WO2022162802A1

WO2022162802A1 - Information processing system, information processing device and method

Info

Publication number: WO2022162802A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/002911
Authority: WO
Inventors: 幸大岡田; 知生嶋野; 篤志杉藤
Original assignee: 株式会社日立製作所
Priority date: 2021-01-27
Filing date: 2021-01-27
Publication date: 2022-08-04
Also published as: JPWO2022162802A1

Abstract

This invention involves a determination device that determines the state of a floor surface on which a transport device for transporting an object travels in a transport system, and a determination method executed by the determination device, wherein error information that includes a detection location where an error occurred in the transport device is acquired from the transport device and the state of the floor surface is determined by analyzing the acquired error information. This configuration makes it possible to achieve an information processing system, an information processing device, and a method that can improve the reliability of the transport system by enabling system operations or maintenance to be performed on the basis of said determination results for the state of the floor surface.

Description

Information processing system, information processing device and method

The present invention relates to an information processing system, information processing device and method, and is suitable for application to a transport system using a transport device.

As a background technology in this technical field, there is a technology for extracting the features of the road surface from the road surface image. For example, there is a technique described in JP-A-2016-166853.

JP 2016-166853

In a transport system using transport equipment in warehouses and factories, if the floor surface on which the transport equipment runs is uneven or if the floor surface is in poor condition, it can cause errors such as malfunction of the transport equipment or communication failure. The inventors of the present application have found that Therefore, in order to improve the reliability of the transport system, when an error occurs due to the state of the floor, it is necessary to be able to grasp the state of the floor where the error occurred, and to operate and maintain the system according to the state of the floor. should be possible. As a result, it is desired to prevent unexpected deterioration in transport efficiency in the transport system.

Therefore, we propose an information processing system, information processing device, and method that can improve the reliability of the transportation system by identifying the floor surface condition that can cause an error.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a data acquisition device for acquiring a plurality of pieces of error information including detection locations of errors that have occurred in one or more transport devices, and a plurality of pieces of error information acquired by the error acquisition device. and an error analysis device that analyzes the error information and determines the state of the floor surface at the location where the error is detected.

Further, in the present invention, a first step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of error information including a detection location of an error that occurred in the transportation device from one or a plurality of transportation devices; and a second step of determining the state of the floor surface at the detection location.

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, and a method that can determine floor conditions that can cause errors and improve the reliability of the transportation system.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of a transport system according to first to third embodiments; FIG. It is a conceptual diagram for explaining the address of each section of the floor. (A) is a perspective view showing the external configuration of the conveying device, and (B) is a plan view showing the bottom configuration of the conveying device. It is a side view with which it uses for description of the conveyance method of the shelf by a conveyance apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conveying apparatus and operation control apparatus in the information processing system of 1st and 2nd embodiment. 4 is a chart showing a configuration example of an error log information database; It is a chart which shows the structural example of a driving|running|working track record data database. It is a figure which shows the screen structure of a floor state determination result screen. It is a figure which shows the screen structure of an error data detail screen. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of a first error analysis process; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of damage degree determination processing; FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of a second error analysis process; FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conveying apparatus and operation control apparatus in the information processing system of 3rd Embodiment. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of error cause estimation processing; FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of a third error analysis process; FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of visualization of the floor state according to the first to third embodiments;

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

It should be noted that the embodiments described below are examples for describing the present invention, and are appropriately omitted and simplified for clarity of description. The present invention can also be implemented in various other forms. Unless otherwise specified, each component may be singular or plural.

The position, size, shape, range, etc. of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, range, etc. in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. As such, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the locations, sizes, shapes, extents, etc., disclosed in the drawings.

As examples of various types of information, expressions such as "table", "list", and "queue" may be used for explanation, but various types of information may be expressed in data structures other than these. For example, various information such as "XX table", "XX list", and "XX queue" may be referred to as "XX information". When describing identification information, expressions such as “identification information”, “identifier”, “name”, “ID”, and “number” are used, but these can be replaced with each other.

When there are multiple components that have the same or similar functions, they may be described with the same reference numerals with different suffixes. Further, when there is no need to distinguish between these constituent elements, the subscripts may be omitted in the description.

In the embodiment, there are cases where the processing performed by executing the program will be explained. Here, the computer executes a program by means of a processor (eg, CPU, GPU) and performs processing determined by the program while using storage resources (eg, memory) and interface devices (eg, communication port). Therefore, the main body of the processing performed by executing the program may be the processor.

Similarly, the subject of processing performed by executing a program may be a controller, device, system, computer, or node having a processor. The subject of the processing performed by executing the program may be an arithmetic unit, and may include a dedicated circuit for performing specific processing. Here, the dedicated circuit is, for example, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), or the like.

The program may be installed on the computer from the program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution server or a computer-readable storage medium. When the program source is a program distribution server, the program distribution server may include a processor and storage resources for storing the distribution target program, and the processor of the program distribution server may distribute the distribution target program to other computers. Also, in the embodiment, two or more programs may be implemented as one program, and one program may be implemented as two or more programs.

(1) First Embodiment (1-1) Configuration of Transport System According to this Embodiment FIG. show. The transportation system 1 includes a plurality of transportation devices 3 that travel within a warehouse 2 and an information processing device (hereinafter also referred to as an operation control device) 4 that remotely controls the operation of each transportation device 3. be.

The warehouse 2 is, for example, a warehouse used by a company such as an online shopping company to store goods. The articles stored in the warehouse 2 may be commodities or parts. In this embodiment, an example of a product will be described as an example of an article stored in the warehouse 2. FIG.

The floor surface of the warehouse 2 is divided into a plurality of square sections (areas) 2A of a predetermined size and managed, and each section 2A has a marker 2B indicating the position of the section 2A. The marker 2B may include information for specifying the position of the section 2A, for example, the position information of the section 2A, or information associated with the position information of the section 2A (for example, the section 2A identification information, etc.).

The marker 2B is information that can be read by the sensor 14 of the transport device 3, and may be information such as a one-dimensional code, a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark), or an RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) tag. . In this embodiment, a QR code (registered trademark) will be described as an example of the marker 2B.

For example, each transport device 3 reads the marker 2B in each section 2A when passing through each section 2A. Each conveying device 3 transmits the information of the read marker 2B to the operation control device 4 together with the identification information of the own conveying device 3 . The operation control device 4 identifies the position of each transport device 3 based on the identification information of the transport device 3 and the information of the marker 2B received from each transport device 3 .

In the case of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the position of each section 2A is x as the address of the upper left section 2A on the floor surface of the warehouse 2 is (1, 1), and the right section 2A is located. The addresses are managed in the form of xy coordinates in which the direction value increases by 1 and the y direction value increases by 1 toward the lower section 2A. Therefore, for example, the position of the section 2A, which is two sections to the right and three sections downward from the section 2A of the address (1, 1), is the address (3, 4).

Also, in the warehouse 2, a plurality of shelves 5 are arranged so as to be positioned within the corresponding section 2A, and installed in a movable state. Each shelf 5 stores one or a plurality of articles (for example, merchandise to be sold) at a predetermined position. The shelf 5 is sometimes called a mobile shelf.

For example, the shelf 5 may be approximately the same size as one compartment 2A, or may be smaller than one compartment 2A. Note that there may be various modifications of how to set the partitions.

The transport device 3 is an unmanned transport robot (unmanned transport vehicle) that can automatically transport objects to a position specified by the operation control device 4 . The object to be transported is, for example, the shelf 5 or a pallet. If the object to be transported is an object on which one or more articles can be loaded (for example, the shelf 5 or a pallet), the object to be transported may be called a storage unit (storage device) or a loading platform. In this embodiment, the case of the shelf 5 will be described as an example of an object to be transported by the transport device 3 . An object to be conveyed is sometimes called an article to be conveyed.

For example, the transport device 3 lifts the shelf 5 specified by the operation control device 4 and travels within the warehouse 2 to transport the shelf 5 to the picking station 6 provided at a predetermined position within the warehouse 2 . The shelf 5 conveyed to the picking station 6 is returned to the designated position by the conveying device 3 after the necessary commodities are taken out (picked) by the operator at the picking station 6 . This specified position is a position specified by the operation control device 4, and may be the original installation location of the shelf 5 or another location.

As an example of this different location, a shelf that stores products that are frequently picked and that is frequently transported to the picking station 6 may be placed in a shelf arrangement section close to the picking station 6. Shelves that are infrequently transported to the picking station 6 may be placed in a shelving section located far from the picking station 6 . In this way, by changing the installation location of the shelf according to the frequency of transportation to the picking station 6, transportation efficiency can be improved.

An example of the configuration of the transport device 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the conveying device 3 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a square bottom as a whole. As shown in FIG. 3(B), two drive wheels 20 are arranged on the lower surface of the conveying device 3 for turning and advancing the conveying device 3. At the four corners of the lower surface of the conveying device 3 is provided with a training wheel 21. In addition, in the central portion of the upper surface of the conveying device 3, a columnar lifting/rotating body 22 that can be lifted and rotated is provided.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the conveying device 3 rotates the driving wheels 20 to move to the lower side of the shelf 5 to be conveyed, and then raises the lifting/rotating body 22 to lift the shelf 5. By traveling in the warehouse 2 in that state, the shelf 5 is conveyed. At this time, the conveying device 3 can also change the direction of the lifted shelf 5 by rotating the lifting/rotating body 22 . It should be noted that the conveying device 3 rotates (revolves) without rotating the lifted shelf 5 by rotating (swinging) the body other than the lifting/rotating body 22 with respect to the lifting/rotating body 22 . is also possible.

In addition, the transport device 3 is equipped with an automatic charging function, and when the remaining amount of the battery (not shown) included in the transport device 3 falls below a predetermined value, the transport device 3 is moved to a predetermined position (shown in the figure) in the warehouse 2. 1 and 2, it moves to the battery station 7 provided in the section 2A) of the address (1, 1) and is automatically charged.

The operation control device 4 is wirelessly connected to each transport device 3 in the warehouse 2 via a wireless communication line such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The operation control device 4 identifies the shelf 5 in which the ordered product is stored according to the order from the customer, and picks the shelf 5 for the conveying device 3 that is vacant at that time, for example. An instruction is given to transport to station 6 (such an instruction regarding transport is hereinafter referred to as a transport instruction).

The "transportation instruction" includes identification information (shelf ID) of the shelf 5 to be transported, and a path along which the transport device 3 should move at that time, as indicated by an arrow and a black circle in FIG. 2, for example. This is called a moving route of the transport device 3). Further, the “moving route of the transport device” includes the route from the current position of the transport device 3 to the rack 5 and the route from the rack 5 to the picking station 6 .

