CN112389916B

CN112389916B - Automated warehouse system, control method, storage medium, and electronic device

Info

Publication number: CN112389916B
Application number: CN201910753744.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 樊斌
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Zhenshi Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Zhenshi Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-15
Filing date: 2019-08-15
Publication date: 2023-06-02
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-15
Also published as: CN112389916A

Abstract

The invention discloses an automated warehouse system, a control method, a storage medium and an electronic device. The control method comprises the following steps: the unmanned vehicle acquires a goods taking code set and a goods receiving area position of a source automatic sorting goods shelf which is pre-associated with each goods taking code in the goods taking code set, wherein the source automatic sorting goods shelf is used as a goods source place of an order; the unmanned vehicles sequentially drive into the goods receiving areas of the source automatic sorting shelves, and the source automatic sorting shelves display goods taking codes associated with the source automatic sorting shelves when each time the unmanned vehicles drive into the goods receiving areas of one source automatic sorting shelf, so that the source automatic sorting shelves execute sorting tasks associated with the goods taking codes in advance to output goods on the orders to the unmanned vehicles; the drone runs to a packing dock pre-associated with the order for unloading. By adopting the control method, the labor cost can be reduced, and the sorting accuracy can be improved.

Description

Automated warehouse system, control method, storage medium, and electronic device

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to logistics technology, and more particularly, to an automated warehouse system, control method, storage medium, and electronic device.

Background

The goods picking operation in the goods delivery process is to pick the goods on an order form from the goods shelf, and the goods picking operation is the most important and most cost-occupying operation of a warehouse logistics center. The efficiency and accuracy of the picking operation greatly influence the logistics service quality.

At present, many warehouses still rely on manual picking and rechecking processes, so that the manual participation degree is high, the false picking rate is high, and the labor cost is high. How to effectively improve the work efficiency and reduce the false picking rate of operators is the biggest problem of picking work.

The above information disclosed in the background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In the summary, a series of concepts in a simplified form are introduced, which will be further described in detail in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

It is a primary object of the present invention to overcome at least one of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide a control method for an unmanned vehicle, comprising:

the unmanned vehicle acquires a goods taking code set and a goods receiving area position of a source automatic sorting goods shelf which is pre-associated with each goods taking code in the goods taking code set, wherein the source automatic sorting goods shelf is used as a goods source place of an order;

the unmanned vehicles sequentially drive into the goods receiving areas of the source automatic sorting shelves, and the goods taking codes associated with the source automatic sorting shelves are displayed to the source automatic sorting shelves when each time the unmanned vehicles drive into the goods receiving areas of one source automatic sorting shelf, so that the source automatic sorting shelves execute sorting tasks associated with the goods taking codes in advance to output goods on the orders to the unmanned vehicles;

the drone runs to a packing dock pre-associated with the order for unloading.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, an automated guided vehicle sequentially enters a receiving area of the source automated sorting rack, the source automated sorting rack displaying a pick code associated therewith upon each entry into the receiving area of one of the source automated sorting racks such that the source automated sorting rack performs a sorting task pre-associated with the pick code to output the goods on the order to the automated guided vehicle, comprising:

the unmanned vehicle selects one of the goods taking code sets as a goods taking code to be executed;

the unmanned vehicle inquires the position of a goods receiving area of the goods shelf according to the goods taking code to be executed and the source related to the goods taking code to be executed, and then runs to the goods receiving area;

the unmanned vehicle displays a goods taking code to be executed to the automatic sorting goods shelf, so that the source automatic sorting goods shelf can execute sorting tasks related to the goods taking code to be executed to output goods on orders to the unmanned vehicle;

after the unmanned vehicle receives the goods, the goods taking code to be executed is removed from the goods taking code set;

and repeating the steps when the goods taking code set is not empty, and continuing to run to the packing platform when the goods taking code set is empty.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the step of the unmanned vehicle obtaining the pick-up code set comprises:

when the unmanned vehicle is in an idle state, a transport task to be executed bound with the number is acquired from a transport task library in a warehouse management server according to the number of the unmanned vehicle, and the transport task to be executed comprises a goods taking code set and information of the goods receiving area position of a source automatic sorting goods shelf associated with each goods taking code in the goods taking code set.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the control method further comprises, before the unmanned vehicle enters the receiving area of the source automatic sorting rack:

