CN113205294A

CN113205294A - Cargo checking method and system

Info

Publication number: CN113205294A
Application number: CN202110470340.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴新开; 霍向; 马亚龙
Original assignee: Beijing Lobby Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Lobby Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-28
Filing date: 2021-04-28
Publication date: 2021-08-03
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-28
Also published as: CN113205294B

Abstract

The application discloses a goods checking method and a goods checking system, which are used for improving the goods checking performance of a warehousing robot and improving the real-time performance of optimization of a checking scheme. The cargo checking method comprises the following steps: the warehousing machine crowd decision server receives first information of goods to be checked; the decision server receives second information of the warehousing robot group in the warehouse; the decision server determines a cargo inventory scheme according to the first information and the second information; the decision server sends the cargo inventory scheme to each robot in the warehouse; each robot in the warehouse checks the goods to be checked according to the goods checking scheme; and after the robot in the warehouse finishes checking, the obtained verification information is sent to a warehouse manager. The application also provides a cargo checking system.

Description

Cargo checking method and system

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of robots, in particular to a cargo checking method and a cargo checking system.

Background

The warehousing robot is applied to warehouses to perform a goods counting function and is a core part of the development of an intelligent warehousing system. At present, the defects of low efficiency, high labor cost and the like of checking the goods in the warehouse by using working personnel are overcome, and the working personnel face certain danger when checking dangerous goods. It is a trend to use warehousing robots to perform related tasks instead of human labor. However, in the prior art, the storage robot has the problems of poor real-time performance and poor optimization performance in the point planning of the goods tray.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above technical problems, embodiments of the present application provide a method and a system for checking goods, so as to improve the real-time performance of goods checking planning of a warehousing robot and improve the optimization performance.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cargo checking method, including:

the warehousing machine crowd decision server receives first information of goods to be checked;

the decision server receives second information of the warehousing robot group in the warehouse;

the decision server determines a cargo inventory scheme according to the first information and the second information;

the decision server sends the cargo inventory scheme to each robot in the warehouse;

each robot in the warehouse checks the goods to be checked according to the goods checking scheme;

and after the robot in the warehouse finishes checking, the obtained verification information is sent to a warehouse manager.

Further, the first information includes: the type of cargo and the distribution location of the cargo.

Further, the second information includes: the position of the robot, the electric quantity of the robot, the speed of the robot, and the acceleration of the robot.

Preferably, the determining, by the decision server, the cargo inventory scheme according to the first information and the second information includes:

and determining a cargo checking scheme according to the first information, the second information and the environment map information.

Preferably, the environment map information includes:

rasterizing an environment map to divide grids in the environment map into a passable grid, a shelf grid and an obstacle grid;

wherein the set of passable grids is X ═ { X ═ X₁,x₂,…,x_nOn a passable grid x_m(x_me.X) can realize the collection of goods shelves for scanning and identifying as v (X)_m) (ii) a n is the number of traversable meshes.

Further, the first information includes: the number set of the goods to be checked is {1,2, …, I, …, I }, and the ith kind of goods is A_i(ii) a Where I represents the number of the goods and I represents the total number of the goods.

Further, the second information includes: the number set of the robots in the warehousing robot group is {1,2, …, J, …, J, the jth robot is R_jThe starting position of the jth robot is S_RjThe j-th robot has a speed of q_Rj(ii) a Where J denotes the number of the robot and J denotes the total number of robots.

Preferably, the determining the cargo inventory scheme according to the first information, the second information and the environment map information includes:

determining goods to be checked by the robot;

determining a traversable grid which the robot needs to arrive at for checking the goods to be checked.

Further, the determining the goods to be checked by the robot includes:

determining a first objective function;

determining a first constraint condition;

and determining the goods to be checked by the robot according to the first objective function and the first constraint condition.

