CN113102260A

CN113102260A - Cargo sorting system and method and robot

Info

Publication number: CN113102260A
Application number: CN202110393442.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张威; 叶铭
Original assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-13
Filing date: 2021-04-13
Publication date: 2021-07-13

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a cargo sorting system, method and robot, wherein the system comprises a sorting storage area, a sorting robot, a bin handling robot and a control server; at least one goods shelf is arranged in the sorting storage area; the goods shelf is provided with at least one storage bit for storing a material box; the shelf comprises a first storage area and a second storage area; the first storage area is provided with sorting storage bits; the control server is configured to determine a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area of the sorted goods based on the information of the sorted goods, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the sorted goods to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position; under the condition that the work bin in the first storage area of the goods shelf completes the sorting task, the dispatching work bin carrying robot carries the work bin which completes the sorting task in the first storage area to an empty storage position in the second storage area, links which are cut in a sorting scene are integrated, and the goods sorting efficiency is improved.

Description

Cargo sorting system and method and robot

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of warehousing management, in particular to a cargo sorting system, a cargo sorting method and a robot.

Background

In the goods sorting scenario, return sorting and order sorting are included, where return sorting is a sorting scenario for goods returned by customers, and order sorting is a sorting scenario for goods in a user order. The return processing flow comprises the links of warehousing, sorting, shelving, storing, shelving, leaving and leaving of goods to be returned, the order processing flow comprises the links of warehousing, sorting, shelving, storing, shelving, leaving and leaving of goods to be selected, and the traditional sorting mode comprises pure manual operation and semi-automatic operation.

Due to different equipment types for processing each link in the two scenes, each link is processed in a partition mode, and the link is split, so that the sorting efficiency of the whole sorting flow is reduced, and meanwhile, the warehouse management difficulty is improved due to the split link, so that the goods sorting efficiency is reduced; in addition, each link monopolizes partial area of the warehouse, and the goods returning frequency is far less than the sorting frequency of normal order goods, so that the goods returning sorting scene monopolizes the internal area of the warehouse, and the logistics cost of goods returning sorting is improved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure at least provides a cargo sorting system, a cargo sorting method and a robot.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a cargo sorting system, which includes a sorting storage area, a sorting robot, a bin handling robot, and a control server; at least one goods shelf is arranged in the sorting storage area; the storage rack is provided with at least one storage position, and the storage position is used for storing a material box; the shelf comprises a first storage area and a second storage area; the first storage area is provided with sorting storage bits;

the control server is configured to determine a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area for the sorted goods based on the information of the sorted goods, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the sorted goods to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position; and under the condition that the work bin in the first storage area of the shelf completes the sorting task, the work bin carrying robot is dispatched to carry the work bin which completes the sorting task in the first storage area to the vacant storage position in the second storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the control server is further configured to schedule the bin transfer robot to transfer empty bins from the second storage area to the sorting storage locations of the first storage area to be replenished, in case the empty sorting storage locations of the first storage area determine replenishment.

In an optional embodiment, the control server is further configured to, in the case that it is determined that the off-shelf bin needs to be put on shelf, schedule the bin handling robot to handle the off-shelf bin to the storage location of the second storage area that is empty.

In an optional embodiment, the control server is further configured to schedule the bin handling robot to handle the bin to be shelved off the shelf if it is determined that the bin to be shelved is present within the shelf.

In an alternative embodiment, the sorted goods comprise goods to be returned;

the control server is configured to determine a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area of the goods to be returned based on the information of the goods to be returned and the actual occupation information of the sorting storage positions in the first storage area, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the goods to be returned to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position.

In an alternative embodiment, the sorted goods comprise goods to be sorted; the goods sorting system also comprises a supply mechanism;

the control server is further configured to determine initial position information of the goods to be picked based on the sorted goods information of the goods to be picked, schedule the bin carrying robot to carry the bin where the goods to be picked are located to a piece supply mechanism based on the initial position information, and schedule the piece supply mechanism to place the goods to be picked on the sorting robot.

In an alternative embodiment, the initial location information includes one or more of location information of the storage bit in the second storage area and location information of other areas outside the sorting storage area.

