to be built, and the cost for building the steel platform is saved.

Since the number of the robots (the sorting robot and the transfer robot) is plural, in order to avoid the running conflict when the object sorting task is executed, the embodiment of the present invention may further set different running routes for the sorting robot 160 and the transfer robot 120 in the storage area 130, respectively, so as to reduce the occurrence of the congestion. The following description will take a single cell of the multiple cells as an example. As shown in fig. 8, a single set of cells may include multiple cells, and the multiple cells may be arranged in a 4 by 6 arrangement. In the single group of cells, since the transfer robot has a larger volume and a lower flexibility than the sorting robot, and thus the transfer robot can generally travel only around the outer edge area of the single group of cells, a first travel route for the transfer robot to travel may be provided in the outer edge area of each group of cells, for example, the first travel route of the transfer robot 120 is shown by the dotted line in fig. 8. In order to reduce the traveling conflict with the transfer robot, a second traveling route for the sorting robot 160 may be provided between any adjacent rows of cells and around the outer edge of a single group of cells, for example, the second traveling route of the sorting robot 160 is shown by a solid line in fig. 8. It should be noted that, for the driving manner of the robot in the storage area with multiple groups of bays, the driving manner is similar to the driving manner in a single group of bays, and redundant description thereof is omitted here.

That is to say, the embodiment of the invention increases the flexibility of increasing the number of the grids by arranging the densely distributed grids in the storage area of the article sorting system, and saves the cost by not building a steel platform. In addition, the running routes are respectively set for the carrying robot and the sorting robot, so that the congestion phenomenon generated when the robot runs can be reduced, and the article sorting speed and efficiency are improved.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of an article sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the technical solution of the embodiment is applicable to an article sorting scenario, and the method is applied to an article sorting system according to any embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 9, the method for sorting articles according to the embodiment of the present invention may include the following steps:

s901, a server determines at least one cell in which the quantity of articles loaded in a loading container reaches a preset threshold as a target cell, determines a first type cell hindering the movement of the target cell as a first obstacle cell when the target cell is a second type cell, allocates a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocates a second transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and sends transfer instructions to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively.

Wherein the plurality of transfer robots are in communication with the server, the plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area of the item sorting system, a plurality of sets of slots are deployed in the storage area, each set of slots includes M rows by N columns of slots, M and N are integers greater than 2, and each set of slots at least includes: the first type of lattice openings are arranged on a first layer of each group of lattice openings, the second type of lattice openings are arranged on a second layer of each group of lattice openings, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and each lattice opening in each group of lattice openings corresponds to one carrying container.

And S902, the first transfer robot responds to the transfer command, travels to the first obstacle cell position, and transfers the loading container arranged at the first obstacle cell position away from the first obstacle cell position.

And S903, the second transfer robot responds to the transfer command, travels to the target cell position, and transfers the object container arranged at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging table specified by the transfer command.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, before allocating the first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocating the second transfer robot to the target cell, the method further includes:

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, after allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocating a second transfer robot to the target cell, the method further includes:

In addition to the above embodiment, optionally, the first transport instruction is to transport the carrier container disposed at the first obstacle cell position to the first standby cell position;

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, after the sending of the transfer instruction to the second transfer robot, the method further includes:

and the server prompts an operator to carry out exception checking according to the alarm information and sends a carrying task canceling instruction to the second carrying robot.

In addition to the above embodiment, optionally, after the first transfer robot transfers the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging table specified by the transfer instruction, the method further includes:

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the allocating a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell includes:

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, after determining whether the first obstacle cell has the second spare cell, the method further includes:

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, each group of cells further includes: a third type of cell deployed on a third layer of each group of cells, the third layer being located inside the second layer; the method further comprises the following steps:

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, the method further includes:

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, a plurality of transfer robots operate in the storage area according to the first travel route; and the sorting robots operate in the storage area according to the second driving route.

The article sorting method provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the article sorting system provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and has corresponding functions and advantages of the article sorting system, and specific reference may be made to the article sorting system provided in any embodiment of the present invention without detailed technical details described in the above embodiments.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An article sorting system, comprising: a server and a plurality of transfer robots; the plurality of transfer robots are in communication with the server, the plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area of the article sorting system, and a plurality of groups of cells are deployed in the storage area, wherein each group of cells includes M rows by N columns of cells, M and N are integers greater than 2, and each group of cells at least includes: the first type of lattice openings are arranged on a first layer of each group of lattice openings, the second type of lattice openings are arranged on a second layer of each group of lattice openings, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and each lattice opening in each group of lattice openings is correspondingly provided with a carrying container; wherein:

the server is configured to determine at least one cell in which the quantity of the articles loaded on the loading container reaches a preset threshold as a target cell, determine a first type of cell obstructing the movement of the target cell as a first obstacle cell when the target cell is a second type of cell, allocate a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and allocate a second transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and send transfer instructions to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively;

the second transfer robot is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer instruction, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging stage specified by the transfer instruction;

no passage is arranged between every two groups of grid rows, and passages are arranged between every two columns.

