WO2022121534A1

WO2022121534A1 - Inventory item sorting system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2022121534A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/125856
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王梦迪; 刘凯; 汪旭; 白易欣
Original assignee: 北京极智嘉科技股份有限公司
Priority date: 2020-12-08
Filing date: 2021-10-22
Publication date: 2022-06-16
Also published as: CN112591359B; CN112591359A

Abstract

An inventory item sorting system and method. The system comprises: a control server (120), which is configured to determine, in response to an inventory item sorting request, information of a target storage space according to information of an inventory item to be sorted, to send a first control instruction to a first robot (111) if it is determined that the target storage space is a first storage space (1311), and to send a second control instruction to a second robot (112) if it is determined that the target storage space is a second storage space (1312); the first robot, which is configured to carry, in response to the first control instruction, a target container from the first storage space to a first target workstation; and the second robot, which is configured to carry, in response to the second control instruction, the target container from the second storage space to a second target workstation. By means of the system and method, an inventory structure is optimized, and the characteristics of two robots are fully utilized, thereby relatively reducing the number of used robots while improving the sorting efficiency of an individual target workstation.

Description

Inventory item picking system and method

This disclosure claims the priority of a Chinese patent with application number 2020114458148 and titled "A Inventory Item Picking System and Method" filed with the China Patent Office on December 08, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in this disclosure .

technical field

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of warehousing and logistics, and in particular, to a system and method for picking inventory items.

Background technique

With the rapid development of e-commerce, the number of goods stored in warehouses is huge. How to more efficiently and quickly transport the stored goods to designated areas for selection, reduce the accumulation of goods on the shelves, and achieve smooth logistics is an urgent problem to be solved in warehouse management. question.

In the prior art, the robot can pick up one or more material boxes at a time, send them to the target workstation for picking, and after the picking is completed, the robot returns the material boxes to the shelves.

In the above method, for the operation of a single-box robot, since it can only carry one material box to the workstation at a time, a single workstation needs more robots; for the operation of a multi-box robot, the robot can reach multiple places to carry multiple materials in one cycle. However, the picking difficulty is relatively high, the picking efficiency of a single workstation is low, and the multi-box robot handling a cycle time is long, which reduces the picking efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide at least a system and method for picking inventory items.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an inventory item picking system, the system includes an inventory area, a control server, a first robot and a second robot, and divides the shelves included in the inventory area into a first storage space and a second robot. Second storage space, where:

The control server is configured to send a control instruction to at least one of the first robot and the second robot, where the control instruction includes at least one of the following:

The first control instruction, the first control instruction is when the target storage space information is determined according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item selection request in response to the inventory item selection request, if according to the target storage space information, determine the target storage space as the first storage space, then send the control command to the first robot;

The second control instruction is a control instruction sent to the second robot if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information when the target storage space information is determined. ;

a fourth control instruction, the fourth control instruction is sent to the second robot;

a fifth control instruction, the fifth control instruction is sent to the first robot;

The first robot is configured to, upon receiving the first control instruction, carry the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the first storage space to a first target a workstation; or, upon receiving the fifth control instruction, transporting the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from a temporary storage space in the inventory area to a third destination workstation;

The second robot is configured to, upon receiving the second control instruction, carry the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to a second target or, in the case of receiving the fourth control instruction, transporting the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to a temporary storage area in the inventory area storage space.

In an optional implementation manner, the control server is further configured to divide the inventory items into a first category of items and a second category of items according to the category and/or outbound volume of the inventory items, and the first category Items are stored in the first storage space, and items of the second type are stored in the second storage space.

In an optional embodiment, the out-stock amount of the first type of articles is greater than the out-stock amount of the second type of articles.

In an optional implementation manner, the first storage space includes shelves whose distance from the first target workstation is less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a distance from the second target workstation. Shelves greater than or equal to a preset threshold.

In an optional implementation manner, the first storage space includes a low-level storage layer in a shelf whose distance from the first target workstation is less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a low-level storage layer with the second target workstation. The high storage layer in the racks whose distance between the workstations is less than the preset threshold value includes the racks whose distance from the second target workstation is greater than or equal to the preset threshold value.

In an optional implementation manner, the first storage space includes a lower storage layer of a shelf, and the second storage space includes a high storage layer of the rack;

The first robot is further configured to, in response to the first control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container from the lower storage layer of the shelf to the first target workstation;

The second robot is further configured to, in response to the second control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or target container from the high storage level of the rack to a second target workstation.