In an optional embodiment, after determining the target sorting storage location, if no bin is placed on the target sorting storage location, the control server is further configured to determine location information of an empty bin in the second storage area; and scheduling the bin carrying robot to carry empty bins from the second storage area to the target sorting storage location based on the position information of the empty bins in the second storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the material box to be destroyed comprises goods to be destroyed; the material box to be placed on the shelf is positioned at the storage position in the second storage area;

the control server is configured to determine the position information of a to-be-off rack bin in which the goods to be destroyed are located under the condition that the goods to be destroyed are determined to be needed to be destroyed; and scheduling the material box carrying robot to carry the material box to be placed off to other storage areas except the sorting storage area based on the position information of the material box to be placed off.

In an alternative embodiment, the bin to be shelved comprises a bin to be taken out of the warehouse on the shelf.

In an alternative embodiment, the first storage area comprises the bottommost storage area of the shelf; the second storage area includes storage areas other than the bottommost storage area of the shelf.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a robot, which is characterized by including the sorting robot in any one of the first aspects.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides another robot, which is characterized by including the bin conveying robot of any one of the first aspects.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a cargo sorting method, which is applied to the control server in the cargo sorting system of any one of the first aspects; the goods sorting method comprises the following steps:

determining a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area for the sorted goods based on the information of the sorted goods;

dispatching the sorting robot to deliver the sorted goods into a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position;

and under the condition that the work bin in the first storage area of the shelf completes the sorting task, the work bin carrying robot is dispatched to carry the work bin which completes the sorting task in the first storage area to the vacant storage position in the second storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises:

and under the condition that the empty sorting storage position in the first storage area determines box supplement, the bin conveying robot is dispatched to convey the empty bin from the second storage area to the sorting storage position to be supplemented in the first storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises:

and under the condition that the work of putting the work bin out of the shelf on the shelf is determined, the work bin carrying robot is dispatched to carry the work bin out of the shelf to the vacant storage position of the second storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises:

and under the condition that the material box to be placed on the shelf exists in the shelf, the material box carrying robot is dispatched to carry the material box to be placed on the shelf to the outside.

In an alternative embodiment, the sorted goods comprise goods to be returned; the method comprises the following steps:

determining a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area for the goods to be returned based on the information of the sorted goods of the goods to be returned and the actual occupation information of the sorting storage positions in the first storage area;

and dispatching the sorting robot to deliver the goods to be returned to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position.

before determining a target sorting storage location to which the sorted goods are to be stored in the first storage area based on the sorted goods information, the method further comprises:

determining initial position information of the goods to be picked based on the sorted goods information of the goods to be picked;

scheduling the bin carrying robot to carry the bin with the goods to be picked to a piece supplying mechanism based on the initial position information;

and dispatching the piece supply mechanism to place the goods to be picked on the sorting robot.

In an alternative embodiment, the initial location information includes one or more of location information of the storage bit within the second storage area and other areas outside the sorting storage area.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises:

after the target sorting storage location is determined, if no bin is placed on the target sorting storage location, determining the position information of an empty bin in the second storage area;

and scheduling the bin carrying robot to carry empty bins from the second storage area to the target sorting storage location based on the position information of the empty bins in the second storage area.

the determining that the work bin conveying robot conveys the work bin to be placed off the shelf to the outside of the work bin under the condition that the work bin to be placed off the shelf exists in the work bin, the method comprises the following steps:

under the condition that the goods to be destroyed are determined to be needed to be destroyed, determining the position information of a bin to be put on a shelf where the goods to be destroyed are located;

and scheduling the material box carrying robot to carry the material box to be placed off to other storage areas except the sorting storage area based on the position information of the material box to be placed off.

The goods sorting system, the goods sorting method and the goods sorting robot provided by the embodiment of the disclosure comprise a sorting storage area, a sorting robot, a bin carrying robot and a control server; at least one goods shelf is arranged in the sorting storage area; the goods shelf is provided with at least one storage bit for storing a material box; the shelf comprises a first storage area and a second storage area; the first storage area is provided with sorting storage bits; the control server determines a target sorting storage position to be stored in the first storage area for the sorted goods based on the information of the sorted goods, and dispatches the sorting robot to deliver the sorted goods to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position; and under the condition that the work bin in the first storage area of the goods shelf completes the sorting task, the dispatching work bin carrying robot carries the work bin which completes the sorting task in the first storage area to an empty storage position in the second storage area. The method integrates the links cracked in the sorting scene through the dispatching sorting robot and the bin carrying robot, namely, the sorting robot is used for sorting the goods, and the bin carrying robot is used for warehousing, shelving, storing, shelving, leaving and the like of the goods, so that the sorting efficiency of the whole sorting process can be improved; in addition, the sorting process can be completed by utilizing the sorting robot and the bin carrying robot in the same sorting and storage area, the condition that the returned goods sorting scene monopolizes the partial area of the warehouse is avoided, namely, the sorting and storage area is formed, and the logistics cost of returned goods sorting can be reduced.

