CN114701780A

CN114701780A - Container taking method, robot and storage system

Info

Publication number: CN114701780A
Application number: CN202210302042.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赵颖
Original assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-25
Filing date: 2022-03-25
Publication date: 2022-07-05

Abstract

The application provides a container taking method, a robot and a storage system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: acquiring the box size information and the box expansion data of a second container to be taken out, and reading a depth image of the second container; determining fork parameters for taking the second container by the fork according to the size data of the container, the expansion data of the container and the depth image of the second container; and adjusting the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or adjusting the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork so as to enable the fork to perform the action of taking the second container. Based on the technical scheme of this application, to the packing box that takes place the inflation, the strategy of taking that the robot obtained accords with the actual conditions after the second packing box takes place the inflation more for intelligent storage system's packing box management is scientific and reasonable more.

Description

Container taking method, robot and storage system

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of storage, in particular to a container taking method, a robot and a storage system.

Background

In a storage system, containers are usually used for loading goods, and the containers can be divided into flexible containers and rigid containers according to different manufacturing materials, wherein the flexible containers refer to containers with variable shapes and sizes and low manufacturing material strength, such as cartons and the like; the rigid container refers to a container which is difficult to change in shape and size and has high strength of manufacturing materials, such as a relatively hard rubber box, a stainless steel container and the like.

When cargo is loaded through the flexible cargo box, for some cargo, such as clothes, quilts, etc., the change in volume of the cargo may cause the form and size of the flexible cargo box to change, thereby causing the flexible cargo box to expand to different degrees.

After the flexible container is expanded, the size of the container is changed from the standard size, so that the management of storing, taking and the like of the flexible container is not facilitated.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a container taking method, a robot and a storage system, which are used for solving the problems in the prior art.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a container taking method, applied to a robot, including:

acquiring box body size information and box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out, and reading a depth image of the second container;

determining fork parameters for taking the second container by the fork according to the size data of the container, the expansion data of the container and the depth image of the second container;

and adjusting the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or adjusting the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork so as to enable the fork to perform the action of taking the second container.

In some embodiments, determining fork parameters for picking a second container by the forks based on the box size data, the box expansion data, and the depth image of the container comprises:

determining the position parameter of the fork when the second container is taken or determining the position parameter and the goods taking width parameter of the fork according to the size data of the box body and the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container;

and determining the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken according to the front surface expansion data and the depth image of the second container.

In some embodiments, determining a position parameter of the forks when the second container is picked up, or determining a position parameter and a pick width parameter of the forks, based on the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container, comprises:

determining the position parameters of the fork when the second container is taken to enable the target point of the second container to be positioned on a first plane where the central line of the fork is positioned according to the left and right width data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container in the box size data, the target point of the second container is a midpoint of the first line segment determined from the left and/or right surface expansion data, the first line segment is a projection of a connecting line between a first reference point and a second reference point in a first direction, the distance of the projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction in the connecting line between any two points of the left surface and the right surface of the second container is longest, the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arms of the forks among a plurality of planes in which the center lines of the forks are located.

determining the fork goods taking width when the second container is taken as the length of the first line segment according to the left and right width data in the box body size data and the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container;

determining, according to left-right width data in the box size data, left surface expansion data and/or right surface expansion data of the second container, that a position parameter of the fork when the second container is taken is such that a target point of the second container is located on a first plane where a center line of the fork is located, the center line of the fork is the center line of the fork when the fork takes the width, the target point of the second container is a midpoint of a first line segment determined according to the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data, the first line segment is a projection of a connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction, and a distance of a projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction in a connecting line between any two points on the left and right surfaces of the second container is longest, the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arms of the forks among a plurality of planes in which the center lines of the forks are located.

In some embodiments, determining the angular parameter of the forks when the second container is picked from the front surface expansion data of the second container and the depth image comprises:

determining the expansion degree of the second container according to the front surface expansion data in the box body expansion data;

determining the reading degree of the second container relative to the fork according to the depth image;

determining a target degree of the fork for angle adjustment according to the expansion degree and the reading degree;

and determining the angle of the fork after the target degree of the fork is adjusted to be the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken.

In some embodiments, determining a target degree of angular adjustment of the forks based on the degree of expansion and the degree of reading comprises:

and determining the difference between the reading degree and the expansion degree as a target degree.

In some embodiments, obtaining the box size information and the box expansion data for the second container to be removed comprises:

acquiring a container ID of a second container;

sending a first query message to the control terminal, wherein the first query message contains the container ID of the second container;

and receiving a first feedback message sent by the control terminal, wherein the first feedback message comprises the box size information and the box expansion data of the second container.

In some embodiments, reading the depth image of the second container comprises: a depth image of the second cargo box taken by a depth camera disposed in the robot is read.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a robot comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;

wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor to cause the robot to perform the method described above.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a warehousing system, including the above-mentioned robot and a control terminal.

The application provides a container taking method, a robot and a storage system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: acquiring box body size information and box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out, and reading a depth image of the second container; determining fork parameters for taking the second container by the fork according to the size data of the container, the expansion data of the container and the depth image of the second container; and adjusting the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or adjusting the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork so as to enable the fork to perform the action of taking the second container. Based on the technical scheme of this application, to the packing box that takes place the inflation, the strategy of taking that the robot obtained accords with the actual conditions after the second packing box takes place the inflation more for intelligent storage system's packing box management is scientific and reasonable more.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a flexible cargo box undergoing expansion;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a robot taking a load via a fork;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a robot placing goods;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an intelligent warehousing system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is another schematic diagram of an intelligent warehousing system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating model comparison performed by a control terminal to obtain expansion data according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic view of a container handling method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of a container storage method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic view of a container handling method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of a container taking method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a robot performing position adjustment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a robot performing pick width adjustment in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a robot performing fork angle adjustment in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic view of a container taking method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of determining fork parameters in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic illustration of determining fork parameters in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of determining fork parameters in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of determining an angle parameter in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of determining an angle parameter in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a control terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application.

With the foregoing drawings in mind, certain embodiments of the disclosure have been shown and described in more detail below. The drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the disclosed concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the embodiments of the present application, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a good or system that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such good or system. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a commodity or system that includes the element.

For example, fig. 1 is a schematic view of the flexible cargo box expanding, as shown in fig. 1 and explained by taking the view of fig. 1 as a top view, the flexible cargo box includes an upper surface ABDC, a front surface, a rear surface, a left surface, a right surface adjacent to the upper surface, and a lower surface (surfaces other than the upper surface are not shown) opposite to the upper surface, and when the flexible cargo box is not expanded, the flexible cargo box is in a shape shown by a dotted line in the figure; after the flexible container is expanded, the flexible container is in a shape shown in solid lines.