In an optional implementation manner, the first type of article is further stored in a high-level storage layer included in the second storage space;

The control instruction further includes a third control instruction; the third control instruction is to respond to the inventory item in the case that the quantity of the inventory item contained in the target container placed in the lower storage layer of the shelf is lower than the preset threshold value A replenishment request, a control command sent to the second robot;

The second robot is further configured to, in response to the third control instruction, replenish the inventory items contained in the target container placed on the high storage layer of the shelf to the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf , or replenish the target container containing the inventory item into the lower storage level of the shelf.

In an optional implementation manner, the control instruction further includes a sixth control instruction; the sixth control instruction is that when the target storage space information is determined, if the target storage space is determined according to the target storage space information as: The second storage space, the control command sent to the second robot;

The second robot is further configured to, in response to the sixth control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container from the second storage space to the first robot, and to the first robot. Send the seventh control instruction;

The first robot is further configured to, in response to the seventh control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container from the current position to a fourth target workstation.

In an optional implementation manner, the first robot includes a single-box robot, and the second robot includes a multi-box robot.

In an optional implementation manner, the second robot is further configured to be used as the first robot in an idle state.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for picking inventory items, which divides a shelf included in an inventory area into a first storage space and a second storage space; the method includes:

In response to the inventory item picking request, determining target storage space information according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item picking request;

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the first storage space, a first control instruction is sent to the first robot, where the first control instruction is used to control the first robot to transport the waiting space from the first storage space picking an inventory item or a target container containing the to-be-picked inventory item to a first target workstation, the target container containing the to-be-picked inventory item;

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, a second control instruction is sent to the second robot, where the second control instruction is used to control the second robot to transport the object from the second storage space sending the inventory item to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory item to be picked to the second target workstation; or, sending a fourth control instruction to the second robot, and sending a fifth control instruction to the first robot; The fourth control instruction is used to control the second robot to transport the inventory item to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to the temporary storage space in the inventory area, The fifth control instruction is used to control the first robot to transport the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the temporary storage space in the inventory area to a third target workstation.

In an optional implementation manner, the inventory items are divided into the first type of items and the second type of items according to the category and/or the outbound quantity of the inventory items, and the outbound quantity of the first type of items is greater than that of the first type of items. Inventory quantity of two types of goods, the first type of goods is stored in the first storage space, and the second type of goods is stored in the second storage space.

In an optional implementation manner, the first storage space includes a low-level storage layer in a shelf whose distance from the first target workstation is less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a low-level storage layer with the second target workstation. The high storage layer in the rack whose distance between the workstations is less than the preset threshold and the rack whose distance from the second target workstation is greater than or equal to the preset threshold.

In an optional implementation manner, the first storage space includes a low-level storage layer of a shelf, and the second storage space includes a high-level storage layer of the rack; the first control instruction is used to control the first robot from the The lower storage layer of the shelf transports the inventory items to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory items to be picked to the first target workstation; the second control instruction is used to control the second robot to store the items from the upper position of the rack The floor transports the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container containing the to-be-picked inventory item to a second target workstation.

In an optional implementation manner, the first type of article is further stored in a high-level storage layer included in the second storage space; the method further includes:

In the case that the quantity of stock items contained in the target container placed on the lower storage layer of the shelf is lower than a preset threshold, in response to a stock item replenishment request, send a third control instruction to the second robot, the The third control instruction is used to control the second robot to replenish the stock items contained in the target container placed on the high storage layer of the shelf to the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf, or to store the inventory items contained in the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf. The target container of the inventory item is replenished into the lower storage level of the shelf.

In an optional embodiment, a temporary storage space is also provided in the inventory area; and

The method also includes:

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, a fourth control instruction is sent to the second robot, where the fourth control instruction is used to control the second robot from the second storage space The storage space transports the to-be-picked inventory item or a target container containing the to-be-picked inventory item to the temporary storage space;

When it is determined that the second robot transports the inventory item to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory item to be picked to the temporary storage space, a fifth control instruction is sent to the first robot, and the The fifth control instruction is used to control the first robot to transport the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the temporary storage space to a third target workstation.

In an optional embodiment, it also includes: if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information, sending a sixth control instruction to the second robot, the sixth control instruction using for controlling the second robot to transport the target container from the second storage space to the first robot;

When it is determined that the second robot transports the target container to the first robot, a seventh control instruction is sent to the first robot, where the seventh control instruction is used to control the first robot from the current position The target container is transported to the fourth target workstation.