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure more comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and the drawings herein incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the technical solutions of the present disclosure. It is appreciated that the following drawings depict only certain embodiments of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for those skilled in the art will be able to derive additional related drawings therefrom without the benefit of the inventive faculty.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a cargo sorting system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a single row of shelves provided by embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a double-row shelf provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4a is a schematic structural diagram of a sorting robot provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4b is a schematic structural diagram of another sorting robot provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic distribution of different storage areas on a shelf provided by embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6a is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a bin handling robot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6b shows a schematic structural diagram of another bin handling robot provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not all of the embodiments. The components of the embodiments of the present disclosure, generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, can be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, presented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the disclosure. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the disclosure without making creative efforts, shall fall within the protection scope of the disclosure.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims, and in the drawings described above, in the embodiments of the present disclosure are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It will be appreciated that the data so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated or described herein.

Reference herein to "a plurality or a number" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

To facilitate understanding of the present embodiments, the terms referred to in the embodiments of the present disclosure are first defined as follows, including:

1. the return sorting is a scene for sorting the goods to be returned in the return order.

2. Order sorting is a scene for sorting goods to be picked in a user order.

3. The sorting storage area refers to a partial area in a warehouse where processing links in a goods sorting scene are integrated together.

4. The sorting robot is used for sorting goods in a sorting storage area.

5. The bin carrying robot is a robot for carrying bins in the sorting storage area.

It has been found that in the goods sorting scenario, return sorting and order sorting are included, where return sorting is a sorting scenario for goods returned by customers, and order sorting is a scenario in which goods in a user order are sorted. The return processing flow comprises the links of warehousing, sorting, shelving, storing, shelving, leaving and leaving of goods to be returned, the order processing flow comprises the links of warehousing, sorting, shelving, storing, shelving, leaving and leaving of goods to be selected, and the traditional sorting mode comprises pure manual operation and semi-automatic operation. Due to different equipment types for processing each link in the two scenes, each link is processed in a partition mode, and the link is split, so that the sorting efficiency of the whole sorting flow is reduced, and meanwhile, the warehouse management difficulty is improved due to the split link, so that the goods sorting efficiency is reduced; in addition, each link monopolizes partial area of the warehouse, and the goods returning frequency is far less than the sorting frequency of normal order goods, so that the goods returning sorting scene monopolizes the internal area of the warehouse, and the logistics cost of goods returning sorting is improved.

Based on the research, the present disclosure provides a cargo sorting system, method and robot, which integrate the links of the splitting in the sorting scene by a dispatching sorting robot and a bin transporting robot, i.e. the sorting of the cargo is realized by the sorting robot, and the warehousing, racking, storage, racking, delivery, etc. of the cargo are realized by the bin transporting robot, so that the sorting efficiency of the whole sorting process can be improved, and meanwhile, the control server respectively dispatches the sorting robot and the bin transporting robot, so that the automation of each link of the sorting process is realized, the difficulty in warehouse management is reduced, and the cargo sorting efficiency can be further improved; in addition, the sorting process can be completed by utilizing the sorting robot and the bin carrying robot in the same sorting and storage area, the condition that the returned goods sorting scene monopolizes the partial area of the warehouse is avoided, namely, the sorting and storage area is formed, and the logistics cost of returned goods sorting can be reduced.

The above-mentioned drawbacks are the results of the inventor after practical and careful study, and therefore, the discovery process of the above-mentioned problems and the solutions proposed by the present disclosure to the above-mentioned problems should be the contribution of the inventor in the process of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a cargo sorting system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, where the cargo sorting system includes a sorting storage area 11, a sorting robot 12, a bin handling robot 13, and a control server 14. Wherein at least one shelf 15 is arranged in the sorting storage area 11.