Specifically, the first objective function is the following formula one:

wherein, p (G)_k,A_i) As a goods shelf G_kPlacing goods A_iThe probability of (d);

d(s_Rj,G_k) Is the starting position S of the jth robot_RjTo goods shelf G_kDistance of passable grid locations;

α(R_j,G_k,A_i) Has a value of 0 or 1, when alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When the number is 1, the jth robot checks and checks the ith goods by going to the passable grid in the k shelf sight distance range, and when the number is alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When the number is 0, the jth robot cannot go to a passable grid in the k-th shelf sight distance range to check and count the ith goods;

wherein, the number set of storage shelves is {1,2, …, K, …, K }, and the kth shelf is G_kAnd K is the total number of shelves.

Specifically, the first constraint condition is the following formula two:

wherein e (R)_j,G_k) Is the starting position S of the jth robot_RjTo goods shelf G_kElectric power requirement of passable grid location, E (R)_j) Is the current power of the jth robot.

Preferably, the determining a traversable grid that the robot checks the goods to be checked needs to reach includes:

determining a second objective function;

determining a second constraint condition;

and determining a passable grid which the robot needs to reach for checking the goods to be checked according to the second objective function and the second constraint condition.

Specifically, the second objective function is the following formula three:

wherein, beta (R)_j,x_m) A value of 0 or 1, 1 indicates that the jth robot goes to the passable grid x_mPosition, 0, indicates that the jth robot is not going to the passable grid x_mA location;

d(s_Rj,x_m) Is the starting position S of the jth robot_RjTo the passable grid x_mThe distance of (c).

Specifically, the second constraint condition is:

if robot R_jGo to goods shelf G_kThen robot R_jThe shelf set which can reach the position of the accessible grid to realize the goods scanning identification must comprise G_k。

The goods checking method provided by the invention is used, firstly, the warehousing robot group decision server receives the information of goods to be checked and the information of the warehousing robot, then, the goods checking scheme is determined according to the information, the determined goods checking scheme is sent to the warehousing robot, finally, the warehousing robot checks the goods according to the received checking scheme, and the checking result is sent to a manager.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a cargo checking system, including:

the decision server is configured to receive first information of goods to be checked, receive second information of robot groups in the warehouse, determine a goods checking scheme according to the first information and the second information, and send the goods checking scheme to each robot in the warehouse;

and the robot is configured to perform inventory on the goods to be inventoried according to the goods inventory scheme, and send the obtained verification information to the warehouse management personnel after the inventory is completed.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a cargo checking method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a cargo inventory system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a navigable mesh collection provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a rack set for scanning cargo in a trafficable grid;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a robot for realizing the cargo inventory path planning.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Some of the words that appear in the text are explained below:

1. the term "and/or" in the embodiments of the present invention describes an association relationship of associated objects, and indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

2. In the embodiments of the present application, the term "plurality" means two or more, and other terms are similar thereto.

3. IMU, Inertial sensor, called Inertial Measurement Unit.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should be noted that the display sequence of the embodiment of the present application only represents the sequence of the embodiment, and does not represent the merits of the technical solutions provided by the embodiments.

Example one

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a cargo inventory method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 1, the method includes steps S101 to S106:

s101, receiving first information of goods to be checked by a warehousing robot group decision server;

s102, the decision server receives second information of the warehousing robot group in the warehouse;

s103, the decision server determines a cargo checking scheme according to the first information and the second information;

s104, the decision server sends the cargo inventory scheme to each robot in the warehouse;

s105, checking the goods to be checked according to the goods checking scheme by each robot in the warehouse;

and S106, after the robots in the warehouse complete the checking, the obtained verification information is sent to warehouse management personnel.

In this embodiment, the first information about the goods to be checked may include information about the kind of the goods, the distribution position of the goods, and the like. The distribution position of the goods includes information of correspondence between the goods and the shelf, for example, the goods a are placed on the shelf G. As a preferred example, the goods are numbered, and the ith goods are A_iThe number set of the goods to be checked is {1,2, …, I, …, I }, where I represents the number of the goods and I represents the total number of the goods. Numbering the shelves with the k-th shelf being G_kThe number set of the storage shelves is {1,2, …, K, …, K }, and the total number of the shelves is K. I and K are integers which are more than or equal to 1 and can be set in advance according to the quantity of goods and the quantity of goods shelves.