In an optional implementation manner, the second robot is further configured to be used as the first robot in an idle state; the first robot is further configured to be used as the second robot in an idle state .

For a description of the effect of the above inventory item picking method, please refer to the description of the above inventory item picking system, which will not be repeated here.

In a system and method for picking inventory items provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, by optimizing the inventory structure, the inventory items are divided into first-type items and second-type items according to the category and/or outbound quantity of the inventory items; The outbound quantity of the first and second types of items is greater than that of the second type of items. The first type of items and the second type of items are stored in the first storage space and the second storage space respectively. In addition, according to the characteristics of the first and second robots, the first , The second robot matches different storage spaces, adopts the mixed deployment method of the first robot and the second robot, and transports one target container at a time to the target arrival station with the first robot in the prior art, resulting in the robot required for a single target station. There are many, and the second robot can reach multiple places to carry multiple target containers in one cycle, but it takes a long time to carry one cycle, resulting in low picking efficiency of a single target workstation. The picking efficiency of the target workstation is high, and the second robot can move the target container to multiple places, and it can carry a large number of target containers at one time; while improving the picking efficiency of a single target workstation, the usage of robots is relatively reduced.

Further, in the inventory item picking method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a temporary storage space may be set in the inventory area, the target container may be transported to the temporary storage space by the second robot, and the target container may be transported to the target workstation by the first robot. The second robot and the first robot complete the transportation of the target container in a relay manner, and improve the picking efficiency of inventory items.

In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure more obvious and easy to understand, the preferred embodiments are exemplified below, and are described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

In order to explain the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required in the embodiments, which are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the technical solutions of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. Other related figures are obtained from these figures.

FIG. 1a shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an inventory item picking system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1b shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of another inventory item picking system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 1c shows a schematic diagram of an application scenario of still another inventory item picking system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 1d shows a schematic diagram of inventory item picking provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method for picking inventory items provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a specific method for applying a replenishment scenario in an inventory item picking method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an implementation flow chart of a method for picking inventory items provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

In order to make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only These are some, but not all, embodiments of the present disclosure. The components of the disclosed embodiments generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein may be arranged and designed in a variety of different configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the disclosure. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. in the description and claims in the embodiments of the present disclosure and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It is to be understood that data so used can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments described herein can be practiced in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein.

After research, it is found that the current two schemes for robots to transport inventory items to the target workstation have their own advantages and disadvantages: the first robot to transport inventory items to the target workstation is suitable for an order structure with high requirements for inventory item delivery efficiency and high commodity concentration. The robot quickly picks up multiple items from the target container moved by the robot; while the second robot transports the inventory items to the target workstation, it is suitable for the order structure with relatively low requirements for inventory item delivery efficiency and scattered commodities, and is suitable for robots that can go to multiple locations respectively. A scenario in which multiple hit target containers are transported.

Based on the above research, the present disclosure provides a system and method for picking inventory items. By optimizing the inventory structure, allocating matching shelves for different types of robots, giving full play to the characteristics of the two types of robots, and improving the picking efficiency of a single target workstation. Reduce robot usage.

The defects existing in the above solutions are all the results obtained by the inventor after practice and careful research. Therefore, the discovery process of the above problems and the solutions to the above problems proposed by the present disclosure hereinafter should be the inventors Contributions made to this disclosure during the course of this disclosure.

It should be noted that like numerals and letters refer to like items in the following figures, so once an item is defined in one figure, it does not require further definition and explanation in subsequent figures.

Example 1

In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an application scenario of a stock item picking system disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be introduced first. The stock item picking system provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to FIG. 1 a , FIG. 1 b , and FIG. 1 c shown in the inventory item picking system. The system includes: a first robot 111 , a second robot 112 , a control server 120 and an inventory area 130 , and the inventory area 130 includes shelves 1310 and workstations 1320 . Typically, a plurality of workstations 1320 are provided on one side of the inventory area 130 . The first robot and the second robot may be robots with different handling capabilities, for example, the first robot may be a single-box robot, and the second robot may be a multi-box robot. On the other hand, the first robot and the second robot may have the same handling capability. In short, the present disclosure does not make any limitation in this regard. In the following, single-box robots and multi-box robots will be used as examples to introduce.