Referring to fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of a single-row shelf provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein at least one storage location 151 is disposed on the shelf 15, and the storage location 151 is used for storing a bin 152; the shelf 15 includes a first storage area 153-1 and a second storage area 153-2; the first storage area 153-1 is provided with sorting storage locations 151-1; the second storage area 153-2 is provided with a storage bit 151-2. It should be noted that different storage floors exist in the same shelf, and the vertical distance l between the storage floor where the sorting storage location of the first storage area 153-1 is located and the adjacent storage floor is₁Is greater than the vertical distance l between adjacent storage layers in the second storage region 153-2₂。

In addition, refer to fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a double-row shelf according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, for a layout form between shelves, for example, multiple rows of shelves may be further provided, where the multiple rows of shelves may be formed by arranging multiple single rows of shelves in parallel, and as shown in fig. 3, two rows of shelves are formed by arranging two shelves in parallel. Specific shelf layout in warehouse form the disclosed embodiments are not limiting.

In some embodiments, see fig. 4a, which is a schematic structural diagram of a sorting robot. When the sorting robot 12 is provided with one delivery mechanism 121, the first storage area 153-1 is the bottommost storage area of the shelf; the second storage area 153-2 is a storage area other than the lowermost storage area of the shelf, as shown in fig. 2. Here, delivery mechanism 121 is used to temporarily store the sorted goods provided by supply mechanism 16. Delivery mechanism 121 may be configured as a flap mechanism 121-1, as shown in FIG. 4 a; alternatively, a belt mechanism 121-2 may be provided, as shown in FIG. 4 b.

In some embodiments, in the case where the sorting robot 12 is provided with a plurality of delivery mechanisms 121, the number of storage layers of the first storage area 153-1 including shelves may be the same as the number of delivery mechanisms 121; alternatively, where the delivery mechanism 121 may be elevated, the first storage area 153-1 may include a number of storage levels on a shelf that corresponds to the maximum elevation height at which the delivery mechanism 121 may deliver goods. The second storage area 153-2 includes other storage levels on the shelf other than the first storage area 153-1. See fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of the distribution of different storage areas on the shelf.

The control server 14 may be configured to determine a target sorting storage location to which the sorted goods are to be stored in the first storage area based on the sorted goods information, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the sorted goods into a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage location; and under the condition that the work bin in the first storage area of the goods shelf completes the sorting task, the dispatching work bin carrying robot carries the work bin which completes the sorting task in the first storage area to an empty storage position in the second storage area.

Here, the sorted goods information may include the item information, the style information, and the like of the sorted goods. For example, after the sorted goods are put in storage, the system can automatically classify the types and styles of the sorted goods according to a preset strategy.

Here, the bin that completes the sorting task may be a bin that completes the sorting task on the current order according to the order, or may be a bin that has already completed the sorting task, and a policy may be set according to an application scenario, and the bin that completes the sorting task is defined, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Here, the target sorting storage location may be any sorting storage location 151-1 capable of storing the sorted goods in the first storage area 153-1. It should be noted that, at this time, the control server determines the target sorting storage location, which may or may not have a bin placed, and needs to further determine. Here, the bin corresponding to the target sorting storage location may be a bin provided on the target sorting storage location.

In one possible embodiment, in the case where no bin is placed at the target sorting storage location, the control server 14 may dispatch the bin transfer robot 13 to transfer the empty bin to the target sorting storage location. Here, the bin transfer robot 13 can transfer empty bins from the second storage area 153-2 on the rack to the target sorting storage location; alternatively, empty bins may be transported to the target sorting storage location from other platforms outside the rack, such as areas dedicated to storing empty bins; alternatively, empty boxes may be conveyed from other storage areas other than the sorting storage area to the target sorting storage location, and the like, and the storage locations of the empty boxes may be arranged according to a specific application scenario, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure. If the bin exists in the target sorting storage location, the control server can directly schedule the sorting robot to realize goods sorting.

In a specific implementation, the control server 14 may be configured to, after determining the target sorting storage location, determine location information of an empty bin in the second storage area if no bin is placed on the target sorting storage location; and scheduling the bin carrying robot to carry the empty bins from the second storage area to the target sorting storage location based on the position information of the empty bins in the second storage area.

