JP6413899B2 - Goods transfer robot - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article transport robot, for example, an article transport robot that places and transports an article.

  A technique for carrying an article by a self-supporting mobile robot is known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a transport robot as a moving body. This transfer robot is provided with an arm portion, and further, a transfer object placing portion is provided via the arm portion. And a conveyed product is mounted in this conveyed product mounting part.

JP 2011-005608 A

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, as described above, a transported object is placed and transported on the transported object placing unit. However, when there are a plurality of transported objects, depending on the order of placing, they are placed on the transported object placing unit. The state of a plurality of conveyed objects becomes unstable. For this reason, the number of carried items is limited.

  The present invention has been made against the background of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an article transport robot that can increase the number of articles to be transported to be placed.

  An article transport robot according to one aspect of the present invention is an article transport robot that places and transports an article to be transported on a placement unit, and obtains a size of a predetermined surface of the article. And planning means for planning the arrangement of the articles, and transfer means for transferring the articles to the placement section according to the plan by the planning means, wherein the planning means is the article to be transported When there are a plurality of items, it is planned that each article is placed on the placement unit in descending order of the area acquired by the area acquisition unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an article transport robot capable of increasing the number of articles to be transported placed as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

It is a perspective view which shows typically the external appearance of the article conveyance robot and trolley | bogie concerning embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the article conveyance robot concerning embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the mode of the article | item conveyance by the article conveyance robot concerning embodiment. It is a figure explaining calculation of the area by an area acquisition part. It is a figure explaining calculation of the area by an area acquisition part. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the article conveyance robot concerning embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the article conveyance robot concerning embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the mode of the article | item conveyance by the article conveyance robot concerning embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the external appearance of an article transport robot 1 and a carriage 2 according to an embodiment.

  The article transport robot 1 includes a traveling unit 10, a robot body 11, an arm 12 supported by the robot body 11, a hand 13 provided at the tip of the arm 12, a camera 14, a control device 15, and an input / output. Device 16. The article transport robot 1 places and transports an article on a carriage 2 that is a placement section.

  The traveling unit 10 includes, for example, a pair of two opposing driving wheels 100 and a pair of two driven wheels 101 that can be rotated in the left-right direction, and can move in all directions according to a control signal. It has a configuration. The traveling unit 10 can perform arbitrary traveling such as forward / backward movement, left / right turning, acceleration / deceleration, and stop of the article transport robot 1 by rotationally driving each driving wheel 100. Each driven wheel 101 is a turnable caster or an omni wheel, and is movable in all directions. For example, the travel unit 10 is moved by a drive mechanism (not shown) configured by a motor or the like operating based on a control signal from the control device 15.

  The robot body 11 is installed on the traveling unit 10. The robot body 11 may be fixedly installed with respect to the traveling unit 10 or may be installed so as to be variable with respect to the traveling unit 10. For example, the robot body 11 may be installed so as to be able to turn on the traveling unit 10. In addition, a drive mechanism for changing the position and orientation of the robot body 11 itself may be provided.

  The arm 12 is configured as an articulated arm, for example. The arm 12 is provided on the front surface of the robot body 11, for example. The position and orientation of the arm 12 change as a driving mechanism (not shown) including a motor operates according to a control signal from the control device 15. The arm 12 may be configured to change its length by expanding and contracting.

  The hand 13 functions as a gripping means, and is configured as an operation mechanism that grips an article. The position and orientation of the hand 13 changes as a driving mechanism (not shown) including a motor or the like operates according to a control signal from the control device 15.

  The arm 12 and the hand 13 function as transfer means for transferring an article to be transported onto the carriage 2 that is a placement unit. Note that this transfer means realizes transfer of articles to be transported according to a plan by a plan unit 155 described later.

  The hand 13 is provided with a weight sensor 131 (see FIG. 2). The weight sensor 131 is a sensor that detects the weight, detects the weight of the article held by the hand 13, and outputs the detection result to the control device 15.