In addition, after the worker picks the product from the shelf 5 at the picking station 6, the operation control device 4 gives a "transportation instruction" to the transport device 3 to the specified position in order to return the shelf to the specified position. The "transportation instruction" includes identification information (shelf ID) of the shelf 5 to be transported and information on the movement route. This movement path includes the path from the picking station 6 to the designated location (eg, the original location of the shelf 5).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the transport system 1 according to this embodiment. The transportation system 1 includes one or more transportation devices 3 and an operation control device 4 . The transport device 3 comprises a control device 10 , a drive device 11 , a storage device 12 , a communication interface 13 and one or more types of sensors 14 .

The control device 10 is a controller that controls the operation and control of the transportation device 3 according to the transportation instruction from the operation control device 4 and the state of charge of the built-in battery. In addition to the driving wheels 20, the auxiliary wheels 21, and the lifting/rotating body 22, the driving device 11 includes a first actuator (not shown) including a motor for rotationally driving the driving wheels 20, and a lifting/lowering wheel. and a second actuator (not shown) composed of a motor or the like for raising and lowering and rotating the rotating body 22 .

The storage device 12 is composed of, for example, a non-volatile semiconductor memory, a large-capacity non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk device or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and is used to retain necessary information for a long period of time. . The communication interface 13 is a communication device for communicating with the operation control device 4 by a predetermined wireless communication method, and is composed of, for example, a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) wireless LAN (Local Area Network) card.

The sensor 14 is a device for collecting information on the floor surface on which the transport device 3 travels and various types of information about the transport device 3. For example, the sensor 14 collects information on the markers 2B written in each section 2A of the floor surface. It is possible to read. The conveying device 3 includes, as the sensor 14, a camera for imaging the state of the floor surface, a vibration sensor for detecting vibrations received by the conveying device 3 while traveling, and a speed for measuring the speed and acceleration of the conveying device 3 itself. Sensors such as sensors and acceleration sensors may be provided.

In this embodiment, the storage device 12 of each transport device 3 includes a route data database 23, a device information database 24, a map information database 25, an error log information database 26, a measurement data database 27, and a running performance data database. 28 is stored. A communication program 29, a running control program 30, a measurement program 31, and an error detection program 32 are stored in the control device 10. FIG.

The route data database 23 is a database that stores information on the movement route specified by the transport instruction given from the operation control device 4 . Further, the device information database 24 includes identification information, current position and state ("standby", "transporting", "charging" or "failure") of the own transport device 3, and information on installed hardware and software. is a database in which various types of information (hereinbelow, collectively referred to as device information) related to the own transport device 3 are stored.

The map information database 25 contains information such as the state of the floor surface of the warehouse 2, the positions (addresses) of each shelf 5, the picking station 6 and the battery station 7 in the warehouse 2, and the travelable area of the transport device 3 such as aisles ( drivable area) and information such as the running direction of each passage (hereinafter collectively referred to as map information) are stored in the database.

Furthermore, the error log information database 26 is a database in which error log information (hereinafter referred to as error log information) of various errors that have occurred in the transport device 3 is stored. The measurement data database 27 stores the traveling speed and acceleration of the self-conveying device 3 measured by the sensor 14, the magnitude of vibration generated in the self-conveying device 3 during traveling, the position where the vibration occurred, and the shelf being lifted at that time. This is a database in which data such as the total weight of 5 and image data of images captured by a camera, which is one of the sensors 14, are stored as measurement data.

The travel record data database 28 is a database that stores data relating to travel records such as the relationship between the route and time traveled by the transport device 3 (hereinafter referred to as "travel record data"). In the travel record data database 28, for example, the content of the marker 2B detected based on the image captured by the camera, which is one of the sensors 14, when the conveying device 3 travels based on the route data (for example, the address, the section, etc.) information for identifying the position of 2A) and information such as the time when the marker 2B was detected are stored as travel record data.

The communication program 29 is a program having a function of exchanging commands and information with the operation control device 4 via the communication interface 13. For example, the communication program 29, in response to a request from the operation control device 4, the error log information stored in the error log information database 26, various measurement data stored in the measurement data database 27, the travel performance data database 28 and the device information stored in the device information database 24 (for example, identification information, current position and state of the carrier device 3, etc.) are sent to the operation control device 4. In addition, the communication program of each transport device 3 may transmit each of these pieces of information to the operation control device 4 at regular or irregular timings. As an example of this timing, for example, information may be acquired from each transportation device 3 before the operation control device 4 performs error analysis processing, or the operation control device 4 may You may send information.

The traveling control program 30 is a program having a function of controlling traveling of the own carrier device 3 according to a carrier instruction from the operation control device 4 received by the communication program 29 . For example, when the communication program 29 receives a transportation instruction from the operation control device 4, the traveling control program 30 lifts the designated shelf 5 and moves it to the picking station 6 along the designated movement route, or The driving device 11 is controlled so that the shelf 5 is returned to its original position through the designated movement route. The travel control program 30 also registers information about travel at that time in the travel performance data database 28 as travel performance data.

The measurement program 31 is a program having a function of performing various measurements using each sensor 14 and registering the measurement results in the measurement data database 27 . For example, the measurement program 31 measures the vibration of the transport device 3 based on the output of a vibration sensor that is one of the sensors 14, The speed and acceleration of the conveying device 3 are measured, and these measurement results are registered in the measurement data database 27 . The measurement program 31 also stores the image data of the image captured by the camera, which is one of the sensors, in the measurement data database 27 .

The error detection program 32 is a program having a function of detecting various errors that have occurred in the transport device 3. When the error detection program 32 detects an error that has occurred in the transport device 3, the error detection program 32 generates an error log of the error and registers the generated error log in the error log information database 26 as error log information. At this time, the error detection program 32 may register the information at the timing when the error is detected with respect to the information related to the running performance data in the error log information (for example, the address 59F to the communication state 59P of the error log information). In the performance data database 28, the travel performance data of a date and time close to the error detection date and time may be acquired and registered.

On the other hand, the operation control device 4 is composed of a server device having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 40 , a memory 41 , a storage device 42 , an input device 43 and an output device 44 , and a communication interface 45 . Note that the operation control device 4 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. The operation control device 4 may be one server device, or may be composed of a plurality of servers. Moreover, each device included in the operation control device 4 may be arranged in one device, or may be arranged in a plurality of devices so as to be distributed. Each program and each information that the storage device 42 has may be stored in one storage device, or may be divided and stored in a plurality of storage devices so as to be distributed.

The CPU 40 is a processor that controls the operation of the operation control device 4 as a whole. The CPU 40 may be a processing device (processor), such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or the like. The memory 41 is composed of, for example, a volatile semiconductor memory and used as a work memory for the CPU 40 . The storage device 42 is composed of, for example, a large-capacity non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk device or an SSD.

The input device 43 is composed of, for example, a mouse and a keyboard, and is used by the operator (administrator) to input necessary information and instructions to the operation control device 4. The output device 44 is composed of a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, and is used to display necessary information. Further, the communication interface 45 is a communication device for communicating with each conveying device 3 by a predetermined wireless communication method, and is composed of, for example, a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) wireless LAN card.

In the case of this embodiment, the storage device 42 of the operation control device 4 includes a device information database 53, a product information database 54, an order information database 55, a map information database 56, a route data database 57, a measurement data database 58, an error Databases such as a log information database 59 and a running record data database 60, and programs such as a data input/output program 50, an error analysis program 51, a measurement data analysis program 52, and a transport device control program (not shown) are stored. .

The device information database 53 is a database in which device information of each transport device 3 is stored. The device information database 53 may include device information acquired from each transport device 3 . In addition, the product information database 54 contains various information (hereinafter referred to as , which is called product information).

The order information database 55 is a database that stores various information (hereinafter referred to as order information) regarding orders from customers, such as identification information and quantity of ordered products. The map information database 56 is a database in which map information similar to the map information database 25 of the conveying device 3 is stored.

The route data database 57 is a database that stores information about the movement route of each transport device 3 created by a transport device control program (not shown) of the operation control device 4 based on order information, product information, and map information. be. The measurement data database 58 is a database in which measurement data obtained from each transport device 3 is stored. The transport device control program is a program that manages and controls each transport device 3 , creates a moving route for each transport device 3 , and creates transport instructions for each transport device 3 .

Furthermore, the error log information database 59 is a database in which error log information obtained from each transport device 3 is stored. The travel performance data database 60 is a database in which travel performance data acquired from each transport device 3 is stored.

On the other hand, the data input/output program 50 is a program having a function of exchanging necessary commands (including transport instructions) and information with each transport device 3 via the communication interface 45 . The data input/output program 50 stores the device information, measurement data, error log information, and travel performance data acquired from each transport device 3 into a device information database 53, a measurement data database 58, an error log information database 59, or travel performance data, respectively. Each is stored in the database 60 . The data input/output program 50 may also have a function of receiving input data from the input device 43 and transmitting (outputting) output data such as a display screen to the output device 44 . Note that the data input/output program 50 may be composed of a plurality of programs, and the programs may be selectively used according to the communication standard or the like. Details of the error analysis program 51 and the measurement data analysis program 52 will be described later.

FIG. 6 shows a specific configuration example of the error log information database 59 held by the operation control device 4. FIG. The error log information database 59 of this embodiment includes an error log information identification number column 59X, an error detection date and time column 59A, a conveying apparatus ID column 59B, an error type column 59C, an error code column 59D, an error content column 59E, and an address column 59F. , mode column 59G, transport shelf ID column 59H, shelf/merchandise weight column 59I, remaining battery capacity column 59J, running state column 59K, running speed column 59L, acceleration column 59M, cumulative travel distance column 59N, cumulative acceleration times column 59O and It has a table structure with a communication status column 59P. In the error log information database 59 , one row corresponds to one error log information acquired from one of the conveying devices 3 .

A specific error detected by the transport device 3 has a correlation with the state of the floor surface. As an example of such a correlation, when the transport device 3 travels (including turning) on a floor with a certain floor surface state (for example, a floor surface with a large degree of damage), the occurrence frequency of a specific error is different on different floors. It was found that there are cases where it becomes significantly larger than the surface condition (for example, a normal floor surface, a floor surface with a small degree of damage, etc.). The specific correlation between the error (type and frequency of error) and the state of the floor surface varies depending on, for example, the specific design of the transport device 3, the environmental factors of the warehouse 2 such as the material of the floor surface, and the like. May vary depending on factors.