In one embodiment, for a returned goods sorting link in the returned goods processing flow, a sorting robot is mainly used for completing the sorting operation of the link. Wherein the sorted goods may comprise goods to be returned. Specifically, the control server 14 may be configured to determine a target sorting storage location to be stored in the first storage area for the goods to be returned based on the information of the sorted goods of the goods to be returned and the actual occupation information of the sorting storage locations in the first storage area, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the goods to be returned to the bin corresponding to the target sorting storage location.

Here, as shown in fig. 1, the goods sorting system further includes a supply mechanism 16 and a picking station 17. The worker or the delivery mechanism 16 may complete the delivery of the sorting robot 12 at the picking station 17.

For example, the goods to be returned may be scanned at a picking workstation in a warehouse or information such as the type and/or style of the goods to be returned may be determined and sent to a control server according to a policy of returning and warehousing, and the control server may schedule the sorting robot to a delivery mechanism for picking up the goods, where the goods to be returned may be provided to the sorting robot in a manual delivery manner or a delivery line delivery manner. Meanwhile, if the goods type corresponding to the goods to be returned is determined to be the first sorting condition based on the information of the sorted goods of the goods to be returned, the control server can select an empty sorting storage bit as a target sorting storage bit through the real-time recorded actual occupation information of the sorting storage bits in the first storage region, and then a bin transfer robot is required to supplement the target sorting storage bit; if the historical record of the goods to be returned is determined to be stored in the A sorting storage location based on the information of the sorted goods of the goods to be returned, the control server is utilized to judge whether the bin of the A sorting storage location completes the sorting task and is moved away through the real-time recorded actual occupation information of the sorting storage location in the first storage location, and if the bin exists in the A sorting storage location, the A sorting storage location is determined to be the target sorting storage location. After the target sorting storage position where the goods to be returned are to be stored is determined, the control server can send an instruction to the sorting robot, then the sorting robot can deliver the goods to be returned to a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage position according to the position information of the target sorting storage position and the path information of the goods to be returned, which are sent by the control server, and upload the delivery information to the control server to complete the sorting, and then the above process can be repeated until all sorting tasks are completed.

In another embodiment, the sorting link of the goods to be sorted in the order processing flow is mainly realized by utilizing a bin carrying robot and a sorting robot together. Wherein the sorted goods may comprise goods to be sorted. As shown in fig. 1, the goods sorting system further comprises a supply mechanism 16 and a picking station 17. The worker or the delivery mechanism 16 may complete the delivery of the sorting robot 12 at the picking station 17. Specifically, the control server 14 may be configured to determine initial position information of the goods to be picked based on the sorted goods information of the goods to be picked, and based on the initial position information, schedule the bin carrying robot to carry the bin where the goods to be picked are located to the piece supplying mechanism, schedule the piece supplying mechanism to put the goods to be picked onto the sorting robot, and schedule the sorting robot to deliver the goods to be picked into the bin corresponding to the target sorting storage location.

Here, the initial location information may include one or more of location information of the storage bit 151-2 within the second storage area 153-2 and other areas outside the sorting storage area 11.

For example, after the goods in the order are determined to be sorted, if the type corresponding to the goods to be sorted is determined to be the first sorting based on the information of the sorted goods, the control server may select an empty sorting storage location as a target sorting storage location according to the actual occupation information of the sorting storage locations in the first storage area recorded in real time, and then send the position information of the target sorting storage location to the bin transfer robot and control the bin transfer robot to replenish the target sorting storage location; and the bin carrying robot carries the empty bins stored in the second storage area to a target sorting storage location, binds the target storage location and the empty bin information, and feeds the information back to the control server after the binding is completed. If the historical record of the goods to be returned is determined to be stored in the B sorting storage location based on the information of the sorted goods of the goods to be sorted, the control server is utilized to judge whether the bin of the B sorting storage location completes the sorting task and is moved away through the real-time recorded actual occupation information of the sorting storage location in the first storage area, and if the bin is stored in the B sorting storage location, the B sorting storage location is determined to be the target sorting storage location. Then, the initial position information of the goods to be picked can be determined through the sorted goods information of the goods to be picked in the order, wherein the initial position of the goods to be picked can include a storage position arranged in the second storage area on the shelf, other platforms outside the shelf, other storage areas outside the sorted storage area, and the like. The bin carrying robot can be used for carrying a bin corresponding to the goods to be picked from the initial position of the goods to be picked to the goods supply mechanism, then the control server can schedule the sorting robot to move to the goods supply mechanism, the control server sends an instruction to the goods supply mechanism, and the goods to be picked are placed on the sorting robot by the goods supply mechanism according to the instruction; then, the sorting robot can deliver the goods to be sorted into a bin corresponding to the target sorting storage location according to the position information of the target sorting storage location and the path information of the goods moved to the target sorting storage location, wherein the position information is issued by the control server, so that the sorting is completed, and then the process can be repeated until all sorting tasks are completed.

