CN116198885A - Material box conveying method, device, equipment and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a bin handling method, a bin handling device, bin handling equipment and a storage medium, which are applied to an intelligent warehousing system. The method comprises the following steps: in response to a received delivery order, determining an inventory unit, wherein the inventory unit is used for placing a bin, the delivery order comprises an identification of goods to be delivered, and the bin is used for storing the goods; determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods; generating a carrying task of a corresponding storage robot based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried; and outputting the conveying task. The technical scheme of the embodiment of the disclosure realizes that the carrying tasks of a plurality of bins are distributed to the storage robot simultaneously, and compared with the prior scheme of carrying one by one, the carrying efficiency can be obviously improved.

Description

Material box conveying method, device, equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of intelligent storage, in particular to a method, a device, equipment and a storage medium for carrying a material box.

Background

The warehousing system based on the warehousing robot adopts an intelligent operating system, realizes automatic delivery of goods through system instructions, can continuously run for 24 hours, replaces manual management and operation, improves the efficiency of warehousing, and is widely applied and favored.

In the existing warehousing system, the intelligent warehousing system generates a warehouse-out order, generates a plurality of conveying tasks which are completed by a designated warehousing robot based on the warehouse-out order, and conveys materials corresponding to the order to a workbench by the warehousing robot for picking processing. However, the existing conveying tasks are usually carried by the bins one by one, so that the carrying efficiency of the bins is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a method, a device, equipment and a storage medium for carrying a bin, so as to improve the carrying efficiency of the bin.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a bin handling method, where the bin handling method is applied to an intelligent storage system, the bin handling method includes:

in response to a received delivery order, determining an inventory unit, wherein the inventory unit is used for placing a bin, the delivery order comprises an identification of goods to be delivered, and the bin is used for storing the goods;

determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods;

generating a carrying task of a corresponding storage robot based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried;

and outputting the conveying task.

Optionally, generating the carrying task of the corresponding warehousing robot based on the number and the size of the bins includes: dividing the bins to be carried corresponding to the warehouse-out order into bin groups based on the positions of the stock units and the destinations of the bins to be carried; generating a carrying task based on the sequence of the size of the material boxes in the material box group from large to small, the number of the material boxes in each size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot; wherein, the handling capacity is used for representing the number and the size of the workbin which can be handled by the storage robot.

Optionally, generating the conveying task based on the order of the size of the bins in the bin sets from large to small, the number of bins of each size and the conveying capability of the storage robot includes: when the number of the bins with the same size in the bin group is larger than the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot, carrying tasks are generated based on the number of the bins with the same size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot.

Optionally, generating the conveying task based on the order of the size of the bins in the bin sets from large to small, the number of bins of each size and the conveying capability of the storage robot includes: when the number of the bins with the same size in the bin group is smaller than the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot, determining a target bin which is carried by the storage robot once; and sequentially generating the carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots according to the sequence from large to small of the size of the target bin.

Optionally, generating the conveying task based on the number of bins contained in the bin sets and the conveying capability of the storage robot includes: if the number of the bins contained in the bin sets is smaller than or equal to the number of the corresponding target bins under the carrying capacity of the first storage robot, generating carrying tasks based on the number of the bins of the bin sets and the first storage robot, wherein the first storage robot is used for representing the storage robot to which the carrying tasks are being distributed; and if the number of the bins contained in the bin group is larger than the target number of the bins, generating a carrying task based on the target number of the bins.

Optionally, the method further comprises: if the number of the bins contained in the bin sets is larger than the number of the target bins, generating a carrying task based on the number of the bins contained in the bin sets and a second storage robot, wherein the second storage robot is a storage robot which is in a vacant state and is not allocated with the carrying task.

Optionally, generating a handling task of the corresponding storage robot based on the number and the size of the bins to be handled includes: determining that the storage robot comprises at least two stacking positions and that a height difference exists between the stacking positions; and generating carrying tasks according to the size and the number of the feed boxes to be carried according to the set stacking sequence of the stacking positions.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a bin handling device, the bin handling device being applied to an intelligent warehousing system, the bin handling device comprising:

the first determining module is used for determining an inventory unit in response to the received delivery order, wherein the inventory unit is used for placing a bin, the delivery order contains an identifier of goods to be delivered, and the bin is used for storing the goods;

the second determining module is used for determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods;

the processing module is used for generating a conveying task corresponding to the storage robot based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be conveyed;

And the output module is used for outputting the carrying task.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to divide the bins to be handled corresponding to the outgoing order into bins based on the location of the stock unit and the destination of the bins to be handled; generating a carrying task based on the sequence of the size of the material boxes in the material box group from large to small, the number of the material boxes in each size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot; wherein, the handling capacity is used for representing the number and the size of the workbin which can be handled by the storage robot.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to generate the conveying task based on the number of bins with the same size and the conveying capability of the storage robot when the number of bins with the same size in the bin group is greater than the number of bins that can be conveyed by the storage robot.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to determine a target bin that is carried by the storage robot in a single manner when the number of bins of the same size in the bin group is smaller than the number of bins that can be carried by the storage robot; and sequentially generating the carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots according to the sequence from large to small of the size of the target bin.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to generate a conveying task based on the number of bins of the bin group and the first storage robot if the number of bins contained in the bin group is less than or equal to the number of target bins corresponding to the conveying capability of the first storage robot, where the first storage robot is used to represent the storage robot to which the conveying task is being allocated; and if the number of the bins contained in the bin group is larger than the target number of the bins, generating a carrying task based on the target number of the bins.

Optionally, the processing module is further configured to generate a handling task based on the number of bins contained in the bin set and a second storage robot, where the second storage robot is a storage robot in a vacant state and is not assigned with the handling task, if the number of bins contained in the bin set is greater than the target number of bins.

Optionally, the processing module is specifically configured to determine that the warehousing robot includes at least two stacking positions and a height difference exists between the stacking positions; and generating carrying tasks according to the size and the number of the feed boxes to be carried according to the set stacking sequence of the stacking positions.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a control apparatus, including:

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 control apparatus to perform the bin handling method according to any of the embodiments as corresponding to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, are configured to implement the bin handling method according to any of the embodiments corresponding to the first and second aspects of the present disclosure.

In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure also provides a computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions for implementing the bin handling method according to any of the embodiments corresponding to the first and second aspects of the present disclosure when executed by a processor.

According to the bin handling method, the bin handling device, the bin handling equipment and the storage medium, the bin storage unit used for placing the bin is determined according to the received delivery order, and the bin to be handled in the bin storage unit is determined according to the identification of the goods to be delivered contained in the delivery order; then, based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried, carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots are generated; and finally outputting the carrying task. From this can be according to quantity and the size of waiting to carry the workbin, send the task of carrying a plurality of workbins to same storage robot simultaneously, and then make storage robot can once carry a plurality of workbins that the size is the same or different, for the scheme of carrying one by one now, can show the lifting handling efficiency.

Drawings

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

Fig. 1 is an application scenario diagram of a bin handling method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a bin handling method provided by one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a bin handling method provided by yet another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a bin handling method provided by yet another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a bin handling method provided by yet another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a bin handling apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a control apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown by way of the above drawings and will be described in more detail below. These drawings and the 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

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples are not representative of all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the accompanying claims.

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

In the prior art, the containers (or bins) in warehouse inventory are usually stored in a mixed manner with different sizes, so when the intelligent warehouse system generates a warehouse-out order and determines a plurality of bins to be carried by a specified warehouse robot based on the warehouse-out order, the warehouse robot can usually carry a single bin to a workbench for picking treatment only each time, so that the problem that the bins drop from the robot due to the fact that the bins cannot be stably stacked when a plurality of bins are carried at one time is avoided, and the overall bin carrying efficiency is low is caused.

To solve the problem, the embodiment of the disclosure provides a bin handling method, which determines a corresponding bin to be handled according to an outgoing order, and then determines a handling task of a storage robot according to the number and the size of the bins to be handled, thereby ensuring that the storage robot can handle a plurality of bins at one time, and effectively improving the overall handling efficiency of the bins.

The application scenario of the embodiments of the present disclosure is explained below:

fig. 1 is an application scenario diagram of a bin handling method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, in the bin handling process, the intelligent warehouse system 100 determines the bin 110 to be taken out according to the order, and issues a corresponding bin handling task to the warehouse robot 120, and the warehouse robot 120 sequentially takes out the corresponding bin 110 according to the bin handling task, so as to complete bin handling.

It should be noted that, in the scenario shown in fig. 1, the bin is only exemplified by two and the warehouse robot is only exemplified by one, but the disclosure is not limited thereto, that is, the number of bins and warehouse robots may be arbitrary.

The bin handling method provided by the present disclosure is described in detail below by way of specific examples.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a bin handling method provided in one embodiment of the present disclosure. The bin handling method is applied to an intelligent warehouse system, as shown in fig. 2, and the bin handling method provided by the embodiment comprises the following steps:

step S201, in response to the received ex-warehouse order, determining an inventory unit.

The stock unit is used for placing a stock box, the delivery order comprises identification of goods to be delivered, and the stock box is used for storing the goods.

The delivery order comprises one or more goods to be delivered, each goods has a corresponding identifier, such as a feature code or a two-dimensional code, and the corresponding goods in the inventory records of the intelligent warehousing system can be rapidly positioned through the goods identifiers.

Depending on the number of goods to be delivered, the goods to be delivered may be placed in one or more bins. Only the goods to be delivered can be in each bin, and the goods to be delivered or other non-goods to be delivered can be mixed and placed. The amount of goods in the bins may also be greater than the amount of goods required for the order for delivery, and therefore, the type and amount of goods to be delivered need to be sorted out of the bins by the table.

The bin is a rigid box for holding goods, and is typically constructed with an upper cover or a closable upper portion.

In some embodiments of the present solution, the bin has a set specification, the bins of different specifications have different preset sizes, for example, the size of the bin 1 is larger than the size of the bin 2, the specification of the bin is stored in the intelligent storage system, and when the intelligent storage system hits the bin, the corresponding specification and the corresponding size thereof can be determined simultaneously.

The bins are arranged in the stock units, each stock unit can be provided with one or more bins, and the bins in each stock unit can be a plurality of bins with the same size or a plurality of bins with different sizes. By determining the stock unit and thus the position of the stock unit, the warehousing robot determines the destination of the movement at the time of picking up the bin.

Further, after receiving the delivery order, the intelligent warehouse system can automatically distribute and hit the material box containing the materials to be delivered and the corresponding stock units according to the types and the amounts of the materials to be delivered.

Step S202, determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods.

Each stock unit is provided with a plurality of bins, and the bins containing materials to be delivered in each stock unit are required to be determined to be the bins to be carried through the distribution of the intelligent warehouse system.

Further, a plurality of bins may be placed up and down, horizontally or front and back in each stock unit, each bin is allocated with a specific bin in the stock unit, and the bin information is stored in the inventory records of the intelligent warehousing system, so that the warehousing robot can conveniently determine the specific carrying action executed when the discharging bin is taken by determining the specific bin of the bin to be carried in the stock unit.

Step S203, based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried, a carrying task corresponding to the storage robot is generated.

Specifically, when a plurality of bins to be handled are included in a handling task to be allocated to the same storage robot, the number and size of the bins to be handled need to be considered.

On the one hand, the carrying capacity of the storage robot is limited, and the number of the bins carried by the storage robot at a time is necessarily smaller than or equal to the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot. Therefore, when determining the carrying task of the corresponding storage robot, the intelligent storage system needs to generate the corresponding task according to the number of single-time carrying bins of the storage robot.

For example, the number of bins which can be carried by the storage robots at a time is 10 bins with standard sizes, and 20 bins which need to be carried are arranged in a warehouse-out order, so that the intelligent storage system needs to divide the 20 bins to be carried into tasks of carrying 10 bins twice and distribute the tasks to the two storage robots, or the same storage robot carries out the tasks twice, and the carrying tasks can be effectively completed.

On the other hand, when the storage robot carries the workbin, the order of its transport is confirmed by the transport order among the transport task that intelligent storage system issued, therefore, when the size of workbin is not the same completely, in order to guarantee that the workbin that storage robot carried can stably be placed, need put the workbin that the size is great in storage robot conveyer's below earlier, stack the workbin that the size reduces gradually in proper order above again to avoid the workbin unable stable stack, lead to the problem of overturning to appear in the handling, influence conveying efficiency and cargo security.

For example, the storage robot needs to carry two number 1 bins, two number 2 bins and two number 3 bins in a single carrying task (the larger the number is, the smaller the bin size is), and the carrying sequence of the bins in the carrying task generated by the intelligent storage system should be: firstly, two No. 1 boxes are taken out from the stock unit, after stacking and placing, two No. 2 boxes are placed on the stacking and placing, and finally, two No. 3 boxes are placed above the No. 2 boxes.

In some embodiments, when the number of bins for single handling by the storage robot is large, the storage robot places the bins on the chassis or the rack, and stacks the bins on the chassis or the rack, so that the handling efficiency is maximized under the condition of reducing the occupied area.

Further, after the intelligent storage system determines the material box to be carried, the specific taking out or carrying sequence of the material box to be carried is determined, and the storage robot for specifically executing the carrying task is determined, and after the storage robot and the material box carrying sequence are determined, the carrying task comprising the material box to be carried, the material box carrying sequence and the corresponding storage robot can be generated.

Step S204, outputting a conveying task.

Specifically, after the intelligent warehousing system determines the carrying tasks, the intelligent warehousing system sends the corresponding carrying tasks to one or more warehousing robots according to the determined carrying sequence of the material boxes.

Further, when a plurality of storage robots are required to execute the carrying tasks and the storage robots contain the same stock units corresponding to the carrying tasks, the intelligent storage system determines the order of the plurality of storage robots to execute the carrying tasks according to the carrying order of the material boxes.

When the intelligent warehousing system determines three transport tasks to be executed by the warehousing robots, if the three transport tasks all contain the same inventory unit, the intelligent warehousing system can avoid the situation that different warehousing robots collide in the task execution process by adjusting the order of going to the same inventory unit in the three transport tasks; or after the storage robot executes the first carrying task, a second carrying task is issued; the storage robot can also send out the second carrying task after the storage robot finishes the process of taking out the material box of the same stock unit in the first carrying task.

In some embodiments, the intelligent warehousing system receives information that the warehousing robot completes the removal action of a bin to determine and adjust the execution state of the warehousing robot in real time.

According to the bin handling method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the inventory unit for placing the bin is determined according to the received ex-warehouse order, and the bin to be handled in the inventory unit is determined according to the identification of the goods to be ex-warehouse contained in the ex-warehouse order; then, based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried, carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots are generated; and finally outputting the carrying task. From this can be according to quantity and the size of waiting to carry the workbin, send the task of carrying a plurality of workbins to same storage robot simultaneously, and then make storage robot can once carry a plurality of workbins that the size is the same or different, for the scheme of carrying one by one now, can show the lifting handling efficiency.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a bin handling method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the method for carrying a bin provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step S301, in response to the received ex-warehouse order, determining an inventory unit.

The stock unit is used for placing a stock box, the delivery order comprises identification of goods to be delivered, and the stock box is used for storing the goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S201 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S302, determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S202 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S303, dividing the bins to be carried corresponding to the warehouse-out order into bin groups based on the positions of the stock units and the destination of the bins to be carried.

Specifically, when the number of goods to be delivered in the same delivery order is large, if picking delivery is performed only through one workbench, a large amount of goods to be delivered are accumulated on the workbench, and accordingly delivery efficiency is low. Therefore, in order to improve the delivery efficiency, when the amount of the delivered goods of the delivery order is greater than the set threshold, the delivered goods of the delivery order correspond to at least two work tables.

Similarly, when the number of the goods to be delivered in the delivery order is large, the stock units where the goods to be delivered are located are also typically distributed in a plurality of different locations. At this time, if the goods to be delivered from different stock units and corresponding to different work tables are mixed together, the time of the storage robot for delivering the goods in stock is significantly increased, so that the work tables or temporary storage frames corresponding to the work boxes to be delivered need to be grouped according to the positions of the stock units and the work boxes to be delivered, and the work boxes to be delivered corresponding to the delivery orders.

Further, the specific grouping method can combine the number of the bins to be conveyed with the conveying capacity of the storage robot to determine the bin groups.

For example, the order S includes a first, a second, and a third stock unit, where the destination corresponding to the first and the second positions is the working table a, the destination corresponding to the third position is the temporary storage rack B, there are 3 bins at the first stock position, 4 bins at the second position, 5 bins at the third position, and 9 bins each time the storage robot can carry, the 7 bins from the first position and the second position to the working table a can be divided into one bin group, and the 5 bins from the third position to the temporary storage rack B can be divided into another bin group.

In particular, if there are only 2 bins at three positions, 9 bins included in the warehouse order S may be determined as one bin group, and the same warehouse robot completes the carrying task, so as to reduce the required warehouse robots.

Step S304, when the number of the bins with the same size in the bin group is larger than the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot, a carrying task is generated based on the number of the bins with the same size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot.

Wherein, the handling capacity is used for representing the number and the size of the workbin which can be handled by the storage robot.

For the bins with different sizes, the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot is different, the specific algorithm can be determined according to the sum of the heights of the bins and the total height which can be carried by the storage robot, can be determined according to the sum of the volumes of the bins and the total volume which can be carried by the storage robot, and can be determined according to the total weight of the bins and the weight which can be carried by the storage robot.

In some embodiments, after determining the bin sets, the intelligent warehousing system further includes: based on the order of the size of the bins in the bin sets from large to small, the number of bins of each size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot, carrying tasks are generated.

Therefore, for the bins in each bin group, the intelligent warehouse system can sequentially determine the corresponding carrying tasks of each bin according to the sequence from large size to small size of the bin.

Specifically, when the intelligent storage system determines that a plurality of bins with the same size exist in the current bin in the bin group, and the number of bins with the same size is large, the number of bins with the same size and the number of bins which can be carried by the storage robot can be directly determined.

For example, the number of the bins with the size a in a certain bin group is 10, and the number of the bins with the size a of the storage robots is 5, when the carrying tasks are distributed, the bins with the size a of the 10 bins can be directly divided into two carrying tasks and respectively sent to the two storage robots, or the two storage robots can finish the two steps, without further considering the specific carrying sequence of the bins with the size a of the 10 bins, or the specific carrying sequence of the bins with the size a of the 10 bins can be arbitrary.

The carrying tasks are determined according to the number of the bins and the carrying number of the storage robots directly through the bins with the same size in the same bin group, so that the processing efficiency of the intelligent storage system can be improved, and the carrying efficiency of the bins is further improved.

Further, if all the bins in the bin sets are the same in size, and no sequence of the bin sizes from small to small exists, the carrying tasks can be determined directly according to the number of the bins and the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot. The specific method is the same as that in the present step example.

Step S305, when the number of bins with the same size in the bin group is smaller than the number of bins which can be carried by the storage robot, determining a target bin which is carried by the storage robot in a single mode.

Specifically, when the bins in the same bin group have a size difference, and the number of bins with the same size is smaller than that of bins which can be carried by the storage robot, generally, in order to improve the carrying efficiency, the storage robot needs to carry the bins with the same size and the bins with other different sizes at one time until the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot is reached, or all the bins in the bin group are carried.

In some embodiments, the number of bins of the same size in the bin set is greater than the number of bins capable of being handled by the storage robot, so that the intelligent storage system determines a handling task based on the number of bins capable of being handled by the storage robot, and when the number of bins of the size is smaller than the number of bins capable of being handled by the storage robot after one or more times of allocation of the handling task, the remaining bins of the size can be allocated as a handling task alone or can be used as a handling task together with bins of other sizes.

For example, in a certain bin set, 22 bins with large size are used, and the carrying capacity of the storage robot is 8, at this time, two carrying tasks for carrying 8 large bins at a time can be generated first, and a carrying task for carrying 6 large bins at a time can be generated.

If there are 2 medium-size bins in the bin set, a single transfer task including the aforementioned 6 large-size bins and 2 medium-size bins (assuming that the number of large-size bins and medium-size bins that can be transferred by the warehouse robot is the same) may be generated; further, if the number of medium size bins in the bin set is 8, the handling tasks for handling the aforementioned 6 large size bins at a time may be directly generated, and then the handling tasks for handling the 8 medium size bins at a time may be separately generated, or the handling tasks for handling the 6 large size bins and the 2 medium size bins at a time may be generated, and then the handling tasks for handling the 6 medium size bins at a time may be generated.

S306, sequentially generating carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots according to the sequence from the large size to the small size of the target bin.

Specifically, the intelligent storage system can generate a plurality of bin groups according to a storage order, sort bins in the bin groups according to the order from large to small in size, and then sequentially generate carrying tasks of the bins corresponding to the sizes according to the sorting order.

In some embodiments, when the number of bins of the same size is insufficient, the intelligent warehouse system may generate a transport task including bins of multiple sizes, or may generate the transport task separately from the bins of the same size.

In some embodiments, when generating a handling task including bins of different sizes, the intelligent warehouse system determines the handling task according to the location of the stock unit where the bin is located and the destination of the bin to be handled, in combination with the number of bins of the same size.

If in a certain bin group, 4 bins with large sizes are provided, 8 bins with medium sizes are provided from the stock unit A to the workbench B, wherein 4 bins are provided from the stock unit A to the workbench B, and the other 4 bins are provided from the stock unit A to the workbench C, then the 4 bins with large sizes and the 4 bins with medium sizes from the stock unit A to the workbench B can be used as one carrying task, and the 4 bins with medium sizes from the stock unit A to the workbench C can be used as another carrying task. Therefore, the efficiency of taking out the bin and the movement path of the storage robot can be considered, and the conveying efficiency of the bin can be optimized.

S307, outputting the conveying task.

This step is the same as step S204 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

In this embodiment, steps S303 to S306 are all refinements of step S203 in the embodiment of fig. 2, and steps S304 and S305 to S306 are alternatives parallel to each other.

According to the bin handling method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the bin to be handled is determined according to the received bin outlet order, the bin to be handled corresponding to the bin outlet order is divided into bin groups based on the position of the stock unit and the destination of the bin to be handled, and then specific handling tasks are determined according to the number of bins with the same size in the bin groups and the number of bins which can be handled by the storage robot, and the handling tasks are output. Therefore, the corresponding carrying tasks can be determined according to the carrying paths corresponding to the carrying material boxes to be carried, the sizes and the numbers of the carrying material boxes to be carried, the carrying route and the carrying number of the storage robot can be optimized, the working efficiency of the storage robot is optimized, and the carrying efficiency of the material boxes is improved.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of a bin handling method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the method for carrying a bin provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

step S401, in response to the received ex-warehouse order, determining an inventory unit.

The stock unit is used for placing a stock box, the delivery order comprises identification of goods to be delivered, and the stock box is used for storing the goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S201 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S402, determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S202 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S403, dividing the bins to be handled corresponding to the outgoing order into bins based on the location of the stock unit and the destination of the bins to be handled.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S303 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 3, and will not be described here again.

Step S404, if the number of bins contained in the bin sets is smaller than or equal to the number of target bins corresponding to the carrying capacity of the first storage robot, generating carrying tasks based on the number of bins of the bin sets and the first storage robot.

Wherein the first storage robot is used for indicating the storage robot which is being allocated with the carrying task.

Specifically, the number of bins included in the bin sets may be the total number of bins in the bin sets, or the number of bins remaining in the bin sets to which no transport task has been assigned. If there are 50 bins in the bin set, 48 bins have been allocated with the handling task, the number of bins (to be allocated with the handling task) in the bin set is 2, and if the bin set has not been allocated with the handling task, the number of bins is 50.

Likewise, the target bin number may be the maximum number of the portable bins of the first stocker robot for which the transfer task has not been determined, or may be the remaining number of the portable bins of the first stocker robot for which the transfer task has been allocated. If the maximum movable amount of the storage robot is 20, and the number of the bins contained by the allocated conveying tasks is 15, the number of the corresponding target bins under the conveying capacity of the storage robot can be 5; if the first storage robot does not distribute the carrying task, the number of the corresponding target bins is 20.

In some embodiments, the intelligent warehousing system may issue a lock command simultaneously when sending a transfer task to the warehousing robot, where the lock command is used to instruct the warehousing robot to switch to a locked state in which no new transfer task is received. At this time, even if the warehouse robot can also carry more bins, the warehouse robot can not receive new carrying tasks any more, but can finish the current carrying tasks first, and then the locking state can be released.

Specifically, when the number of bins in the bin group is smaller than the number of the remaining transportable bins of the current first storage robot, all bins in the bin group can be directly distributed to the current first storage robot for transportation, and corresponding transportation tasks are generated.

Step S405, if the number of bins contained in the bin set is greater than the target number of bins, generating a carrying task based on the number of bins contained in the bin set and the second storage robot.

The second storage robot is a storage robot which is in a vacant state and is not allocated with a carrying task.

Specifically, when the number of bins in the bin set is greater than the current number of bins which can be carried by the first storage robot, the second storage robot needs to be called and a carrying task is distributed to the second storage robot so as to carry the bins in the bin set.

The number of bins in the carrying task to be processed by the second storage robot is determined according to the number of bins contained in the bin group after the carrying task is distributed to the first storage robot.

Further, there may be one or more second storage robots, and when the number of bins contained in the bin sets is far greater than the number of target bins corresponding to the first storage robots, the plurality of second storage robots need to be determined, so that carrying processing on the bin sets is completed together.

In some embodiments, the intelligent warehousing system preferentially determines the warehousing robot in the idle state to be the second warehousing robot in other warehousing robots except the current first warehousing robot, wherein the idle state is used for indicating a state in which a carrying task is not allocated yet. In order to ensure the warehousing and conveying efficiency, most of the warehousing robots are continuously in a working state, so that the idle warehousing robots which are not allocated with conveying tasks are required to be determined and are preferentially used as the second warehousing robots so as to ensure the utilization efficiency of the warehousing system.

In some embodiments, when there are multiple stocker robots in an idle state among the other stocker robots except the current first stocker robot, the intelligent stocker system preferentially determines the stocker robot closest to the stock unit where the bin to be allocated with the transfer task is located as the second stocker robot.

In some embodiments, when there are no other warehousing robots in an idle state other than the current first warehousing robot, the intelligent warehousing system determines the second warehousing robot according to the number of target bins corresponding to the carrying capacity of the other warehousing robots and the distance from the other warehousing robots to the stock bin where the carrying task to be allocated is located.

For example, when the bin sets include 13 bins and the single movement of the storage robots is 10, the intelligent storage system needs to determine that the first storage robot carries the transport tasks of 10 bins and then determine that the second storage robot carries the remaining 3 bins. If three storage robots A, B, C are available and can respectively carry 2, 3 and 4 bins, and the distances from the storage robot A, B, C to the stock units where the remaining 3 bins are located are 50M, 50M and 20M, the intelligent storage system can preferably select the storage robot C as the second storage robot and execute the carrying task on the remaining 3 bins.

Step S406, outputting a conveying task.

This step is the same as step S204 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

According to the bin handling method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the bin to be handled is determined according to the received bin outlet order, then the bin to be handled corresponding to the bin outlet order is divided into the bin groups based on the position of the stock unit and the destination of the bin to be handled, then the first bin handling robot is determined according to the number of bins in the bin groups and the number of target bins which can be handled currently by the bin handling robot, or the first bin handling robot and the second bin handling robot are jointly completed, and the determined handling task is output, so that the handling task and the bin handling robot can be distributed according to the number of bins, handling processing of the bins is effectively ensured, the situation that the bin is not distributed with the handling task is avoided, and further the bin handling efficiency is ensured.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a bin handling method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the method for carrying a bin according to the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S501, in response to the received ex-warehouse order, determining an inventory unit.

The stock unit is used for placing a stock box, the delivery order comprises identification of goods to be delivered, and the stock box is used for storing the goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S201 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S502, determining a to-be-carried bin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods.

The content of this step is the same as that of step S202 in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

Step S503, determining that the storage robot comprises at least two stacking positions and a height difference exists between the stacking positions.

In some embodiments, the intelligent warehousing system is also capable of determining the location (i.e., stacking location) of a particular stocker of the warehousing robot, such as on the pallet or rack of the warehousing robot, when there are multiple locations on the warehousing robot where the stocker can be stacked. At this time, the intelligent storage system can determine to stack the bins to one of the stacking positions according to a pre-configured sequence, and when the number of the bins on the stacking position is stacked to a maximum value, or the intelligent storage system determines that the stacking position is unnecessary to stack more bins, or after setting the stacking position to a locking state, the intelligent storage system can allocate other bins to other stacking positions of the storage robot.

In some embodiments, there may be multiple stacking positions on the chassis of the warehousing robot, such as two or more stacking positions when the warehousing robot chassis is longer. When the warehousing robot comprises at least two stacking positions and the heights of the stacking positions are the same, the intelligent warehousing system can preferentially distribute the conveying tasks to any one stacking position.

Step S504, according to the set stacking sequence of stacking positions, generating a carrying task according to the size and the number of the feed boxes to be carried.

Specifically, for the case that a height difference exists between stacking positions, the intelligent warehousing system can be configured with different stacking sequence strategies.

In some embodiments, the intelligent warehouse system may assign a handling task to a higher stacking position and then assign a handling task to a lower stacking position, because a higher stacking position structure (such as a rack or a stacker) may set a protection structure with better protection effect on the goods.

In some embodiments, the bin is placed at a lower stacking position due to the greater weight of the bin, so that the center of gravity of the storage robot is lower, and the storage robot is prevented from toppling over, so that the bin is protected, and therefore, the intelligent storage system can preferentially allocate the transport task to a lower stacking position and then allocate the transport task to a higher stacking position.

Further, the method for generating the carrying task according to the size and number of the bins to be carried may refer to the description in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 2 to 4.

Step S505, output the transport task.

This step is the same as step S204 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and will not be described here again.

According to the bin handling method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the intelligent storage system determines the bin to be handled according to the received delivery order, and then generates and outputs handling tasks according to the number of stacking positions of the storage robots and the set stacking sequence and according to the size and the number of the bin to be handled. Corresponding carrying tasks are generated according to different stacking position configurations of the storage robots, and carrying capacity of the storage robots is effectively utilized, so that single carrying capacity of the storage robots is improved, and carrying efficiency of the material box is improved.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a bin handling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The material box carrying device is applied to an intelligent storage system. As shown in fig. 6, the bin handling device 600 includes: a first determination module 610, a second determination module 620, a processing module 630, and an output module 640. Wherein:

A first determining module 610, configured to determine, in response to a received shipment order, a stock unit, where the stock unit is configured to place a bin, and the shipment order includes an identifier of a cargo to be shipped, and the bin is configured to store the cargo;

a second determining module 620, configured to determine a bin to be handled in the inventory unit according to the identifier of the cargo to be delivered;

the processing module 630 is configured to generate a handling task corresponding to the storage robot based on the number and the size of the bins to be handled;

and an output module 640 for outputting the handling task.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is specifically configured to divide the bins to be handled corresponding to the outgoing order into bins based on the location of the stock unit and the destination of the bins to be handled; generating a carrying task based on the sequence of the size of the material boxes in the material box group from large to small, the number of the material boxes in each size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot; wherein, the handling capacity is used for representing the number and the size of the workbin which can be handled by the storage robot.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is specifically configured to generate the conveying task based on the number of bins with the same size and the conveying capability of the storage robot when the number of bins with the same size in the bin group is greater than the number of bins that can be conveyed by the storage robot.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is specifically configured to determine a target bin that is carried by the storage robot in a single manner when the number of bins of the same size in the bin group is less than the number of bins that can be carried by the storage robot; and sequentially generating the carrying tasks of the corresponding storage robots according to the sequence from large to small of the size of the target bin.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is specifically configured to generate a conveying task based on the number of bins of the bin set and the first storage robot if the number of bins included in the bin set is less than or equal to the number of target bins corresponding to the conveying capability of the first storage robot, where the first storage robot is used to represent the storage robot to which the conveying task is being allocated; and if the number of the bins contained in the bin group is larger than the target number of the bins, generating a carrying task based on the target number of the bins.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is further configured to generate a handling task based on the number of bins included in the bin set and a second storage robot, which is a storage robot in a blank state and to which no handling task is allocated, if the number of bins included in the bin set is greater than the target number of bins.

Optionally, the processing module 630 is specifically configured to determine that the warehousing robot includes at least two stacking positions and a height difference exists between the stacking positions; and generating carrying tasks according to the size and the number of the feed boxes to be carried according to the set stacking sequence of the stacking positions.

In this embodiment, the workbin handling device passes through the combination of each module, can be according to the quantity and the size of waiting to carry the workbin, simultaneously to same storage robot down carry the task of a plurality of workbins, and then make storage robot can once carry a plurality of workbins that the size is the same or different, for the scheme of current transport one by one, can show the promotion conveying efficiency.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in fig. 7, the control device 700 includes: a memory 710 and a processor 720.

Wherein the memory 710 stores computer programs executable by the at least one processor 720. The computer program is executed by the at least one processor 720 to cause the control apparatus to implement the bin handling method as provided in any of the embodiments above.

Wherein the memory 710 and the processor 720 may be connected by a bus 730.

The relevant descriptions and effects corresponding to the relevant description and effects corresponding to the method embodiments may be understood, and are not repeated herein.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for execution by a processor to implement the bin handling method provided by any of the method embodiments above.

The computer readable storage medium may be, among other things, ROM, random Access Memory (RAM), CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage device, etc.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer program product containing computer-executable instructions for implementing a bin handling method as in the method embodiments described above when executed by a processor.

In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of modules is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions of actual implementation, e.g., multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following the general 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 is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be effected without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. A method of handling a bin, comprising:

in response to a received ex-warehouse order, determining an inventory unit, wherein the inventory unit is used for placing a bin, the ex-warehouse order comprises an identifier of goods to be ex-warehouse, and the bin is used for storing the goods;

determining a to-be-carried workbin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods;

generating a carrying task of a corresponding storage robot based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried;

and outputting the carrying task.

2. The bin handling method according to claim 1, wherein the generating a handling task for a storage robot based on the number and size of bins comprises:

dividing the to-be-carried bins corresponding to the ex-warehouse order into bin groups based on the positions of the stock units and the destination of the to-be-carried bins;

generating a conveying task based on the sequence of the size of the material boxes in the material box group from large to small, the number of the material boxes with each size and the conveying capability of the storage robot;

Wherein, the handling capacity is used for representing the quantity and the size of the workbin which can be handled by the storage robot.

3. The bin handling method according to claim 2, wherein the generating a handling task based on the order of bin sizes from large to small in the bin sets, the number of bins of each size, and the handling capability of the stocker robot includes:

when the number of the bins with the same size in the bin group is larger than the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot, a carrying task is generated based on the number of the bins with the same size and the carrying capacity of the storage robot.

4. The bin handling method according to claim 2, wherein the generating a handling task based on the order of bin sizes from large to small in the bin sets, the number of bins of each size, and the handling capability of the stocker robot includes:

when the number of the bins with the same size in the bin group is smaller than the number of the bins which can be carried by the storage robot, determining a target bin which is carried by the storage robot once;

and sequentially generating carrying tasks corresponding to the storage robots according to the sequence from the large size to the small size of the target bin.

5. The bin handling method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the generating a handling task based on the number of bins contained in the bin sets and the handling capacity of the storage robot, comprises:

if the number of the bins contained in the bin sets is smaller than or equal to the number of the target bins corresponding to the carrying capacity of the first storage robot, generating carrying tasks based on the number of the bins of the bin sets and the first storage robot, wherein the first storage robot is used for representing the storage robot to which the carrying tasks are being distributed;

and if the number of the bins contained in the bin group is larger than the target number of the bins, generating a carrying task based on the target number of the bins.

6. The bin handling method of claim 5, further comprising:

if the number of the bins contained in the bin group is larger than the target number of the bins, generating a carrying task based on the number of the bins contained in the bin group and a second storage robot, wherein the second storage robot is a storage robot which is in a vacant state and is not allocated with the carrying task.

7. The bin handling method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the generating a handling task for a corresponding stocker robot based on the number and size of the bins to be handled, comprises:

Determining that the warehousing robot comprises at least two stacking positions and that a height difference exists between the stacking positions;

and generating a carrying task according to the size and the number of the feed boxes to be carried according to the set stacking sequence of the stacking positions.

8. A bin handling device, characterized in that is applied to intelligent warehouse system, bin handling device includes:

the first determining module is used for responding to the received delivery order, determining a stock unit, wherein the stock unit is used for placing a bin, the delivery order comprises an identifier of goods to be delivered, and the bin is used for storing the goods;

the second determining module is used for determining a to-be-carried workbin in the stock unit according to the identification of the to-be-carried goods;

the processing module is used for generating a carrying task corresponding to the storage robot based on the number and the size of the feed boxes to be carried;

and the output module is used for outputting the carrying task.

9. A control apparatus, characterized by 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 control apparatus to perform the bin handling method according to any one of claims 1-7.

10. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor are adapted to carry out the bin handling method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

11. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions for implementing the bin handling method according to any one of claims 1-7 when executed by a processor.

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