Here, at least some of the specific errors that are correlated with the state of the floor are caused by, for example, the transport device 3 traveling on a floor with a certain floor state (for example, a floor with a large degree of damage). (including turning), it may occur due to loads such as shocks and vibrations applied to the conveying device 3 . Here, the load such as shock and vibration applied to the transport device 3 is, for example, the mode of the transport device 3 (acceleration, deceleration, constant speed, turning, stop, etc.), the weight of the shelf and products transported by the transport device 3, the running state (Running, stopping, etc.), running speed, acceleration, etc. may change.

Also, the relationship between the load such as shock and vibration applied to the transport device 3 and the specific error may vary depending on the state of the transport device 3 . In this embodiment, as an example of the information indicating the state of the transport device 3, the cumulative traveling distance and the cumulative number of times of acceleration of the transport device 3 will be described. , etc., as long as it is an index related to resistance to load. Note that the index related to resistance to load may be an index that can be related to the deterioration of the conveying device 3 .

Errors detected by the transport device 3 may be caused by other factors regardless of the load such as impact or vibration applied to the transport device 3. Some errors may be caused by a combination of other factors. In order to identify the cause of an error, it may be necessary to comprehensively analyze the situation at the time of error occurrence. (including information indicating the remaining battery level and communication status).

In the error log information identification number column 59X, an identification number unique to the error log information within the error log information database 59 given to the corresponding error log information (hereinafter referred to as an error log information identification number). is stored.

Further, the transport device ID column 59B stores an identifier (transport device ID) unique to the transport device 3 assigned to the transport device 3 that generated the corresponding error log information, and the error detection date and time column 59A stores the The time when the transport device 3 detected the corresponding error is stored.

The error type column 59C stores the corresponding error type (error type). Error types include "measurement data-related" errors related to measurement data, "communication-related" errors related to communication, and "operation-related" errors related to operations.

Further, the error code column 59D stores the error code of the corresponding error, the error content column 59E stores the specific content of the corresponding error, and the address column 59F stores the corresponding conveying device 3. The position (address) in the warehouse 2 at the time when the error was detected is stored. In this embodiment, the "time at which an error is detected" may be the time at which the error is detected, or the time at which the error occurs (or the time at which the error is presumed to have occurred). good too. This "time at which an error is detected" is sometimes referred to as the time at which an error is detected.

For example, depending on the type of error, there are errors that can be detected immediately after they occur (at least some operational errors, etc.). In some cases, various conditions, such as the shelf being placed on the floor, the running state and mode of the conveying device, do not change (there is no change in the state to the extent that it does not affect the identification of the floor surface state). In this case, either the time at which the error occurred or the time at which the error was detected may be used as the 'time at which the error was detected'.

Also, for example, depending on the type of error, there are errors (eg, some communication errors, etc.) that are detected after a predetermined period of time has passed since the error (or event related to the error) occurred. In such an error, the time when the error (or the event related to the error) occurred and the time when the error was detected, various conditions such as the position of the transport device, the shelf being transported, the running state and mode of the transport device, etc. May change (there is a change in conditions to the extent that it affects the identification of floor conditions). For example, a communication error may be detected when communication is not possible for a predetermined period of time. In the case of such an error, the time at which an error-related event (for example, a state in which communication is not possible) occurs or is detected may be defined as "the time at which the error is detected."

Also, in the mode column 59G, the operation mode ("acceleration", "rotation", "deceleration", "shelf") of the transport device 3 when a corresponding error occurs in the corresponding transport device 3 (when the error is detected) is displayed. lift", "lower shelf" or "stop") are stored.

Further, the transport shelf ID column 59H stores the identifier (shelf ID) of the shelf 5 when the corresponding transport device 3 transports the shelf 5 when the error occurs (when the error is detected). , the shelf/commodity weight column 59I stores the weight of the entire shelf 5 including the weight of the stored commodity.

The remaining battery capacity column 59J stores the remaining capacity of the battery mounted on the transport device 3 at the time when the error occurs (when the error is detected), and the running state column 59K stores the remaining capacity of the transport device at that time. 3 running states (“running” or “stopped”) are stored. The traveling speed column 59L and the acceleration column 59M store the traveling speed and acceleration of the conveying device 3 at the time when each error occurs (when the error is detected).

The cumulative travel distance column 59N and the cumulative acceleration count column 59O store the cumulative travel distance and the cumulative acceleration count up to the time when the error of the corresponding transport device 3 occurs (when the error is detected). 59P stores the communication state of the transport device 3 at that time.

The error log information database 26 ( FIG. 5 ) held by each transport device 3 basically has the same configuration as the error log information database 59 held by the operation control device 4 . However, the error log information database 26 held by each transport device 3 stores only the error log information generated in that transport device 3 .

Also, FIG. 7 shows a specific configuration example of the travel performance data database 60 held by the operation control device 4 . The running record data database 60 has a table structure with a mark detection date column 60A, a carrier ID column 60B, an address column 60C, a carrier shelf ID column 60D, a shelf/product weight column 60E, and a running state column 60F. One row of the travel record data database 60 corresponds to the state of the transport device 3 when the transport device 3 detects one marker 2B. In addition, when the operation mode of the transport device 3 ("accelerate", "turn", "decelerate", "lift the shelf", "lower the shelf", or "stop"), the travel performance data database 60 is stored. , the running record data at that time may be held.

The transport device ID of the corresponding transport device 3 is stored in the transport device ID column 60B, and the date and time when the transport device 3 detected the corresponding marker 2B is stored in the mark detection date and time column 60A. The address column 60C stores the address indicated by the marker 2B (that is, the position of the conveying device 3 at that time). If the transport device 3 is transporting the shelf 5 at that time, the shelf ID of the shelf 5 is stored in the transport shelf ID column 60D.

Furthermore, the total weight of the shelf 5 and all the products stored on that shelf 5 is stored in the shelf/product weight column 60E. When the transport device 3 does not transport the shelf 5, the transport shelf ID column 60D and the shelf/product weight column 60E may store a predetermined value indicating that the shelf 5 is not transported. It does not have to be. The running state column 60F stores the running state of the corresponding transport device 3 when the corresponding marker 2B is detected.

Therefore, in the example of FIG. 7, in the ninth line from the top (#9), the transport device ID of the corresponding transport device 3 is "AGV0005", and "2020/05/20 11:36:15" is changed to " (4, 3)" is detected, and at that time, the transport device 3 is transporting a shelf 5 with a total weight of "400" [kg] and having a transport shelf ID of "SHE0006". It is indicated that the running state of the conveying device 3 at that time was "running".

Further, each row of the travel record data database 60 indicates the operation mode (“acceleration”, “turning”, “deceleration”, “lift up shelf”) as the state of the transport device 3 when the transport device 3 detects one marker 2B. , ``lower the shelf'' or ``stop''), the remaining capacity of the battery mounted on the transport device 3, the traveling speed and acceleration of the transport device 3, the communication state of the transport device 3, and the marker 2B of the transport device 3. The accumulated running distance and the number of times of acceleration up to the time of detection may be stored.

The travel performance data database 28 ( FIG. 5 ) held by each transport device 3 basically has the same configuration as the travel performance data database 60 held by the operation control device 4 . However, although the travel performance data database 60 held by the operation control device 4 stores the travel performance data of each transport device 3, the travel performance data database 28 held by each transport device 3 is stored in the transport device 3. Only the generated travel performance data is stored.

The control device 10 of each transport device 3 changes the timing of detecting the mark and the operation mode ("accelerate", "turn", "decelerate", "lift the shelf", "lower the shelf" or "stop"). The driving performance data is recorded in the driving performance data database 28 at a predetermined timing such as the timing when the vehicle is detected or the timing when an error is detected.

(1-2) Floor State Determining Function Next, the floor state determining function installed in the operation control device 4 will be described. This floor surface state determination function is a function for determining the floor surface state of the warehouse 2 based on measurement data, error log information, and running performance data collected from each transport device 3 .

The operation control device 4 periodically or irregularly collects measurement data, error log information, and travel performance data from each transport device 3, and stores them in a measurement data database 58, an error log information database 59, or a travel performance data database 60. accumulated in

Then, the operation control device 4 issues a predetermined instruction to analyze the error log information registered in the error log information database 59 to determine the state of the floor surface of the warehouse 2 (hereinafter referred to as an error analysis instruction). ) is input by the user, based on the error code of each error log information accumulated in the error log information database 59, for each section 2A in the warehouse 2, one of the transport devices 3 in that section 2A The number of occurrences and the frequency of occurrence for each type of error that has occurred (hereafter referred to as error type) are counted.

If the number of occurrences or the frequency of occurrence of any error type exceeds a preset threshold for that error type, the operation control device 4 outputs an alert to that effect to the output device 44. The user is notified to that effect by displaying the

In addition, when the number of occurrences or frequency of occurrence of any error type does not exceed a preset threshold value for that error type, the operation control device 4 collects the total result and the measurement data collected from each transport device 3. , the degree of damage for each section 2A of the floor is determined based on the error log information and the actual running data. Then, the operation control device 4 generates a floor state determination result screen 70 described later with reference to FIG. 8 based on this determination result, and displays the generated floor state determination result screen 70 on the output device 44.

As a means for realizing the floor condition determination function as described above, as shown in FIG. and a measurement data analysis program 52 are stored.

The error analysis program 51 is a program that has the function of analyzing each error log information stored in the error log information database 59 and determining the state of the floor surface of the warehouse 2 for each section 2A. The error analysis program 51 notifies the user of an alert as described above based on the determination result of such determination, and displays a floor state determination result screen 70 (FIG. 8) on the output device 44, which will be described later. Alerts may notify external parties for external maintenance in addition to the user.

The measurement data analysis program 52 also analyzes the image data (image data, moving image data, etc.) from each transport device 3 stored in the measurement data database 58, and determines the presence or absence of color change and unevenness of the floor surface. It is a program having a function of displaying the judgment result on the output device 44. FIG.

In this embodiment, the analysis and determination by the measurement data analysis program 52 are performed independently of the error analysis program 51, and the determination result is not used for the determination of the floor state by the error analysis program 51. The error analysis program 51 may also use the analysis and determination results of the measurement data analysis program 52 to determine the floor condition.

For example, if the floor surface determined to be highly damaged by the error analysis program 51 is similarly determined to be highly damaged by the measurement data analysis program 52, the accuracy of the determination is improved. On the other hand, even damage to the floor that cannot be detected by the measurement data analysis program 52 can be detected by the error analysis program 51 if it causes an error. In addition, the measurement data analysis program 52 can detect even damage that does not cause an error (for example, small damage). In this way, the analysis and determination of the floor state by the error analysis program 51 may be performed independently. The results may also be used for comprehensive determination.

FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of the above-described floor condition determination result screen 70 displayed on the output device 44 by the error analysis program 51. FIG. The floor condition determination result screen 70 comprises an account information display area 71 , a conveying device condition display area 72 , a floor damage situation visualization map display area 73 and an error data summary display area 74 .