As a preferred example, a shelf G_kOn which a goods A is placed_iHas a probability of p (G)_k,A_i) The value is a value of 0 or more and 1 or less, and is set in advance by the system. p (G)_k,A_i) Equal to 0 denotes cargo A_iCan not be placed on the goods shelf G_kThe above step (1); p (G)_k,A_i) Equal to 1 denotes cargo A_iMust be placed on a goods shelf G_kThe above.

As a preferred example, the second information of the warehouse robot group in the present example includes one or a combination of the following: the position of the robot, the electric quantity of the robot, the speed of the robot, and the acceleration of the robot. As a preferred example, the number set of the robots in the warehouse robot group is {1,2, …, J, …, J }, and the jth robot is R }_jThe starting position of the jth robot is S_RjThe j-th robot has a speed of q_Rj(ii) a Where J denotes the number of the robot and J denotes the total number of robots. J is an integer of 1 or more, and a specific value may be set in advance based on the actual number of robots in the warehouse. Electric power consumption E (R) of jth robot_j) And (4) showing.

As a preferable example, in step S103, the decision server determines the cargo inventory scheme according to the first information and the second information, and may further determine the cargo inventory scheme by combining with the environment map information. Wherein the environment map information includes: rasterizing an environment map to divide grids in the environment map into a passable grid, a shelf grid and an obstacle grid; as shown in fig. 3, which is a schematic diagram of dividing environment map information, shelf grids are numbered as shelf 1, shelf 2, shelf 3 and shelf 4; the barrier grid weaving area is a black area; the passable grids are numbered 1 to 39, respectively.

Preferably, the set of passable grids may be represented as X ═ X₁,x₂,…,x_nOn a passable grid x_m(x_me.X) can realize the collection of goods shelves for scanning and identifying as v (X)_m) (ii) a n is the number of traversable grids, as shown in fig. 3, and n is 39. That is, in the passable grid x_m(x_mE.x), the goods shelf which can be scanned and identified by the robot comprises a plurality of goods shelves, and the set of the goods shelves is v (X)_m). As an example, if the robot has a line-of-sight length of three grid distances, as shown in FIG. 4, at the passable grid 2The shelf set capable of realizing goods scanning identification is { shelf 1}, and the shelf set capable of realizing goods scanning identification is an empty set at the passable grid 6. It should be noted that visual scanning of all corners is required for inventory using visual information.

As a preferred example, determining the cargo inventory plan based on the first information, the second information and the environment map information includes the following two steps:

step 1: determining goods to be checked by the robot;

step 2: determining a traversable grid which the robot needs to arrive at for checking the goods to be checked.

The above-mentioned step 1 and step 2 will be described below, respectively.

As a preferable example, in this embodiment, the step 1 includes:

determining a first objective function;

determining a first constraint condition;

Specifically, the first objective function is the following formula one:

α(R_j,G_k,A_i) Has a value of 0 or 1, when alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When the number is 1, the jth robot checks and checks the ith goods by going to the passable grid in the k shelf sight distance range, and when the number is alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When 0, the jth robot will not go to the passable goods shelf within the k-th goods shelf sight distance rangeChecking and checking the ith cargo by a grid;

In the embodiment of the invention, the shelf visual distance range means that the robot can complete goods inventory work on the shelf on the grid, and if the robot can complete inventory on the kth shelf in the grid, the grid is the grid in the k shelf visual distance range. Preferably, if the camera is used for counting the goods, the distance of the sight distance range is related to the distance which can be clearly shot by the camera, and is also related to whether an obstacle directly blocks the sight distance range, and if the grid is close to the shelf but the obstacle blocks the middle of the shelf, the grid is not the grid in the sight distance range of the shelf. Preferably, if inventory is performed by using radio frequency identification technology (RFID technology), the distance of the RFID is related to the sensing distance of the RFID, if inventory is performed by using RFID, the distance of the visual range is related to the distance which can be clearly sensed by the RFID, and is also related to whether an obstacle directly blocks, and if the grid is close to the shelf but has an obstacle block in the middle, the grid is not the grid in the visual range of the shelf.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the first constraint condition is determined as the following formula two:

As shown in fig. 5, in step 1, the goods to be inventoried according to the first objective function formula and the second constraint formula includes: the robot 1 goes to the goods shelf 1 to count the 1 st goods, and goes to the goods shelf 3 to count the 4 th, 5 th and 6 th goods; the robot 2 goes to the shelf 2 to count the 2 nd and 3 rd goods, and goes to the shelf 4 to count the 7 th goods.