After the flexible container is expanded, the size of the container is changed from a standard size, for example, a box with a standard size of 600mm x 400mm, and the expanded size is changed to 650mm x 430mm, which is not conducive to management of storage and retrieval of the flexible container.

For example, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a robot taking goods through a pallet fork, which is a schematic diagram of a top view, as shown in fig. 2, before a flexible container is not expanded, the robot can smoothly take goods according to the pallet fork goods taking mode shown in the figure, however, after the flexible container is expanded, if the robot still takes goods according to the goods taking mode shown in the figure, the pallet fork collides with the flexible container, and the goods taking fails.

For another example, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a robot for placing goods, which is a top view, as shown in fig. 3, two pieces of goods are already placed on the pallet, before the flexible container is not expanded, the size of the flexible container is smaller than the space between the two containers already placed, the robot can smoothly place the goods on the pallet according to the goods placing direction shown by the arrow in the figure, however, after the flexible container is expanded, if the robot still places the goods according to the arrow shown in the figure, the flexible container collides with the containers already placed because the size of the flexible container is larger than the space between the two containers already placed, and the goods placing fails.

The technical scheme provided by the application aims at solving the technical problems in the prior art.

The main conception of the scheme of the application is as follows: in the storage system, be provided with the sensor that is used for measuring packing box size, after the measurement obtains the size data of packing box, the sensor sends size data to control terminal, make control terminal can carry out data analysis according to this size data and handle, obtain the box inflation data of packing box, and further confirm the processing strategy that the packing box corresponds according to box inflation data, the processing strategy is including depositing the strategy and taking the strategy, how control terminal controls the robot promptly and deposits the packing box that takes place the inflation, and how the robot takes the packing box that takes place the inflation, thereby, the processing strategy of packing box accords with the actual conditions after the packing box takes place the inflation more, make the management of packing box scientific and reasonable more.

The following describes the technical solutions of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems with specific embodiments. The following several specific embodiments may be combined with each other, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. Embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In some embodiments, an intelligent warehousing system is provided, and fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the intelligent warehousing system provided in the embodiments of the present application, and as shown in fig. 4, the system mainly includes a sensor 100 and a control terminal 200. In addition, the smart warehousing system further includes a robot (not shown) for performing goods handling.

Wherein the sensor 100 is used to measure dimensional data of a first container to be stored.

Specifically, before the container is put in storage, the sensor is a sensor capable of measuring the size of the first container to be put in storage, such as a laser measurement sensor, a radar measurement sensor, an ultrasonic measurement sensor, an image sensor (e.g., a camera), and the like. When the first container needs to be subjected to storage management in the intelligent storage system, the sensor firstly measures size data of the first container and sends the size data to the control terminal.

Alternatively, when the sensor is an image sensor, the sensor may be a 2D sensor or a 3D sensor. When the three-dimensional sensor is a 2D sensor, the control terminal needs to be ensured to construct a corresponding three-dimensional model according to the measured size data.

The control terminal 200 is configured to obtain size data of the first container, determine box expansion data of the first container according to the size data, and determine a processing strategy corresponding to the first container according to the box expansion data.

Specifically, the control terminal 200 first obtains the size data of the first container measured by the sensor, and then determines the box expansion data of the first container according to the size data. For the first container, it typically includes 6 exterior surfaces, namely a front surface, a rear surface, a left surface, a right surface, an upper surface, and a lower surface, and thus, the control terminal determines that the resulting box expansion data includes at least one of front surface expansion data, rear surface expansion data, left surface expansion data, right surface expansion data, upper surface expansion data, and lower surface expansion data.

After the box expansion data of the first container is obtained through determination, the control terminal determines a processing strategy corresponding to the first container according to the box expansion data, for example, determines a storage strategy of the first container, and then performs corresponding processing on the first container according to the determined processing strategy, for example, performs storage processing on the first container according to the storage strategy.

The control terminal may be a server, and specifically may be a physical server or a logical server formed by virtualizing a plurality of physical servers. The server may also be a server cluster formed by a plurality of servers capable of communicating with each other, and each functional module may be respectively distributed on each server in the server cluster. In addition, the control terminal may be a robot, and the present disclosure does not limit the specific form of the control terminal.

The embodiment provides an intelligent storage system, in storage system, be provided with the sensor that is used for measuring the size data of first packing box, this sensor is after the measurement obtains the size data of first packing box, with size data transmission to control terminal, make control terminal can carry out data analysis according to this size data and handle, obtain the box inflation data of first packing box, and further confirm the processing strategy that first packing box corresponds according to box inflation data, thereby, the processing strategy that control terminal obtained accords with the actual conditions after first packing box takes place to expand more, make intelligent storage system's packing box management scientific and reasonable more.

In some embodiments, the sensor is to detect a size of at least one surface of the first container, the size data of the first container including size data of the at least one surface of the first container.

In particular, the box expansion data that the control terminal needs to determine includes at least one of front surface expansion data, rear surface expansion data, left surface expansion data, right surface expansion data, upper surface expansion data, and lower surface expansion data, and therefore the sensor may be configured to detect a dimension of at least one surface of the first container, such as at least one of the front surface, the rear surface, the left surface, the right surface, the upper surface, and the lower surface, to obtain the dimension data of the at least one surface of the first container, and thereby enable the control terminal to determine the box expansion data of the at least one surface of the first container based on the dimension data of the at least one surface of the first container.

In some embodiments, the number of sensors is one; that is, the present embodiment measures at least one surface of the first container with a sensor to obtain corresponding dimensional data.

Specifically, the sensor is arranged on a movable support, and the movable support is used for driving the sensor to move and/or rotate, so that the sensor can detect the size of at least one surface of the first container at least one positioning point, and size data of at least one surface of the first container can be obtained.

For example, the movable bracket may move the sensor to a position corresponding to the front surface of the first container, so that the sensor may measure the size of the front surface of the first container at the position to obtain the size data of the front surface of the first container, and the other surfaces are the same.

Optionally, a movement strategy for driving the sensor to move by the movable support may be preset and stored in a controller of the movable support; the movable support can also be controlled by the control terminal, the control terminal can send a control instruction to the movable support in real time according to actual conditions, and the movable support drives the sensor to move according to the real-time control instruction of the control terminal, so that the sensor can measure and process the sizes of different surfaces of the first container.

In some embodiments, the number of sensors is multiple; that is, the present embodiment measures at least one surface of the first container by a plurality of sensors to obtain corresponding dimensional data.

In this embodiment, each sensor is respectively arranged at a plurality of positioning points, and each positioning point is provided with a bearing structure for bearing the sensor; and the sensors are used for carrying out size detection on the surfaces of the containers corresponding to the positioning points at the positioning points where the sensors are located, so that size data of the surfaces of the first container are obtained.