After delivering the sorted goods to the sorting storage location in the first storage area, in one possible implementation, the bin transporting robot may be used to store the bin, where the sorting storage location has completed the sorting task, specifically referring to the following embodiments:

example one, the bin C of which the sorting storage position has completed the sorting task is stored on the shelf, and the sorting and the storage can be realized on the same shelf, specifically, the bin C of the sorting storage position on the shelf is stored on the storage position which is vacant in the second storage area of the shelf.

Example two, bin C of which sorting storage location has completed the sorting task is stored on shelf, so that sorting and storage can be realized on different shelves, and particularly, bin C of the sorting storage location on shelf Q1 is stored on a storage location which is vacant in the second storage area of shelf Q2.

And in the third example, the bins C of which the sorting storage positions have finished the sorting task are taken off the shelf for storage, and the bins C can be conveyed to a platform outside the shelf for unified storage.

And example four, the bins C of which the sorting storage positions have finished the sorting task are stored off shelf, and the bins C can be conveyed to other storage areas outside the sorting storage area to be stored uniformly. Or, the bin C is transported to other storage areas except the sorting storage area to perform the operation of the next link, for example, sorting the order, and the bin C can be directly taken out of the warehouse; to the goods to be destroyed in the returned goods sorting, the bin C can be directly carried to other storage areas except the sorting storage area for destruction.

After storing the bins of which the sorting storage locations have completed the sorting task using the bin transfer robot, the control server 14 may be further configured to, in the event that a bin is determined to be replenished from a vacant sorting storage location in the first storage area, schedule the bin transfer robot to transfer the vacant bin from the second storage area to a sorting storage location to be replenished in the first storage area.

In some embodiments, determining a refill bin for a sorting storage location that is empty in the first storage area may include: when the bin carrying robot carries away the bin of which the sorting storage position completes the sorting task, determining that the empty sorting storage position in the first storage area is determined as a supplement bin; in the case where the control server determines that the target sorting storage location does not have bins in response to the sorting request, it may be determined that a refill bin is determined for the target sorting storage location of the first storage area.

For example, the bin transporting robot can be used for completing the access task of the bin with the sorting storage position, when the sorting task distributed to the bin with the sorting storage position is completed, the control server issues the position information of the sorting storage position where the bin is located and the position information of the storage position where the second storage area is empty to the bin transporting robot, and when the bin transporting robot obtains the position information of the sorting storage position and the position information of the storage position where the second storage area is empty, the bin transporting robot firstly moves to the sorting storage position to obtain the bin, then moves to the storage position where the second storage area is empty, and stores the bin in the storage position. The control server automatically judges whether the sorting storage location has a sorting task, if so, the control server issues the position information of the empty bin to the bin carrying robot, and the bin carrying robot moves to the position of the empty bin after receiving the position information of the empty bin and carries the empty bin to the sorting storage location, so that the flow is repeated until all the sorting tasks are completed.

In one possible embodiment, the control server 14 may be further configured to, upon determining that an off-shelf bin requires racking, schedule the bin handling robot to handle the off-shelf bin to the empty storage location of the second storage area. Here, the case of determining that the bin outside the shelf needs to be subjected to the racking operation may include: the method comprises the steps of (1) warehousing the goods to be picked in order sorting, wherein warehousing is racking storage; or, the empty bins are put on shelves for storage, so as to complete the bin supplement task of the subsequent sorting storage location.

In one embodiment, before sorting the goods, warehousing treatment is needed, for a scene in which the goods to be sorted are warehoused in order sorting, before the goods to be sorted are formally sorted, the goods to be sorted are put on shelves for storage by a bin transfer robot, and the shelves are shelves with sorting storage positions. During specific implementation, the control server firstly needs to determine initial position information of a bin where goods to be picked are to be warehoused and position information of an empty storage position in a second storage area to be stored, and issues a task of warehousing the goods to be picked (namely, shelving storage) to the bin transporting robot. After the bin transporting robot receives the cargo to be picked and puts the cargo into the bin, the bin transporting robot transports the bin where the cargo to be picked is to the empty storage position of the second storage area to be stored from the initial position to finish the cargo to be picked and puts the cargo into the bin based on the initial position information of the bin where the cargo to be picked is to be put into the bin and the position information of the empty storage position of the second storage area to be stored.

In one embodiment, the empty box is stored on shelf, when the empty box is specifically implemented, the control server firstly determines the initial position information of the empty box and the position information of the storage position of the second storage area to be stored, and sends the initial position information of the empty box and the position information of the storage position of the second storage area to be stored to the box carrying robot, and after receiving the initial position information of the empty box and the position information of the storage position of the second storage area to be stored, the box carrying robot carries the empty box to the storage position of the second storage area to be stored, and the task of storing the empty box on shelf is completed.

In one possible embodiment, the control server 14 may be further configured to schedule the bin handling robot to carry the bin to be racked off the rack if it is determined that the bin to be racked is present within the rack.

Here, the bin to be shelved may include a bin to be taken out of the warehouse on a shelf. In the selling and delivery link, the material box carrying robot is mainly used for completing delivery of goods to be delivered from the warehouse in the link. Here, the goods to be delivered are stored in the bin to be shelved. In one embodiment, the bin to be shelved can be located at a sorting storage position in the first storage area, and goods to be warehoused after being sorted for the order can be directly shelved and warehoused in the first storage area on the shelf. In another embodiment, the bin to be shelved may be located at the storage location in the second storage area, and for the goods to be ex-warehouse after the order sorting is completed, the bin transfer robot may first store the bin that has completed the sorting task on the shelf to the storage location in the second storage area, and then, when determining to ex-warehouse the goods in the order, the bin transfer robot may obtain the bin where the goods to be ex-warehouse is located from the storage location in the second storage area, and transfer the bin to the outside of the shelf.

For example, when a sales delivery task exists, the control server may automatically position the position of a to-be-delivered bin where the to-be-delivered goods are located according to information of the to-be-delivered goods, and issue the sales delivery task to the bin handling robot, after receiving the sales delivery task, the bin handling robot moves to the position of the to-be-delivered bin to obtain a bin where the to-be-destroyed goods are located, and carries the bin to an outlet of a sorting storage area, and the bin for sales delivery flows to a next logistics link, which is usually for temporary storage of delivery goods or direct loading and delivery.

In some embodiments, in the step of destroying and discharging, the bin conveying robot is mainly used for finishing the step of discharging the goods to be destroyed. When the commodities in the material box can not meet the requirement of secondary sale, the material box carrying robot automatically puts down the material box to be put down when the commodities are stored in the material box or the commodities need to be destroyed and taken out of the material box, wherein the commodities to be destroyed are stored in the material box to be put down, and the material box to be put down is located at the storage position in the second storage area. Specifically, the control server 14 may be configured to, in a case where it is determined that the goods to be destroyed need to be destroyed, determine position information of a bin to be shelved in which the goods to be destroyed are located; and based on the position information of the workbin to be placed on the shelf, the dispatching workbin carrying robot carries the workbin to be placed on the shelf to other storage areas except the sorting storage area.

For example, when performing stock sorting, the control server may automatically position the position of the to-be-destroyed material box where the to-be-destroyed material is located according to the information of the to-be-destroyed material, and issue a destruction task to the material box carrying robot, after receiving the destruction task, the material box carrying robot moves to the position of the to-be-destroyed material box to obtain the material box where the to-be-destroyed material is located, and carries the material box to an outlet of the sorting storage area, so as to perform processing of a next link, such as destruction. And repeating the process until all the destroying tasks are completed.