As a preferable example, in this embodiment, the step 2 includes:

determining a second objective function;

determining a second constraint condition;

Specifically, the second objective function is the following formula three:

Specifically, the second constraint condition is:

As shown in fig. 5, the traversable grid that the robot checks the goods to be checked to reach according to the second objective function formula three and the constraint condition two includes: the robot 1 will move from grid positions 2 to 8 and then to 13 in sequence; the robot 2 will go from grid positions 6 to 10, further to 17, further to 25 and further to 32 in sequence.

As a preferred example, in step S104, the decision server sends the cargo inventory plan to each robot in the warehouse, and the cargo inventory plan can be sent through a communication connection between the decision server and the robot. Preferably, the communication connection between the decision server and the robot may be Wifi, a fourth generation mobile communication 4G, a fifth generation mobile communication 5G, a sixth generation mobile communication 6G, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Preferably, the decision server sends to the robot R in the warehouse_jThe content of (1) comprises: beta (R)_j,x_m) Value of (a) and v (x)_m) Is a value of (1), i.e. includes the robot R_jWhether to the passable grid x_nInformation on the inventorying of goods and on the traversable grid x_n(x_ne.X) can realize the collection of goods shelves for scanning and identifying as v (X)_n). As a preferred example, v (x)_m) Is a fixed value that has been preset in the server, i.e. the robot is at x_mThe goods shelf with the position capable of realizing goods scanning identification is tested by the extraction robot and stores the result in the server. For example, as shown in fig. 5, for the 1 st robot to go to the shelf 1 to inventory the 1 st item, to go to the shelf 3 to inventory the 4 th, 5 th, 6 th items, then the robot 1 should go from the grid position 2 to the grid 8 to the grid 13 in sequence.

As a preferable example, in step S105, each robot in the warehouse checks the goods to be checked according to the goods checking plan. Specifically, in step S104, the robot receives β (R)_j,x_m) And v (x)_n) The inventory process may be as follows: the robot scans the top and the bottom after reaching the grids in the range of the visual distance of the goods shelf, collects images in a 360-degree panoramic view mode, and judges whether corresponding goods exist in the images according to the image characteristics of the goods to be inventoried.

As a preferable example, in step S106, after each robot in the warehouse completes the inventory, the obtained verification information is sent to the warehouse manager. Specifically, the transmission mode may be one of the following:

the first method is as follows: each robot can send the verification information to the decision server, and the decision server displays the verification information to warehouse management personnel in a preset mode;

the second method comprises the following steps: each robot can send the verification information to a preset inventory result receiving server, and the inventory result receiving server displays the verification information to warehouse management personnel.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the robot in the warehouse may include an environment detection module and a positioning module. The environment detection module can comprise a visual sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a laser radar and a millimeter wave radar; the positioning module may include an ultra-wideband distance measurement module, a vision estimation module and a robotic IMU; preferably, the vision sensor may include: monocular camera, binocular camera, degree of depth camera.

Example two

Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a cargo checking system, as shown in fig. 2, the apparatus includes:

the decision server 201 is configured to receive first information of goods to be checked, receive second information of robot groups in warehouses, determine a goods checking scheme according to the first information and the second information, and send the goods checking scheme to each robot in the warehouses;

the robot group 202 is configured to perform inventory on the goods to be inventoried according to the goods inventory scheme, and send the obtained verification information to the warehouse manager after the inventory is completed.

Preferably, the robot 202 includes a plurality of warehouse robots. For example, J warehousing robots are included, numbered 1,2, …, J, respectively.

As a preferred example, the first information includes: the type of cargo and the distribution location of the cargo. The number set of the goods to be checked is {1,2, …, I, …, I }, and the ith kind of goods is A_i(ii) a Where I represents the number of the goods and I represents the total number of the goods.