the unmanned vehicle sends the position of the goods receiving area from the sorting goods shelf to the warehouse management server so that the warehouse management server makes the shortest driving route and issues the driving route to the unmanned vehicle;

after receiving the driving route, the unmanned vehicle sequentially drives into the goods receiving area of the automatic source sorting goods shelf according to the driving route.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the drone runs to the order-associated packing dock for unloading, comprising:

the unmanned aerial vehicle walks along a packing passage beside which the packing platform is arranged, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle can be identified by the packing platform when passing by the packing platform, and then a discharging instruction is issued to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

and after receiving the unloading instruction, the unmanned vehicle runs to the packing platform for unloading.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a shelf area, a packing channel and a plurality of packing platforms are arranged in the warehouse, the automatic sorting shelves are all arranged in the shelf area, the packing channel is an annular channel arranged around the shelf area, and the packing platforms are arranged outside the packing channel and are sequentially arranged along the packing channel;

all the unmanned vehicles travel in the same direction when traveling in the packing passage.

The invention also proposes an automated warehouse system comprising:

the warehouse management server is used for acquiring an order, distributing a packing platform for the order, distributing the goods sources of all goods to be delivered on the order to the automatic sorting shelves, and generating a sorting task and a goods taking code related to the sorting task for each automatic sorting shelf serving as the source of the goods;

the unmanned vehicle is provided with a display screen and is used for receiving the goods taking codes, and displaying the goods taking codes to the automatic source sorting goods shelves through the display screen after reaching the goods receiving areas of the automatic source sorting goods shelves associated with the goods taking codes;

the automatic sorting goods shelf is provided with a code scanning device and is used for receiving the sorting tasks and the goods taking codes, and executing sorting tasks related to the goods taking codes after receiving the goods taking codes displayed by the unmanned vehicles in the goods receiving area so as to sort the corresponding goods stored in the automatic sorting goods shelf to the unmanned vehicles;

a packing dock for guiding an unmanned vehicle carrying goods in an order associated therewith into which to discharge.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the automated sorting pallet further comprises:

the shuttle type goods shelf comprises a goods storage layer provided with a warehouse-out buffer area and a guide rail arranged at the bottom of the goods storage layer, wherein the goods storage layer is used for storing a material box loaded with goods;

a shuttle mounted on the rail and movable along the rail for transporting the bin along the rail;

the mechanical arm is arranged close to the ex-warehouse buffer area and is used for picking cargoes from a bin positioned in the ex-warehouse buffer area;

and the identification device is arranged on the mechanical arm and is used for identifying the type of goods.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the mechanical arm is provided with a vacuum chuck or a mechanical claw.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the identification device is a code scanner.

The invention also proposes a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the control method described above.

The invention also proposes an electronic device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the control method as described above via execution of the executable instructions.

According to the technical scheme, the control method has the advantages and positive effects that:

by executing the control method, the unmanned vehicle and the automatic sorting goods shelf are matched, all goods to be delivered in the order can be conveyed to a designated packing platform for rechecking and packing, and in the process, the goods are sorted by a machine, so that the sorting accuracy is high. After the control method is adopted, only one worker is needed for rechecking and packaging operation for each packaging platform, and the sorting operation is not needed manually, so that the labor cost is reduced.

Drawings

Various objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the invention and are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts throughout. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automated warehouse shown according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of controlling a job for a warehouse-out operation, according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device, according to an example embodiment;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium according to an exemplary embodiment.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments can be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar structures, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Referring to fig. 1, the automated warehouse system includes automated sorting racks 3, unmanned vehicles (not shown), a packing dock 4, and a warehouse management server (not shown). The automatic sorting shelves 3, the unmanned vehicles and the packing platforms 4 can all be provided in plurality.