Optionally, when the six surfaces of the first container need to be subjected to dimension measurement, the number of the sensors is six; the six sensors are respectively arranged at six positioning points facing six surfaces of the first container, and the size data of the first container comprises size data of the six surfaces of the first container.

Fig. 5 is another schematic diagram of the smart warehousing system provided by embodiments of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, in some embodiments, the smart warehousing system further includes a transport device 300 configured to transport a first container to be stored; the locating point is arranged on a conveying path of the conveying device for conveying the first container.

Specifically, referring to fig. 5, the transportation device conveys the first container according to the direction indicated by the bold black arrow in the figure, the positioning point may be disposed on the conveying path of the transportation device conveying the first container, for example, positioning point 1 to positioning point 4 in the figure, and the sensor may perform size measurement on the surface of the first container facing to positioning point 1 at the position of positioning point 1, so as to obtain size data of the surface, and other positioning points are the same.

It should be noted that fig. 5 only shows an exemplary illustration of the setting positions of the 4 positioning points, and the sensor can measure the size data of the 4 side surfaces of the first container at the positions of the illustrated 4 positioning points, and it can be understood that the number and the positions of the positioning points can be adjusted according to the actual needs, for example, one positioning point can be further provided above and below the first container, so that the sensor can measure the size data of the upper surface and the lower surface of the first container at two positioning points, respectively.

In some embodiments, the box expansion data comprises actual expansion data, i.e. the actual expansion data of the first container at the current moment in time.

In this embodiment, the control terminal is specifically configured to establish a corresponding first 3D model according to the size data, and compare the first 3D model with a second 3D model corresponding to the first container to obtain actual expansion data; and establishing the second 3D model based on the standard size data corresponding to the first container.

Specifically, after obtaining the size data of the first container, the control terminal may obtain a first 3D model corresponding to the first container through 3D modeling, where the first 3D model may be understood as an actual 3D model of the first container, that is, a 3D model after the first container is expanded.

Then, the control terminal compares the first 3D model with a second 3D model, and the second 3D model is established based on the standard size data set corresponding to the first container, that is, the second 3D model can be understood as a standard 3D model corresponding to the first container, that is, a standard 3D model in which the first container is not expanded, so that actual expansion data of the first container compared with the standard size data can be obtained by comparing the two 3D models.

For example, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of comparing models by the control terminal to obtain expansion data in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, the control terminal establishes a corresponding first 3D model according to the size data of the first container, and compares the first 3D model with a second 3D model corresponding to the first container, and as can be seen from the comparison, since part of the surface of the first container is expanded, the model form of the first 3D model is changed compared with that of the second 3D model, so that the control terminal can obtain the actual expansion data of the first container by performing model comparison.

In some embodiments, when determining the actual expansion data of the first container, after establishing the corresponding first 3D model according to the size data, the control terminal needs to compare the first 3D model with the second 3D model corresponding to the first container, and therefore, the control terminal also needs to determine the second 3D model corresponding to the first container, specifically, the control terminal may determine the second 3D model corresponding to the first container according to the size data, the first 3D model, or the first container ID of the first container.

In particular, the first container ID can be disposed on a surface of the first container, the first container ID configured to uniquely identify the first container.

Optionally, the smart warehousing system further comprises: the recognizer is used for recognizing the first container ID of the first container and sending the first container ID to the control terminal, so that when the control terminal determines the second 3D model corresponding to the first container according to the first container ID of the first container, the control terminal can directly determine the second 3D model corresponding to the first container according to the corresponding relation between the first container ID and the standard 3D model after acquiring the first container ID.

In some embodiments, when the control terminal determines the second 3D model corresponding to the first container according to the size data and the first 3D model, the control terminal is specifically configured to determine appearance parameters of the first container according to the size data or the first 3D model, where the appearance parameters include one or more of length, width, height, line tortuosity, and linear distance between two adjacent corners; comparing the exterior parameters of the first container with the plurality of standard size data, determining target standard size data which is most matched with the exterior parameters of the first container, and determining a second 3D model corresponding to the first container according to the target standard size data.

In this embodiment, the process of determining, by the control terminal, the second 3D model corresponding to the first container based on the exterior parameter of the first container may be implemented by using an existing correlation algorithm, which is not limited in this application.

In some embodiments, based on the above embodiments related to the smart warehousing system, a container handling method is provided, which is applied to a control terminal in the smart warehousing system.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a container handling method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the method mainly includes the following steps:

s710, acquiring size data of a first container to be stored;

s720, determining box expansion data of the first container according to the size data;

and S730, determining a processing strategy corresponding to the first container according to the box expansion data.

The size data of the first container can be measured by a sensor in the intelligent warehousing system and sent to the control terminal. After the size data of the first container is obtained, the control terminal determines the box expansion data of the first container according to the size data, and the box expansion data is used for representing the box expansion amount of the first container. After the box expansion data are determined, the control terminal determines the processing strategy corresponding to the first container according to the box expansion data, so that the processing strategy of the first container is more in line with the actual situation of the expanded first container, and the container management in the intelligent storage system is more scientific and reasonable.

In the present embodiment, the container storage process performed by the control terminal is mainly a container storage process, and a detailed explanation will be given of a process flow of the container storage performed by the control terminal.

Fig. 8 is a schematic view of a container storage method provided in an embodiment of the present application, applied to a control terminal, and as shown in fig. 8, the method mainly includes the following steps:

s810, acquiring box body expansion data of a first container to be stored, wherein the box body expansion data comprises actual expansion data of the first container;

after the sensor finishes measuring the size of the first container, the sensor sends the measured size data of the first container to the control terminal, the control terminal calculates the box expansion data of the first container according to the size data of the first container, and the box expansion data comprise actual expansion data of the first container, namely the expansion data of the first container at the current moment.

S820, comparing the actual expansion data with a preset range to obtain a comparison result;

after the actual expansion data of the first container are obtained, the control terminal compares the obtained actual expansion data with a preset range to determine whether the actual expansion data exceeds the preset range, so that a comparison result is obtained, wherein the comparison result comprises that the actual expansion data exceeds the preset range or the actual expansion data does not exceed the preset range.

The preset range refers to a variation range in which the first container slightly expands, but the expansion amount does not have a great influence on storage management (such as storage and taking) of the first container. The corresponding preset ranges can be the same or different for different surfaces of the first container.

For the case that the preset ranges corresponding to the different surface expansions of the first container are different, specifically, for example, the upper surface expansion of the first container corresponds to a first preset range, the lower surface expansion of the first container corresponds to a second preset range, the left/right surface expansion of the first container corresponds to a third preset range, and the front/rear surface expansion of the first container corresponds to a fourth preset range.