The control server 120 is a software system that runs on the server and has data storage and information processing capabilities, and can be connected to robots, hardware input systems, and other software systems in a wireless or wired manner. The control server 120 may include one or more servers, and may be a centralized control architecture or a distributed computing architecture. The control server 120 has a processor 121 and a memory 122, and the memory 122 may have an order pool 123. The staff can make the control server 120 work through the console 140, and the control server 120 communicates wirelessly with the first robot 111 and the second robot 112, and plans moving paths for the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 according to the task; the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 travel along the empty space (a part of the passageway of the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 ) in the rack 1310 array formed by the racks 1310 according to the moving path. In order to facilitate the planning of moving paths for the first robot 111 and the second robot 112, the working area of the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 (the working area is at least the area where the inventory area 130 is located) is divided into several sub-areas (that is, units). cell), the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 move cell by cell to form a moving trajectory.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to improve the picking efficiency of the inventory items, the shelves 1310 included in the inventory area 130 are divided into a first storage space 1311 and a second storage space 1312, and the inventory items are sorted according to the category and/or the quantity of the inventory items. It is divided into the first category of items and the second category of items. The first category of items is larger than the second category of items. The first category of items is stored in the first storage space 1311, and the second category of items is stored in the second category. Storage space 1312. In one embodiment, the first type of items may be stock items with a large out-of-stock quantity, and the second type of items may be stock items with a small out-of-stock quantity.

In specific implementation, the out-stock amount of each stock item can be obtained by counting the out-stock quantities of stock items included in the orders processed by the order pool 123 within a period of time. During the statistical time period, for any stock item, if the stock out quantity of the stock item is greater than the preset stock out quantity threshold, the stock item is determined to be the first type of item, if the stock item stock out quantity is not greater than the predetermined stock quantity Set the threshold value of the stock out quantity, then the stock item is determined to be the second type of item; alternatively, it can also be determined according to the stock out quantity of the stock item in the stock out quantity of all stock items, for example, if the stock item If the outbound quantity of the stock item is greater than the preset proportion, it is determined that the stock item is the first type of item, and if the stock out quantity of the stock item is not greater than the preset percentage, then the stock item is determined to be the second type of item.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1a, the first storage space 1311 is composed of the lower storage layer of the shelf 1310, and the second storage space 1312 is composed of the upper storage layer of the rack 1310, and is provided on each storage layer of the rack There are a plurality of target containers 1313 for storing inventory items to be picked.

Among them, the low-level storage layer and the high-level storage layer are divided according to the relative positions of the storage layers in the shelf. During specific implementation, the high-level storage layer and the low-level storage layer may be divided according to actual requirements, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. Taking the rack 1310 including 10 storage layers as an example, the lower storage layer may include the 1-5 storage layers of the rack 1310 , and the high storage layer may include the storage layers 6-10 of the rack 1310 .

For example, the first type of articles are placed on the 1-5 layers of the shelf 1310; the second-type articles are placed on the 6-10 layers of the shelf 1310.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1b, the first storage space 1311 may be composed of shelves 1310 whose distance from the first target workstation is less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space 1312 may be composed of shelves 1310 and the second target workstation The distance between the workstations is composed of shelves 1310 whose distance is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, where the preset threshold can be obtained according to an empirical value, which is not limited herein.

For example, the first type of items are placed on the shelf 1310 close to the workstation area; the second type of items are placed on the shelf 1310 away from the workstation area.

In some embodiments, the shelves 1310 constituting the first storage space 1311 may be low-level racks, the number of storage layers included in the low-level racks is not greater than the preset number of layers, and the racks 1310 constituting the second storage space 1312 may be high-level racks, the high-level racks The number of layers of the storage layer of the shelf may be greater than the preset number of layers. The preset number of layers can be set according to actual needs, for example, the preset number of layers can be set to 5, but not limited to this.

In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1c, the first storage space 1311 may be composed of a lower storage layer in the shelf whose distance from the first target workstation is less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space 1312 may be composed of The high storage layer in the shelf whose distance from the second target workstation is less than the preset threshold value is composed of the shelf 1310 whose distance from the second target workstation is greater than or equal to the preset threshold value.

In the specific implementation, the inventory items are classified according to the category and the outbound quantity of the inventory items, and it can be determined that the items with fewer categories and large outbound quantities are regarded as the first type of items, and the items with more categories and small outbound quantities are regarded as the second type of items. Items of the same type are stored in the first storage space 1311 , and items of the second type are stored in the second storage space 1312 .

Further, to better understand the picking scenarios of the first robot and the second robot, reference may be made to FIG. 1d , which is a schematic diagram of inventory item picking according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Embodiment 2

Based on the first storage space 1311 and the second storage space 1312 divided above, and according to the characteristics of the first robot 111 and the second robot 112 , in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the control server 120 can control the first robot 111 to store data from the first storage space 1311 The target container is carried to the target workstation, and the second robot 112 is controlled to carry the target container from the second storage space 1312 to the target workstation.

In one embodiment, the control server 120 is configured to, in response to the inventory item picking request, determine target storage space information according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item picking request; if the target storage space is determined to be the first storage space according to the target storage space information If there is a storage space, the first control command is sent to the first robot; if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information, the second control command is sent to the second robot; the first robot 111 is configured to respond In response to the first control command, the target container is transported from the first storage space to the first target workstation; the second robot 112 is configured to, in response to the second control command, transport the target container from the second storage space to the second target workstation.

In this embodiment, the control server 120 receives the inventory item picking request sent by the upstream system; here, the inventory item picking request carries the inventory item information to be picked, and the control server 120 determines the inventory item that stores the inventory item to be picked according to the inventory item information to be picked. For the target container, the target storage space information to which the target container belongs is determined according to the shelf where the target container is located. If the target storage space is determined to be the first storage space according to the determined target storage space information, it is determined that the item to be picked belongs to the first category of items, and the first robot is scheduled to be processed; if the target storage space is determined according to the determined target storage space information as In the second storage space, it is determined that the item to be picked belongs to the second type of item, and the second robot is scheduled to be processed.

According to the inventory item picking system provided by the embodiment of the present application, since the first robot has high efficiency in handling inventory items, the first robot can be used to transport inventory items with fewer categories and a large quantity stored in the first storage space, and the second robot can The target container is transported to multiple places, and a large number of target containers are transported at one time, so the second robot can be used to transport the inventory items stored in the second storage space with more categories and less inventory, through the cooperation of the first robot and the second robot. way to improve the picking efficiency of a single target workstation.

Based on the inventory structure in the inventory item picking system shown in FIG. 1a, the first type of items can also be stored in the lower storage layer and the upper storage layer of the shelf, respectively. In this implementation, the inventory item picking provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure The system can also be applied to replenishment scenarios. In a specific implementation, the control server is further configured to, in the case that the quantity of stock items contained in the target container placed on the lower storage layer of the shelf is lower than the preset threshold, in response to the stock item replenishment request, send the second robot to the second robot. three control instructions; the second robot is further configured to, in response to the third control instruction, replenish the stock items contained in the target container placed on the high storage layer of the shelf to the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf, A robot transports the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the lower storage level to the target workstation.

Further, according to the provided inventory item picking system, the inventory items to be picked and the inventory items for replenishment are placed on the lower storage layer and the upper storage layer of the shelf, respectively, so that when the number of inventory items to be picked placed on the lower storage layer is low At the preset threshold, the control server may schedule the second robot to replenish the inventory items contained in the target container placed in the high-level storage layer to the target container placed in the lower-level storage layer, or replenish the target container containing the inventory items. The goods are delivered to the lower storage layer of the shelf, so as to improve the replenishment efficiency of the stock items.

Based on the inventory structure in the inventory item picking system shown in Figure 1b, a temporary storage space can also be set in the inventory area. The temporary storage space can be selected to be placed in the middle of the inventory area, or set at the boundary between the first storage space and the second storage space, and is arranged according to the management experience of the inventory area or actual needs, which is not covered by the embodiment of the present disclosure. be limited.

In this embodiment, the control server is further configured to, if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information, send a fourth control instruction to the second robot; the second robot is further configured to respond to the first Four control instructions, for transporting the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to the temporary storage space; and after determining that the second robot transports the inventory item to be picked or the target container In the case of the temporary storage rack, a fifth control instruction is sent to the first robot; the first robot is further configured to, in response to the fifth control instruction, carry the to-be-picked inventory item or target container from the temporary storage space to a third target workstation.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the second robot and the first robot can be used to relay the handling of the inventory items to be picked, which can further improve the picking efficiency of a single target workstation.

In a possible implementation manner, the second robot may directly place the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked on the first robot, so as to realize another second robot and the first robot. Relay transport method. During specific implementation, the control server may be configured to, if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information, send a sixth control instruction to the second robot; the second robot is further configured to respond to the sixth control instruction , transporting the inventory items to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory items to be picked from the second storage space to the first robot, and sending a seventh control instruction to the first robot; the first robot is further configured to: In response to the seventh control instruction, the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked is transported from the current location to the fourth target workstation.

In a possible implementation manner, the second robot that is idle can also be used as the first robot, when the second robot has a small amount of tasks, or the second robot has a sufficient number and the first robot has a heavy task , Through this method of scheduling, the inventory items can be selected flexibly and efficiently.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a stock item picking method corresponding to the stock item picking system. The implementation of the method may refer to the implementation of the system, and the similarities will not be repeated.

Embodiment 3

To facilitate understanding of this embodiment, a method for picking inventory items disclosed by an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail below by taking the execution subject as a server as an example.

Based on the above-mentioned optimized inventory structure, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for picking inventory items. Referring to FIG. 2 , it is a flowchart of the method for picking inventory items, which may include the following steps:

S201: In response to the inventory item picking request, determine target storage space information according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item picking request.

In this step, the inventory items to be picked in the inventory item picking request may be in the same target container or may be in different target containers, and the target storage space information to which the inventory items to be selected belong is determined according to the target container where the inventory items to be picked are located.

S202: If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the first storage space, send a first control instruction to the first robot.

The first control instruction is used to control the first robot to transport the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked from the first storage space to the first target workstation.

In this step, if the target storage space is determined to be the first storage space according to the target storage space information, indicating that the inventory items to be picked are items with fewer categories and larger quantities, the control server sends a control instruction to the first robot to schedule the first robot. Process the order task for the first storage space.

In response to a control instruction of the control server, the first robot transports the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked from the first storage space to the first target workstation for processing.

S203: If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, send a second control instruction to the second robot.

Wherein, the second control instruction is used to control the second robot to transport the inventory items or target containers to be picked from the second storage space to the second target workstation.

In this step, if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information, indicating that the inventory items to be picked are items with more categories and less inventory, the control server sends a control instruction to the second robot to schedule the second robot. Process the order task for the second storage space.

In response to the control instruction of the control server, the second robot transports the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked from the second storage space to the second target workstation for processing.

In a possible implementation manner, the second robot is further configured to be used as the first robot in an idle state; the first robot is further configured to be used as the second robot in an idle state. During specific implementation, the first robot and the second robot can assist each other to work. For example, when the above-mentioned task of matching the second robot is small, some second robots can be used as the first robot in an idle state; accordingly, Under the circumstance that the amount of the above-mentioned tasks for matching the first robot is small, some first robots can be used as second robots in an idle state. Taking the first robot as a single-box robot and the second robot as a multi-box robot as an example, the scheduling of both the single-box robot and the multi-box robot can be adjusted according to the order processing status. For example, if the single-box robot is still idle after the single-box robot completes the order task in the current first storage space, the single-box robot can be scheduled to process the order task in the second storage space to help the multi-box robot complete the order task with a small amount of outbound storage. Picking of inventory items; if the multi-box robot is still idle after the multi-box robot completes the task of the current second storage space, the multi-box robot can be dispatched to process the order task of the first storage space to help the single-box robot complete the outbound quantity Picking of many inventory items.

In some embodiments, based on the inventory structure provided in FIG. 1a of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first type of items are placed on both the low-level storage layer and the high-level storage layer of the shelf 1310. In this embodiment, for the replenishment scenario, the low-level storage is performed. When the quantity of the inventory items in the layer is lower than the preset threshold, the control server may control the second robot to carry the inventory items from the high-level storage layer or replenish the target container to the lower-level storage layer. During specific implementation, the control server may schedule the second robot to carry inventory items or target containers from the high-level storage layer to the low-level storage layer according to the process shown in FIG. 3 :

S301: The control server judges whether the quantity of inventory items contained in the target container placed in the lower storage layer is lower than a preset threshold, and if so, executes step S302, and if not, the process ends.

S302: Send a third control instruction to the second robot, where the third control instruction is used to control the second robot to replenish the inventory items contained in the target container placed in the high-level storage layer to the target container placed in the low-level storage layer, or The target container containing the inventory item is replenished into the lower storage level of the shelf.

In order to improve the picking efficiency of the target workstation, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a temporary storage space on the basis of the above-mentioned optimized inventory structure.

In some other embodiments, based on the inventory structure provided in FIG. 1b of the embodiment of the present disclosure, a temporary storage space may also be set in the inventory area, and the goods to be picked can be transported by relaying between the second robot and the first robot. As shown in FIG. 4 , the implementation flowchart of the inventory item picking method based on this embodiment may include the following steps:

S401: In response to the inventory item picking request, determine target storage space information according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item picking request.

In this step, for the specific process, reference may be made to the implementation of step S201, which will not be repeated here.

S402: If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, send a fourth control instruction to the second robot.

S403: The fourth control instruction is used to control the second robot to transport the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked from the second storage space to the temporary storage space.

S404: Send a fifth control instruction to the first robot, where the fifth control instruction is used to control the first robot to transport the inventory items to be picked or the target container containing the inventory items to be picked from the temporary storage space to the third target workstation.

Those skilled in the art can understand that in the above method of the specific implementation, the writing order of each step does not mean a strict execution order but constitutes any limitation on the implementation process, and the specific execution order of each step should be based on its function and possible Internal logic is determined.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, for the specific working process of the method described above, reference may be made to the corresponding process in the foregoing system embodiments, which will not be repeated here. In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed system and method may be implemented in other manners. The apparatus embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some communication interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be integrated in the same processing unit; each unit may be independently used as a processing unit; or a part of units (such as two or more units) may be integrated in a processing unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as separate products, may be stored in a processor-executable non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosure are essentially, or the parts that contribute to the prior art or the parts of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several The instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present disclosure. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

Finally, it should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are only specific implementations of the present disclosure, and are used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure rather than limit them. The protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, although referring to the foregoing The embodiments describe the present disclosure in detail, and those skilled in the art should understand that: any person skilled in the art can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments within the technical scope disclosed by the present disclosure. Changes can be easily thought of, or equivalent replacements are made to some of the technical features; and these modifications, changes or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and should be covered in the present disclosure. within the scope of protection. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

An inventory item picking system, the system includes an inventory area, a control server, a first robot and a second robot, and divides the shelves contained in the inventory area into a first storage space and a second storage space, wherein:

The control server is configured to send a control instruction to at least one of the first robot and the second robot, where the control instruction includes at least one of the following:

The first control instruction, the first control instruction is when the target storage space information is determined according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item selection request in response to the inventory item selection request, if according to the target storage space information, determine the target storage space as the first storage space, then send the control command to the first robot;

The second control instruction is a control instruction sent to the second robot if the target storage space is determined to be the second storage space according to the target storage space information when the target storage space information is determined. ;

a fourth control instruction, the fourth control instruction is sent to the second robot;

a fifth control instruction, the fifth control instruction is sent to the first robot;

The first robot is configured to, upon receiving the first control instruction, carry the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the first storage space to a first target a workstation; or, upon receiving the fifth control instruction, transporting the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from a temporary storage space in the inventory area to a third destination workstation;

The second robot is configured to, upon receiving the second control instruction, carry the inventory item to be picked or a target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to a second target or, in the case of receiving the fourth control instruction, transporting the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to a temporary storage area in the inventory area storage space.
The system according to claim 1, wherein the control server is further configured to divide the inventory items into a first type of items and a second type of items according to the category and/or outbound quantity of the inventory items, the first type of items One type of item is stored in the first storage space, and the second type of item is stored in the second storage space.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the out-stock of the first type of items is greater than the out-of-stock quantity of the second type of items.
The system of claim 1, wherein the first storage space includes a shelf with a distance from the first target workstation less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a distance from the second target workstation The distance is greater than or equal to the preset threshold of the shelves.
The system of claim 1, wherein the first storage space includes a lower storage tier in a shelf with a distance from the first target workstation less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a The high storage layer in the racks whose distance between the two target workstations is smaller than the preset threshold value includes the racks whose distance from the second target workstation is greater than or equal to the preset threshold value.
The system of claim 1, wherein the first storage space comprises a lower storage level of racks and the second storage space includes an upper storage level of racks;

The first robot is configured to, in response to the first control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or target container from the lower storage layer of the shelf to a first target workstation;

The second robot is configured to, in response to the second control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or target container from the upper storage level of the rack to a second target workstation.
The system of claim 2, wherein the first category of items is further stored in a high-level storage tier included in the second storage space;

The control instruction further includes a third control instruction; the third control instruction is to respond to the inventory item in the case that the quantity of the inventory item contained in the target container placed in the lower storage layer of the shelf is lower than the preset threshold value A replenishment request, a control command sent to the second robot;