  The camera 14 is provided, for example, on the front surface of the robot body 11 and acquires image data obtained by photographing the surroundings of the article transport robot 1. For example, the camera 14 photographs an article to be transported. The camera 14 outputs the captured image data to the control device 15.

  The control device 15 is built in, for example, the robot body 11, but may be provided in another component of the article transport robot 1. The control device 15 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs control processing, arithmetic processing, and the like, a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access) that store control programs, arithmetic programs, processing data, and the like executed by the CPU. The hardware is configured around a microcomputer including a storage unit configured by a memory.

  The control device 15 outputs a control signal to each drive mechanism that drives the traveling unit 10, the arm 12, and the hand 13, and controls operations of the traveling unit 10, the arm 12, and the hand 13. Moreover, the control apparatus 15 performs the process shown by FIG. 2 mentioned later.

  The input / output device 16 is, for example, a touch panel, and includes an input device that accepts input from a user and a display device that performs display output.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the article transport robot 1 and the cart 2 are connected to each other by a connecting member 3, and the cart 2 moves as the article transport robot 1 moves. In the present embodiment, the connecting member 3 is a string-like member, but the connecting member 3 may have any configuration as long as it can connect the article transport robot 1 and the carriage 2. For example, the connecting member 3 may fixedly connect the article transport robot 1 and the carriage 2. In the present embodiment, the cart 2 moves by being pulled by the article transport robot 1, but the cart 2 may move by being pushed by the article transport robot 1.

  The carriage 2 is provided with a pair of opposed driven wheels 20 and a pair of opposed driven wheels 21, and moves with the movement of the article transport robot 1. The carriage 2 only needs to move with the movement of the article transport robot 1 and is not limited to the above-described configuration. For example, a three-wheeled carriage may be used. The upper surface of the carriage 2 is a flat surface, and the carriage 2 functions as a placement portion on which an article can be placed.

  The description of the article transport robot 1 will be continued again. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the article transport robot 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 15 includes an appearance information acquisition unit 150, an item identification unit 151, an article information database 152, a weight acquisition unit 153, an area acquisition unit 154, a planning unit 155, and a transfer unit. A loading control unit 156, a database registration unit 157, and a warning unit 158. In addition, each structure of the control apparatus 15 may be implement | achieved, for example by the said control program or arithmetic program being performed by CPU, and may be implement | achieved by hardware.

  The appearance information acquisition unit 150 acquires appearance information of an article to be transported. The appearance information includes information about the appearance such as the size and shape of the article to be conveyed. The appearance information acquisition unit 150 acquires the appearance information of the article by performing image recognition processing on the image captured by the camera 14. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the article transport robot 1 is instructed to transport an article on the table 5, the article transport robot 1 uses the camera 14 to photograph the article on the table 5. Here, it is assumed that the article 4a, the article 4b, the article 4c, and the article 4d exist in the shooting range 140 of the camera 14. In this case, the appearance information acquisition unit 150 acquires the appearance information of the article 4a, the article 4b, the article 4c, and the article 4d based on the captured image of the camera 14. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the article 4a is a hexagonal dish, the article 4b is a circular dish, the article 4c is a rice bowl, and the article d is a cylinder, but the article to be transported is It is not limited to these, and any article is a target.

  The article identification unit 151 identifies an article to be transported. Specifically, the article identification unit 151 uses, for example, the appearance information such as the size and shape of the article to be transported acquired by the appearance information acquisition unit 150, to any of the articles registered in the article information database 152. Identify whether it applies. In addition, when the article identification unit 151 fails to identify the article, the article identification unit 151 notifies the database registration unit 157 of the fact.

  The article information database 152 functions as an article information storage unit, and is configured by, for example, the ROM or RAM. For each article, the article information database 152 has a size, a shape, a weight, and a surface to be placed on the carriage 2, or is placed on the carriage 2 so as to overlap with other articles. Information such as whether or not to place them is stored in association with each other. The size includes, for example, the length in the X direction, the length in the Y direction, and the length in the Z direction in the orthogonal coordinate system of the article. In the following description, information indicating which surface is placed upward when placed on the carriage 2 is referred to as “upper surface information”, and placed on another article when placed on the carriage 2. The information indicating whether or not to do so may be referred to as “superimposition permission / inhibition information”.

  The weight acquisition unit 153 acquires the weight of the article to be transported. When there are a plurality of articles to be transported, the weight acquisition unit 153 acquires the weights of the plurality of articles. For example, the weight acquisition unit 153 identifies the weight of the article to be transported from the weight information stored in the article information database 152. Specifically, the weight acquisition unit 153 acquires the weight of the article by reading out information on the weight of the article stored in the article information database 152.

  The area acquisition unit 154 acquires the size (area) of a predetermined surface of the article to be transported. When there are a plurality of articles to be transported, the area acquisition unit 154 acquires the areas of the plurality of articles. The area acquisition unit 154 acquires the size of a predetermined surface of the article to be transported from the size and upper surface information stored in the article information database 152. That is, the area acquisition unit 154 acquires the size of the surface specified by the upper surface information as follows, for example.

  The area acquisition unit 154 refers to the length in the X direction, the length in the Y direction, and the length in the Z direction stored in the article information database 152, and puts the surface specified by the top surface information upward. The area is calculated using the horizontal (width) and vertical (depth) length. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the area acquisition unit 154 may calculate the area by multiplying the horizontal and vertical lengths of the rectangular parallelepiped in which the articles to be transported are accommodated. Whether the horizontal and vertical lengths correspond to the length in the X direction, the length in the Y direction, or the length in the Z direction stored in the article information database 152 is specified by the top surface information. It depends on the surface. The area acquisition unit 154 is not limited to multiplying the horizontal and vertical lengths of the rectangular parallelepiped in which the articles to be transported are accommodated, and may calculate the area by other methods. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the area may be calculated from the radius of a cylinder in which the articles to be conveyed are accommodated. In this case, the radius may be calculated from the length in the X direction, the length in the Y direction, and the length in the Z direction stored in the article information database 152, or may be calculated as a size in the article information database 152. May be stored. Further, the area acquisition unit 154 does not necessarily need to use a solid in calculating the area. For example, as shown in FIG. May be used to calculate the area. Here, FIG. 5A shows an example in which the area is calculated by multiplying the horizontal and vertical lengths of a quadrangle that fits the shape of the article to be conveyed when viewed from above. Further, FIG. 5B shows an example in which the area is calculated from the radius of a circle in which the shape when the article to be conveyed is viewed from above is accommodated.

  Note that information such as the horizontal length, the vertical length, and the radius may be acquired by the appearance information acquisition unit 150. In the above description, examples of a rectangular parallelepiped, a cylinder, a quadrangle, and a circle in which an article to be conveyed fits include a rectangular parallelepiped, a cylinder, a rectangle, and a circle that circumscribes the article to be conveyed. Good. In calculating the area, a rectangular parallelepiped, a cylinder, a quadrangle, and a circle are given as examples. However, the area acquisition unit 154 may calculate the area based on another shape in which the articles to be transported are accommodated. In the present embodiment, the area acquisition unit 154 acquires the area of the surface specified by the upper surface information as the size of the predetermined surface, but the predetermined surface is not limited to this. For example, the predetermined surface may be a surface designated by the user. Further, for example, the predetermined surface may be an upper surface when the predetermined surface is placed at the transport source. Further, in the database registration unit 157, the area of a predetermined surface is stored in advance for each article, and the area acquisition unit 154 may acquire the stored information.

The planning unit 155 performs a plan related to the conveyance of the articles to be conveyed. Specifically, the planning unit 155 plans the arrangement of the articles when the articles to be transported are placed on the carriage 2 that is the placing section. Here, the planning unit 155 plans to place the articles on the carriage 2 in descending order of the area acquired by the area acquisition unit 154 when there are a plurality of articles to be transported. In other words, the planning unit 155 plans so that an article having a larger area becomes lower when the articles are arranged on the carriage 2 in a stacked manner. Note that the planning unit 155 is not limited to the area acquired by the area acquisition unit 154, and may determine the arrangement according to other appearance information such as size and shape.
Further, the planning unit 155 determines, among the articles to be transported, those that are gripped and transported by the hand 13 instead of being placed on the cart 2 and transported. The planning unit 155 determines, for example, an object that cannot be placed on the carriage 2 as a target to be gripped and transported. Specifically, the planning unit 155 sets an object to be gripped and transported for an object to be transported that has a shape or size that corresponds to a predetermined shape or size. Here, the predetermined shape is a shape in which the placement state is not stable, for example, a shape that easily rolls or a shape that easily falls when placed. Specifically, for example, a spherical shape or a cylindrical shape whose height with respect to the size of the bottom surface is a predetermined ratio or more is applicable. The predetermined size is, for example, a size that protrudes from the cart 2 when placed on the cart 2. The planning unit 155, for example, from the information output from the appearance information acquisition unit 150 or the information stored in the article information database 152, the shape or size of the article to be transported corresponds to a predetermined shape or size. It is determined whether or not to do.

  The transfer control unit 156 controls the operation of the arm 12 and the hand 13 which are transfer means. The transfer control unit 156 controls the operation of the arm 12 and the hand 13 according to the plan generated by the plan unit 155. Various operations such as gripping an object and placing the gripped object on the carriage 2 are performed under the control of the transfer control unit 156.

  The database registration unit 157 registers information about articles in the article information database 152. For example, when the database registration unit 157 receives notification from the article identification unit 151 that the identification of the article has failed, the database registration unit 157 registers information about the article that has failed to be identified. In the present embodiment, the database registration unit 157 registers the size, shape, weight, top surface information, and superimposition permission / inhibition information of an article for which identification has failed in the article information database 152. At this time, the database registration unit 157 registers, for example, the appearance information acquired by the appearance information acquisition unit 150 in the item information database 152 for the size and shape of the item. For example, the database registration unit 157 registers the weight detected by the weight sensor 131 by holding the article to be registered with the hand 13 in the article information database 152 as the weight information of the article. . The database registration unit 157 registers the information input from the user via the input / output device 16 in the article information database 152, for example, regarding the top surface information and the superimposition permission / inhibition information.

  The warning unit 158 issues a warning that the article to be conveyed cannot be gripped when the hand 13 cannot grip the article to be transported. Specifically, the warning unit 158 issues a warning when the weight of the article to be transported exceeds the grippable weight. Note that the warning may be performed by display output to the input / output device 16 or may be performed by emitting sound from a sound output unit such as a speaker (not shown). Further, in this embodiment, the warning unit 158 gives a warning when the weight exceeds the grippable weight, but also warns in other cases such as when the size of the article to be transported exceeds the grippable size. May be performed.

  Next, the operation of the article transport robot 1 will be described. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing an example of the operation of the article transport robot 1.

  In step 100 (S100), the appearance information acquisition unit 150 acquires the appearance information of the article to be transported. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the article transport robot 1 is instructed to transport an article on the table 5, the article on the table 5 is photographed by the camera 14, and the appearance information acquisition unit 150 Appearance information of the article 4a, the article 4b, the article 4c, and the article 4d is acquired based on the captured images. After step 100, the process proceeds to step 101.

  In step 101 (S101), the article identification unit 151 performs identification processing for an article to be transported. For example, based on the appearance information of each of the article 4a, the article 4b, the article 4c, and the article 4d acquired in step 101, the article identification unit 151 includes the article information on the article 4a, the article 4b, the article 4c, and the article 4d. Which of the articles registered in the database 152 is identified. After step 101, the process proceeds to step 102.

  In step 102 (S102), the article identification unit 151 determines whether or not each article to be transported has been successfully verified with the article information database 152. For an article that has been successfully verified with the article information database 152 (Yes in step 102), the process of step 104 is performed. On the other hand, for an article for which collation has failed (No in step 102), the process in step 103 is performed.

  In step 103 (S103), the database registration unit 157 acquires information about the article that has failed to be identified and registers it in the article information database 152 as described above. After step 103, the process proceeds to step 104.