The first preset range corresponding to the expansion of the upper surface of the first container can be determined according to the layer heights between different shelf layers on the goods shelf, namely when the upper surface of the first container expands, the height of the whole container is required to be ensured not to exceed the layer height, so that the first container can be ensured to be still stored in the storage space between the different shelf layers.

The second preset range corresponding to the expansion of the lower surface of the first container may be a smaller value, for example, smaller than the first preset range corresponding to the expansion of the upper surface of the first container, so as to avoid the unstable placement of the container due to the larger expansion of the lower surface of the first container.

The third preset range corresponding to the left/right surface expansion of the first container can be determined according to the left/right intervals between different containers on the goods shelf and/or the goods taking width of the pallet fork, so that the problem that the pallet fork cannot take the first container due to the fact that the left/right expansion of the first container is too large is avoided, or the problem that the first container is not beneficial to subsequent taking due to the fact that the first container is too close to the adjacent container when being stored is caused.

The fourth preset range corresponding to the front/rear surface expansion of the first container can be determined according to the advancing depth of the fork for taking the goods, so that the problem that the fork cannot take the first container due to the fact that the front and rear expansion of the first container is too large is avoided.

It can be understood that the control terminal compares the actual expansion data with the preset range, and may compare the expansion data of different surfaces with the preset range corresponding to the surfaces respectively, so as to obtain a corresponding comparison result, for example, compare the upper surface expansion data of the first container with the first preset range corresponding to the upper surface expansion, so as to obtain a comparison result corresponding to the upper surface.

And S830, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy.

After the comparison result of the actual expansion data and the preset range is obtained, the control terminal further determines a storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, namely, determines how to store the first container, and then controls the robot to execute storage processing of the first container according to the determined storage strategy.

The embodiment provides a container storage method, and after the control terminal obtains the box expansion data of the first container, the control terminal further determines the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the box expansion data, so that the storage strategy obtained by the control terminal better conforms to the actual situation of the first container after expansion, and the container management of the intelligent storage system is more scientific and reasonable.

In some embodiments, the actual inflation data comprises at least one of anterior surface inflation data, posterior surface inflation data, left surface inflation data, right surface inflation data, superior surface inflation data, and inferior surface inflation data;

according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy, wherein the method comprises the following steps: and if at least one of the front surface expansion data, the rear surface expansion data, the left surface expansion data, the right surface expansion data, the upper surface expansion data and the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds a preset range, determining to perform size adjustment processing on the first container, so that the actual expansion data of the processed container does not exceed the preset range, and controlling the robot to store the processed container.

In this embodiment, if the control terminal determines that at least one of the front surface expansion data, the rear surface expansion data, the left surface expansion data, the right surface expansion data, the upper surface expansion data, and the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range, it is described that the expanded first container affects the robot to store the first container.

It can be understood that at least one of the front surface expansion data, the rear surface expansion data, the left surface expansion data, the right surface expansion data, the upper surface expansion data, and the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds a preset range, specifically, the expansion data of each surface exceeds a preset range corresponding to the surface, for example, the front surface expansion data exceeds the preset range corresponding to the front surface, the upper surface expansion data exceeds the preset range corresponding to the upper surface, and the like.

In some embodiments, determining to resize the first container includes: and determining to perform box pressing treatment or size fixing treatment on the first container, so that the actual expansion data of the treated container does not exceed a preset range.

Specifically, the control terminal determines to perform size adjustment processing on the first container, which may be determining to perform box pressing processing on the first container, for example, performing box pressing processing on the first container through a box pressing structure, so that the expansion amount of the first container is reduced, and the condition that the expansion amount does not exceed the preset range is met; for another example, the first container may be subjected to size fixing processing by using auxiliary materials (such as ropes, tapes and the like) in a manner of manual intervention or mechanical arm processing, so as to reduce the expansion amount of the first container, and the processed actual expansion data of the container does not exceed a preset range.

After the first container is subjected to the size adjustment processing, if the control terminal determines that the processed actual expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range, the processed first container can be stored.

according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy, the method comprises the following steps: and if at least one of the front surface expansion data, the rear surface expansion data, the left surface expansion data, the right surface expansion data, the upper surface expansion data and the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds a preset range, determining to place the first container or the goods in the first container into a third container, and controlling the robot to store the containers.

In this embodiment, when the control terminal determines the storage policy, if the actual expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range, the control terminal may adopt a cargo transfer processing policy.

In some embodiments, determining to place the first container or the goods in the first container into a third container and controlling the robot to perform a container storage process includes: determining to place the first container or all goods in the first container into a third container, wherein the size data of the third container is larger than the actual size data of the first container when the first container is expanded, and controlling a robot to store the third container; or, determining to place part of the goods in the first container into the third container, so that the actual expansion data of the first container does not exceed a preset range, and controlling the robot to store and process the first container and the third container.

Specifically, the control terminal may determine that the first container is entirely placed in another third container, or all the goods in the first container are placed in another third container, and the size data of the third container is larger than the actual size data of the first container when the third container is expanded, that is, after the first container or all the goods in the first container are placed in the third container, the third container is not expanded, and therefore, after the goods transfer processing is completed, the control terminal stores the third container again.

Or, the control terminal may determine to place part of the cargo in the first cargo box into another third cargo box, so that, since the amount of the cargo in the first cargo box is reduced, the amount of expansion of the first cargo box is correspondingly reduced, and the actual expansion data of the first cargo box does not exceed the preset range.

It can be understood that the control terminal determines to adopt a processing mode of completely transferring or partially transferring the goods in the first container, which may be flexibly selected according to actual situations, for example, when the lower surface expansion data exceeds the corresponding preset range, because the preset range corresponding to the lower surface is smaller, although the lower surface is expanded but does not exceed the range in which the shelf height can be stored, it may select to transfer all the goods in the first container or the first container to the third container for storage, when the expansion data of the other surfaces except the initial lower surface exceeds the corresponding preset range, it may select to transfer part of the goods in the first container to the third container, so that neither the transferred first container nor the transferred third container exceeds the preset range, or it may take as a judgment condition whether the robot can take the third container in which the goods in the first container are completely transferred, if the robot can take a third container of all the goods loaded into the first container, and the third container is of a size which indicates that a container with the size of the third container can be stored in the warehouse, determining to transfer all the goods in the first container; if the robot can not take the third container of all the goods with the first container, determining to transfer part of the goods in the first container.

In some embodiments, the actual inflation data comprises upper surface inflation data;

according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy, the method comprises the following steps: and if the upper surface expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range, determining to adjust the storage position of the first container to the position of the topmost shelf, and controlling the robot to store the first container to the position of the topmost shelf.