As a preferred example, the second information includes: position of robot, of robotElectric quantity, speed of the robot, acceleration of the robot. The number set of the robots in the warehousing robot group is {1,2, …, J, …, J }, and the jth robot is R_jThe starting position of the jth robot is S_RjThe j-th robot has a speed of q_Rj(ii) a Where J denotes the number of the robot and J denotes the total number of robots.

As a preferred example, the decision server 201 is further configured to determine a cargo inventory scheme according to the first information, the second information and the environment map information.

As a preferred example, the environment map information includes:

rasterizing an environment map to divide grids in the environment map into a passable grid, a shelf grid and an obstacle grid; wherein the set of passable grids is X ═ { X ═ X₁,x₂,…,x_nOn a passable grid x_m(x_me.X) can realize the collection of goods shelves for scanning and identifying as v (X)_m) (ii) a n is the number of traversable meshes.

As a preferred example, the decision server 201 is further configured to:

determining goods to be checked by the robot;

Wherein the determining the goods to be checked by the robot comprises:

determining a first objective function;

determining a first constraint condition;

The first objective function is the following formula one:

α(R_j,G_k,A_i) Has a value of 0 or 1, when alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When the number is 1, the jth robot checks and checks the ith goods by going to the passable grid in the k shelf sight distance range when the number is alpha (R)_j,G_k,A_i) When the number is 0, the jth robot cannot go to a passable grid in the k-th shelf sight distance range to check and count the ith goods;

The first constraint condition is the following formula two:

Wherein the determining a traversable grid that the robot checks that the goods to be checked need to arrive at comprises:

determining a second objective function;

determining a second constraint condition;

The second objective function is the following formula three:

The second constraint condition is as follows:

It should be noted that, the decision server 201 provided in this embodiment can implement all the functions included in steps S101 to S104 in the first embodiment, solve the same technical problem, achieve the same technical effect, and is not described herein again;

the robot group 202 provided in this embodiment can implement all the functions included in steps S105 to S106 in the first embodiment, solve the same technical problem, and achieve the same technical effect, which is not described herein again;

it should be noted that the system provided in the second embodiment and the method provided in the first embodiment belong to the same inventive concept, the same technical problem is solved, the same technical effect is achieved, the apparatus provided in the second embodiment can implement all the methods of the first embodiment, and the same parts are not described again.

It should be noted that the division of the unit in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A method of inventory, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises:

the type of cargo and the distribution location of the cargo.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information comprises:

the position of the robot, the electric quantity of the robot, the speed of the robot, and the acceleration of the robot.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the decision server determining the cargo inventory scheme based on the first information and the second information comprises:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the environment map information comprises:

wherein the set of passable grids is X ═ { X ═ X₁,x₂,…,x_nOn a passable grid x_m(x_me.X) can realize goods scanning identificationThe shelf set is v (x)_m) (ii) a n is the number of traversable meshes.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first information comprises:

the number set of the goods to be checked is {1,2, …, I, …, I }, and the ith kind of goods is A_i；

Where I represents the number of the goods and I represents the total number of the goods.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second information comprises:

the number set of the robots in the warehousing robot group is {1,2, …, J, …, J }, and the jth robot is R_jThe starting position of the jth robot is S_RjThe j-th robot has a speed of q_Rj；

Where J denotes the number of the robot and J denotes the total number of robots.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining a cargo inventory scheme based on the first information, the second information, and environment map information comprises:

determining goods to be checked by the robot;

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the cargo to be inventoried by the robot comprises:

determining a first objective function;

determining a first constraint condition;

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first objective function is the following equation one:

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first constraint is the following formula two:

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining a traversable grid that the robot inventories that the cargo to be inventoried needs to reach comprises:

determining a second objective function;

determining a second constraint condition;

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second objective function is the following formula three:

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second constraint is:

15. A cargo inventory system, comprising:

and the robot group is configured to perform inventory on the goods to be inventoried according to the goods inventory scheme, and send the obtained verification information to the warehouse management personnel after the inventory is completed.