Be provided with a goods shelves district 1 in the automated warehouse, a plurality of automatic sorting goods shelves 3 concentrate and set up in goods shelves district 1, form the tunnel that supplies unmanned vehicles to move between automatic sorting goods shelves 3 and the automatic sorting goods shelves 3. A packing tunnel 2 is also provided in the warehouse, which packing tunnel 2 is connected to the pallet area 1. A plurality of packing platforms 4 are provided beside the packing tunnel 2 and are arranged in sequence along the packing tunnel 2. The packing passage 2 may be an annular road surrounding the shelf area 1, and the packing platform 4 is disposed outside the packing passage 2, and the annular road separates the packing platform 4 from the shelf area 1 to avoid mutual interference between people and machines. One or more free waiting areas 5 may also be provided in the warehouse. The free waiting area 5 may be arranged beside the baling channel 2. The unmanned vehicles without the transport tasks are temporarily stored in the free waiting area 5 and wait for the allocation of the transport tasks.

The drone may be an automated guided drone (AGV) that recognizes its location in the warehouse based on a tag placed on the ground. The roof of the unmanned vehicle may be provided with a hopper for carrying cargo. Of course, the top of the drone may also be configured as a flat top to carry cargo. The unmanned vehicle is provided with a display screen which can display a feature code, and the feature code can be a bar code, a two-dimensional code or a three-dimensional code.

The automatic sorting goods shelf 3 is provided with a code sweeping device. The scanning device is used for acquiring the feature codes displayed on the display screen of the unmanned vehicle. The automated sorting pallet 3 is capable of sorting goods stored thereon and outputting a specific one or more goods. A receiving area may be provided at the bottom of or beside the automated sorting pallet 3, and when the drone arrives at the receiving area, the automated sorting pallet 3 delivers a particular cargo or cargoes to the drone.

The automated sorting pallet 3 comprises shuttle pallets, shuttles, robotic arms, and identification means. Each shuttle type goods shelf is provided with a plurality of goods storage layers which are sequentially arranged from bottom to top, each goods storage layer is provided with a plurality of storage positions which are arranged along a horizontal straight line, and each storage position can be used for storing a material box. The bins may be cubical in outer contour, each bin may store one or more goods. The bottom of each storage layer of the shuttle-type goods shelf is provided with a guide rail, and a shuttle can walk on the guide rail. The top of the shuttle is provided with a lifting mechanism which can lift and lower the feed box. The shuttle can remove the bin in one storage layer from the storage position and carry the bin out of the shuttle type goods shelf, and the shuttle can also remove the bin outside the shuttle type goods shelf to a specific storage position in one storage layer.

One shuttle is arranged on each storage layer in an associated mode. It is also possible that the number of shuttles on the shuttle pallet is less than the number of tiers of the storage tiers of the shuttle pallet. When the number of shuttles on the shuttle pallet is less than the number of tiers of storage tiers of the shuttle pallet, the automated sort pallet 3 also includes a shuttle elevator. The shuttle elevator is used for realizing layer changing of the shuttle. Thus, even if only one shuttle is arranged on each shuttle type goods shelf, the shuttle can be transported to any goods storage layer by the shuttle lifting machine for carrying the storage box.

One end of each storage layer is provided with a delivery buffer area. These out-of-stock buffers are disposed at the same end of the shuttle shelf. The shuttle car can transport the bin containing the goods to be delivered to the delivery buffer. The robotic arm may be a six-axis robotic arm. The mechanical arm is arranged close to the warehouse-out buffer area, and the identification device is arranged on the mechanical arm. The identification device on the mechanical arm can identify the type of goods. The identification means may comprise a code scanner, the mechanical arm being able to take a load from the bin in the delivery buffer, the mechanical arm being able to turn the load such that the code on the load is able to face the code scanner, the code scanner scanning the code to identify whether the load is to be delivered. The mechanical arm can be provided with a vacuum chuck, and goods can be adsorbed by the vacuum chuck; the mechanical arm can also be provided with a mechanical claw, and the goods can be grasped through the mechanical claw. The code may be a bar code, a two-dimensional code, or a three-dimensional code. When the goods taken out by the mechanical arm are goods to be delivered, the mechanical arm places the goods to be delivered on an unmanned vehicle stopped at the goods receiving area of the automatic sorting goods shelf 3. The mechanical arm can directly place the goods to be delivered on the unmanned vehicle, and of course, if a slide way leading to the goods receiving area is arranged on the shuttle type goods shelf, the mechanical arm can place the goods to be delivered into the slide way, and the goods to be delivered slide down to the unmanned vehicle in the goods receiving area along the slide way.

Of course, the automatic sorting pallet 3 is not limited to the above-described structure, and any existing pallet having an automatic sorting function can be used in the present invention.

In this embodiment, the warehouse management server includes a warehouse management module, an inventory management module, and a pick scheduling module.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 shows a flow chart of a control method of the unmanned vehicle. The control method includes steps S11 to S13.

Step S11: the unmanned vehicle acquires a goods taking code set and the goods receiving area position of a source automatic sorting goods shelf which is pre-associated with each goods taking code in the goods taking code set, and the source automatic sorting goods shelf is used as a goods source place of an order;

step S12: the unmanned vehicle sequentially enters the goods receiving areas of the source automatic sorting shelves, and the goods taking codes associated with the source automatic sorting shelves are displayed to the source automatic sorting shelves when entering the goods receiving areas of one source automatic sorting shelf, so that the source automatic sorting shelves execute sorting tasks associated with the goods taking codes in advance to output goods on orders to the unmanned vehicle;

step S13: the drone runs to a packing dock pre-associated with the order for unloading.

By executing the control method, the unmanned vehicle and the automatic sorting goods shelf are matched, all goods to be delivered in the order can be conveyed to a designated packing platform for rechecking and packing, and in the process, the goods are sorted by a machine, so that the sorting accuracy is high. After the control method is adopted, only one worker is needed for rechecking and packaging operation for each packaging platform, and the workers are not needed for sorting operation, so that the labor cost is reduced.

Each step in the present embodiment is specifically described below.

the warehouse management module of the warehouse management server obtains the order. The warehouse management module of the warehouse management server is provided with an external interface for receiving orders. The pair of external interfaces may be in communication with an e-commerce system. The order may be a merchandise order sent directly from the e-commerce system. The goods to be delivered recorded on the order are the goods which need to be sent out from the automatic warehouse system. The types of goods to be delivered and the quantity of each type of goods to be delivered are recorded on the order. The warehouse management module generates a delivery task for the order after receiving the order. The out-of-stock task is then sent to the inventory management module. In this step, the acquisition order may also be an order generated directly from the warehouse management module.

The warehouse management module of the warehouse management server sends the order to the inventory management module. The inventory management module distributes the source of all the goods to be delivered on the order to the automatic sorting shelves 3, and generates a sorting task and a picking code associated with the sorting task for each source of the goods automatically sorting shelves 3.

The inventory management module tracks the location information of each bin in each automated sort shelf 3 in real time as well as the bin status information. The warehouse management module establishes a first table in which the bin name, the bin position, the inventory information (namely the loaded cargo name, the cargo number, the cargo code and the quantity thereof) of each bin and the states of the bins are in one-to-one association. Bin information for all bins loaded with a good may be searched by querying the good information for the good, including the name of the bin, the location of the bin, inventory information for the bin, and status information for the bin. The status information of the bin may include information whether the bin is locked, the bin is being transported to the out-of-stock buffer, and the bin is being transported back to storage waiting.

According to the types and the quantity of the goods to be delivered recorded on the order and the stock condition on each automatic sorting goods shelf 3, the automatic sorting goods shelf 3 is distributed to the goods sources of all the goods to be delivered on the order.

The inventory management module inquires the inventory condition of various goods to be delivered on each automatic sorting shelf 3 according to the types of the goods to be delivered recorded in the delivery task. And distributing the goods sources of each type of goods to be delivered on the order to one or more automatic sorting shelves 3 storing the tasks to be delivered, wherein the automatic sorting shelves 3 providing the goods sources for the order are the automatic sorting shelves 3. The types of the goods to be delivered, which are distributed to each source automatic sorting goods shelf 3, and the quantity of the goods to be delivered in each type are counted.

The inventory management module generates a sorting task according to the types of the goods to be sorted and the quantity of the goods to be sorted, wherein the types of the goods to be sorted and the quantity of the goods to be sorted are distributed by each source automatic sorting goods shelf 3, and the task information of the sorting task comprises the types of the goods to be sorted and the quantity of the goods to be sorted, wherein the types of the goods to be sorted and the quantity of the goods to be sorted are distributed by the source automatic sorting goods shelf 3. Meanwhile, an associated goods taking code is generated for each sorting task, and the goods taking codes are different from each other. The pick code may be a bar code, a two-dimensional code, or a three-dimensional code.

For example, the number of goods to be delivered A on the order is 10, 5 goods to be delivered A are stored in the automatic sorting shelf a, 6 goods to be delivered A are stored in the automatic sorting shelf b, 0 goods to be delivered A are stored in the automatic sorting shelf c, and 0 goods to be delivered A are stored in the automatic sorting shelf d. The number of the goods B to be delivered on the order is 2, 1 goods B to be delivered are stored in the automatic sorting goods shelf a, 0 goods B to be delivered are stored in the automatic sorting goods shelf B, 1 goods B to be delivered are stored in the automatic sorting goods shelf c, and 0 goods B to be delivered are stored in the automatic sorting goods shelf d.

The goods sources of the goods A to be delivered can be distributed to the automatic sorting racks a and b, and the number of the goods A to be delivered distributed to the automatic sorting racks a and b can be 5. And distributing the cargo sources of the cargoes B to be delivered to the racks a and c, wherein the number of the cargoes A to be delivered distributed to the automatic sorting racks a and c is 1. Therefore, the automatic sorting racks a, b and c are all source automatic sorting racks.

The sorting task of the source automatic sorting shelf a is to sort out 5 goods A to be delivered and 1 goods B to be delivered; the sorting task of the source automatic sorting shelf b is to sort out 5 goods A to be delivered; the sorting task of the source automatic sorting shelf c is to sort out 1 goods B to be delivered.

The warehouse management module calculates the total occupied volume and total weight of goods to be delivered, which are associated with each goods taking code;

the warehouse management module sends all the goods taking codes corresponding to the orders, the total volume and total weight required to be occupied by goods to be delivered associated with each goods taking code and the order number of the orders to the goods picking and scheduling module;

the goods picking and dispatching module distributes all goods picking codes to the unmanned vehicles according to the total volume and total weight to be occupied by goods to be delivered and the carrying capacity of the unmanned vehicles, which are associated with each goods picking code, so as to generate transportation tasks which are associated with the numbers of the unmanned vehicles in a transportation task library, wherein the transportation tasks comprise all the goods picking codes distributed by one unmanned vehicle and the position information of the automatic sorting shelves of sources associated with each goods picking code.

In the step, the sum of the total volumes of the goods to be delivered, which are associated with all the goods taking codes and are distributed to one unmanned vehicle, does not exceed the upper limit of the volume of the unmanned vehicle, and the sum of the total weights of the goods to be delivered, which are associated with all the goods taking codes and are distributed to one unmanned vehicle, does not exceed the upper limit of the load of the unmanned vehicle.

The transportation task is executed by the unmanned vehicle, and is a transportation task for the unmanned vehicle to transport the goods to be delivered from the automatic sorting rack 3 to the packing platform 4. The transportation task includes a collection of pick codes and a receiving area location of an automated sorting shelf associated with each feature code in the collection of pick codes. The pick codes in the pick code set all correspond to the same order. The feature codes in the pick code set may be plural or may be only one. When the total volume or weight of the goods to be sorted on an order exceeds the maximum load of an unmanned vehicle, all pick codes associated with the order may be resolved into multiple transportation tasks. When the order is associated with a plurality of transportation tasks, the plurality of transportation tasks can be executed by a plurality of unmanned vehicles respectively, or can be executed by one unmanned vehicle sequentially.

And the order-picking scheduling module is provided with a transportation task library, and the transportation task associated with the order is bound to the serial number of the unmanned vehicle in the transportation task library, so that the distribution of the transportation task is completed. The unmanned vehicle inquires whether the transport task related to the number of the unmanned vehicle is provided in the transport task library in an idle state, if so, the transport task is downloaded, and then the goods taking code in the transport task and the position information of the automatic sorting goods shelf 3 related to the goods taking code can be obtained.

Of course, the order picking and dispatching module can also directly send the transportation task to the unmanned vehicle after inquiring the unmanned vehicle with the idle state.

In this embodiment, the transportation task is preferentially allocated to the unmanned vehicle with few transportation tasks.

Step S12: after receiving the transportation task, the unmanned vehicle sequentially enters the goods receiving area of the source automatic sorting goods shelf, and a goods taking code associated with the source automatic sorting goods shelf is displayed to the source automatic sorting goods shelf when each time the unmanned vehicle enters the goods receiving area of one source automatic sorting goods shelf, so that the source automatic sorting goods shelf executes a sorting task pre-associated with the goods taking code to output goods on orders to the unmanned vehicle;

step S12 includes steps S121 to S126.

Step S121: the unmanned vehicle selects one of the goods taking code sets as a goods taking code to be executed;

step S122: the unmanned vehicle inquires the position of a goods receiving area of the goods shelf according to the goods taking code to be executed and the source related to the goods taking code to be executed, and then runs to the goods receiving area;

step S123: the unmanned vehicle displays a goods taking code to be executed to the automatic sorting goods shelf, so that the source automatic sorting goods shelf can execute sorting tasks related to the goods taking code to be executed to output goods on orders to the unmanned vehicle;

the scanning device of the automatic sorting goods shelf 3 scans the goods receiving area of the automatic sorting goods shelf 3 in real time. After the unmanned vehicle displays the pattern of the goods taking code to be executed through the display screen in the goods receiving area, the scanning device can scan the goods taking code to be executed.

The scanning device acquires the goods taking code to be executed and uploads the goods taking code to the inventory management module, the inventory management module identifies the image information of the goods taking code to be executed, searches for a sorting task associated with the goods taking code according to the information recorded by the image of the goods taking code, and issues the sorting task to the automatic sorting goods shelf 3 which uploads the goods taking code to be executed before.

After the automatic sorting shelf 3 obtains the sorting task, the mechanical arm executes the sorting task to convey the goods to be delivered, which are designated by the sorting task, to the unmanned vehicle.

Step S124: the unmanned vehicle removes the goods taking code to be executed from the goods taking code set, then judges whether the stored goods taking code set is empty, if so, the unmanned vehicle enters a step S121, otherwise, the unmanned vehicle enters a step S13;

after the automatic sorting goods shelf of one source finishes the sorting task, information of the sorting task is sent to the associated unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle removes the goods taking codes to be executed, which are displayed by the unmanned aerial vehicle, from the goods taking code set after receiving the information.

If the goods taking code set is empty, the goods to be taken out associated with the goods taking code, which is allocated to the unmanned aerial vehicle, are loaded on the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle can convey the goods to be taken out to the associated packing platform 4 for packing.

If the goods taking code set is not empty, the unmanned vehicle is indicated to be continued to other sources for automatically sorting the goods shelves for goods taking.

Further, step S12 further includes step S120 before step S121;

step S120: the unmanned vehicle sends the position of the goods receiving area from the sorting goods shelf to the warehouse management server so that the warehouse management server makes the shortest driving route and issues the driving route to the unmanned vehicle;

after receiving the driving route, the unmanned vehicle sequentially enters a goods receiving area of the automatic source sorting goods shelf according to the driving route;

therefore, the display sequence of the goods taking codes in the goods taking code set can be ordered in advance, so that the running distance of the unmanned vehicle is shortest.

Step S13: the unmanned vehicle runs to the packing platform 4 corresponding to the order for unloading. Step S13 includes steps S131 to S132.

Step S131: the unmanned aerial vehicle walks along the packing channel 2, the packing platform 4 associated with the order identifies the unmanned aerial vehicle passing by the packing platform, and when the unmanned aerial vehicle passing by the packing platform is identified to be the unmanned aerial vehicle distributed with the goods taking code associated with the order, a goods unloading instruction is issued to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

step S132: after receiving the unloading instruction, the unmanned vehicle enters a packing platform 4 for unloading, wherein the packing platform is used for sending the unloading instruction;

after the drone finishes unloading, it can walk along the packing aisle 2 back to the free waiting area 5.

When the baling channel 2 is ring-shaped, the drone walks in only one direction. Therefore, the unmanned vehicle does not need complex path planning and avoiding processing when walking in the packing channel 2, and the operation is simplified more.

An electronic device 800 according to such an embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to fig. 3. The electronic device 800 shown in fig. 3 is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the functionality and scope of use of embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, the electronic device 800 is embodied in the form of a general purpose computing device. Components of electronic device 800 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 810, the at least one memory unit 820, and a bus 830 connecting the various system components, including the memory unit 820 and the processing unit 810.

Wherein the storage unit stores program code that is executable by the processing unit 810 such that the processing unit 810 performs steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described in the above section of the "exemplary method" of the present specification.

The storage unit 820 may include readable media in the form of volatile storage units, such as Random Access Memory (RAM) 8201 and/or cache memory 8202, and may further include Read Only Memory (ROM) 8203.

Storage unit 820 may also include a program/utility 8204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 8205, such program modules 8205 including, but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each or some combination of which may include an implementation of a network environment.

Bus 830 may be one or more of several types of bus structures including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 800 may also communicate with one or more external devices 700 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, bluetooth device, etc.), one or more devices that enable an insurer to interact with the electronic device 600, and/or any device (e.g., router, modem, etc.) that enables the electronic device 800 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may occur through an input/output (I/O) interface 650. Also, electronic device 800 may communicate with one or more networks such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or a public network, such as the Internet, through network adapter 860. As shown, network adapter 860 communicates with other modules of electronic device 800 over bus 830. It should be appreciated that although not shown, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in connection with electronic device 600, including, but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, data backup storage systems, and the like.

From the above description of embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a usb disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the control method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program product capable of implementing the control method described above in the present specification. In some possible embodiments, the various aspects of the invention may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code for causing a terminal device to carry out the steps according to the various exemplary embodiments of the invention as described in the "exemplary methods" section of this specification, when said program product is run on the terminal device.

Referring to fig. 4, a program product 900 for implementing the above-described control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is described, which may employ a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and may be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited thereto, and in this document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium can be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or a combination of any of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, random Access Memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The computer readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave with readable program code embodied therein. Such a propagated data signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the insurer computing device, partly on the insurer device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the insurer computing device, partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In the case of remote computing devices, the remote computing device may be connected to the insurance client computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., connected over the internet using an internet service provider).

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or units of a device for action execution are mentioned, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more modules or units described above may be embodied in one module or unit in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above may be further divided into a plurality of modules or units to be embodied.

Furthermore, although the steps of the methods in the present disclosure are depicted in a particular order in the drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that particular order or that all illustrated steps be performed in order to achieve desirable results. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step to perform, and/or one step decomposed into multiple steps to perform, etc.

From the above description of embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a U-disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any adaptations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

Although the invention has been disclosed with reference to certain embodiments, numerous variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope and scope of the invention. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that it is to be defined by the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A control method of an unmanned vehicle, comprising:

the unmanned aerial vehicle drives in proper order into the receiving area of source automatic sorting goods shelves, at every receiving area of driving into a source automatic sorting goods shelves, demonstrate the goods code of getting rather than associated with it to this source automatic sorting goods shelves so that this source automatic sorting goods shelves carry out the letter sorting task of associating with getting goods code in advance in order to export to the unmanned aerial vehicle the goods on the order, include:

repeating the steps when the goods taking code set is not empty, and continuing to run to a packing platform when the goods taking code set is empty;

the drone runs to the packing dock pre-associated with the order for unloading.

2. The control method of claim 1, wherein the step of the drone acquiring the collection of pick codes comprises:

3. The control method of claim 1, wherein prior to the unmanned vehicle entering the receiving area of the source automated sorting pallet, the control method further comprises:

4. A control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the unmanned vehicle is run to the order-associated packing dock for unloading, comprising:

5. The control method according to any one of claims 4, wherein a shelf area, a packing passage and a plurality of packing platforms are provided in the warehouse, the automatic sorting shelves are all provided in the shelf area, the packing passage is an annular passage provided around the shelf area, and the plurality of packing platforms are provided outside the packing passage and are sequentially arranged along the packing passage;

6. An automated warehouse system, comprising:

a packing dock for guiding an unmanned vehicle carrying goods in an order associated therewith into and out of which to discharge;

wherein, the unmanned vehicle selects one of the goods taking code sets as the goods taking code to be executed;

7. The automated warehouse system of claim 6, wherein the automated sorting rack further comprises:

8. The automated warehouse system of claim 7, wherein the robotic arm is provided with a vacuum chuck or gripper thereon.

9. The automated warehouse system of claim 8, wherein the identification device is a code scanner.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that the computer program, when being executed by a processor, implements the control method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to execute the control method of any one of claims 1 to 5 via execution of the executable instructions.