Then, in the account information display area 71, the user name and user ID of the user who is logging in to the operation control device 4 at that time, the date and time when the user logged in to the operation control device 4 ("login date and time"), and finally The date and time when the error log information was updated (“data update date and time”) are displayed respectively. Further, in the transport device status display area 72, the transport device IDs and statuses of all the transport devices 4 present in the warehouse 2 at that time are displayed. The information of the transporting device status displayed in the transporting device status display area 72 may be configured based on the device information of the device information database 53 .

Furthermore, a floor damage visualization map 75 is displayed in the floor damage visualization map display area 73 . The floor damage status visualization map 75 is a map that visualizes the damage status of the floor surface of the warehouse 2, and has a plurality of areas 75A corresponding to the respective sections 2A of the floor surface. Then, the necessary areas 75A out of these areas 75A are indicated by images (for example, patterns or marks, coloring with colors or densities, etc.) according to the degree of damage of the sections 2A of the floor corresponding to the areas 75A. be

Specifically, in the case of the present embodiment, the degree of damage to the floor surface is divided into "repair required" ("area requiring repair" in FIG. 8), which is severe enough to require repair, and "Large" ("Severe damage" in Figure 8), "Medium" ("Medium damage" in Figure 8) less than "Large" damage, and "Medium" damage It is divided into five stages: "small" ("small damage" in FIG. 8), and "normal state" in which the damage has not progressed to "small". In the floor damage visualization map 75, the area 75A in which the degree of damage in the section 2A corresponding to the floor is "normal" is neither colored nor patterned, and the degree of damage in the section 2A corresponding to the floor is "small". , , , , , , , , , or , are indicated by colors, densities, and patterns according to their degrees of damage.

Furthermore, in the error data summary display area 74, information on errors that have occurred in the transport device 3 within the warehouse 2 is displayed in a table format. Specifically, for each error, the serial number ("#") given to the error, the position ("address") of the section 2A on the floor where the error occurred, and the error type ("error type") ), the number of times an error of that error type has been detected in that section 2A (“error detection count”), a predetermined threshold for that error (“error detection count threshold”), and error log information for that error. The date (“error information update date”) registered in the error log information database 26 of the corresponding transport device 3 and the judgment result (“damage degree”) of the degree of damage to the section 2A at that address are displayed in a list format. be. The error information displayed in the error data summary display area 74 can be scrolled by operating the scroll bar 74A. The error information in the error data summary display area 74 may be sorted or filtered by error detection date/time, error type, error code, address, degree of damage, and the like. The error information displayed in the error data summary display area 74 may be configured based on the error log information in the error log information database 59 .

Then, on the floor surface condition determination result screen 70, the serial number assigned to the desired error among the various types of information displayed in the error data summary display area 74 (the number written in the "#" column) ), the display screen can be switched to an error data detail screen 80 as shown in FIG.

This error data detail screen 80 displays the details of the error selected by this click. Since the details of the error displayed at this time are the same as the content of the error log information of the error registered in the error log information database 59, description thereof will be omitted here. The operation control device 4 generates an error data detail screen 80 based on the error log information in the error log information database 59 and displays the generated error data detail screen 80 on the output device 44 .

(1-3) First Error Analysis Processing Next, the first error analysis processing executed by the error analysis program 51 of the operation control device 4 in relation to the floor state determination function will be described. In the following description, the subject of each process will be described as an "error analysis program", but in practice, it goes without saying that the CPU 40 of the operation control device 4 executes the process based on the error analysis program 51. stomach.

FIG. 10 shows a series of processes of the first error analysis process executed by the error analysis program 51 of the operation control device 4 when the user inputs the error analysis instruction. The first error analysis process may be executed periodically or irregularly, as well as when an error analysis instruction is input by the user. For example, the error analysis program 51 counts the number of error occurrences in the most recent predetermined period based on the error log information database 59, and when the number exceeds a predetermined threshold, the first error analysis process may be executed. good.

When such a predetermined error analysis instruction is input, the error analysis program 51 starts the first error analysis process shown in FIG. (S1).

At this time, the range of error log information read out from the error log information database 59 by the error analysis program 51 is all the error log information registered in the error log information database 59. Only the error log information for the most recent predetermined period (for example, the most recent year) may be included.

Subsequently, the error analysis program 51 aggregates the number of occurrences and the frequency of occurrence for each error code (for each error type) in each section 2A of the floor of the warehouse 2 (S2).

Specifically, the error analysis program 51 stores the address of the section 2A in the address column 59F of the error log information database 59 described above with reference to FIG. extract all entries (rows) that The error analysis program 51 classifies the extracted entries by the error code stored in the error code column 59D, thereby calculating the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A.

Also, the error analysis program 51 calculates the "occurrence frequency of each error code" in each section 2A based on the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A thus obtained.

Here, the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A is related to the number of times the section 2A has been passed. For example, if the number of passages through a section 2A is zero, the number of error occurrences in the section 2A is zero. If a certain section 2A has a large degree of damage, and an error is likely to occur when the conveying device 3 passes through, the number of occurrences of each error code increases as the number of passages through the section 2A increases. there is a possibility.

Also, the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A is related to the aggregation period of the error log information. For example, if the period is zero, the number of error occurrences in each section 2A is zero. Basically, the longer the period, the higher the number of times of transport by the transport device 3 during the period, and the more likely the number of passes through each section 2A. Since the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A is related to the number of times the section 2A has been passed, it can be said that there is a correlation with the collection period of the error log information.

Therefore, the "frequency of occurrence of each error code" in each section 2A is a value indicating the frequency of occurrence of each error code when passing through each section 2A. It may be a ratio of the number of occurrences for each code.

Further, for example, as the frequency of occurrence of each error code for a predetermined period, the error analysis program 51 calculates, for example, the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A during the period of the error log information read in step S1 (month, week, or number of days) to calculate the frequency of occurrence of each error code in each section 2A. Further, for example, the “frequency of occurrence of each error code” in each section 2A may be the number of occurrences in the most recent predetermined period (for example, the most recent month or the most recent week) registered in the error log information database 59.

Next, the error analysis program 51 compares the number of occurrences of each error code in each section 2A with a threshold set in advance for each error code (more precisely, each error type corresponding to each error code), and It is determined whether or not there is a section 2A in which the number of occurrences of any error code exceeds a threshold set for that error code (hereinafter referred to as an alert threshold) (S3).

When the error analysis program 51 obtains a positive result in this determination, it generates an alert containing all the addresses of the section 2A in which the number of occurrences of any error code exceeds the alert threshold set for that error code. The alert is displayed on the output device 44 and/or sent to the user's e-mail address registered in advance to notify the user (S4), and then the process proceeds to step S5.

On the other hand, if the error analysis program 51 obtains a negative result in step S3, it proceeds to step S5. In step S5, based on the number of occurrences and the frequency of occurrence of each error code in each section 2A calculated in step S2, damage degree determination processing is executed to determine the degree of damage for each section 2A (S5).

After that, the error analysis program 51 generates the floor state determination result screen 70 (FIG. 8) according to the determination result of step S5, and outputs the generated floor state determination result screen 70 to the output device 44 (FIG. 5). ) (S6).

Specifically, based on the processing result of step S5, the error analysis program 51 converts each area 75A in FIG. A floor damage situation visualization map 75 shown is generated. In addition, the error analysis program 51 displays the generated floor damage situation visualization map 75, necessary information out of the error log information acquired in step S1, and other necessary information on the floor state determination result screen 70 ( FIG. 8). The error analysis program 51 supplies the screen data of the floor condition determination result screen 70 thus generated to the output device 44 to display the floor condition determination result screen 70 on the output device 44 .

The error analysis program 51 then ends this first error analysis process.
Here, as a modification, for example, S1, S2, S5, and S6 may be executed in order without executing S3 and S4 in the first error analysis process. For example, when an error analysis instruction is input by the user and the first error analysis process is executed, the floor condition determination result screen 70 of S6 is displayed on the output device 44 so that the user can grasp the floor damage status. .
As another modification, in the first error analysis process, S1, S2, S3, S4, and S6, for example, may be executed in order without executing S5. In this case, for S6, the error analysis program 51 identifies all the addresses of the section 2A that exceed the alert threshold value as abnormal locations (for example, locations requiring repair or large damage, etc.) based on the determination result of S3. A floor damage status visualization map 75 may be generated and the floor surface condition determination result screen 70 may be displayed on the output device 44 .

Also, as another modification, for S3 and S4, the frequency of error code occurrence may be used instead of the number of error code occurrences. For example, in S3, the error analysis program 51 compares the frequency of occurrence of each error code in each section 2A with threshold values set in advance for each error code (more precisely, each error type corresponding to each error code). By comparing, it may be determined whether or not there is a section 2A in which the occurrence frequency of any error code exceeds the threshold (alert threshold) set for that error code.

FIG. 11 shows specific processing contents of the error analysis program 51 in step S5 of the first error analysis process. When proceeding to step S5 of the first error analysis process, the error analysis program 51 starts the damage degree determination process shown in FIG. selects one unprocessed section 2A (S10).

Subsequently, the error analysis program 51 causes the partition (hereinafter referred to as the selected partition) 2A selected in step S10 to correspond to each error code tabulated in step S2 (FIG. 10) of the first error analysis process. The total number of occurrences of errors, that is, the total number of errors that occurred in any of the transport devices 3 in the selected section 2A, is the criterion for determining that there is no damage to the floor surface or there is a possibility that there is no damage to the floor surface. (S11).

The reason why the total number of error occurrences is included in the criteria for judging the degree of damage to the selected section 2A is that the sensor 14 (FIG. 5) mounted on each transfer device 3 detects the state of the floor surface. This is because, since it is not a dedicated sensor, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determination by determining the degree of damage to the selected section 2A based on a plurality of errors. However, this step S11 may be omitted.

In addition to the fact that the total number of errors that have occurred in the selected section 2A exceeds the error total threshold, the fact that two or more transport devices 3 have errors, or that two or more transport devices 3 have errors The condition for obtaining a positive result in step S11 may be that the total number of occurrences of the error exceeds the threshold for the total number of errors. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the influence of errors caused by the individual transport devices 3 and improve the determination accuracy.

Then, when the error analysis program 51 obtains a negative result in the judgment in step S11, the judgment result of the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is determined as follows: (S16).

On the other hand, if the error analysis program 51 obtains a positive result in the judgment in step S11, it judges that there is or is likely to be damage to the floor above a certain level, and , one error code that has not been processed after step S13 is selected (S12). Hereinafter, the error code selected at this time will be referred to as a selected error code.