  In step 104 (S104), the area acquisition unit 154 acquires the size of a predetermined surface of the article to be transported, and the weight acquisition unit 153 acquires the weight of the article to be transported. For example, as described above, the area acquisition unit 154 and the weight acquisition unit 153 acquire the area and the weight based on the information stored in the article information database 152. After step 104, the process proceeds to step 105.

  In step 105 (S105), the warning unit 158 confirms whether or not there are articles whose weight exceeds the grippable weight among the articles to be transported. If there is something exceeding the grippable weight, the process proceeds to step 106. If there is nothing exceeding the grippable weight, the process proceeds to step 107.

  In step 106 (S106), the warning unit 158 issues a warning indicating that gripping is impossible. After step 106, the process ends. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, the process ends when at least one article that cannot be gripped is included in the object to be transported. However, the process is not ended in order to transport only an article that cannot be gripped. The following steps may be performed. However, in that case, only articles that cannot be gripped are articles to be transported.

  In step 107 (S107), the planning unit 155 determines whether or not there are a plurality of articles to be transported. When there are a plurality of articles to be transported, the process proceeds to step 108, and when there are not a plurality of articles to be transported, the process proceeds to step 150 (see FIG. 7).

  In step 108 (S108), the planning unit 155 compares the sizes of predetermined surfaces of the articles to be transported, and performs ranking. That is, the planning unit 155 determines the placement order so that the articles are placed on the carriage 2 in the descending order of the area acquired in step 104. After step 108, the process proceeds to step 109.

  In step 109 (S109), the planning unit 155 determines whether there is an article that cannot be placed on the carriage 2. When there is an article that cannot be placed on the carriage 2 (Yes in S109), in step 110 (S110), the planning unit 155 determines the article as a target to be gripped and transported. If there is no article that cannot be placed on the carriage 2 (No in S109), the process proceeds to step 111. Note that after step 110, the process proceeds to step 111.

  In step 111 (S111), the planning unit 155 refers to the superposition permission / inhibition information and confirms whether or not the article to be transported is an article that may be placed on top of each other. For articles that can be stacked, the process of step 112 is performed, and for articles that cannot be stacked, the process of step 113 is performed.

  In step 112 (S112), the planning unit 155 plans to place items that can be placed on the carriage 2 in an order that has a predetermined surface area in order. In step 113 (S113), the planning unit 155 plans to place articles that cannot be placed on the carriage 2 without being stacked in order from the largest surface area. Note that, in a plurality of articles to be transported, even when an article that can be stacked and an article that cannot be stacked are mixed, the planning unit 155 determines that the order of placement is in the order of a large area of a predetermined surface. Plan to be In addition, the placement plan on the carriage 2 is performed on the objects to be transported except for the articles that are determined to be gripped and transported.

  Next, in step 114 (S114), the transfer control unit 156 controls the arm 12 and the hand 13 so that the article to be transported is placed on the carriage 2 according to the plan generated by the plan unit 155.

  In step 115 (S115), it is determined whether there is an object to be gripped and conveyed. If it is determined in step 110 that an object to be gripped and conveyed is determined, the process proceeds to step 116. If there is no object to be gripped and conveyed, the process proceeds to step 117.

  In step 116 (S116), the hand 13 grips the article determined as the object to be gripped and transported in step 110. After step 116, the process proceeds to step 117.

  In step 117 (S117), the article transport robot 1 moves toward the instructed transport destination. Thereby, conveyance of the goods for conveyance is performed.

  For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the article 4d is determined as an article to be gripped and conveyed, and the sizes of the predetermined surfaces of the article 4a, the article 4b, and the article 4c are in the following relationship: To do. That is, the size of the predetermined surface of the article 4b is larger than the size of the predetermined surface of the article 4c, and the size of the predetermined surface of the article 4a is larger than the size of the predetermined surface of the article 4b. Assume. Further, it is assumed that the article 4a, the article 4b, and the article 4c can all be stacked. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the article transport robot 1 places the article 4a at the bottom, places the article 4b thereon, and further places the article 4c thereon. Then, the article transport robot 1 carries the article 4d while being held by the hand 13.

  Return to the description of the flowchart. From here, the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 will be described. If it is determined in step 107 that there are not a plurality of articles to be conveyed, the process proceeds to step 150.

  In step 150 (S150), similarly to step 109, the planning unit 155 determines whether the article to be transported is an article that cannot be placed on the carriage 2. If the article can be placed on the carriage 2 (No in S150), the process proceeds to step 151. On the other hand, if the article cannot be placed on the carriage 2 (Yes in S150), the process proceeds to step 153.

  In step 151 (S151), the planning unit 155 plans to place the only article to be transported on the carriage 2. Thereafter, in step 152 (S152), the transfer control unit 156 controls the arm 12 and the hand 13 so as to place the article to be transported on the carriage 2. After step 152, the process proceeds to 117 (see FIG. 6), and the article is transferred by moving the article transfer robot 1 as described above.

On the other hand, in step 153 (S153), the planning unit 155 determines a single article to be transported as a target to be gripped and transported. Thereafter, in step 154 (S154), the hand 13 holds the only article to be transported. After step 154, the process proceeds to 117 (see FIG. 6), and as described above, the article transport robot 1 moves to transport the article.
In the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, when the article cannot be placed on the carriage 2, the gripping and transporting operation is performed. However, when the article to be transported is a single article to be transported, Regardless of whether or not can be placed on the carriage 2, it may be gripped and transported.

  According to the article transport robot 1 according to the present embodiment, as described above, articles are placed on the carriage 2 in descending order of area. For this reason, even when there are a plurality of articles to be conveyed, the placement state is stable. Therefore, according to the article transport robot 1, the number of articles to be transported to be placed can be increased.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the carriage 2 is used as the placement unit. However, the placement unit does not necessarily have to be a carriage, and may be any platform on which an article is placed when a conveyance target is transported. Further, the carriage on which the article to be transported is placed may be provided with a drive mechanism and self-propelled. Further, in the above embodiment, the appearance information of the article is acquired by the camera 14, but acquisition of the appearance information is not limited to the camera and may be acquired by a depth sensor or the like.

  In addition, the present invention can be realized, for example, by causing the CPU to execute a computer program for the processes shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

  The program may be stored using various types of non-transitory computer readable media and supplied to a computer. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (for example, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (for example, magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R / W and semiconductor memory (for example, mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (random access memory)) are included.

  The program may also be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Goods conveyance robot 2 Cart 12 Arm 13 Hand 14 Camera 15 Control device 16 Input / output device 131 Weight sensor 150 Appearance information acquisition part 151 Article identification part 152 Article information database 153 Weight acquisition part 154 Area acquisition part 155 Planning part 156 Transfer control Section 157 Database registration section 158 Warning section

Claims (4)

An article transport robot for placing and transporting an article to be transported on a placement unit,
Appearance information acquisition means for acquiring appearance information of the article based on an image captured by a camera;
Area obtaining means for calculating and obtaining a size of a predetermined surface of the article based on the appearance information obtained by the appearance information obtaining means ;
Planning means for planning the arrangement of the articles;
Transfer means for transferring the article to the placement unit according to the plan by the plan means;
The planning means plans to place each article on the placement section in descending order of the area acquired by the area acquisition means when there are a plurality of articles to be transferred.   The area acquisition unit acquires the size of the upper surface of the article when placed on the transport source as the size of the predetermined surface.
  The article transport robot according to claim 1.   The planning means is a target to be gripped and transported of the articles to be transported that have a shape or size that corresponds to a predetermined shape or size.
  The article transport robot according to claim 1 or 2.   For each article, it further includes a database storing superimposition permission / inhibition information that is information indicating whether or not the article may be placed on top of another article.
  The planning means refers to the superposition permission / inhibition information and plans to place each article on the placement section in descending order of the area acquired by the area acquisition means with respect to the stackable articles.
  The article transport robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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