In this embodiment, when the control terminal determines the storage policy, if the actual expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range, the control terminal may adopt a storage position adjustment policy.

Specifically, because the layer height of each layer of the cargo box in the vertical direction is limited, for part of the first cargo boxes, if only the upper surface is expanded and other surfaces are not expanded, the control terminal can adjust the placement position of the first cargo box, for example, the first cargo box originally set to be stored in the middle layer is adjusted to be stored in the topmost layer of the cargo box, and the upper surface of the topmost layer is not provided with other cargo boxes and has a cargo box storage space extending upwards, so that the first cargo box can be smoothly stored in the storage position of the topmost layer of the cargo box even if the upper surface of the first cargo box is expanded.

In some embodiments, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy includes: and if the actual expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range, controlling the robot to store and process the first container.

In this embodiment, when the control terminal determines the storage policy, if the actual expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range, the control terminal determines that the storage processing of the first container can be directly performed on the first container without adjusting the first container.

In some embodiments, determining the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result includes: when the actual expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range, judging whether the first container is an open container or not; if the first container is an open container, determining predicted expansion data of the first container according to actual expansion data of the first container and expansion change information corresponding to the first container; and determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the comparison result of the predicted expansion data and the preset range.

Specifically, if the first container is an open container, when the first container is expanded, since the size of the open surface is not fixed, the expansion amount of the first container may become larger and larger, and therefore, the control terminal may perform expansion data prediction by combining expansion change information based on current actual expansion data of the first container, so as to obtain predicted expansion data of the first container at a future time, where the expansion change information may be set according to an empirical value, or determined according to a change situation of historical expansion data of the first container. The expansion change information specifically includes, for example, an increase of a centimeter in the expansion amount of the container at intervals of t. After the predicted expansion data of the first container are obtained, the control terminal determines the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the predicted expansion data, and therefore the storage strategy is more scientific and reasonable.

In some embodiments, determining the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the comparison result of the predicted expansion data and the preset range includes: and if the predicted expansion data exceed the preset range, determining to place the first container or the goods in the first container into a third container, and controlling the robot to store the containers.

In this embodiment, when the control terminal determines the storage policy, if the predicted expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range, the control terminal may adopt a transfer processing policy.

In some embodiments, determining to place the first container or the goods in the first container into a third container and controlling the robot to perform a container storage process includes: determining to place the first container or all goods in the first container into a third container, wherein the size data of the third container is larger than the predicted size data corresponding to the first container, the predicted size data is the sum of the size data of the first container when the first container is not expanded and the predicted expansion data, and controlling a robot to store the third container; or, determining to place part of the goods in the first container into the third container, so that the predicted expansion data of the first container does not exceed a preset range, and controlling the robot to store the first container and the third container.

Specifically, the control terminal may determine to place the first container into another third container as a whole, or place all the goods in the first container into another third container with a larger size, and after the transfer process is completed, the control terminal performs the storage process on the third container.

Or the control terminal can determine to place part of goods in the first container into the third container, so that the predicted expansion data of the first container does not exceed a preset range, and control the robot to store the first container and the third container.

In some embodiments, determining the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the comparison result of the predicted expansion data and the preset range includes: and if the predicted expansion data does not exceed the preset range, storing the first container.

Specifically, when the control terminal determines the storage strategy, if the predicted expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range, the control terminal determines that the first container does not need to be adjusted, and the storage processing can be directly performed on the first container.

In some embodiments, the actual inflation data comprises upper surface inflation data and lower surface inflation data;

according to the actual expansion data and the comparison result, determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container, and controlling the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy, the method comprises the following steps: if the upper surface expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range corresponding to the lower surface expansion, and the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range corresponding to the lower surface expansion, determining to invert the first container, reacquiring new box expansion data of the inverted first container, and determining a storage strategy corresponding to the first container based on a comparison result of the new box expansion data and the preset range.

Specifically, if the lower surface expansion data of the first container exceeds the preset range corresponding to the lower surface expansion, it is indicated that the first container may be unstably placed due to the fact that the lower surface expansion is large at this time, and the upper surface expansion data of the first container does not exceed the preset range corresponding to the lower surface expansion, so that the control terminal can determine that the first container is inverted first, that is, the lower surface of the first container with the large expansion is converted into the upper surface, the upper surface of the first container with the small expansion is converted into the lower surface, then the size information of the inverted first container is re-measured through the sensor, then the control terminal re-determines new container expansion data of the inverted first container, and re-determines the storage strategy corresponding to the first container based on the comparison result of the new container expansion data and the preset range. After the first container is inverted, the expansion data of the lower surface (the upper surface before inversion) of the first container does not exceed the preset range corresponding to the expansion of the lower surface, so that the first container can be stably stored.

In each embodiment, the control terminal determines the storage strategy corresponding to the first container according to the expansion data of the first container, and controls the robot to store the first container based on the storage strategy, and the storage strategy is determined based on the expansion data of the container, so that the storage strategy is more scientific and reasonable.

In some embodiments, based on the above embodiments related to the smart warehousing system, a container handling method is provided, which is applied to a robot in the smart warehousing system.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a container handling method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, the method mainly includes the following steps:

s910, acquiring corresponding target box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out;

and S920, determining a taking strategy of the second container according to the target container expansion data.

Specifically, the target box expansion data corresponding to the second container may be acquired by the robot from the control terminal, and the target box expansion data may be issued to the robot along with the pick-up task, that is, when the control terminal allocates a task to the robot, the control terminal sends the second container to be taken out and the corresponding target box expansion data to the robot together; the control terminal may also send only the second container to be taken out to the robot, and the robot queries the target container expansion data corresponding to the second container from the control terminal after receiving the goods taking task.

After the target box expansion data corresponding to the second container to be processed are obtained, the robot determines the corresponding taking strategy according to the target box expansion data, so that the taking strategy of the second container is more in line with the actual situation of the second container after expansion, and the taking strategy of the second container is more scientific and reasonable.

In this embodiment, the container taking process performed by the robot is mainly a container taking process, and a detailed explanation will be given below of a process flow of the robot for taking the container.

In this embodiment, the robot can take the second packing box of waiting to take out through the fork, and in the in-process of taking, mainly relate to fork position control, fork and get goods width adjustment and fork angle modulation, in actual processing process, the robot can be one of them item of adjustment, also can adjust multinomial wherein.

Optionally, when the robot adjusts multiple items, the robot may adjust the multiple items simultaneously, or may adjust the multiple items in sequence.

Specifically, the explanation is given by taking an example that the robot simultaneously adjusts the position of the fork and the angle of the fork, or simultaneously adjusts the position of the fork, the width of the fork and the angle of the fork, and fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a container taking method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and is applied to the robot, as shown in fig. 10, the method mainly includes the following steps:

s1010, acquiring box body size data and box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out, and reading a depth image of the second container;

s1020, determining fork parameters for taking the second container by the fork according to the size data of the container, the expansion data of the container and the depth image of the second container;

s1030, adjusting the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or adjusting the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork, so that the fork can take the second container.

The box size data is size data when the second container is not expanded, the box expansion data is expansion data after the second container is expanded, and the depth image is an image containing distance information between the robot and the second container. After the box size data, the box expansion data and the depth image of the second container are obtained, the robot determines fork parameters of the second container taken through the fork according to the content.

And when determining the fork parameters for taking the second container by the fork, the robot simultaneously adjusts the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or simultaneously adjusts the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork, so that the fork performs the action of taking the second container.

It can be understood that if the fork of the robot is a fixed fork, that is, the goods taking width of the fork is not adjustable, the above method steps do not include the goods taking width adjustment of the fork; if the fork of the robot is a fork with adjustable width, that is, the goods taking width of the fork can be adjusted, the above method steps may include adjusting the goods taking width of the fork.

The embodiment provides a container taking method, for a second container which expands, a robot can take the fork parameters of the second container through a fork according to the box size data of the second container, the box expansion data and the depth image, and the position adjustment and the angle adjustment of the fork are carried out, or the position adjustment and the angle adjustment of the fork are carried out, so that the second container can be taken smoothly by the adjusted fork, the success rate of accurately taking the second container by the robot is ensured, and the container taking efficiency of the robot is improved.

In some embodiments, determining fork parameters for a second container to be picked by the forks based on the box size data, the box expansion data, and the depth image of the container comprises: determining the position parameter of the fork when the second container is taken or determining the position parameter and the goods taking width parameter of the fork according to the size data of the box body and the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container; and determining the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken according to the front surface expansion data and the depth image of the second container.

The position of the fork and the goods taking width are mainly used for ensuring that the fork can completely contain the second container in the left-right direction and cannot collide with the second container, so that when the fork parameters are determined, the robot determines the position parameters of the fork when the second container is taken or determines the position parameters of the fork and the goods taking width parameters according to the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container.

For example, fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the position adjustment performed by the robot in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 11, the plan view is shown, the solid line shows the position before the adjustment of the forks, and the dotted line shows the position after the adjustment of the forks, it can be seen that, by performing the position adjustment on the forks, it is ensured that the forks can accommodate the second container in the left-right direction without colliding with the second container.

For another example, fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of the robot performing the adjustment of the pickup width in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 12, the plan view is shown, the solid line shows the pickup width before the adjustment of the forks, and the broken line shows the pickup width after the adjustment of the forks.

In addition, the angle of the fork is mainly used for ensuring that the fork cannot collide with the second container along with the increase of the advancing depth of the fork in the process of taking the second container, namely ensuring that the advancing direction of the fork is perpendicular to the front surface of the second container when the second container is not expanded.

For example, fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of the adjustment of the fork angle performed by the robot in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 13, which is a top view, a solid line represents the pick angle before the adjustment of the fork, and a dotted line represents the pick angle after the adjustment of the fork, it can be seen that the fork angle is generally perpendicular to the front surface of the second container when the expansion of the container is not considered, however, if the fork angle perpendicular to the front surface is still adopted after the expansion of the front surface of the second container, the fork may collide with the second container during the traveling. Based on this, in this embodiment, the robot determines the angle parameter of the fork when taking the second container according to the front surface expansion data and the depth image of the second container, and adjusts the fork angle according to the angle parameter, thereby avoiding the fork from colliding with the second container when the fork travels.

In addition, the following explanation is given by taking an example that the robot first adjusts the position of the cargo fork or first adjusts the position of the cargo fork and the cargo taking width, and then adjusts the angle of the cargo fork, and fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a cargo box taking method provided by the embodiment of the present application, and is applied to the robot, as shown in fig. 14, the method mainly includes the following steps:

s1410, acquiring box body size data and box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out;

s1420, determining fork parameters for taking the second container through the fork according to the size data and the expansion data of the container body;

and S1430, adjusting the position of the pallet fork according to the pallet fork parameters, or adjusting the position and the goods taking width of the pallet fork so that the pallet fork performs the action of taking the second container.

Above is the flow of the step of adjusting the position of the fork or adjusting the position of the fork and the goods taking width by the robot in this embodiment, optionally, after adjusting the position of the fork according to the parameters of the fork, or adjusting the position of the fork and the goods taking width, the method further includes:

s1440, reading a depth image of the second container;

s1450, determining the angle parameter of the pallet fork when the second container is taken according to the depth image and the container body expansion data;

s1460, adjusting the angle of the pallet fork according to the angle parameter of the pallet fork.

Therefore, the robot firstly adjusts the position of the cargo fork or firstly adjusts the position of the cargo fork and the cargo taking width, then adjusts the angle of the cargo fork, and after the angle adjustment is completed, the robot executes the action of taking the second cargo box through the cargo fork, so that the robot can accurately take the second cargo box without colliding with the second cargo box.

In addition, the robot in this embodiment accomplishes the position adjustment or the position of fork earlier and gets goods width adjustment, reads the depth image of second packing box after again to make the depth image that the robot read more accurate, and then make the angle of adjustment that confirms according to the depth image more accurate, thereby further improve the success rate that the robot took the second packing box.

In some embodiments, determining fork parameters for picking the second container by the forks based on the box size data and the box expansion data comprises: and determining the position parameters of the forks when the second container is taken or determining the position parameters and the goods taking width parameters of the forks according to the size data of the box body and the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container.

According to the depth image and the box body expansion data, the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken is determined, and the method comprises the following steps: and determining the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken according to the front surface expansion data and the depth image of the second container.

In some embodiments, if the forks are fixed forks, i.e. the fork pickup width is not adjustable, determining the position parameters of the forks when the second container is picked up, or determining the position parameters and the fork pickup width parameters, based on the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container, comprises:

according to the left and right width data in the box size data and the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container, when the second container is taken, the position parameter of the fork is determined to enable the target point of the second container to be located on a first plane where the center line of the fork is located, the target point of the second container is the midpoint of a first line segment determined according to the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data, the first line segment is the projection of a connecting line between a first reference point and a second reference point in a first direction, the projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction is the longest distance, and the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arm of the fork in a plurality of planes where the center line of the fork is located.

For example, fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of determining the fork parameter in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 15, a view angle in the drawing is a front view angle of the second container, that is, a surface shown in the drawing is a front surface of the second container, a first reference point is a point E on a left surface of the second container in the drawing, a second reference point is a point F on a right surface of the second container in the drawing, a first direction is a left-right horizontal direction in the drawing, and a first line segment is a projection of a connection line EF in the first direction shown in the drawing, so that a midpoint O of the first line segment can be determined as a target point of the second container, and therefore, the point O is located on a first plane where a center line of the fork is located, that is the position parameter of the fork when the robot takes the second container.

For another example, fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of determining pallet fork parameters in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 16, the view angle in the diagram is a front view angle of the second container, that is, the surface shown in the diagram is a front surface of the second container, that is, the surface of the second container facing the pick-and-place device when the robot picks up boxes in the roadway, in an actual situation, there may be a situation where the left-and-right expansion is not uniform, at this time, the first reference point is a point G on the left surface of the first container in the diagram, the second reference point is a point H on the right surface in the diagram, the first direction is a left-and-right horizontal direction in the diagram, the projection point H 'of the point H in the first direction is taken, the first line segment is a projection of the line GH' in the first direction shown in the diagram, so that the midpoint O of the first line segment can be determined as the target point of the second container, and therefore, the point O is located on a first plane where the centerline of the pallet fork, the position parameters of the pallet fork when the robot takes the second container are obtained.

For another example, fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of determining fork parameters in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 17, a view angle in the diagram is a top view angle of the second container, after determining that a midpoint O of the first line segment is a target point of the second container, the point O is located on a first plane where a center line of the fork is located, that is, the position parameter of the fork when the robot takes the second container is determined, and the first plane body is shown by a dashed line in fig. 17.

In some embodiments, if the forks of the robot are width-adjustable forks, that is, the fork pickup width of the forks can be adjusted, determining the position parameters of the forks when the second container is picked up, or determining the position parameters and the fork pickup width parameters of the forks, based on the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container, includes:

according to the left and right width data in the box size data, and determining the position parameters of the fork when the second container is taken as that a target point of the second container is positioned on a first plane where the center line of the fork is positioned, wherein the center line of the fork is the center line of the fork when the fork is in the goods taking width, the target point of the second container is the middle point of a first line segment determined according to the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data, the first line segment is the projection of a connecting line between a first reference point and a second reference point in a first direction, the projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction in the connecting line between any two points on the left surface and the right surface of the second container is the longest distance, and the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arm of the fork in a plurality of planes where the center line of the fork is positioned.

Referring to fig. 15, in this embodiment, since the pickup width of the fork is adjustable, according to the left-right width data in the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container, it is determined that the pickup width of the fork when the second container is picked up is the length of the first line segment, that is, the length of the projection of the connection line EF in the drawing in fig. 15 on the front surface, so as to ensure that the pickup width can accommodate the longest distance of the second container in the left-right direction. In addition, the principle of determining the position parameters is the same as that of fixing the fork, and the description is omitted here.

In some embodiments, determining the angular parameter of the forks when the second container is picked from the front surface expansion data of the second container and the depth image comprises: determining the expansion degree of the second container according to the front surface expansion data in the box body expansion data; determining the reading degree of the second container relative to the fork according to the depth image; determining a target degree of the fork for angle adjustment according to the expansion degree and the reading degree; and determining the angle of the fork after the target degree of the fork is adjusted to be the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken.

Optionally, determining a target degree of the fork for angle adjustment according to the expansion degree and the reading degree includes: and determining the difference between the reading degree and the expansion degree as a target degree.

For example, fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of determining an angle parameter in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 18, an angle of view in the drawing is a top view angle of the second container, first, the degree of expansion of the second container is determined as a according to the front surface expansion data in the container expansion data, then, the reading degree of the second container relative to the fork is determined as b according to the depth image, then, the difference between the reading degree b and the expansion degree a is determined as a target degree c, that is, c is equal to b-a, and thus, the angle obtained by adjusting the fork by the target degree c is finally determined as the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken.

Referring to fig. 18, assuming that the current angle of the forks is already perpendicular to the front surface of the second container before expansion, it can be easily known from the parallel relationship in the figure that a is equal to b, i.e., c is equal to b-a is equal to 0, i.e., the target degree of angular adjustment of the forks is 0, i.e., no fork angular adjustment is required.

For another example, fig. 19 is a schematic diagram of determining an angle parameter in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 19, the view angle in the drawing is a top view angle of the second container, and assuming that the current angle of the forks is not perpendicular to the front surface of the second container before expansion, that is, b > a, c is b-a and c is not equal to 0, so that the adjusted angle of the forks can be made perpendicular to the front surface of the second container before expansion by adjusting the forks by the angle c.

In some embodiments, obtaining the box dimension data and the box expansion data for the second container to be removed comprises: acquiring a container ID of a second container; sending a first query message to the control terminal, wherein the first query message contains the container ID of the second container; and receiving a first feedback message sent by the control terminal, wherein the first feedback message comprises the box size data and the box expansion data of the second container.

Specifically, after the robot receives the goods taking task, the robot can inquire corresponding information to the control terminal based on the container ID of the second container to be taken out, and the control terminal stores the corresponding relation between the container expansion data and the container ID, so that the control terminal can feed back the container size data and the container expansion data of the second container to the robot, and the robot can determine the taking strategy of the second container.

In some embodiments, reading the depth image of the second container comprises: and reading a depth image of the second container taken by a depth camera, the depth camera being disposed in the robot. Therefore, when the robot takes the second container, the depth image of the second container can be shot in real time through the depth camera, so that the robot can determine the taking strategy of the second container according to the depth image.

In some embodiments, the fetch policy further comprises: detecting obstacles in an area between a second container and an adjacent container to obtain a detection result, wherein the adjacent container is a container with a storage position adjacent to the left and right of the second container, and the area between the second container and the adjacent container comprises a goods taking travelling path for taking the second container by a fork; and when the detection result is that no obstacle exists on the goods taking travel path of the fork, taking the second container through the fork.

Wherein, carry out the barrier to the region between second packing box and the adjacent packing box and detect, obtain the testing result, include: detecting the distance between the adjacent container and the opposite surface of the second container, wherein the opposite surface is the surface of the second container and the adjacent container facing each other; and if the distance between the opposite surfaces of the adjacent container and the second container is greater than or equal to the preset distance, determining that no obstacle exists on the goods taking travel path of the fork.

Specifically, after determining the position adjustment, the goods taking width adjustment, the angle adjustment and other parameters of the fork, when the robot takes the goods through the fork, in order to avoid collision between the fork and the second container or an adjacent container of the second container in the goods taking process, the robot further performs obstacle detection on an area between the second container and the adjacent container, that is, whether an obstacle exists on a goods taking travelling path of the fork taking the second container is determined, the detection process specifically includes distance detection on opposite surfaces of the adjacent container and the second container, and if the distance between the opposite surfaces of the adjacent container and the second container is greater than or equal to a preset distance, it is determined that no obstacle exists on the goods taking travelling path of the fork, that is, the adjacent container does not influence the robot to take the second container; if the distance between the opposite surfaces of the adjacent container and the second container is smaller than the preset distance, it is determined that no obstacle exists on the goods taking travel path of the fork, namely the adjacent container may influence the robot to take the second container.

If the robot is determined to have no obstacle, the robot can smoothly take the second container through the fork; if the obstacle is determined to exist, the robot can output related obstacle prompt information to remind related staff to process. Therefore, through obstacle detection, the robot can accurately judge whether the second container can be taken through the fork, and the success rate of the fork for taking the container is guaranteed.

In each embodiment, the robot determines the taking strategy corresponding to the second container according to the expansion data of the second container, and the taking strategy is determined based on the expansion data of the container, so that the taking strategy is more scientific and reasonable.

In the above embodiments, specific limitations on the method applied to the control terminal or the robot in the smart warehousing system may be referred to the above limitations on the smart warehousing system, and are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, although the respective steps in the flowcharts in the above-described embodiments are sequentially shown as indicated by arrows, the steps are not necessarily performed sequentially as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not performed in the exact order shown and may be performed in other orders unless explicitly stated herein. Moreover, at least some of the steps in the figures may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages that are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, in different orders, and may be performed alternately or at least partially with respect to other steps or sub-steps of other steps.

In some embodiments, a control terminal is provided. Fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a control terminal according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 20, the control terminal includes: at least one processor 201, a memory 202 communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, and optionally, a communication module 203.

The memory is used for storing programs and data, and the processor calls the programs stored in the memory to execute the technical scheme of the method applied to the control terminal. The communication module is used for data communication with other equipment (such as a robot).

In some embodiments, a robot is provided. Fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 21, the robot includes: at least one processor 211, a memory 212 communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, and optionally, a communication module 213.

The memory is used for storing programs and data, and the processor calls the programs stored in the memory to execute the technical scheme of the method applied to the robot. The communication module is used for data communication with other equipment (such as a control terminal).

In the control terminal and the robot, the memory and the processor are directly or indirectly electrically connected to realize data transmission or interaction. For example, the components may be electrically connected to each other via one or more communication buses or signal lines, such as a bus. The memory stores computer-executable instructions for implementing the data access control method, and includes at least one software functional module which can be stored in the memory in the form of software or firmware, and the processor executes various functional applications and data processing by running the software programs and modules stored in the memory.

The Memory may be, but is not limited to, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable Read Only Memory (EPROM), an electrically Erasable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), and the like. The memory is used for storing programs, and the processor executes the programs after receiving the execution instructions. Further, the software programs and modules within the aforementioned memories may also include an operating system, which may include various software components and/or drivers for managing system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.), and may communicate with various hardware or software components to provide an operating environment for other software components.

The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. The Processor may be a general-purpose Processor including a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), and the like. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

In some embodiments, a warehousing system is provided, which includes the control terminal and the robot.

In some embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of the method embodiments of the present application when executed by a processor is provided.

In some embodiments, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method embodiments of the present application.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above may be implemented by hardware instructions of a computer program, and the computer program may be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, may include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, database, or other medium used in the embodiments provided herein may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory, among others. Non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in a variety of forms such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), Rambus (Rambus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct bused dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and bused dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

Other embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the application disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, 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.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A container taking method is applied to a robot and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring box body size data and box body expansion data of a second container to be taken out, and reading a depth image of the second container;

determining fork parameters for taking the second container by a fork according to the box size data, the box expansion data and the depth image of the second container;

and adjusting the position and the angle of the fork according to the fork parameters, or adjusting the position, the goods taking width and the angle of the fork, so that the fork performs the action of taking the second container.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining fork parameters for picking the second container by the forks based on the box size data, the box expansion data, and the depth image of the container comprises:

determining the position parameter of the fork when the second container is taken or determining the position parameter and the goods taking width parameter of the fork according to the box body size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container;

and determining the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken according to the front surface expansion data of the second container and the depth image.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a position parameter of the forks when the second container is picked or determining a position parameter and a pick width parameter of the forks based on the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container comprises:

determining the position parameters of the fork when the second container is taken to enable the target point of the second container to be positioned on a first plane where the central line of the fork is positioned according to the left-right width data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container in the box size data, the target point of the second container is a midpoint of the first line segment determined from the left and/or right surface expansion data, the first line segment is a projection of a connecting line between a first reference point and a second reference point in a first direction, the distance of the projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction in the connecting line between any two points of the left surface and the right surface of the second container is longest, the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arms of the forks among a plurality of planes in which the center lines of the forks are located.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a position parameter of the forks when the second container is picked or determining a position parameter and a pick width parameter of the forks based on the box size data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container comprises:

determining the fork goods taking width when the second container is taken as the length of a first line segment according to left and right width data in the box size data and left surface expansion data and/or right surface expansion data of the second container;

determining the position parameters of the fork when the second container is taken to enable the target point of the second container to be positioned on a first plane where the central line of the fork is positioned according to the left and right width data, the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data of the second container in the box size data, the centerline of the fork is the centerline of the fork at the fork pickup width, the target point of the second container is the midpoint of the first line segment determined from the left surface expansion data and/or the right surface expansion data, the first line segment is a projection of a connecting line between a first reference point and a second reference point in a first direction, the distance of the projection of the connecting line between the first reference point and the second reference point in the first direction in the connecting line between any two points of the left surface and the right surface of the second container is longest, the first plane is a plane parallel to the fork arms of the forks among a plurality of planes in which the center lines of the forks are located.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the angular parameter of the forks when the second container is picked from the front surface expansion data of the second container and the depth image comprises:

determining the degree of expansion of the second container according to the front surface expansion data in the box expansion data;

determining a reading of the second container relative to the forks from the depth image;

and determining the angle of the fork after the target degree is adjusted to be the angle parameter of the fork when the second container is taken.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining a target degree of angular adjustment of the fork based on the degree of expansion and the degree of reading comprises:

determining a difference between the reading degree and the expansion degree as the target degree.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the obtaining of the box size data and the box expansion data for the second container to be removed comprises:

obtaining a container ID of the second container;

sending a first query message to a control terminal, wherein the first query message contains the container ID of the second container;

and receiving a first feedback message sent by the control terminal, wherein the first feedback message comprises box size data and box expansion data of the second container.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the reading the depth image of the second container comprises:

reading a depth image of the second cargo box taken by a depth camera disposed at the robot.

9. A robot, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;

wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the robot to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8.

10. A warehousing system characterized by comprising the robot of claim 9 and a control terminal.