In conclusion, links that are split in a sorting scene are integrated through the dispatching sorting robot and the bin conveying robot, namely sorting of goods is achieved through the sorting robot, warehousing, shelving, storage, shelving, ex-warehouse and the like of the goods are achieved through the bin conveying robot, sorting efficiency of the whole sorting process can be improved, illustratively, the bin conveying robot serves as automatic storage and taking equipment for sorting the goods, bins of goods shelf sorting storage locations can be automatically conveyed to storage locations of a second storage area of the goods shelf, empty bins of the second storage area of the goods shelf can be supplied to sorting storage locations of a first storage area of the goods shelf, and accordingly handing-over of the sorting links and the storage links can be completed. With the equipment of letter sorting robot as returned goods letter sorting and order letter sorting, the letter sorting robot queues up selecting the station, selects the staff of station and will sort the goods and directly supply to letter sorting robot on, saved the handing-over link in the middle of, be about to the returned goods select, the confession action in the returned goods letter sorting unites two into one to and select the order, the confession action in the order letter sorting unites two into one.

Furthermore, the control server respectively dispatches the sorting robot and the material box carrying robot, so that automation of all links of a sorting process is realized, the difficulty of warehouse management is reduced, and the cargo sorting efficiency can be further improved.

Furthermore, the sorting process can be completed by the sorting robot and the bin carrying robot in the same sorting and storage area, the condition that the returned goods sorting scene monopolizes the partial area of the warehouse is avoided, namely, the sorting and storage area is formed, and the logistics cost of returned goods sorting can be reduced.

Based on the concept of the cargo sorting system, embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a robot, which may be considered as including the sorting robot in the above embodiments. The schematic structural diagram of the sorting robot can be seen in fig. 4a or 4b, the work tasks performed by the sorting robot can be seen in the tasks performed by the sorting robot, and repeated parts are not described herein again.

Based on the concept of the system, the embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a robot, which may be considered to include the bin conveying robot in the above embodiment. The work position of the bin handling robot can be seen in fig. 6a, and the bin handling robot comprises a bin embracing mechanism 131 for grasping the bin. As shown in fig. 6b, the work bin transfer robot 13 includes a bin holding mechanism 131 and a temporary storage mechanism 132, the bin holding mechanism 131 is used for grabbing the work bin, and the temporary storage mechanism 132 is used for temporarily storing the work bin. The work tasks performed by the bin transfer robot can be referred to the tasks performed by the bin transfer robot, and repeated parts are not described herein.

Based on the concept of the system, the embodiment of the disclosure further provides a goods sorting method, and the details of the goods sorting method disclosed by the embodiment of the disclosure are described below.

The execution subject of the cargo sorting method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure is generally a computer device with certain computing power, such as a control server. In some possible implementations, the control server in the cargo sorting method may be implemented by a processor calling computer readable instructions stored in a memory. The following describes a cargo sorting method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, taking an execution subject as a computer device as an example.

The goods sorting method is applied to a control server in the goods sorting system; the goods sorting method comprises the following steps:

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises:

Claims

1. A cargo sorting system, characterized in that the system comprises a sorting storage area, a sorting robot, a bin handling robot and a control server; at least one goods shelf is arranged in the sorting storage area; the storage rack is provided with at least one storage position, and the storage position is used for storing a material box; the shelf comprises a first storage area and a second storage area; the first storage area is provided with sorting storage bits;

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is further configured to schedule the bin transfer robot to transfer empty bins from within the second storage area to bin sorting storage locations within the first storage area to be replenished if a bin replenishment is determined for a bin sorting storage location empty in the first storage area.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is further configured to, upon determining that the off-shelf bin requires an racking operation, schedule the bin handling robot to handle the off-shelf bin to the storage location of the second storage area that is empty.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control server is further configured to schedule the bin handling robot to handle the bin to be shelved off the shelf if it is determined that a bin to be shelved is present within the shelf.

5. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sorted goods comprise goods to be returned;

6. The system of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sorted goods comprise goods to be picked; the goods sorting system also comprises a supply mechanism;

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the initial location information comprises one or more of location information of a storage location within the second storage area and other areas outside of the sorting storage area.

8. A robot, characterized by comprising the sorting robot of any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A robot characterized by comprising the bin handling robot of any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A cargo sorting method, which is applied to a control server in the cargo sorting system according to any one of claims 1 to 7; the goods sorting method comprises the following steps: