CN118107934A

CN118107934A - Picking control method, management equipment and picking system

Info

Publication number: CN118107934A
Application number: CN202211507232.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张飞跃
Original assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-11-29
Filing date: 2022-11-29
Publication date: 2024-05-31

Abstract

The application relates to a picking control method, management equipment and a picking system. The method comprises the following steps: controlling a first robot to transfer a to-be-selected bin from a bin shelf to an turnover shelf within a first preset time period; controlling a second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves with the to-be-picked boxes to a discharging area of a target picking station in a second preset time period; and controlling an unloader positioned in the unloading area to take the to-be-picked bin out of the turnover goods shelf so that the to-be-picked bin is picked in the picking area of the target picking station. According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, each robot can perform running water relay operation in different time periods and carry out batch transportation, so that the system picking efficiency is obviously improved.

Description

Picking control method, management equipment and picking system

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of intelligent logistics, in particular to a picking control method, management equipment and a picking system.

Background

With the development of artificial intelligence and logistics automation, the intelligent storage technology as an important ring is also mature. In the warehouse process, the operations of warehousing, sorting, ex-warehouse and the like are performed on cargoes so as to realize intelligent warehouse.

In general, a large number of goods are stored in respective storage boxes of a shelf, respectively, and when the corresponding goods need to be picked, the corresponding single storage box is taken down from the shelf and transferred to a sorting area by a small robot. However, since sorting work is typically performed by a worker during a work period, the worker is required to spend time waiting for the robot to pick up the goods in place, thereby affecting the picking efficiency.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve or partially solve the problems in the related art, the application provides a picking control method, management equipment and a picking system, which can enable each robot to carry out continuous relay operation in different time periods and carry out batch transportation, thereby remarkably improving the picking efficiency of the system.

A first aspect of the present application provides a picking control method applied to a management apparatus, including:

controlling a first robot to transfer a to-be-selected bin from a bin shelf to an turnover shelf within a first preset time period;

Controlling a second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves with the boxes to be picked to a discharging area of a target picking station in a second preset time period;

And controlling an unloader positioned in the unloading area to take the to-be-picked bin out of the turnover goods shelf, so that the to-be-picked bin is picked in a picking area of the target picking station.

A second aspect of the present application provides a management apparatus comprising:

A processor; and

A memory having executable code stored thereon, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the method of any of the above claims.

A third aspect of the application provides a picking system comprising:

The first robot is used for transferring the to-be-selected bin from the bin shelf to the turnover shelf within a first preset time period;

The second robot is used for transferring the turnover goods shelves with the to-be-picked boxes to a discharging area of the target picking station in a second preset time period;

A tripper for taking the bin to be picked of a tripper zone out of the epicyclic shelf so that the bin to be picked is picked at a picking zone of the target picking station; and

The management device as described above.

The technical scheme provided by the application can comprise the following beneficial effects:

In the embodiment of the application, the first robot is controlled by the management equipment to transfer the to-be-picked material box to the turnover goods shelf within the first preset time period, so that the advance operation is realized; the management equipment controls the second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves to the target sorting area in a second preset time period, and then the material boxes to be sorted on the turnover goods shelves are unloaded to the sorting area through the unloader to be sorted. By means of the design, the robots can conduct continuous water relay operation in different time periods, meanwhile, the transfer racks are used for carrying in batches, the effective working time of picking operation is remarkably prolonged, round-trip operation of the robots is reduced, and therefore overall operation efficiency of the system is improved.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the application as claimed.

Drawings

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the application will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the application as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts throughout the exemplary embodiments of the application.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a picking system according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a bin pallet and an epicyclic pallet in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of a storage rack according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a second robotic transport turnaround pallet of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a destination picking station according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a picking system according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a pick control method of an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flow chart of the picking control method shown in fig. 7.

Reference numerals illustrate:

a destination picking station 100; a sorting area 101; a discharge zone 102; a loading area 103; a first conveyor belt 120A; a second conveyor belt 120B; cache bits 104;

A first robot 200; a second robot 300; a management device 400; a unloader 500; a loader 600;

Storage shelves 700; bin rack 710; a storage layer 711; a storage location 712; an epicyclic shelf 720; a storage layer 721; a storage location 722; an accommodation space 723; a bin 730; a pick bin 730A; post-pick bin 730B; and a bin 730C to be stocked.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While embodiments of the present application are illustrated in the drawings, it should be understood that the present application may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the application to those skilled in the art.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, 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 understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise.

The application provides a picking system which can be applied to the fields of logistics, warehouse and the like needing to pick goods, and is not particularly limited herein. Hereinafter, a picking system which can pick goods according to orders, which is applied to the field of intelligent warehousing, will be described in detail as an example.

Referring to fig. 1-6, a picking system of an embodiment of the present application includes a target picking station 100, a first robot 200, a second robot 300, a management device 400, and an unloader 500; in some embodiments, the picking system further comprises a feeder 600.

The first robot 200 is configured to transfer a bin 730A (see fig. 8) to be picked from the bin rack 710 to the transfer rack 720 for a first preset period of time.

The second robot 300 is adapted to transfer the epicyclic shelf 720, in which the bin to be picked has been placed, to the discharge area 102 of the target picking station 100 for a second preset period of time. It is understood that the second preset time period may be a time period after the first preset time period.

The unloader 500 is used to remove the bin 730A to be picked of the discharge area 102 from the transfer rack 720 such that the bin 730A to be picked is picked at the picking area 101 of the target picking station 100.

The management device 400 may include one or more management terminals, and/or one or more management servers for controlling the first robot 200, the second robot 300, and the unloader 500, the management device 400 being configured to:

S110, controlling the first robot to transfer the to-be-picked bin from the bin shelf to the turnover shelf in a first preset time period.

And S120, controlling the second robot to convey the turnover shelf with the to-be-picked bin to a discharging area of the target picking station in a second preset time period.

S130, controlling an unloader positioned in the unloading area to take the to-be-picked bin out of the turnover goods shelf, so that the to-be-picked bin is picked in a picking area of the target picking station.

In some embodiments, the first robot 200, the second robot 300, the unloader 500, and the loader 600 are respectively connected to the management device 400 through a network, and the corresponding instructions sent by the management device 400 can respectively control the first robot 200, the second robot 300, the unloader 500, and the loader 600 to execute corresponding actions, where the network may be a wired network or a wireless network, and is not limited herein specifically.

In some embodiments, the first robot 200, the second robot 300, the unloader 500, and the loader 600 may be different types of robots, and each have a respective corresponding active area. Or the first robot 200 and the second robot 300 may be different types of self-walking robots, and the unloader 500 and the loader 600 may be the same type of equipment having both unloading and loading functions.

According to the embodiment of the application, the material box to be picked is transferred from the material box shelf to the turnover shelf through the first robot, and the turnover shelf with the material box to be picked placed is conveyed to the unloading area of the target picking station through the second robot, so that the working time of the first robot and the working time of the second robot can be flexibly configured; on the other hand, the material box to be selected is taken out from the turnover goods shelf through the unloading machine of the unloading area, so that the material box to be selected is selected in the selecting area of the target selecting station, the turnover goods shelf is allowed to be placed in the unloading area by the second robot to continue to execute other tasks, the utilization rate of the second robot can be improved, the number of the second robots configured in the system is reduced, and the system cost is saved.

In some embodiments, the first preset time period is outside of the open period of the target picking station 100. The second preset time period is within an on period of the target picking station 100. That is, the first robot 200 and the second robot 300 may respectively operate in different periods of time. For example, the first preset time period may be outside of a non-on period of the target picking station 100, i.e., a non-operating period of the target picking station 100, such as a night time period; the second preset time period may be outside of the open period of the target picking station 100, i.e., the operational time of the target picking station 100, such as a daytime period. Of course, the specific working time is set according to the actual situation, and is not limited herein. By means of the design, the first robot 200 is made to complete transfer of the to-be-picked material box from the material box shelf to the turnover shelf in a first preset time period in advance, and the effective working time of subsequent picking operation is prolonged by completing material box transfer operation before picking operation in advance, long waiting time generated after the picking station is started due to transfer of the material box from the material box shelf to the turnover shelf is reduced, and picking efficiency of the picking station can be improved.

In some embodiments, controlling the first robot to transfer the bin to be picked from the bin rack to the turnover rack in S110 for a first preset period of time includes: controlling the first robot in a first preset time period:

taking out a to-be-put bin pre-stored on a turnover shelf and conveying the to-be-put bin to a bin shelf;

Obtaining a bin to be picked from a target storage location of a bin shelf;

transferring the bin to be put in storage to the target storage position which is vacated after the bin to be selected is taken out; and

The bin to be picked is transported and placed on the transfer shelf.

In the embodiment, the bin to be stored is pre-stored in the turnover shelf, and after the pre-stored bin to be stored is taken out from the turnover shelf and conveyed to the bin shelf, the first robot is controlled to operate in a mode of simultaneously taking the bin to be selected from the bin shelf and simultaneously placing the bin to be stored into the bin shelf, so that the first robot can finish two tasks of bin storage and bin acquisition to be selected in one conveying process, the working efficiency of the first robot is improved, the number of required first robots is reduced, and the system cost is reduced.

In some embodiments, prior to transferring the bin to be picked from the bin rack to the transfer rack, further comprising:

Controlling a third robot to convey and store the material box to be put into storage to the turnover goods shelf in a fourth preset time period;

Wherein the fourth preset time period is a time period prior to the first preset time period and is within an on period of the target picking station.

It will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the third robot may be controlled to transport and store the bins to be stocked to the turnaround rack for a first predetermined period of time.

It will be appreciated that the third robot may be the same type of transfer robot as the first robot, or the same transfer robot.

It will be appreciated that the bin to be stocked may be, for example, a container that is externally transported to a warehouse. In the application, the storage of the material box refers to the storage of the material box to the material box shelf, and the corresponding relation between the material box identification and the storage identification of the material box shelf stored in the management equipment is recorded.

In the above embodiment, after the bins to be stocked are transported to the warehouse, the management device controls the third robot to transport and pre-store the bins to the turnover shelf in a fourth preset period (for example, in a daytime period of the transportation day), to temporarily not stock the bins, but after a first preset period (for example, in a nighttime period of the transportation day), controls the first robot to put the pre-stored bins to be stocked on the turnover shelf in a manner of taking the bins to be picked from the bin shelf and placing the bins to be stocked on the bin shelf, and temporarily stores the bins to be picked on the turnover shelf, and then controls the second robot to transport the turnover shelf storing the bins to be picked to the picking station for picking in a second preset period (for example, in a daytime period of the next day). In this way, the bin pre-storing task, the picking task, the bin warehousing task and the bin ex-warehouse task are segmented, the bin pre-storing task, the picking task and the first ex-warehouse task (the turnover goods shelf is transported to the picking station) are executed in the daytime, the bin warehousing task is not executed, the bin warehousing task and the second ex-warehouse task (the bin to be picked is transferred from the bin goods shelf to the turnover goods shelf) are executed in the nighttime, the transfer robot can execute the bin pre-storing task of pre-storing the bin to the turnover goods shelf in the daytime, the bin warehousing task and the second ex-warehouse task are executed in the nighttime, the use efficiency of the transfer robot is improved, the number of required transfer robots is reduced, and the system cost is reduced. On the other hand, through the time-division execution of different segmentation tasks, the interference among robots in the system can be reduced, so that the scheduling and control difficulty of the robots is reduced, and the obstacle avoidance waiting time caused by the interference of the robots can be reduced.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 2 and 3, bin pallet 710 includes a plurality of storage levels 711, each storage level 711 having a plurality of storage locations 712, each storage location 712 for placement of a corresponding bin 730, with the goods to be picked placed in each bin 730. When the goods to be picked are determined according to the order, the bin 730 in which the goods to be picked are located may be determined as a bin 730A to be picked.

The transfer rack 720 may include one or more storage levels 721, each storage level 721 being provided with a plurality of storage locations 722, the storage locations 722 being used for placing bins 730A to be picked, or the storage locations may also be used for placing empty bins 730 or post-picking bins 730B (see fig. 8) that have been picked.

In some embodiments, bin shelves 710 have corresponding turn-around shelves 720. The bin rack 710 and the corresponding turn-around rack 720 may be located in different areas within the warehouse, respectively, to facilitate zonal management. The bin rack 710 and corresponding transfer rack 720 may be located within the same predetermined area within the warehouse, for example, to facilitate the transfer of bins 730 in close proximity. In some embodiments, a first robot transfers multiple bins 730A to be picked from the bin rack 710 to corresponding storage tiers 721 and corresponding storage slots 722, respectively, of the same turnaround rack 720. That is, multiple bins 730A to be picked on the same bin rack 710 may be collectively transferred to the same turnaround rack 720; of course, it is also possible to transfer a plurality of bins to be picked on different bin shelves 710 to the same transfer shelf 720.

In some embodiments, the first robot has N cargo positions, N being greater than 2; the first robot transfers the plurality of bins 730A to be picked from the bin rack 710 to storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence thereof in the same transfer rack 720, specifically including:

obtaining a plurality of storage level information and a fetching sequence of a plurality of to-be-picked bins 730A on a bin rack 710;

taking out M bins to be put in storage pre-stored on the turnover shelf 720 and conveying the bins to the bin shelf 710, wherein M is smaller than N;

Sequentially moving and taking out the plurality of material boxes 730A to be picked along the material box shelf according to the plurality of material storage position information and the taking-out sequence of the plurality of material boxes 730A to be picked; after each bin to be picked is taken out, firstly, putting one bin to be put in storage to the empty storage position after the bin to be picked is taken out, and then moving the bin to be put in storage to the next bin to be picked;

After the plurality of bins to be picked are obtained, the plurality of bins to be picked are transported and transferred to storage positions in the turnover shelf corresponding to the picking sequence of the bins to be picked.

For example, the first robot has 8 cargo spaces, 7 bins to be put in can be taken out and put on 7 cargo spaces, namely, the first robot leaves an empty cargo space; the first robot moves to the storage position of the first material box to be taken out of the plurality of material boxes to be selected, takes out the material box to be selected to the left empty storage position, moves out one material box to be put in storage to the empty storage position of the first material box to be selected, so that the first robot still has one empty storage position, runs in a mode of putting the material box to be put in storage after the material box to be selected is likewise moved to the storage position of the material box to be selected to be taken out, circulates in sequence until the last material box to be selected is taken out, and puts the last material box to be put in storage; and then conveying and transferring the plurality of obtained bins to be picked to storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the bins in the turnover goods shelf.

In other embodiments, after the first robot takes out the N bins to be put in storage pre-stored on the turnover shelf 720, one of the bins to be put in storage is put at an empty storage position of the bin shelf, so that the first robot vacates a cargo space, then takes out the multiple bins to be selected in a similar manner to the above embodiment, and puts the other bins to be put in storage on the shelf.

In other embodiments, the first robot may directly transfer the plurality of bins to be sorted pre-stored on the turnover shelf 720 to the bin shelf and store all bins to the empty storage locations on the bin shelf, and then take out the plurality of bins to be sorted from the bin shelf.

To increase bin transfer efficiency, in some embodiments, a plurality of storage shelves 700 are included within the warehouse, with a single storage shelf 700 including a bin storage space and a shelf storage space, wherein the bin storage space is provided by the bin shelves 710 and the shelf storage space is provided below the bin storage space for receiving the transfer shelves 720. For example, as shown in fig. 3, the storage shelves 700 have floor posts on both sides, with bin storage spaces formed in the upper regions between the floor posts and shelf storage spaces formed in the lower regions between the floor posts. It will be appreciated that bin rack 710 may be integrally connected to storage rack 700 in an elevated region or may be removably and independently positioned in an elevated region of storage rack 700, with turnover rack 720 being removably positioned in a lower region between floor posts. In some embodiments, the management apparatus 400 controls the first robot 200 to transfer the bin 730A to be picked on the bin rack 710 in the bin storage space to the transfer rack 720 of the underlying rack storage space for a first preset period of time.

In a particular implementation, a single storage rack 700 includes one or more bin racks 710, and one or more turnover racks 720. One bin rack 710 may correspond to one or more turnover racks 720 in the same storage rack 700, or a plurality of bin racks 710 may collectively correspond to one turnover rack 720. Among them, in the storage rack 700, the turnover rack 720 is disposed below the bin rack 710, that is, the initial position of the bin 730A to be selected is located in the bin rack 710 at a high position, and by the arrangement of the high-position partition and the low-position partition, the vertical space in the warehouse is fully utilized, so as to improve the utilization rate of the warehouse space. The first robot 200 has a lifting function, and can transfer the to-be-picked bins 730A placed in the high-level region to the turnover shelf 720 in the low-level region for concentration in a first preset period of time, so that the second robot 300 can conveniently transfer a plurality of to-be-picked bins 730A in batches through the turnover shelf 720.

It will be appreciated that bin shelves 710 rest in a warehouse and generally do not need to be moved, thereby allowing for a higher level to be provided, effectively increasing storage capacity. The turnover shelf 720 has a layer height lower than the bin shelf 710 for circulation in a warehouse, and a proper height can ensure stability when being transported by the second robot 300, and realize batch transportation of a plurality of bins through one-time transportation while ensuring that the turnover shelf 720 is not easy to topple over in transportation.

In the related art, the bins are generally transferred one by a small robot or a plurality of bins are transferred by a large robot. However, the transfer efficiency of the bin still cannot be effectively improved due to the limited cargo capacity of the robot itself for single handling. In the embodiment of the application, the first robot transfers the material box to be selected to the turnover goods shelf in advance for concentration in the first preset time period, so that the idle time operation is effectively utilized; and the second robot is used for carrying the turnover goods shelves, a plurality of feed boxes circulate between the feed box goods shelves and the target picking station, one-time carrying is realized, the plurality of feed boxes can be transferred in batches, and the transfer efficiency of the feed boxes is obviously improved.

Referring to fig. 5, in some embodiments, the destination picking station 100 includes a picking zone 101 and a discharge zone 102. The second robot 300 transports the transfer racks 720 loaded with the plurality of bins 730A to the discharge area 102, and the unloader 500 located in the discharge area 102 unloads the plurality of bins 730 to the picking area 101 in batches. It can be appreciated that in the embodiment of the present application, the first robot 200, the second robot 300 and the unloader 500 sequentially perform the transfer, conveying and unloading operations of the bins, so as to realize the pipelined seamless docking operation, so that a large number of bins 730A to be picked can be rapidly concentrated in the picking area 101 to be picked, thereby saving unnecessary intermediate links and effectively improving the system efficiency.

In the embodiment of the application, the management equipment controls the first robot to transfer the to-be-picked material box to the turnover goods shelf within a first preset time period, so that the advanced operation is realized; the management equipment controls the second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves to the target sorting area in a second preset time period, and then the material boxes to be sorted on the turnover goods shelves are unloaded to the sorting area through the unloader to be sorted. By means of the design, the robots can conduct continuous water relay operation in different time periods, meanwhile, the transfer racks are used for carrying in batches, the effective working time of picking operation is remarkably prolonged, the round-trip operation of the robots is reduced, and therefore overall operation efficiency of the system is improved.

In order to orderly complete the pre-transfer operation of the bins to be picked, in some embodiments of the application, a bin pretreatment queue is generated according to the picking tasks, wherein the bin pretreatment queue comprises a plurality of identifiers of the bins to be picked and the picking order of the bins to be picked; the management equipment controls the first robot to transfer the plurality of material boxes to be picked from the material box goods shelf to storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the material boxes in the same turnover goods shelf respectively in a first preset time period according to the picking sequence of the plurality of material boxes to be picked, so that the unloader takes the plurality of material boxes to be picked out of the turnover goods shelf according to the picking sequence. It will be appreciated that the present application does not limit the order in which the first robot transfers the bins to be picked, i.e. does not limit the order in which the first robot must sequentially transfer the bins to be picked to the transfer racks in the order in which the bins to be picked are picked; in practice, it is sufficient if the storage position of the individual picking bins on the transfer rack can correspond to the unloading sequence, so that the unloading machine, during unloading, takes a plurality of bins to be picked out of the transfer rack in the picking sequence.

Taking an example of an order to be processed, different orders have respective generation time and corresponding goods to be picked, accordingly, the goods to be picked and the picking order in the picking task, such as earlier generated orders or preferentially processed orders, can be determined, and therefore, the bin 730 storing the corresponding goods is determined as the picking order of the bin 730A to be picked, and then related data are collected to generate a bin pretreatment queue, so that the pre-transfer operation of the bin 730A to be picked is facilitated. Specifically, different bins 730 are distributed at different storage locations 712 on the bin rack 710, and each bin 730 is provided with a corresponding identification for ease of distinction. In some embodiments, the identity of the bin 730 may be associated with the identity of the stored storage location 712. Based on this, bin pre-processing queues containing the identification of the plurality of bins to be picked and the order of picking of the plurality of bins to be picked may be generated from the goods and goods inventory information required for the order in the picking order. The management device may control the first robot 200 to transfer a plurality of bins to be picked of different storage locations 712 on the bin rack 710 to the turnaround rack 720 according to the corresponding picking order.

In some embodiments, the number of bin shelves 710, turnover shelves 720, and first robots 200 are all multiple within the same warehouse; multiple bins to be picked on the same or different bin shelves 710 may be transferred to the same turnaround shelf 720 by multiple first robots 200, or multiple bins to be picked on the same or different bin shelves 710 may be transferred to multiple turnaround shelves 720 by multiple first robots 200.

In some embodiments, the bin rack 710 and the turnover rack 720 within a predetermined area of the warehouse have one first robot 200 in common, the number of first robots 200 being less than the number of bin racks 710 and turnover racks 720. It can be appreciated that when the duration of the first preset time period is longer, only a small amount of first robots 200 are needed to complete the pre-transfer operation of the plurality of bins 730 to be picked within a sufficient duration, thereby saving equipment cost and space occupation.

In some embodiments, the first robot 200 is a multi-bin transfer robot that transfers bins in batches, so that at least two bins to be picked on a bin rack 710 within a fixed area range can be transferred to different storage locations 722 of the same transfer rack 720 in a single transfer operation; in this way, the round trip distance and round trip time of the first robot 200 can be effectively reduced, the transfer efficiency of the bin can be improved, and the cost of the robot equipment can be saved.

In some embodiments, the management device generates a turnover shelf inbound queue according to the picking order, the turnover shelf inbound queue including identifications of the plurality of turnover shelves and inbound order of the plurality of turnover shelves; in a second preset time period, controlling a second robot to transfer the turnover goods shelves with the to-be-picked boxes to a discharging area of the target picking station according to the entering sequence; thus, orderly entering of a plurality of turnover shelves and orderly picking of the to-be-picked bins can be realized.

After each of the transfer racks 720 has placed a bin 730A to be picked, the plurality of transfer racks 720 may be sequentially transported by the second robot 300 to the discharge area 102 according to the transfer rack arrival queue. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the bottom of the turnover shelf 720 has a receiving space 723, the second robot 300 may move to the receiving space 723 at the bottom of the turnover shelf 720, and by lifting the turnover shelf 720 to make the turnover shelf 720 far from the ground, the second robot 200 may transport the turnover shelf 720 from below the bin shelf 710 to the unloading area 102 of the target picking station 100. That is, in this example, the second robot 300 may be a small robot, for example, the height of the second robot 300 may not exceed 50 cm, for example, the height of the second robot may be 40 cm, 45 cm, 50 cm, etc., without limitation. When it is not necessary to transport the turnaround shelves, the second robot 300 may be retracted to a lower beam than the bottommost part of the turnaround shelves 720, so as to be movable under the turnaround shelves 720, thereby reducing occupation of warehouse roadway space. It will be appreciated that the number of second robots 300 may be one or more; each of the turnaround shelves 720 in the turnaround shelf in-line may have a exclusively corresponding second robot 300, or at least two of the turnaround shelves 720 in the turnaround shelf in-line have a common corresponding one of the second robots 300.

For ease of identification and management, each turnaround shelf has a separate identification. According to the order picking tasks, the entering order of each turnover shelf can be determined, and each second robot transfers the corresponding turnover shelf to the unloading area in a second preset time period according to the entering order of the turnover shelf.

In some embodiments, the first preset time period is outside of an open period of the target picking station and the second preset time period is within the open period of the target picking station. When the target picking station does not start working, all the turnover shelves are stored in the storage shelf, namely, the lower part of the bin shelf, so that the regularity in the warehouse is maintained. And after the target picking station starts to work, the second robot conveys the turnover goods shelf to the unloading area. It should be noted that after the second robot conveys the corresponding turnover shelf to the unloading area, the second robot can continuously bear the turnover shelf, the unloading machine can directly take out the to-be-selected material box from the turnover shelf on the second robot, or the second robot can place the turnover shelf on the ground so as to continuously convey other turnover shelves, and the unloading machine can take out the to-be-selected material box from the turnover shelf placed on the ground.

To improve the unloading efficiency, in some embodiments of the application, the management device determines the unloading order of the plurality of storage tiers of the epicyclic shelf; the unloading machine is controlled to unload each storage layer according to the unloading sequence; when the unloader unloads the storage layer, the material boxes to be selected on a plurality of storage positions of the storage layer are synchronously taken out. It will be appreciated that the order of unloading of the storage levels may correspond to the order of picking such that the unloader takes a plurality of bins to be picked out of the transfer shelf in the order of picking.

In some embodiments, when the transfer rack is provided with a plurality of storage locations, the management device may control the tripper located in the tripper zone to interface with the transfer rack and synchronously transfer at least two bins to be picked on the transfer rack to the conveyor belt of the picking zone of the target picking station.

In one embodiment, the turnover shelf 720 is provided with a plurality of storage layers 721, each storage layer 721 is provided with a plurality of storage positions 722, and a plurality of to-be-picked bins 730A are simultaneously stored on the turnover shelf 720, for example, each storage layer has two storage positions, and two to-be-picked bins are correspondingly placed. The unloader 500 has a plurality of unloading operation positions, for example, two unloading operation positions. The unloader can dock each unloading operation position with the corresponding storage position of the storage layer 721 to take out two to-be-selected feed boxes located on the same storage layer at the same time, and realize batch box taking, so that the unloading efficiency is effectively improved.

In one embodiment, the two unloading positions of the unloading machine transfer the two acquired bins to be picked to the conveyor belt in sequence, the unloading sequence of the two unloading positions corresponds to the picking sequence of the two bins to be picked, for example, the unloading machine takes out the bins needing to be picked preferentially and places the bins to the conveyor belt of the picking zone. It will be appreciated that the discharge sequence of the two discharge operating positions of the discharge machine may be preset, and that the first robot may place the bin to be picked in a position corresponding to the preset discharge sequence when placing the bin to be picked towards the transfer rack.

In some embodiments, the management apparatus controls the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelves from which the bins to be picked have been unloaded to a target location, which may be, for example, a loading zone of a target picking station. In order to facilitate batch recovery of buffered post-picking bins, the turnover shelves from which the bins to be picked have been unloaded can be fully utilized for recovery.

In some embodiments, the picked bins are conveyed to a buffer position of a target picking station for buffer storage, so that a feeding machine positioned in a feeding area of the target picking station is controlled to synchronously transfer a plurality of picked bins at a plurality of buffer positions to an turnover shelf; the buffer location may be, for example, but not limited to, a conveyor belt disposed in the sorting area, and/or a lifting device disposed in the feeder.

Referring to fig. 5, in one particular implementation, picking zone 101 is provided with conveyor belts including a first conveyor belt 120A and a second conveyor belt 120B. The first conveyor belt 120A is disposed in the unloading area 102, and is used for conveying the to-be-picked bin 730A to the picking position of the picking area 101. The second conveyor belt 120B is disposed in the loading area 103, and is configured to convey the sorted bin 730B to the loader 600. It is understood that the first conveyor belt 120A and the second conveyor belt 120B may be disposed at different locations in the sorting area 101, respectively, such as the first conveyor belt 120A disposed upstream of the sorting area 101 and the second conveyor belt 120B disposed downstream of the sorting area 101. Wherein the to-be-picked bin 730A is picked by the picking station conveyed to the picking zone 101 after being placed on the first conveyor belt 120A by the unloader 500. It will be appreciated that after the goods in the bin 730A to be picked are automatically picked or manually picked at the picking area 101, the bin 730A to be picked is correspondingly converted into a post-picking bin 730B, and the post-picking bin 730B may be an empty bin or may have the goods placed. The post-pick bin 730B may be transported by the second conveyor 120B to the buffer location 104 for buffering to await reclamation. Compared with recycling once every bin is selected, the embodiment of the application is beneficial to improving recycling efficiency by caching the bins after being selected to a certain number and then recycling in batches.

In a specific implementation, the buffer locations 104 may be disposed on the second conveyor, i.e., the buffer locations 104 of the post-pick bins 730B on the second conveyor 120B are buffered. Or, the feeding machine 600 is disposed at the outlet of the second conveyor belt 120B, and a buffer storage position may be disposed in the feeding machine 600. Wherein, after sorting, the bin 730B flows through the outlet of the second conveyor belt 120B, and then enters the feeding machine 600 for buffering. In one example, the feeder 600 has a lifting device by which the picked bins 730B may be transferred to storage levels 721 of the corresponding height of the turnaround shelves 720. The buffer memory bit can be arranged on the lifting device. Or the buffer locations 104 may be disposed on the second conveyor 120B and the lifting device in the loader 600 at the same time, for example, after the post-picking bins 730B preferentially fill the buffer locations 104 in the loader 600, the remaining post-picking bins 730B remain in the buffer locations 104 of the second conveyor 120B, so that more post-picking bins 730B may be buffered, so as to achieve faster batch recovery of more bins.

In some embodiments, the loader 600 has multiple loading stations, such as two loading stations. The loading machine can dock each loading operation position with the corresponding storage position of the storage layer 721 of the turnover goods shelf so as to simultaneously place two sorted feed boxes on the same storage layer, and realize batch box placing, thereby effectively improving the loading efficiency.

In some embodiments, the unloading area 102 is provided with two first conveyor belts 120A, which respectively correspond to two unloading operation positions of the unloading machine, and two to-be-picked bins on the two unloading operation positions of the unloading machine can be synchronously transferred to the two first conveyor belts 120A, and the two first conveyor belts 120 sequentially supply the two to-be-picked bins to the picking position.

In some embodiments, the feeding area 103 is provided with two second conveying belts 120B, which respectively correspond to two feeding operation positions of the feeding machine, and two sorted bins cached on the two first conveying belts 120B can be synchronously transferred to two feeding operation positions of the feeding machine.

In some embodiments, the management apparatus controls the second robot to transport the epicyclic racks from which the bins to be picked have been unloaded to the loading area. It will be appreciated that the target picking station 100 further comprises a loading zone 103, and that the loading machine 600 is arranged in the loading zone 103. In order to facilitate batch recovery of buffered post-picking bins, the turnover shelves from which the bins to be picked have been unloaded can be fully utilized for recovery.

After the unloader 500 unloads the to-be-picked bin 730A on the turn-around rack 720 to the conveyor, the turn-around rack 720 on which the to-be-picked bin 730A is placed is converted into the turn-around rack 720 from which the to-be-picked bin has been unloaded, that is, the empty turn-around rack 720. Empty turnaround shelves 720 may be transported from the discharge area 102 directly to the loading area 103 by the same second robot 300 or may be transported from the discharge area 102 to the loading area 103 by a different second robot 300. Alternatively, the second robot 300 may sequentially convey the corresponding transfer racks 720 from which the bins to be picked are unloaded to the loading area 103 according to the aforementioned arrival sequence of the transfer racks 720 from which the bins to be picked 730A are placed, so that the picked bins 730B are replaced to the corresponding transfer racks 720 in batches.

In some embodiments, the management apparatus controls the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelf of the picked bin to the target location. Further, in some embodiments, the management device controls the second robot to transfer the epicyclic shelf of the picked bin to a shelf storage space of the storage shelf. That is, the target location may be a shelf storage space of the storage shelf, such as below the bin shelf to which the transfer shelf originally corresponds. Of course, the target location may be other locations within the warehouse or below other bin shelves; that is, the transfer racks after the bins have been unloaded may not be transported to the rack storage space of the storage racks, but by the second robot to other target locations as desired.

In some embodiments, controlling the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelf of the post-pick bin to the target location includes: within a second preset time period:

Controlling a second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves of the material boxes after being placed with picking to a discharging area of a boxing workstation;

the unloader of the unloading area of the boxing workstation is controlled to take the picked feed box out of the turnover goods shelf, so that the picked feed box is put into materials at the boxing position of the boxing workstation, and the picked feed box is put into the materials to form a feed box to be put into storage;

and controlling the loading machine of the boxing workstation to transfer the material box to be put into storage to the turnover goods shelf at the loading area of the boxing workstation.

In some embodiments, after controlling the loader of the boxing workstation to transfer the to-be-warehouse bin to the turnover shelf at the loading area of the boxing workstation, controlling the second robot to transport the turnover shelf placed with the to-be-warehouse bin to the shelf storage space of the storage shelf within a second preset time period; and controlling the first robot to transfer the to-be-stocked bins from the turnover racks of the rack storage space to the bin racks of the bin storage space within a third preset time period, wherein the third preset time period is after the second preset time period and is a non-opening period of the target picking station.

In other embodiments, the second robot may be controlled to transport the epicyclic shelf having been placed into the magazine to the shelf storage space of the storage shelf for a third preset period of time, wherein the third preset period of time is after the second preset period of time and is a non-open period of time for the destination picking station.

The boxing workstation is used for loading the materials in the incoming material containers into empty material boxes, and the material boxes are put into the material boxes to form material boxes to be put into storage and then conveyed and transferred to a material box shelf for storage. The empty bin may be a post-picking bin or an empty bin of other sources.

In one specific implementation, if the management device judges that the boxing workstation needs empty bins, the second robot is controlled to convey the turnover goods shelves of the bins after being placed and selected to a discharging area of the boxing workstation; the management equipment controls the unloader positioned in the unloading area of the boxing workstation to take out and convey the empty material boxes after being selected from the turnover goods shelf to the conveying belt, so that the material boxes after being selected are placed in the boxing position of the boxing workstation, and the material boxes after being selected are placed in the material boxes to form the material boxes to be put in storage. And then, conveying the to-be-put bin to a loading area of a boxing workstation through a conveying belt, and controlling a loading machine positioned in the loading area by a management device to put the to-be-put bin to a turnover goods shelf at the loading area. In some embodiments, the unloader of the boxing station may remove at least two picked bins from the turnaround shelves simultaneously, and the loader of the boxing station may place at least two bins to be warehoused to the turnaround shelves simultaneously. Or the unloader of the boxing workstation can take all the selected bins out of the turnover goods shelf at one time, and the loader of the boxing workstation can put the bins to be put into storage on the turnover goods shelf at one time.

After the feeding machine of the boxing workstation transfers the to-be-warehoused material boxes to the turnover shelf, the management equipment controls the second robot to convey the turnover shelf in which the to-be-warehoused material boxes are placed to the shelf storage space of the storage shelf in a second preset time period or a third preset time period; and then, the management equipment controls the first robot to transfer the to-be-put bin from the turnover shelf to the bin shelf in a third preset time period. In some embodiments, the first robot may operate in the manner described above, with the bins to be picked being retrieved from the bin rack and the bins to be stocked being placed on the bin rack after the bins to be stocked are removed from the transfer rack and transferred to the bin rack from the palletizing station.

In some embodiments, controlling the first robot to transfer the picked bins on the transfer pallet to the bin pallet within a third preset time period; wherein the third preset time period is outside of the open period of the target picking station. The third preset time period may be a time period after the second preset time period, for example, other non-working time of the target picking station, for example, when the target picking station is idle at night, so that the non-working time is fully utilized to perform the operation, and the working time can be used for performing the picking operation for a longer time, so that the picking efficiency of the system is improved.

In a specific implementation, the management device controls the first robot to transfer the bin on the transfer rack to a bin rack in a third preset time period, the bin rack being located in a bin storage space above the rack storage space. That is, the first robot is used to transfer bins to be picked to empty turnaround shelves for a first preset time period, while also being used to transfer picked bins or empty bins on the turnaround shelves to the bin shelves for a third preset time period, thereby forming a closed loop, pipelined picking operation.

The present application also provides a picking control method suitable for the picking system, and referring to fig. 7 and 8, exemplary steps will be described below in connection with specific implementation steps.

S710, controlling the first robot to transfer the to-be-picked bin from the bin shelf to the turnover shelf in a first preset time period.

In some embodiments, the transfer shelf is provided with a plurality of storage tiers, each storage tier being provided with a plurality of storage locations. The management equipment can generate a bin pretreatment queue according to the picking tasks, wherein the bin pretreatment queue comprises a plurality of identifiers of bins to be picked and a plurality of picking sequences of the bins to be picked; according to the picking order of the plurality of to-be-picked bins, the management device can control the first robot to transfer the plurality of to-be-picked bins from the bin shelves to storage positions corresponding to the picking order of the plurality of to-be-picked bins in the same turnover shelf respectively in a first preset time period, so that the unloader takes the plurality of to-be-picked bins out of the turnover shelf according to the picking order.

In some embodiments, the bin shelves are located at storage shelves, and a single storage shelf includes a bin storage space and a shelf storage space, wherein the bin shelves are located at the bin storage space and the shelf storage space is located below the bin storage space for receiving the transfer shelves. The management device can control the first robot to transfer the to-be-selected bin on the bin shelf in the bin storage space to the turnover shelf in the lower shelf storage space in a first preset time period.

S720, controlling the second robot to convey the turnover shelf with the to-be-picked bin to a discharging area of the target picking station in a second preset time period.

In some embodiments, the management device may generate a turnover shelf inbound queue according to the picking order, the turnover shelf inbound queue including identifications of the plurality of turnover shelves and inbound order of the plurality of turnover shelves; in a second preset period of time, the management device may control the second robot to transfer the epicyclic shelf in which the bin to be picked has been placed to the discharge area of the target picking station in the order of arrival.

And S730, controlling an unloader positioned in the unloading area to take the to-be-picked bin out of the turnover shelf, so that the to-be-picked bin is picked in the picking area of the target picking station.

In some embodiments the management device may determine the order of unloading of the plurality of storage tiers of the epicyclic shelf; the unloading machine is controlled to unload each storage layer according to the unloading sequence; when the unloader unloads the storage layer, the material boxes to be selected on a plurality of storage positions of the storage layer are synchronously taken out.

In some embodiments the management device may control the docking of the tripper in the tripper zone with the transfer racks and transfer at least two bins to be picked on the transfer racks synchronously to the first conveyor belt in the picking zone of the destination picking station. It will be appreciated that the bins to be picked may be automatically or manually picked at the corresponding picking stations after being transferred to the conveyor belt.

S740, controlling the second robot to convey the turnover racks from which the to-be-picked bins are unloaded to the loading area.

In some embodiments the management device controls the second robot to transport the empty turnaround rack to the loading area for subsequent steps or controls the second robot to transport the empty turnaround rack directly under the bin rack, i.e. the rack storage space of the storage rack.

The second robot may also be controlled in some embodiments to transport the partial unloaded transfer racks of the bins to be picked to the target location.

And S750, conveying the sorted bins to the buffer storage positions of the target sorting station for buffer storage so as to control a feeding machine positioned in a feeding area of the target sorting station to synchronously transfer the sorted bins at the buffer storage positions to the turnover goods shelf.

In some embodiments, the buffer is located on the second conveyor belt in the sorting area; and/or a lifting device arranged on the feeding machine.

And S760, controlling a second robot to convey the turnover shelf with the picked bin to a boxing workstation in a second preset time period, so that the picked bin is filled with materials to form a bin 730C to be put in storage, and transferring the turnover shelf with the bin to be put in storage to a shelf storage space of a storage shelf.

S770, controlling the first robot to transfer the bin 730C to be stocked from the turnover shelf of the shelf storage space to the bin shelf of the bin storage space within the third preset time period.

It will be appreciated that in the same manner as S110, the bin to be picked may be retrieved and returned to the turnover bin for temporary storage during the process of loading the bin to be stored in the shelf.

According to the embodiment of the application, a first robot is controlled to transfer a to-be-picked bin to an turnover shelf in advance in a first preset time period, a second robot is controlled to transfer the turnover shelf to a discharging area of a target picking station in a second preset time period, the to-be-picked bin on the turnover shelf is unloaded to a conveying belt by the discharging area, the to-be-picked bin is conveyed to a buffer position for buffering after being picked by the picking area, the to-be-picked bin in the buffer position is transferred to an empty turnover shelf by a loading machine, the turnover shelf with the to-be-picked bin is transferred to a boxing workstation by the second robot, so that after the to-be-picked bin is loaded into a material to form a to-be-put bin, the turnover shelf with the to-be-put bin is transferred to a shelf storage space of a storage shelf, and finally the to-be-put bin is transferred from the turnover shelf of the shelf storage space to the bin storage space by the first robot. By adopting the design, different tasks are orderly carried out in different time periods through closed-loop type pipeline operation, and the system operation efficiency is effectively improved.

The present application also provides a management apparatus comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing executable code which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform a picking control method as described above. It will be appreciated that the management device may comprise one or more management terminals, and/or one or more management servers.

The Processor may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (DIGITAL SIGNAL Processor, DSP), application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), field-Programmable gate array (Field-Programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

The memory may include various types of storage units, such as system memory, read Only Memory (ROM), and persistent storage. Wherein the ROM may store static data or instructions that are required by the processor or other modules of the computer. The persistent storage may be a readable and writable storage. The persistent storage may be a non-volatile memory device that does not lose stored instructions and data even after the computer is powered down. In some embodiments, the persistent storage device employs a mass storage device (e.g., magnetic or optical disk, flash memory) as the persistent storage device. In other embodiments, the persistent storage may be a removable storage device (e.g., diskette, optical drive). The system memory may be a read-write memory device or a volatile read-write memory device, such as dynamic random access memory. The system memory may store instructions and data that are required by some or all of the processors at runtime. Furthermore, the memory may comprise any combination of computer-readable storage media including various types of semiconductor memory chips (DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, programmable read-only memory), magnetic disks, and/or optical disks may also be employed. In some embodiments, the memory may include a removable storage device that is readable and/or writable, such as a Compact Disc (CD), a read-only digital versatile disc (e.g., DVD-ROM, dual layer DVD-ROM), a read-only blu-ray disc, an ultra-dense disc, a flash memory card (e.g., SD card, min SD card, micro-SD card, etc.), a magnetic floppy disk, and the like. The computer readable storage medium does not contain a carrier wave or an instantaneous electronic signal transmitted by wireless or wired transmission.

The memory has stored thereon executable code that, when processed by the processor, can cause the processor to perform some or all of the methods described above.

Furthermore, the method according to the application may also be implemented as a computer program or computer program product comprising computer program code instructions for performing part or all of the steps of the above-described method of the application.

Or the application may also be embodied as a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium (or computer-readable storage medium, or machine-readable storage medium) having stored thereon executable code (or a computer program, or computer instruction code) that, when executed by a processor of an electronic device (or electronic device, server, etc.), causes the processor to perform some or all of the steps of a method according to the application as described above.

The foregoing description of embodiments of the application has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the various embodiments described. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or the improvement of technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A picking control method applied to a management apparatus, comprising:

2. The pick control method of claim 1, wherein the epicyclic shelf is provided with a plurality of storage locations;

the control first robot transfers the to-be-picked bin from the storage shelf to the turnover shelf in a first preset time period, and comprises the following steps:

generating a bin pretreatment queue according to the picking tasks, wherein the bin pretreatment queue comprises a plurality of identifiers of bins to be picked and the picking sequence of the bins to be picked;

According to the picking sequence of the plurality of to-be-picked bins, controlling a first robot to transfer the plurality of to-be-picked bins from the bin shelves to storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the plurality of to-be-picked bins in the same turnover shelf respectively in a first preset time period, so that the unloader takes the plurality of to-be-picked bins out of the turnover shelf according to the picking sequence.