Subsequently, the error analysis program 51 calculates the error occurrence count based on the number of occurrences of the error corresponding to the selected error code in the selected section 2A, which is obtained by counting in step S2 of the first error analysis process. The damage degree of the selected section 2A is determined (S13).

In practice, the error analysis program 51 includes an upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences of errors corresponding to each error code for determining the degree of damage to the floor surface as a "normal state" (hereinafter referred to as a first upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences). ), the upper limit threshold of the number of occurrences of errors corresponding to each error code for determining the degree of damage to the floor surface as "small" (hereinafter referred to as the second upper limit threshold of the number of occurrences), and the floor The upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences of errors corresponding to each error code for determining the degree of damage to the surface as "medium" (hereinafter referred to as the third upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences), and the degree of damage to the floor surface as " An upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences of an error corresponding to each error code for determining "large" (hereinafter referred to as a fourth upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences) is given in advance. It should be noted that these first to fourth upper limit values for the number of occurrences may be set for each section 2A of the floor surface.

Then, the error analysis program 51 compares the number of error occurrences corresponding to the selected error code acquired in step S2 of the first error analysis process with the corresponding first to fourth occurrence number upper limit thresholds, respectively. The degree of damage to the selected section 2A is determined from the number of occurrences of .

Specifically, the error analysis program 51 determines that the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is "normal" when the number of occurrences of the error corresponding to the selected error code is equal to or less than the first upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences. If it is greater than the first upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences and equal to or less than the second upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences, the degree of damage to the selected section 2A is determined to be "small", and the number of occurrences is greater than the second upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences. is greater than or equal to the third upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences, the degree of damage to the selected section 2A is judged to be "medium".

Further, the error analysis program 51 determines that the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is "large" when the number of occurrences is greater than the third upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences and equal to or less than the fourth upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences. If the number of occurrences is greater than the fourth upper limit threshold for the number of occurrences, the degree of damage to the selected section 2A is determined to be "repair required".

In addition, if the degree of damage is determined to be "normal", there is no damage beyond a certain level on the floor, or there is no possibility of damage (including cases where the damage is small enough not to cause an error). If the degree of damage is judged to be "small", "medium" or "large", it means that the floor surface has or is likely to be damaged beyond a certain level. In this case, the degree of damage is greater in "medium" than in "small" and greater in "large" than in "medium". A determination that the degree of damage is “repair required” means that the damage to the floor surface is severe and that portion needs to be repaired. The same applies to the following.

Next, the error analysis program 51, based on the frequency of occurrence of the error corresponding to the selected error code in the selected section 2A, which is obtained in step S2 of the first error analysis process, is viewed from the error occurrence frequency. The damage degree of the selected section 2A is determined (S14).

In practice, the error analysis program 51 includes upper thresholds for the frequency of occurrence of errors corresponding to each error code for determining that the degree of damage to the floor is in a "normal state" ), the upper limit threshold of the frequency of occurrence of errors corresponding to each error code for determining the degree of damage to the floor surface as "small" (hereinafter referred to as the second upper limit threshold of occurrence frequency), and the floor The upper limit threshold of the frequency of occurrence of errors corresponding to each error code for determining the degree of damage to the surface as "medium" (hereinafter referred to as the third upper limit threshold of occurrence frequency), and the degree of damage to the floor surface as " An upper limit threshold of the frequency of occurrence of errors corresponding to each error code (hereinafter referred to as a fourth upper limit threshold of occurrence frequency) for determining "large" is given in advance. Note that the first to fourth occurrence frequency upper limit values may be set for each section 2A of the floor surface.

Then, the error analysis program 51 compares the error occurrence frequency corresponding to the selected error code acquired in step S2 of the first error analysis process with the corresponding first to fourth occurrence frequency upper limit thresholds, respectively. The degree of damage to the selected section 2A is determined from the frequency of occurrence of .

Specifically, when the error occurrence frequency corresponding to the selected error code is equal to or lower than the first occurrence frequency upper limit threshold, the error analysis program 51 determines that the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is "normal", If the occurrence frequency is greater than the first occurrence frequency upper limit threshold and equal to or less than the second occurrence frequency upper limit threshold, the degree of damage to the selected section 2A is determined to be "small".

Further, the error analysis program 51 determines that the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is "medium" when the frequency of occurrence is greater than the second upper limit threshold of occurrence frequency and equal to or less than the third upper limit threshold of occurrence frequency. When the occurrence frequency is greater than the third occurrence frequency upper limit threshold and equal to or less than the fourth occurrence frequency upper limit threshold, the degree of damage of the selected section 2A is determined to be "large". Further, the error analysis program 51 determines that the degree of damage of the selected partition 2A is "repair required" when the occurrence frequency is greater than the fourth occurrence frequency upper limit threshold.

After that, the error analysis program 51 determines whether or not the processes of steps S13 to S15 have been executed for all error codes of each error that occurred in the selected section 2A (S15).

If the error analysis program 51 obtains a negative result in this determination, it returns to step S, and thereafter, while sequentially switching the error code selected in step S12 to other error codes that have not been processed in steps S13 and subsequent steps, steps S12 to S15 are executed. repeat the process. By this iterative process, the damage degree of the selected section 2A based on the number of occurrences of each error occurring in the selected section 2A and the damage degree of the selected section 2A based on the frequency of occurrence of each error occurring in the selected section 2A are determined. be.

Then, the error analysis program 51 eventually determines the degree of damage to the selected section 2A from the number of occurrences of all types of errors that have occurred in the selected section 2A, and the selected section from the frequency of occurrence of the errors. If a positive result is obtained in step S by obtaining the determination result of the damage degree of 2A, the final determination result of the damage degree of the selected section 2A is determined based on all the determination results of steps S12 to S15. (S16).

Various methods can be applied as a method for determining the final determination result of the damage degree of the selected section 2A. For example, among all the determination results obtained by the repeated processing of steps S12 to S15, the determination result with the highest degree of damage may be used as the final determination result of the degree of damage of the selected section 2A.

In addition, the judgment result of the degree of damage to the selected section 2A from the number of occurrences of specific types of errors that are likely to occur due to vibrations and shocks caused by the floor surface state, and the damage to the selected section 2A from the frequency of occurrence of the errors. Of these determination results, the determination result with the highest degree of damage may be used as the final determination result of the degree of damage of the selected section 2A. By doing so, the accuracy of the determination result of the degree of damage can be improved. The "specific type of error" may be of not only one type but also multiple types.

In addition, the error analysis program 51 also uses the analysis and judgment results of the measurement data analysis program 52 when determining the final judgment result of the damage degree of the selected section 2A to determine the floor surface state (damage degree). You may make it Here, the measurement data analysis program 52 analyzes the image data (image data, moving image data, etc.) from each conveying device 3 stored in the measurement data database 58, and determines the presence or absence of color change, unevenness, etc. of the floor surface. The degree of damage may be determined from

After that, the error analysis program 51 determines whether or not the degree of damage has been determined for all sections 2A of the floor (S17). If the error analysis program 51 obtains a negative result in this determination, it returns to step S10, and after that, while sequentially switching the partition 2A selected in step S10 to other partitions 2A that have not been processed in step S11 and subsequent steps, The process of step S17 is repeated. Through this iterative process, the determination result of the degree of damage of all sections 2A of the floor surface in the warehouse 2 is determined.

Then, when the error analysis program 51 obtains a positive result in step S17 by finishing determining the damage degree judgment results for all of the sections 2A, it terminates this damage degree judgment processing and performs the first error analysis shown in FIG. Return to processing.

Also, as a modification, there may be cases where S13 or S14 is not executed in the damage degree determination process.

The error analysis program 51 may record the damage degree determination results for all sections 2A in the map information database 56. Further, the final determination result of the damage degree of the selected section 2A in S16 is determined based on the information of the damage degree of the selected section 2A in the past damage degree determination results with reference to the map information database 56. may The error analysis program 51 may, for example, use the determination result with the greater degree of damage as the final determination result of the degree of damage of the selected section 2A. For example, regarding the section 2A that was determined to have a large degree of damage in the past, when the operation control device 4 performs travel control such as preventing the transport device 3 from passing through the section 2A, the number of error occurrences in the most recent predetermined period can become zero. In such a case, regarding the final determination result of the degree of damage of the selected section 2A, in addition to the determination result of the degree of damage based on the number and frequency of occurrence of errors in the most recent predetermined period, the determination of the degree of damage in the past There is a possibility that determination accuracy will be improved if determination is made based on the information on the degree of damage of the selected section 2A in the results as well.

Further, when the floor surface of part or all of the section 2A is maintained and brought into a normal state, the operation control device 4, for example, the user or the person concerned with the maintenance inputs from the input device 43. The information of the section 2A and the maintenance completion date and time are acquired. The error analysis program 51 aggregates the number of occurrences and frequency of errors used in the error analysis process for judging the state of the floor, targeting errors occurring after the maintenance completion date and time for the section 2A where maintenance has been performed. In addition, regarding the past damage degree determination result information in the map information database 56, the section 2A that has undergone maintenance may be updated to a normal state.

(1-4) Effect of the present embodiment As described above, in the transport system 1 of the present embodiment, the operation control device 4 acquires error log information from each transport device 3, and based on the acquired error log information to determine the state of the floor surface in the warehouse 2. Therefore, it is possible to realize an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, and a method that can determine a floor state that can cause an error and improve the reliability of the transport system. This enables the user to operate and maintain the system according to the state of the floor determined by the operation control device 4 . As a result, according to the transport system 1, it is possible to realize a highly reliable transport system that can suppress the occurrence of errors in the transport device 3 due to the state of the floor surface.

(2) Second Embodiment In FIGS. 1 and 5, reference numeral 90 denotes an information processing system according to the second embodiment, and reference numeral 91 denotes an information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. An information processing system 90 (hereinafter referred to as a transport system 90) according to the present embodiment includes a second error analysis program 92 executed by an information processing device 91 (hereinafter referred to as an operation control device 91). The error analysis process is partially different from the first error analysis process. Except for this point, the transport system 90 is configured in the same manner as the transport system 1 of the first embodiment and can operate in the same manner.

FIG. 12 shows the flow of the second error analysis process executed by the error analysis program 92 of this embodiment when the user inputs the error analysis instruction to the operation control device 91 . When the error analysis instruction is input, the error analysis program 92 starts the second error analysis process shown in FIG. 12. First, the error log information registered in the error log information database 59 (FIG. 6) (S20). The second error analysis process may be executed periodically or irregularly, as well as when an error analysis instruction is input by the user. For example, the error analysis program 92 counts the number of error occurrences in the most recent predetermined period based on the error log information database 59, and when the number exceeds a predetermined threshold, the second error analysis process may be executed. good.