The second robot is further configured to, in response to the third control instruction, replenish the inventory items contained in the target container placed on the high storage layer of the shelf to the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf , or replenish the target container containing the inventory item into the lower storage level of the shelf.
The system according to claim 1, wherein the control instruction further comprises a sixth control instruction; the sixth control instruction is that when the target storage space information is determined, if the target storage space is determined according to the target storage space information If the space is the second storage space, the control command sent to the second robot;

The second robot is further configured to, in response to the sixth control instruction, transport the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container from the second storage space to the first robot, and to the first robot. Send the seventh control instruction;

The first robot is further configured to, in response to the seventh control instruction, transport the inventory item to be picked or the target container from the current position to a fourth target workstation.
The system of claim 1, wherein the first robot comprises a single-case robot and the second robot comprises a multi-case robot.
The system of claim 9, wherein the second robot is further configured to function as the first robot in an idle state; the first robot is further configured to function as the second robot in an idle state Robot use.
A method for picking inventory items, which divides a shelf included in an inventory area into a first storage space and a second storage space; the method includes:

In response to the inventory item picking request, determining target storage space information according to the inventory item information to be picked included in the inventory item picking request;

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the first storage space, a first control instruction is sent to the first robot, where the first control instruction is used to control the first robot to carry the inventory to be picked from the first storage space an item or a target container containing said to-be-picked inventory item to a first target workstation;

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, a second control instruction is sent to the second robot, and the second control instruction is used to control the second robot to carry the to-be-to-be-storage space from the second storage space. Picking inventory items or a target container containing the inventory items to be picked to a second target workstation; or, sending a fourth control instruction to the second robot, and sending a fifth control instruction to the first robot; the first robot The four control instructions are used to control the second robot to carry the inventory item to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory item to be picked from the second storage space to the temporary storage space in the inventory area. The fifth control instruction is used to control the first robot to carry the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the temporary storage space in the inventory area to a third target workstation.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the inventory items are divided into the first type of items and the second type of items according to the category and/or the out-stock quantity of the stock items, and the out-stock quantity of the first type of items is greater than all the items in stock. Inventory quantity of the second type of items, the first type of items is stored in the first storage space, and the second type of items is stored in the second storage space.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the out-stock quantity of the first type of articles is greater than the out-stock quantity of the second type of articles.
The method of claim 11, wherein the first storage space includes a shelf with a distance from the first target workstation less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes a shelf between the first target workstation and the second target workstation The distance is greater than or equal to the preset threshold of the shelves.
The method of claim 11, wherein the first storage space includes a lower storage tier in a shelf with a distance from the first target workstation less than a preset threshold, and the second storage space includes The high storage layer in the shelf where the distance between the two target workstations is less than the preset threshold and the shelf whose distance from the second target workstation is greater than or equal to the preset threshold.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the first storage space includes a lower storage layer of a shelf, the second storage space includes a high storage layer of the rack; the first control instruction is used to control the first robot from The lower storage layer of the shelf transports the inventory items to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory items to be picked to the first target workstation; the second control instruction is used to control the second robot to move from the inventory to the rack. The high-level storage layer transports the to-be-picked inventory item or the target container accommodating the to-be-picked inventory item to the second target workstation.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the first type of items is further stored in a high-order storage layer included in the second storage space; the method further comprises:

When the quantity of stock items contained in the target container placed on the lower storage layer of the shelf is lower than a preset threshold, in response to a stock item replenishment request, send a third control instruction to the second robot, the The third control instruction is used to control the second robot to replenish the inventory items contained in the target container placed on the high storage layer of the shelf to the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf, or to store the inventory items contained in the target container placed on the low storage layer of the shelf. The target container of the inventory item is replenished into the lower storage level of the shelf.
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

If it is determined according to the target storage space information that the target storage space is the second storage space, a sixth control instruction is sent to the second robot, where the sixth control instruction is used to control the second robot from the second storage space The storage space transports the to-be-picked inventory item or a target container containing the to-be-picked inventory item to the first robot;

When it is determined that the second robot transports the inventory item to be picked or the target container accommodating the inventory item to be picked to the first robot, a seventh control instruction is sent to the first robot, the The seventh control instruction is used to control the first robot to carry the inventory item to be picked or the target container containing the inventory item to be picked from the current position to a fourth target workstation.
11. The method of claim 11, wherein the first robot comprises a single-case robot and the second robot comprises a multi-case robot.
The method of claim 19, wherein the second robot is further configured to function as the first robot in an idle state; the first robot is further configured to function as the second robot in an idle state Robot use.