2. The system of claim 1,

the server is further configured to determine whether the first obstacle bay has an item being delivered; if not, a first transfer robot is allocated to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot is allocated to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots.

3. The system of claim 2,

the server is further configured to determine that a first type of slot in an idle state is a first standby slot and send a first carrying instruction to the first carrying robot if it is determined that any one of the plurality of groups of slots has the first type of slot in the idle state; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said first transfer instructions are for transferring a payload container disposed at said first barrier bay location to said first standby bay location;

5. The system of claim 1,

the second transfer robot is further configured to send alarm information to the server when it is determined that the waiting time for traveling to the target bay position exceeds a time threshold;

6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

the server is further configured to update a mapping relationship between each bin deployed in each set of bins in the storage area and the item destination and/or item attribute information.

7. The system of claim 2, further comprising: a plurality of supply stations;

the server is further configured to lock the first barrier bay if the delivery item exists, and determine whether a second spare bay exists in the first barrier bay when the delivery item is delivered to the first barrier bay and a new delivery item of the first barrier bay is provided by the object platform; and if so, delivering the new delivery article to the second spare grid, and distributing a first transfer robot to the first obstacle grid and distributing a second transfer robot to the target grid from a plurality of transfer robots, wherein the second spare grid is a grid which has the same article destination and/or the same article attribute information as the first obstacle grid in a plurality of groups of grids.

8. The system of claim 7,

the server is further configured to send a pause instruction to the object supplying platform if the first obstacle bay does not have a second spare bay, wherein the pause instruction is an instruction for pausing delivery of a new object to the first obstacle bay.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each set of cells further comprises: a third type of cell deployed on a third layer of each group of cells, the third layer being located inside the second layer;

the third transfer robot is configured to travel to the target cell position in response to the transfer command, and transfer the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging stage specified by the transfer command.

10. The system of claim 1,

the server is further configured to determine at least one cell in which the quantity of the articles loaded in the loading container reaches a preset threshold as a target cell, and when the target cell is a first type of cell, allocate a first transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and send a transfer instruction to the first transfer robot;

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of sorting robots; the sorting robots are in communication connection with the server and operate in a storage area of the article sorting system;

the target sorting robot is configured to deliver the items to be sorted to the sorting bays in response to the sorting instructions.

12. The system according to claim 1 or 11, wherein a plurality of transfer robots operate in the storage area in accordance with a first travel route; and the sorting robots operate in the storage area according to the second driving route.

13. A method of sorting articles, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a server determines that at least one cell, the quantity of articles loaded by a loading container reaches a preset threshold value, is a target cell, determines a first type of cell hindering the target cell from moving as a first obstacle cell when the target cell is a second type of cell, distributes a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell from a plurality of transfer robots, and sends transfer instructions to the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively;

wherein the plurality of transfer robots are in communication with the server, the plurality of transfer robots operate in a storage area of an article sorting system, a plurality of sets of cells are deployed in the storage area, each set of cells includes M rows by N columns of cells, M and N are integers greater than 2, and each set of cells at least includes: the first type of lattice openings are arranged on a first layer of each group of lattice openings, the second type of lattice openings are arranged on a second layer of each group of lattice openings, the first layer is positioned on the outer side of the second layer, and each lattice opening in each group of lattice openings corresponds to one carrying container;

14. The method of claim 13, wherein prior to assigning a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell, further comprising:

15. The method of claim 14, wherein after assigning a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell, further comprising:

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first transfer instruction is to transfer a carrier container disposed at the first barrier bay location to the first standby bay location;

17. The method according to claim 13, further comprising, after sending the transfer instruction to the second transfer robot:

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the first transfer robot further comprises, after transferring the carrier container set at the target cell position from the target cell position to the packaging stage specified by the transfer instruction:

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said assigning a first transfer robot to the first obstacle cell and a second transfer robot to the target cell comprises:

20. The method of claim 19, wherein after determining whether the first obstacle cell has a second spare cell, further comprising:

21. The method of claim 13, wherein each set of cells further comprises: a third type of cell deployed on a third layer of each group of cells, the third layer being located inside the second layer; the method further comprises the following steps:

the second transfer robot responds to the transfer command, runs to the second obstacle bay position and transfers the cargo container arranged at the second obstacle bay position away from the second obstacle bay position;

22. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

23. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the server determines sorting grids from a plurality of groups of grids deployed in the storage area according to the articles to be sorted, determines a target sorting robot from a plurality of sorting robots, and sends a sorting instruction to the target sorting robot;

24. The method according to claim 13 or 23, wherein a plurality of transfer robots operate in the storage area in accordance with a first travel route; and the sorting robots operate in the storage area according to the second driving route.