At this time, the error analysis program 92 of the present embodiment excludes error log information of errors caused by causes other than the state of the floor from the error log information registered in the error log information database 59, and leaves the remaining error log information. (In other words, only the error log information of errors that can be caused by the floor surface condition is acquired). For example, the error analysis program 92 pre-records error information (for example, one or more error codes) that may be caused by the floor condition in each transport device 3 in the error log information database, and in S20 Get error log information about your code. At this time, the range of the period of the error log information read out from the error log information database 59 by the error analysis program 51 is the entire period registered in the error log information database 59. It may be only for the most recent predetermined period (for example, the most recent one year).

Also, for example, the error analysis program 92 monitors the state (normal or abnormal) of each transport device 3 based on measurement data acquired from each transport device 3 accumulated in the measurement data database 58 . For example, if the value of some or all of the measurement data acquired from a certain transport device 3 continues to exceed a preset range, the transport device 3 is determined to be in an abnormal state, All or part of the error log information collected from the transport device 3 (for example, error log information collected from the transport device 3 after the timing at which the transport device 3 is determined to be abnormal) is acquired in step S20. Exclude from error log information.

For example, when an error is detected in the section 2A where the transport device 3 is located, under the same conditions as the running conditions when the error was detected (for example, the transport state of the shelf, the running direction, the running speed, the acceleration, etc.), other multiple 1 does not detect an error in the same section 2A and continues to detect an error even after the transfer apparatus 3 moves in the section 2A. If the transport device 3 is out of order and an error is detected even when the transport device 3 runs on a normal floor surface, such error log information is excluded, and the number and frequency of error occurrences are calculated. Aggregation is preferable.

Also, the error analysis program 92 refers to the error log information database 59 and monitors the number of error log information acquired from each transport device 3, and determines the total number or frequency of error log information, or the error log of a specific error. For a transport device 3 whose total number or frequency of information exceeds a preset threshold, it is determined that the transport device 3 is in an abnormal state, and all or part of the error log information collected from the transport device 3 ( For example, the error log information of an error whose number of error log information exceeds a threshold value may be excluded from the error log information acquired in step S20.

Further, the error analysis program 92 monitors the error log information for each conveying device 3, and determines the accumulated number of mode switching stored in the mode column 59G of the error log information and the running state stored in the running state column 59K. Cumulative number of switching, cumulative number of running speed switching stored in the running speed column 59L, cumulative number of acceleration switching stored in the acceleration column 59M, cumulative running distance stored in the cumulative running distance column 59N , and when any of the indexes related to the load of the conveying device 3, such as the accumulated number of accelerations stored in the accumulated number of accelerations column 59O, exceeds the preset threshold value for each of these indexes (the If the load exceeds a predetermined standard), all or part of the error log information acquired from the transport device 3 (for example, error log information related to the load after the index exceeds the threshold) is sent to step S20. may be excluded from the error log information acquired by .

Furthermore, the error log information to be excluded from the error log information acquired in step S20 may be determined by comprehensively judging the value of each index related to the load of the transport device 3. In this case, for example, the value of each index may be scored, and determination may be made based on whether or not the total value of the scores exceeds the threshold.

Thereafter, the error analysis program 92 executes the processes of steps S21 to S25 in the same manner as steps S2 to S6 of the first embodiment described above with reference to FIG. (FIG. 8) is displayed on the output device 44, after which the second error analysis process is terminated.

As described above, in the transport system 90 according to the present embodiment, from the error log information registered in the error log information database 59, error log information for errors caused by causes other than the state of the floor surface is excluded. Since the floor condition in the warehouse 2 is determined using the error log information of errors that may be caused by the floor condition, the floor condition can be determined with higher accuracy than the transport system 1 of the first embodiment. can judge. The reliability of the transport system 90 can be further improved as compared with the transport system 1 of the first embodiment.

(3) Third Embodiment In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an information processing system according to a third embodiment. This information processing system 100 (hereinafter referred to as a transport system 100) includes an information processing device 101 (hereinafter referred to as an operation control device 101), as shown in FIG. ) stores an error cause estimation program 102, and the error cause estimation program 102 performs error cause estimation processing, which is different from the transport system 1 of the first embodiment. Also, in the transport system 100, the third error analysis process executed by the error analysis program 103 is partially different from the first error analysis process. Except for these points, the transport system 100 is configured in the same manner as the transport system 1 of the first embodiment and can operate in the same manner.

The error cause estimating program 102, for each error log information registered in the error log information database 59, determines the location of the corresponding error, whether the transport device 3 is running, whether the transport device 3 is transporting the shelf 5, and so on. status of the transport device 3, the total weight of the shelf 5 and the product when the transport device 3 is transporting the shelf 5, information on the environment such as the communication state in the warehouse 2, and other compartments It is a program having a function of estimating the cause of the corresponding error based on at least one information of the error occurrence status in 2A and the error occurrence status in the other conveying device 3 .

The error cause estimating program 102, for each error log information registered in the error log information database 59 (FIG. 6), based on the error log information, determines whether the corresponding error is caused by the floor surface of the warehouse 2, the transport device, and so on. 3 itself, the total weight of the shelf 5 and the products, or the environment other than the floor surface in the warehouse 2. The error cause estimation program 102 then notifies the error analysis program 103 of the estimated error cause. As such an error cause estimation program 102, for example, learned artificial intelligence (AI) can be applied.

Based on the notification from the error cause estimation program 102, the error analysis program 103 determines that the cause of the error is the floor surface of the warehouse 2 by the error cause estimation program 102 among the error log information registered in the error log information database 59. The state of each section of the floor surface of the warehouse 2 is determined based only on the error log information estimated to be .

FIG. 14 shows the flow of error cause estimation processing executed by the error cause estimation program 102 when the above error analysis instruction is input from the user to the operation control device 101 . When the error analysis instruction is input, the error cause estimating program 102 starts the error cause estimating process shown in FIG. One piece of error log information unprocessed after step S31 is selected (S30). The error cause estimation process may be executed periodically or irregularly, as well as when an error analysis instruction is input by the user. For example, the error cause estimation program 102 (or the error analysis program 103) counts the number of error occurrences in the most recent predetermined period based on the error log information database 59, and when the number exceeds a predetermined threshold, error cause estimation processing may be performed.

Subsequently, the error cause estimation program 102 estimates the cause of the error corresponding to the error log information selected in step S30 (hereinafter referred to as selected error log information) (S31). In order to estimate the cause of this error, for example, it is sufficient to estimate whether the error in each error log information is an error that can be caused by the floor state or an error that is not caused by the floor state. The estimation result is notified to the error analysis program 103 together with the identification number of the selected error log information (error log information identification number) (S32).

Next, the error cause estimation program 102 determines whether or not the error causes have been estimated for all the error log information registered in the error log information database 59 (S33). If the error cause estimation program 102 obtains a negative result in this determination, it returns to step S30. The processing from S30 to step S33 is repeated.

When the error cause estimation program 102 eventually finishes estimating the error cause for all the error log information registered in the error log information database 59 and obtains a positive result in step S33, it terminates this error cause estimation process. .

On the other hand, FIG. 15 shows the flow of the third error analysis process executed by the error analysis program 103 of this embodiment. When the error analysis program 103 is notified of the estimation result of the error cause of the error corresponding to all the error log information registered in the error log information database 59 (FIG. 6), the error cause estimation program 102 performs error cause estimation. When the process (FIG. 14) ends, the third error analysis process shown in FIG. 15 is started.

Then, the error analysis program 103 first obtains the estimation that the corresponding error is caused by the floor surface of the warehouse 2 by the error cause estimation program 102 among all the error log information registered in the error log information database 59. Only the error log information obtained is acquired by reading all of it from the error log information database 59 (S40).

After that, the error analysis program 103 processes steps S41 to S45 in the same way as steps S2 to S6 in FIG. 10, and then ends this third error analysis process.

As described above, in the transport system 100 of the present embodiment, the floor condition in the warehouse 2 is determined using only the error log information that is estimated to be caused by the floor condition of the warehouse 2. Therefore, compared with the transport system 1 of the first embodiment, the state of the floor surface can be determined with higher accuracy. Compared to the transport system 1 of the first embodiment, the reliability of the transport system 100 can be further improved.

(4) Examples of configurations relating to floor state determination and display functions according to the first to third embodiments FIG. It is a conceptual diagram showing. For example, the

information processing devices

4, 91, and 101 of the

information processing systems

1, 90, and 100 acquire, from one or a plurality of transport devices 3, a plurality of pieces of error information including detection locations of errors occurring in the transport devices 3. An acquisition device and an error analysis device that analyzes a plurality of pieces of error information acquired by the error acquisition device and determines the state of the floor surface at the location where the error is detected. The determination result of the floor state is displayed as a floor state determination result screen 70 on the output device 44, for example.

For example, the

information processing devices

4, 91, and 101 include a storage device 42 for recording a plurality of error information, including detection locations of errors occurring in one or a plurality of transport devices 3, and analyzing the plurality of error information, and an error analysis device that determines the state of the floor surface at the error detection location.

Here, the detection location of the error occurring in the transport device 3 is, for example, the position of the transport device 3 at the time the transport device 3 detects the error. (for example, the address of the section 2A, etc.). The error information is, for example, error log information. The data acquisition device is a communication device such as the communication interface 45, for example. The data acquisition device includes, for example, a communication interface 45 , a CPU 40 , a memory 41 , a storage device 42 , etc., and executes a data input/output program 50 to communicate with each conveying device 3 via the communication interface 45 . Commands and information can be exchanged. The state of the floor surface at the error detection location is, for example, the degree of damage to the floor surface at the error detection location. The error analysis device is, for example, a processing device that determines the state of the floor surface at the error detection location based on the plurality of error information. The error analysis device may be realized by executing

error analysis programs

51, 92, and 103, including, for example, a CPU 40, a memory 41, a storage device 42, and the like. The error analysis device may execute the error cause estimation program 102, for example.

As described above, according to the floor surface state determination and display functions according to the first to third embodiments, the state of the floor surface of the transportation system is visualized in real time and provided to the user. By visualizing the state of the floor (floor surface condition), countermeasures (for example, travel control, etc.) and floor maintenance according to the degree of damage are possible, and the reliability of the transport system (information processing system) 1, 90, 100 is improved. can improve.

For example, based on the acquired error information, the error analysis device determines the state of the floor surface where the error is detected more than a predetermined number of times, which is at least two times, as having a certain level of damage or the possibility of damage. I judge. If more than a predetermined number of errors are detected at the same location, the error may be due to floor damage at that location. Judgment of the floor surface state based on a plurality of errors occurring at the location can improve the accuracy of floor surface state determination, rather than judging the floor surface state based on a single error that has occurred at the location.