3. The picking control method of claim 2, wherein the epicyclic shelf is provided with a plurality of storage levels, each storage level being provided with a plurality of storage locations;

The storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the plurality of to-be-picked bins are respectively transferred from the bin racks to the same turnover rack, and the storage positions comprise:

Transferring the plurality of bins to be picked from the bin shelves to corresponding storage layers and corresponding storage positions of the same turnover shelf respectively;

The control of the unloader in the unloading zone to remove the bin to be picked from the epicyclic shelf comprises:

Determining a discharge sequence of a plurality of storage tiers of the epicyclic shelf;

Controlling the unloader to unload each storage layer according to the unloading sequence; when the unloader unloads the storage layer, the material boxes to be selected on a plurality of storage positions of the storage layer are synchronously taken out.

4. The picking control method of claim 1, wherein the bin shelves are provided on storage shelves, each of the storage shelves including a bin storage space and a shelf storage space, wherein the bin shelves are provided on the bin storage space and the shelf storage space is provided below the bin storage space for accommodating the turnover shelves;

the control first robot transfers the to-be-picked bin from the bin shelf to the turnover shelf in a first preset time period, and comprises:

And controlling the first robot to transfer the to-be-selected bin on the bin shelf in the bin storage space to the turnover shelf in the lower bin storage space in a first preset time period.

5. The picking control method of claim 1, wherein the controlling the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelf having placed the bin to be picked to the discharge area of the target picking station for a second preset period of time comprises:

generating a turnover goods shelf inbound queue according to the picking task, wherein the turnover goods shelf inbound queue comprises a plurality of identification of turnover goods shelves and inbound sequences of the turnover goods shelves;

and in a second preset time period, controlling a second robot to transfer the turnover goods shelf with the to-be-picked material boxes to a discharging area of a target picking station according to the entering sequence.

6. The pick control method of claim 1, wherein the epicyclic shelf is provided with a plurality of storage locations;

And controlling an unloader positioned in the unloading area to be in butt joint with the turnover goods shelf, and synchronously transferring at least two to-be-picked feed boxes on the turnover goods shelf to a conveying belt of a picking area of the target picking station.

7. The pick control method of claim 1, wherein after the bin to be picked is picked at the picking zone of the target picking station, further comprising:

Conveying the picked feed boxes to the buffer positions of the target picking station for buffering so as to control a feeding machine positioned in a feeding area of the target picking station to synchronously transfer a plurality of picked feed boxes at a plurality of buffer positions to a turnover goods shelf;

The buffer storage is arranged on the conveying belt of the picking area; and/or a lifting device arranged on the feeding machine.

8. The picking control method of claim 7, wherein said controlling the unloader in the discharge area to remove the bin to be picked from the turnaround rack further comprises:

And controlling a second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves from which the material boxes to be picked are unloaded to the loading area.

9. The picking control method of claim 7, wherein the controlling the feeder at the loading zone of the destination picking station to synchronously transfer the plurality of post-picking bins at the plurality of cache locations to the turnaround rack further comprises:

Controlling a second robot to convey the turnover shelf with the picked bin to a target position.

10. The picking control method of claim 9, wherein the controlling the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelf of the placed pick bin to a target location further comprises:

Controlling a first robot to transfer the selected material boxes on the turnover goods shelves to the material box goods shelves within a third preset time period;

wherein the third preset time period is outside of an open period of the target picking station.

11. The pick control method of claim 9, wherein the controlling the second robot to transport the epicyclic shelf of the placed pick bin to a target location comprises: within the second preset time period:

Controlling a second robot to convey the turnover goods shelves with the picked feed boxes to a discharging area of a boxing workstation;

the unloader of the unloading area of the boxing workstation is controlled to take out the selected feed box from the turnover goods shelf, so that the selected feed box is put into materials at the boxing position of the boxing workstation, and the selected feed box is put into the materials to form a feed box to be put into storage;

And controlling a loading machine of the boxing workstation to transfer the to-be-warehoused material box to a turnover goods shelf at a loading area of the boxing workstation.

12. The pick control method of claim 11, wherein the controlling the loader of the boxing workstation after transferring the to-be-stocked bins to the turnaround shelves at the loading area of the boxing workstation further comprises:

Controlling a second robot to convey the turnover shelf in which the bin to be put is placed to a shelf storage space of a storage shelf in the second preset time period or the third preset time period;

controlling a first robot to transfer the to-be-stocked bins from the turnover racks of the shelf storage space to the bin racks of the bin storage space within the third preset time period;

Wherein the third preset time period is a time period subsequent to the second preset time period and is within a non-on period of the target picking station.

13. The pick control method of claim 1, wherein controlling the first robot to transfer the bin to be picked from the bin rack to the turnover rack for a first preset period of time includes controlling the first robot to:

obtaining a bin to be picked from a target storage location of the bin shelf;

transferring the material box to be put in storage to the target storage position vacated after the material box to be selected is taken out; and

And conveying and placing the to-be-picked material box to the turnover goods shelf.

14. The pick control method of claim 13, wherein prior to transferring the bin to be picked from the bin shelf to the transfer shelf, further comprising:

controlling a third robot to convey and store the to-be-put bin to the turnover shelf within a fourth preset time period;

15. The picking control method of claim 2, wherein,

The first robot has N cargo spaces;

The storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the plurality of to-be-picked bins are respectively transferred from the bin racks to the same turnover rack, and the storage positions comprise: obtaining a plurality of storage level information and a taking-out sequence of the plurality of to-be-selected feed boxes on a feed box shelf;

taking out M to-be-put bins pre-stored on the turnover shelf and conveying the M to-be-put bins to a bin shelf, wherein M is less than or equal to N;

sequentially moving along the bin shelves and taking out the bins to be sorted according to the storage level information and the taking-out sequence; after each bin to be picked is taken out, firstly, one bin to be put in storage is put to the vacant storage position after the bin to be picked is taken out, and then the bin to be picked is moved to the storage position of the next bin to be picked;

after the plurality of bins to be picked are obtained, the plurality of bins to be picked are transported and transferred to storage positions corresponding to the picking sequence of the turnover goods shelves.

16. The picking control method of claim 7, wherein said controlling the unloader in the discharge area to remove the bin to be picked from the turnaround rack further comprises:

Controlling a second robot to transfer the turnover shelf with the selected bin to a shelf storage space of a storage shelf; and

Controlling a first robot to transfer a bin on the turnover shelf to a bin shelf in a third preset time period, wherein the bin shelf is arranged in a bin storage space above a shelf storage space;

17. A picking control method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein:

the second preset time period is within an opening time period of the target picking station;

The first preset time period is outside of an open period of the target picking station.

18. A management apparatus, characterized by comprising:

A processor; and

A memory having executable code stored thereon, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the picking control method of any of claims 1 to 17.

19. A picking system, comprising:

The management device of claim 18.