For example, the error information includes information about the type of error that occurred in the transport device 3. The error analysis device determines the state of the floor surface at a location where more errors of at least one error type are detected than a predetermined number of times (predetermined threshold value) set for at least one error type. Determine that there is damage or that there is a possibility of damage. Here, the type of error may be an error code, for example.

Errors detected by the transport device 3 include errors caused by other factors, regardless of the load such as impact or vibration applied to the transport device 3 or the state of the floor surface. On the other hand, certain types of errors detected in the transport device 3 are correlated with floor conditions. Therefore, by determining the state of the floor at a place where a specific type of error correlated with the state of the floor is detected more than a predetermined number of times as being damaged or possibly being damaged, It is possible to improve the determination accuracy of the state of the surface.

For example, in the

transport systems

1, 90, and 100, a plurality of transport devices 3 may exist. The error analysis device determines the state of the floor surface at the location where the error occurred in each of the transport devices 3 is detected based on the error information acquired from the transport devices 3 .

For example, an error detected only in a certain transport device 3 may be caused by an abnormality (including failure) of the transport device 3 regardless of the state of the floor surface. Therefore, if the state of the floor surface at the location is determined based on the errors detected by the different transport devices 3 at the same location, the effect of the error caused by the abnormality of the individual transport device 3 is reduced, and the floor surface is It is possible to improve the determination accuracy of the state of

For example, the data acquisition device acquires transport information indicating whether or not the transport device 3 was transporting an object when the error was detected. Based on the transport information, the error analysis device specifies error information of an error detected while the transport device 3 was transporting the product, and based on the specified error information, determines the location where the error was detected. to determine the condition of the floor surface.

Also, for example, the data acquisition device acquires transport information including information on the weight of the transported object transported by the transport device 3 when the error is detected. The error analysis device identifies error information of an error detected when the weight of the product conveyed by the conveying device 3 exceeds a predetermined weight based on the conveying information, and identifies the error based on the identified error information. Determine the state of the floor surface at the detected location.

Here, the transport information includes, for example, transport shelf ID 59H, shelf/product weight 59I information, mode 59G information, running state 59K information, and running speed 59L information of the error log information (see FIG. 6) related to the error. It may be part or all. For example, with the error log information shown in FIG. This indicates that the conveying device 3 is not conveying the article when the error is detected. On the other hand, for example, in the error log information shown in FIG. 6, in the error log information of the error, when the transport shelf ID is recorded in the information of the transport shelf ID 59H, or the weight is recorded in the information of the shelf/product weight 59I. In some cases, it indicates that the transport device 3 is transporting an object when the error is detected. Further, for example, in the error log information of the error, when the information of the running state 59K is "running", the transport device 3 may be transporting the article when the error is detected. On the other hand, for example, in the error log information shown in FIG. If it is "0", it may be assumed that the conveying device 3 is not conveying an object. Further, the information on the weight of the product conveyed by the conveying device 3 when an error is detected may be the information on the weight recorded in the information of "shelf/merchandise weight 59I" in the error log information of the error. Note that, as the above-described transportation information, for example, among the information in the travel performance data database 60, for the transport device 3, the travel performance at the date and time closest to the error detection date and time (or the date and time immediately before the error detection date and time) Information such as the transport shelf ID 60D, the shelf/merchandise weight 60E, and the running state 60F in the data may be used.

At least some of the specific errors that are correlated with the state of the floor are caused, for example, by the transport device 3 traveling (including turning) on a floor in a certain state (for example, a floor with a large degree of damage). ), this may occur when the load such as shock or vibration applied to the conveying device 3 is large. Here, the load such as shock and vibration applied to the conveying device 3 is greater when the conveying device 3 is conveying the conveyed object than when the conveying device 3 is not conveying the conveyed object. can increase due to the influence of In addition, the load such as shock and vibration applied to the conveying device 3 may increase as the weight of the conveyed object increases. Therefore, an error detected when the transport device 3 is transporting an object or when the weight of the transport object transported by the transport device 3 exceeds a predetermined weight (predetermined threshold value) depends on the state of the floor surface. It can be said that the correlation becomes higher, and the accuracy of determining the state of the floor surface can be improved by using the error information.

For example, the data acquisition device acquires transport information indicating whether or not the transport device 3 was transporting an object when the error was detected. Based on the transport information and the error information, the error analysis device determines the frequency of occurrence of errors (or the number of occurrences of errors) detected while the transport device 3 was transporting the product. If the frequency of occurrence of errors (or the number of occurrences of errors) detected while not transporting the Determine that there is. In addition, when the difference in the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) is greater than a predetermined threshold, the error analysis device determines the state of the floor surface where the error is detected to be damaged at a certain level or more, or possibly damaged. may be determined to be viable. This determination may be performed for the same transport device 3, or may be performed for a different transport device 3 as well.

Also, for example, the data acquisition device acquires transport information including information on the weight of the transported object transported by the transport device 3 when the error is detected. Based on the transportation information and the error information, the error analysis device determines the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) of errors detected when the transportation device 3 is transporting an object weighing more than the first weight. When the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) of errors detected when the conveying device 3 is in the process of conveying an object weighing less than the second weight or when the conveying device 3 is not conveying an object is greater than , the state of the floor surface where the error is detected is determined to be damaged to a certain extent or possibly damaged. In addition, when the difference in the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) is greater than a predetermined threshold, the error analysis device determines the state of the floor surface where the error is detected to be damaged at a certain level or more, or possibly damaged. may be determined to be viable. Here, the first weight (predetermined first weight threshold) is the same or heavier (greater) than the second weight (predetermined second weight threshold). This determination may be performed for the same transport device 3, or may be performed for a different transport device 3 as well.

As described above, at least some of the specific errors correlated with the state of the floor are caused by, for example, the transport device 3 traveling on a floor with a certain floor state (for example, a floor with a large degree of damage). In the case of (including turning), this may occur when the load such as impact or vibration applied to the conveying device 3 is large. Therefore, the frequency of occurrence of errors (or the number of occurrences of errors) detected while the conveying device 3 is conveying an object is equal to the frequency of occurrence of errors detected while the conveying device 3 is not conveying an object. (or the number of occurrences of errors), or if the difference between the frequencies of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) is greater than a predetermined threshold, there is a possibility that it is a specific error that is correlated with the state of the floor surface. get higher Similarly, the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) of an error detected while the transport device 3 is transporting an object weighing more than the first weight is the second weight or less. When the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) of errors detected during transport of the transported product or when the transport device 3 is not transporting the transported product is greater than the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences), or the difference in the frequency of occurrence (or the number of occurrences) is greater than a predetermined threshold, it is more likely that it is a specific error that correlates with floor conditions. Therefore, in these cases, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining the state of the floor surface by determining that the state of the floor surface where the error is detected has or is likely to be damaged to a certain degree or more.

For example, the

information processing systems

1 , 90 , 100 include one or more transport devices 3 and

information processing devices

4 , 91 , 101 . The

information processing devices

4 , 91 , 101 have data acquisition devices and error analysis devices, manage the floor of the warehouse 2 in a plurality of sections 2</b>A, and control one or a plurality of transport devices 3 . On the floor of the warehouse 2, each of a plurality of compartments 2A has a marker 2B indicating the position of the compartment 2A. One or a plurality of transport devices 3 run on the floor of the warehouse 2, and when passing over each section 2A, read the markers 2B written on the floor of the section 2A to acquire information regarding the position of the section 2A; It is an unmanned guided vehicle that transports objects that are movably installed in the warehouse 2 . The transport device 3 that has detected the error sends error information including information about the position of the section 2A where the error was detected, which is the detection location of the error, and error code information about the error, to the information processing device. 4, 91, 101. The

information processing devices

4, 91, and 101 determine the state of the floor surface for each section 2A of the floor of the warehouse 2 based on a plurality of pieces of error information received from the transport device 3 that has detected the error. Information about the determination result of the state is output to the output device 44 . The conveyed object is the shelf 5, for example.

Further, for example, the information processing method in the

information processing systems

1, 90, and 100 includes, from one or a plurality of transport devices 3, information regarding the position of the section 2A where an error occurred in the transport device 3 is detected, and information regarding the error. a first step of acquiring a plurality of error information including error code information; analyzing the acquired plurality of error information; It comprises a second step of judging the state of the surface, and a third step of outputting information about the judgment result of the state of the floor to the output device 44 .

Alternatively, the transport device 3 that has detected the error may specify the detection location of the error. A detection location may be specified. For example, one or more transport devices 3 travel on the floor of the warehouse 2 and read the markers 2B written on the floor of the section 2A when passing over each section 2A to read information about the position of the section 2A (for example, address), and information on the position of the section 2A, identification information (conveyance device ID) of the conveyance device 3, and the date and time when the marker 2B was detected (mark detection date and time) are sent to the data acquisition device. Send. The data acquisition device records the travel performance data acquired from each transport device 3 in the storage device 42 . In addition, the transport device 3 that has detected an error provides information on the detection date and time of the error that occurred in the transport device 3, the type of the error (for example, an error code, etc.), and the identification information (transport device ID) of the transport device 3. The error information it contains is sent to the data acquisition device. The data acquisition device records the error information acquired from each transport device 3 in the storage device 42 . The error analysis device acquires the identification information of the transport device 3 by referring to the error information, and, for example, the mark The travel performance data whose detection date and time is closest to the error detection date and time (or the date and time immediately before the error detection date and time) is specified. The error analysis device may use information (for example, an address) regarding the position of the section 2A in the identified travel record data as the detection location of the error.

For example, the error analysis device, out of the error information acquired from the transport device 3, excludes the error information of errors that occur due to causes other than the condition of the floor surface, based on the remaining error information. determine the state.

For example, the error analysis device removes the error information of the error detected after the abnormal state of the conveying device 3 from among the error information acquired from the conveying device 3, based on the remaining error information. , determine the state of the floor surface. Here, for example, when the

information processing device

4, 91, 101, the transport device 3, another determination device, or the user determines that the transport device 3 is in an abnormal state, the transport device 3 is in an abnormal state. It can be said that Further, for example, after the conveying device 3 is in an abnormal state may be after it is determined that the conveying device 3 is in an abnormal state, or after the time when the abnormal state is estimated. For example, when the number or frequency of error information obtained from the transport device 3 exceeds a threshold, the error analysis device determines that the transport device 3 is in an abnormal state.

For example, when the load of the transport device 3 exceeds a predetermined standard, the error analysis device stores at least the error information of the error detected after the load exceeds the standard among the error information acquired from the transport device 3. The state of the floor surface is determined based on the remaining error information excluded.

For example, the

information processing devices

4 , 91 , 101 of the

information processing systems

1 , 90 , 100 each include an error cause estimating unit that estimates the cause of an error that has occurred in the conveying device 3 . The error analysis device determines the state of the floor based on the error information of the error estimated to be caused by the state of the floor by the error cause estimating unit. The error cause estimating unit may be realized by the error analysis device of the

information processing devices

4, 91, 101 executing the error cause estimating program 102. FIG.

For example, the error analyzer notifies an alert when the determined degree of floor damage exceeds a predetermined standard.

(5) Other Embodiments In the above-described first to third embodiments, a transport system that transports products together with shelves 5 in a warehouse 2 used by a company such as an online shopping company to store products. 1, 90, and 100, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be widely applied to various other transport systems such as a transport system for transporting parts in a factory. .

Further, in the above-described first to third embodiments, the

operation control devices

4 and 91 that remotely control each transport device 3 function as information processing devices that determine the state of the floor surface on which the transport device 3 travels. , 101, but the present invention is not limited to this. good too.

Further, in the first to third embodiments described above, the case where the error log information is composed of the information such as the error detection date and time, the conveying device ID, the error type and the error code described above with reference to FIG. 6 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the error log information may be configured with other information in addition to or instead of these information.

Furthermore, in the above-described first to third embodiments, a case has been described in which the marker 2B representing the address of each section 2A on the floor of the warehouse 2 is displayed in each section 2A. Not limited to this, the position in each section 2A may be indicated as it is by a numerical value or the like, and as a method of notating the address of the section 2A in each section 2A on the floor surface, there are various other methods. The method can be widely applied.

Furthermore, in the above-described first to third embodiments, the degree of damage to the floor surface is determined in five stages of "normal state", "small", "medium", "large" and "repair required". Although the case has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the damage to the floor surface may be determined using a number of steps other than five.

Furthermore, in the above-described first to third embodiments, a case was described in which the contents of the error log information as error information relating to the error that occurred in the conveying device 3 are shown in FIG. Various other contents can be applied as the contents of the error log information.

Furthermore, in the above-described first embodiment, all error log information registered in the error log information database 59 or error log information within a predetermined period is acquired (step S1 in FIG. 10), and the second and second In Embodiment 3, the case where the error log information of the error caused by the floor condition is acquired (step S20 in FIG. 12, step S40 in FIG. 15) has been described, but the present invention is limited to this. First, the condition of error log information of an error that occurred in the transport device 3 that was in a specific running state at the time of error detection, the condition of error log information of an error that occurred while the transport device 3 was transporting the shelf 5, etc. You may make it add as acquisition conditions of log information.

As for the running state, for example, when the transport device 3 moves at a higher speed, the transport device 3 may receive greater vibrations and shocks when passing through the section 2A where the floor surface is severely damaged. Therefore, by also considering the running state at the time of error detection in judging the floor surface state, the probability that the cause of the error is caused by the floor surface state can be increased.
Furthermore, when passing through the section 2A where the damage to the floor surface is large, the vibrations and shocks that the transport device 3 receives while transporting the shelf 5 are greater than when the shelf 5 is not transported, and the impact on the transport device 3 is large. may become large. Therefore, the probability that the cause of the error is caused by the floor surface condition can be increased. By doing so, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of determining the state of the floor surface.

In addition to the condition of error log information of an error that occurred while the transport device 3 was transporting the shelf 5, the vibration at that time registered in the measurement data database 58 (FIG. 5 etc.) is a vibration of a certain level or more. may be set as the acquisition condition for the corresponding error log information.

In addition, it is possible to estimate (calculate) the cumulative load on the floor surface at the point where the transport device has passed in the past from the past running performance data and the data on whether or not the shelf has been transported. By considering the accumulated load on the floor surface at the error detection location in combination with the floor surface determination using , it is possible to grasp the floor surface state with higher accuracy. As an example, when the accumulated load on the floor surface determined to be damaged is greater than a predetermined standard, the floor surface determination determined to be damaged is determined to be correct.

The present invention relates to an information processing system, and can be applied to a transport system having a transport device that transports an object while traveling on a floor surface.

1, 90, 100... Transport system (information processing system), 2... Warehouse, 2A... Section, 2B... Marker, 3... Transport device, 4, 91, 101... Operation control device (information processing device) ), 5... shelf, 40... CPU, 44... output device, 51, 92, 103... error analysis program, 56... map information database, 57... route data database, 58... measurement data database, 59... error log information database, 60... running record data database, 70... floor condition determination result screen, 80... error data detail screen, 102... error cause estimation program.

Claims

a data acquisition device for acquiring a plurality of pieces of error information including detection locations of errors occurring in the transport devices from one or more transport devices;
An information processing system, comprising: an error analysis device that analyzes a plurality of pieces of error information acquired by the error acquisition device and determines a state of a floor surface at the location where the error is detected.
The error analyzer is
Based on the acquired error information, the state of the floor surface where the error is detected more than a predetermined number of times, which is at least two times, is determined to be damaged or possibly damaged to a certain degree or more. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1.
The error information includes information about the type of error that occurred in the transport device,
The error analyzer is
The state of the floor surface at a location where more errors of at least one error type are detected than the predetermined number of times set for at least one error type is determined to be damaged to a certain degree or more or may be damaged. 3. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the determination is as follows.
There are a plurality of the conveying devices,
The error analyzer is
3. The state of the floor surface at the location where the error occurring in each of the transport devices is detected is determined based on the plurality of error information acquired from the plurality of transport devices. The information processing system according to .
The data acquisition device acquires transport information indicating whether or not the transport device was transporting an object when the error was detected,
The error analyzer is
Based on the transport information, the error information of the error detected while the transport device was transporting the transported object is specified, and based on the specified error information, the floor at the location where the error was detected is detected. 4. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein the surface state is determined.
The data acquisition device acquires transport information including weight information of a transported object transported by the transport device when the error is detected,
The error analyzer is
Based on the transport information, error information of an error detected when the weight of the transported object transported by the transport device exceeds a predetermined weight is specified, and the error is detected based on the specified error information. 4. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein the state of the floor surface of the place is determined.
The data acquisition device acquires transport information indicating whether or not the transport device was transporting an object when the error was detected,
The error analyzer is
Based on the conveying information and the error information, the frequency of occurrence of errors detected while the conveying apparatus is conveying an article is determined as the number of errors detected while the conveying apparatus is not conveying an article. 4. The information processing according to claim 3, characterized in that if the number of occurrences is higher than the frequency of occurrence, the state of the floor surface where the error was detected is determined to be damaged or possibly damaged to a certain degree or more. system.
The data acquisition device acquires transport information including weight information of a transported object transported by the transport device when the error is detected,
The error analyzer is
Based on the transport information and the error information, the frequency of occurrence of errors detected when the transport device is transporting an object weighing more than a first weight is less than or equal to a second weight of the transport device. condition of the floor at the location where the error was detected when the frequency of occurrence of the error detected when the transport device was not transporting the transported object was higher than the frequency of occurrence of the error detected when the transported object was transported 4. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein the information processing system determines that there is a certain amount of damage or that there is a possibility of damage.
The data acquisition device is
Acquiring transport information including information indicating whether or not the transport device was transporting an object when the error was detected and information about the running state of the transport device when the error was detected;
The error analyzer is
determining the state of the floor surface at the location where the error occurred in the conveying device while conveying the article was detected, based on at least a plurality of pieces of the error information and the conveying information; Item 4. The information processing system according to item 3.
The information processing system includes the one or more transport devices and an information processing device,
The information processing device includes the data acquisition device and the error analysis device, manages the floor of the warehouse in a plurality of sections, controls the one or more transport devices,
The floor of the warehouse is marked with a marker relating to the position of each of the plurality of compartments,
The one or more transport devices run on the floor of the warehouse, read the markers written on the floor of the compartment when passing over each compartment, acquire information about the position of the compartment, and move to the warehouse. It is an automated guided vehicle that transports shelves that can be installed,
The conveying device that has detected the error transmits error information including information about the position of the section where the error was detected, which is the detection location of the error, and error code information about the error, to the information processing device. send to
The information processing device determines the state of the floor surface for each section of the floor of the warehouse based on a plurality of pieces of error information received from the transport device that has detected the error, and provides information on the determination result of the state of the floor surface. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein is output to an output device.
The error analyzer is
The state of the floor surface is determined based on the remaining error information obtained from the transfer device, excluding the error information of errors caused by causes other than the state of the floor surface. The information processing system according to claim 1, characterized by determining.
The error analyzer is
Based on the remaining error information excluding the error information of the error detected after the abnormal state of the conveying device from among the error information acquired from the conveying device, the floor surface 12. The information processing system according to claim 11, wherein the state of is determined.
The error analyzer is
13. The information processing system according to claim 12, wherein when the number or frequency of said error information acquired from said transport device exceeds a threshold value, said transport device is determined to be in an abnormal state.
The error analyzer is
When the load of the transport device exceeds a predetermined standard, the remaining error information obtained by excluding at least the error information detected after the load exceeds the standard among the error information acquired from the transport device. The information processing system according to claim 11, wherein the state of the floor surface is determined based on error information.
further comprising an error cause estimating unit for estimating the cause of the error occurring in the transport device;
The error analyzer is
The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the state of the floor surface is determined based on the error information of the error estimated to be caused by the state of the floor surface by the error cause estimation unit.
The error analyzer is
2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein an alert is notified when the determined degree of damage to the floor surface exceeds a predetermined standard.
a storage device for recording a plurality of error information, including detection locations of errors occurring in one or more transport devices;
An information processing apparatus comprising: an error analysis device that analyzes the plurality of pieces of error information and determines a state of a floor surface at the location where the error is detected.
An information processing method in an information processing system comprising one or more conveying devices traveling on a warehouse floor and an information processing device, comprising:
The information processing device manages the floor of the warehouse in a plurality of sections, controls the one or more transport devices,
The floor of the warehouse is marked with a marker relating to the position of each of the plurality of compartments,
The one or more transport devices acquire information about the position of the compartment by reading the markers written on the floor of the compartment when passing over each compartment, and transport the goods movably installed in the warehouse. It is an automated guided vehicle that transports
The information processing method includes:
a first step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of error information including information on the position of a section where an error occurring in the transport device is detected and error code information on the error from the one or more transport devices;
a second step of analyzing the acquired plurality of error information and determining the state of the floor surface for each section of the floor of the warehouse, including the section of the error detection location;
a third step of outputting information about the determination result of the state of the floor to an output device;
An information processing method comprising: