CN113269494B

CN113269494B - Inventory scheduling method, equipment and system

Info

Publication number: CN113269494B
Application number: CN202110605543.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 喻润方; 艾鑫
Original assignee: Shenzhen Kubo Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Kubo Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-31
Filing date: 2021-05-31
Publication date: 2024-08-27
Anticipated expiration: 2041-05-31
Also published as: CN113269494A

Abstract

The application provides an inventory scheduling method, equipment and a system, comprising the following steps: acquiring order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the plurality of movable shelves are located and operation information of corresponding lanes of the plurality of movable shelves, determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of cargoes to be delivered in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves, the storage areas where the plurality of movable shelves are located and the operation information of the corresponding lanes, and generating a carrying instruction according to the storage position information of the cargo box to be delivered, so that a carrying robot carries the cargo box to be delivered according to the carrying instruction. According to the application, the influence of the opening and closing states of the corresponding roadways of the movable shelves in different storage areas on the cargo box delivery efficiency is considered, so that the cargo box delivery efficiency can be controlled.

Description

Inventory scheduling method, equipment and system

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of intelligent warehousing technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for inventory scheduling.

Background

With the continuous development of social trade and the continuous progress of scientific technology, the storage technology is also continuously improved, and how to more efficiently distribute the stock becomes a hot problem.

Normally, the lanes to the various storage locations on the shelves in the warehouse are normally open. In order to improve the storage density of the warehouse, the roadway corresponding to each goods shelf is in a normally closed state, each goods shelf in the storage unit is movable, and the goods shelf is moved when goods on the goods shelf need to be taken out, so that the roadway corresponding to the goods shelf is opened.

However, existing inventory allocation strategies are based on fixed shelves and are not applicable to mobile shelves.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides an inventory scheduling method, equipment and a system, and aims to provide a scheme for efficiently taking out a container from a movable goods shelf.

In a first aspect, the present application provides an inventory scheduling method, where the method is applied to a scheduling device, and the method includes:

Acquiring order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the plurality of movable shelves are located, and operation information of corresponding roadways of the plurality of movable shelves;

determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the goods to be taken out in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, the storage area where the movable shelves are located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway;

and generating a carrying instruction according to the bin position information of the to-be-delivered cargo bin, so that the carrying robot carries the to-be-delivered cargo bin out of the bin according to the carrying instruction.

In an embodiment, determining the storage position information of the to-be-picked cargo box in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves, the storage area and the operation information of the corresponding roadway, specifically includes:

Determining a storage area associated with the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf, the storage area and the operation information of the corresponding roadway;

determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be taken according to the order information, the switching state of a roadway in an associated storage area and the inventory information of a movable goods shelf;

The operation information of the roadway comprises a switch state, and the switch state comprises an on state and an off state.

splitting the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf and the storage area where the movable shelf is located to obtain at least one piece of sub-order information and a storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub-order information;

Determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be taken according to at least one sub-order information, the on-off state of a roadway in a storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information and the inventory information of a movable shelf;

In one embodiment, splitting order information according to the order information, inventory information of a movable shelf and a storage area where the order information is located to obtain at least one sub-order information and a storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, which specifically includes:

determining an alternative container of the goods to be fetched and a storage area where the alternative container is located according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves and the storage area where the alternative container is located;

Splitting order information according to the alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located, and obtaining at least one piece of sub-order information and the storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub-order information.

splitting order information according to the order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, the storage area where the movable shelves are located and the number of transfer robots operating in each storage area to obtain at least one sub-order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub-order information;

the operation information of the roadway comprises the opening and closing states of the roadway and the number of operating transfer robots, and the opening and closing states comprise the opening state and the closing state.

In an embodiment, splitting order information according to order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, a storage area where the movable shelves are located, and the number of transfer robots operating in each storage area, to obtain at least one sub-order information and a storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, and specifically includes:

sequentially polling each storage area according to the sequence from small to large of the number of the carrying robots operating in the storage area, and determining an alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located according to the inventory information and the order information of the movable goods shelves in the storage area until all the alternative containers of the goods to be fetched in the order information are determined;

In one embodiment, the categories of items to be picked in each sub-order information are minimized and/or the number of storage areas associated with each sub-order is minimized.

Selecting a storage area with the least number of containers to be delivered from the storage areas as a first target storage area;

When the inventory of the first target storage area meets the demand of the goods to be fetched in the order information, the inventory position information of the goods to be fetched to be delivered from the warehouse box is determined according to the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the order information, the switch state of the roadway in the first target storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf in the first target storage area.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises:

When the stock of the first target storage area meets the first part of goods to be fetched in the order information, selecting a storage area with the least number of containers to be delivered from the residual storage areas as a second target storage area;

when the inventory of the second target storage area meets the second portion of the to-be-picked demand in the order information, and determining the information of the storage position of the to-be-picked cargo box of the second part to-be-picked cargo according to the demand information of the second part to-be-picked cargo, the opening and closing state of the roadway in the second target storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf in the second target storage area, wherein the order information comprises the demand of the first part to-be-picked cargo and the demand of the second part to-be-picked cargo.

In an embodiment, for the goods to be picked up in the order information, a distance from a roadway corresponding to a container to be picked up to the roadway in the open state is smaller than or equal to a distance from a roadway corresponding to an unselected candidate container to the roadway in the open state, and the candidate container is a container storing the goods to be picked up.

In an embodiment, determining the storage position information of the to-be-picked cargo box according to at least one sub-order information, the on-off state of the roadway in the storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, and the inventory information of the movable shelf, specifically includes:

For each storage area, calculating and obtaining the distance from a roadway corresponding to an alternative container of each to-be-fetched goods in the sub-order information to a roadway in an opening state;

Selecting a cargo box to be delivered of each cargo to be retrieved from the cargo boxes to be retrieved according to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo box to be retrieved and the roadway in the switch state in the sub order information, and acquiring the bin position information of the cargo box to be delivered of each cargo to be retrieved.

For goods to be fetched in each piece of sub order information, polling inventory information of the movable goods shelf in a storage area associated with the sub order information, and determining a target container according to the inventory information of the movable goods shelf; the polling sequence comprises the steps of sequentially polling each movable shelf according to a preset sequence from the movable shelf corresponding to the roadway in the switch state to the movable shelf corresponding to the roadway far from the movable shelf corresponding to the roadway in the switch state;

Stopping polling when a preset polling stopping condition is met, determining that a target container is a container to be delivered, and acquiring the position information of the container to be delivered;

the preset polling stopping condition comprises the following steps: the stock in each target container meets the requirement of goods to be fetched in the sub-order information.

In an embodiment, the predetermined sequence further comprises: for each movable pallet, the order from near to far from the sorting deck.

In an embodiment, the preset stop polling condition further includes: the total amount of inventory within the target container is minimal.

In an embodiment, the total number of movable racks corresponding to the containers to be offloaded is less than or equal to the total number of movable racks corresponding to any one of the candidate container combinations;

Wherein, the stock in each alternative container combination meets the requirement of the goods to be fetched in the order information.

the method comprises the steps of arranging and combining alternative containers of all goods to be picked in sub order information to obtain a plurality of groups of alternative container combinations;

Selecting a target candidate container combination from the candidate container combinations; the containers in the target candidate container combination are containers to be delivered, and the total number of movable shelves corresponding to the target candidate container combination is smaller than or equal to the total number of movable shelves corresponding to any one candidate container combination.

In an embodiment, the arrangement and combination of the candidate containers of each to-be-fetched goods in the sub-order information are performed to obtain multiple groups of candidate container combinations, which specifically includes:

and polling the movable goods shelves according to the sequence from the large number to the small number of the alternative containers on each movable goods shelf, storing the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the sub-order information in the alternative containers on the polled movable goods shelf, and obtaining the alternative container combination according to the alternative containers on the polled movable goods shelf.

In an embodiment, the total distance from the roadway corresponding to each candidate container in the target candidate container combination to the roadway in the open state is less than or equal to the distance from the roadway corresponding to each candidate container in the unselected candidate container combination to the roadway in the open state.

In one embodiment, the total amount of inventory within the container to be removed is minimal; and/or

The total distance from the container to be delivered to the sorting deck is minimal.

In an embodiment, the method for generating the carrying instruction according to the information of the storage position of the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be fetched specifically includes:

acquiring the number of carrying robots in a roadway in an open state in real time;

And generating a carrying instruction according to the number of carrying robots and the storage position information of the to-be-carried cargo box on the movable storage rack corresponding to the roadway in the opening state.

In an embodiment, the method for generating the handling instruction according to the number of handling robots and the information of the storage locations of the to-be-picked-up goods and the to-be-picked-out boxes specifically includes:

When the number of the carrying robots reaches a preset threshold value, generating carrying instructions for controlling the carrying robots to travel to a cache area according to the storage position information of a to-be-delivered container on a movable storage rack corresponding to a roadway in an open state, so that the robots wait in the cache area;

When the number of the carrying robots is smaller than a preset threshold value, carrying instructions for controlling the carrying robots to travel to the roadway are generated according to the storage position information of the to-be-delivered container on the movable storage rack corresponding to the roadway in the opening state.

In an embodiment, after generating the carrying instruction according to the bin position information of the cargo to be taken out of the cargo box, the method further includes:

acquiring the delivery state of each delivery container to be delivered on the movable goods shelf corresponding to the roadway in the opening state;

When the delivery states of all delivery containers to be delivered on the movable shelves corresponding to the roadway in the open state are delivered states, an open instruction is generated;

The opening instruction is used for opening a roadway which is nearest to the roadway in the opening state at present and corresponds to the movable goods shelf of the container to be delivered.

In a second aspect, the present application provides an inventory scheduling device, comprising:

The acquisition module is used for acquiring order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the movable shelves are located and operation information of corresponding roadways of the movable shelves;

the processing module is used for determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the goods to be taken out in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves, the storage area where the movable shelves are located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway;

And the processing module is also used for generating a carrying instruction according to the bin position information of the to-be-delivered cargo bin, so that the carrying robot carries the to-be-delivered cargo bin out of the bin according to the carrying instruction.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a scheduling apparatus, comprising: a memory, a processor;

a memory; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

Wherein the processor is configured to perform the inventory scheduling method of the first aspect and alternatives.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a robot system comprising the scheduling device and the handling robot according to the third aspect and the alternatives.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for implementing the inventory scheduling method according to the first aspect and alternatives when executed by a processor.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the inventory scheduling method of the first aspect and alternatives.

According to the inventory scheduling method, equipment and system provided by the application, in a plurality of storage units, as the on-off states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves in the same storage area can be influenced mutually, but the on-off states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves in different storage areas can not be influenced mutually, when inventory scheduling is carried out, a container to be delivered is determined according to the on-off states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves and the storage area where the movable shelves are located in addition to order information and the storage position information of the movable shelves, and the influence of the on-off states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves in each storage area on the delivery efficiency of the container can be considered, so that the delivery efficiency of the container can be controlled.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the application and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

FIG. 1 is a layout diagram of a plurality of memory cells according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a memory cell according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a state change of the memory cell according to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a memory cell according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state change of the memory cell according to FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a robotic system according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is an interactive schematic diagram of an inventory scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a state change based on the memory cell shown in FIG. 2 according to the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a state change based on the memory cell shown in FIG. 4 according to the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a state change based on the memory cell shown in FIG. 2 according to the present application;

FIG. 11 is an interactive schematic diagram of an inventory scheduling method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a layout diagram of a plurality of memory cells according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an inventory scheduling device according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a scheduling apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application.

Specific embodiments of the present application have been shown by way of the above drawings and will be described in more detail below. The drawings and the written description are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to the specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples do not represent all implementations consistent with the application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of the application as detailed in the accompanying claims.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the warehouse system to which the inventory scheduling method provided by the present application is applied includes a plurality of storage areas 100, and a plurality of movable shelves 10 and guide rails 20 for moving the movable shelves 10 are provided on each storage area 100. A plurality of shelves 101 are provided on each of the movable shelves 10.

When no picking and placing task is performed in the storage area 100, the movable racks 10 in the storage area 100 are arranged in the manner shown in fig. 2, that is, there is no roadway between the two movable racks 10 for the transfer robot 40 to walk, and by this arrangement, the storage density in the storage area 100 can be increased.

As shown in fig. 3, when there is a pick-and-place task in the storage area 100, the movable racks 10 are moved along the direction of the guide rail 20, and a tunnel 30 is left between the two movable racks 10, so that the transfer robot 40 can walk along the tunnel 30 and pick and place goods on the warehouse positions on the movable racks on one side or both sides of the tunnel.

The width of the tunnel between the two movable racks 10 may be such that only one transfer robot can travel, or a plurality of transfer robots can travel side by side. A roadway in which only one transfer robot can travel is referred to as a single roadway. A roadway in which a plurality of transfer robots can travel side by side is referred to as a multi-roadway.

In the memory cell 100 shown in fig. 2 and 3, a plurality of lanes may be opened at the same time. Taking the 4th movable rack located in the center area of the storage unit 100 as a reference, if taking the inventory on the movable rack on the left of the 4th movable rack, for example: inventory on the 2 nd movable rack would require moving the 1 st movable rack to the left to leave a lane 30 between the 1 st movable rack and the 2 nd movable rack. If the inventory on the movable shelf to the right of the 4th movable shelf is taken, for example: inventory on the 5 th movable rack requires that the 6 th and 7 th movable racks be moved to the right to leave a lane 30 between the 5 th and 6 th movable racks.

In the storage unit 100 shown in fig. 4 and 5, only one lane can be opened at the same time, and if the stock on the 4 th movable rack is taken, it is necessary to move the 1 st movable rack to the 3 rd movable rack to the left so as to leave the lane 30 between the 3 rd movable rack and the 4 th movable rack.

Defining the lane between two movable racks as the lane corresponding to the two movable racks, when the movable racks 10 are laid out in the manner shown in fig. 2 and 4, it indicates that the lane corresponding to the movable racks is in a closed state, that is, the transfer robot 40 cannot take out the stock on the movable racks. When the movable pallet 10 is laid out in the manner shown in fig. 3 and 5, it indicates that the corresponding roadway of the movable pallet is in an open state, for example: in fig. 3, the lanes corresponding to the 1 st movable shelf and the 2 nd movable shelf are in an open state, and the lanes corresponding to the 5 th movable shelf and the 6 th movable shelf are in an open state.

Here, in the storage unit 100 shown in fig. 2, the 1 st movable shelf and the 7 th movable shelf are located at the outermost positions, and the corresponding lanes are always in an open state. In the storage unit 100 shown in fig. 4, the 1 st movable shelf is located at the outermost side, and the corresponding lane is always on.

The warehouse system further comprises a robotic system, as shown in fig. 6, comprising a scheduling device 201 and a handling robot 202. Wherein the dispatching device 201 is configured to send a transfer instruction to the transfer robot 202, so that the transfer robot 202 transfers the inventory to a specified location according to the transfer instruction.

The warehouse system also comprises an order management system, an inventory management system and a shelf control system. The order management system is used for receiving order information sent by the client and sorting the order information. The inventory management system is used for dynamically managing various information of the inventory stored in the inventory unit. The shelf control system is used for controlling the movement of the movable shelf and also used for receiving information collected by a sensor mounted on the movable shelf.

The warehouse system is also provided with a sorting table, and after receiving an order task, the conveying robot conveys the inventory in the storage unit to the sorting table for sorting and then packages the inventory for delivery.

As shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present application provides an inventory scheduling method applied to a robot system including a scheduling apparatus and a transfer robot. The inventory scheduling method specifically comprises the following steps:

S301, the scheduling equipment acquires order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the movable shelves are located and job information of corresponding roadways of the movable shelves.

Wherein the order information includes demand information of the goods to be fetched, for example: the goods to be fetched comprise SKU1 and SKU2, wherein the number of the SKUs 1 is 10 pieces, and the number of the SKUs 2 is 20 pieces.

The inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves refers to the type of inventory and the quantity of inventory stored on each inventory level of each movable shelf. For example: one of the library bits stores 50 SKUs 1.

Each storage area within the warehousing system is marked, for example: storage area No.1, storage area No. 2, etc., the storage area where the plurality of movable shelves are located may be indicated by a label of the storage area, for example: the movable shelf is located in storage area No. 1.

The operation information of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves can only comprise the opening and closing states of the roadways, and also can comprise the opening and closing states of the roadways and the number of robots operating in the roadways, wherein the opening and closing states of the roadways comprise the states that the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves are in the opening state or the closing state.

When order information is acquired, a user inputs the order information through the terminal equipment, and the order information is transmitted to the scheduling equipment through the terminal equipment. Or the terminal device can upload the order information to the order management device after receiving the order information input by the user, and then the order management device transmits the order information to the dispatching device.

When acquiring inventory information for a plurality of movable shelves, the inventory information may be read directly from the inventory management system.

When the storage areas where the movable shelves are located are acquired, the basic information of the movable shelves can be directly read from the shelf control system.

When the switch states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves are acquired, information can be directly read from the shelf control system. The dispatching equipment can also directly receive information collected by the sensors arranged on the movable shelves and determine the opening and closing states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves according to the collected information.

S302, the scheduling equipment determines the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, the storage area where the movable shelves are located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway.

The opening and closing states of the roadways corresponding to the movable goods shelves can influence the difficulty level of goods taking, and if the roadways corresponding to the movable goods shelves are in the closed state, the movable goods shelves need to be moved so that the roadways corresponding to the movable goods shelves are in the open state. In the plurality of storage units, the switching states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves in the same storage area can be mutually influenced, and the switching states of the roadways corresponding to the movable shelves in different storage areas can not be mutually influenced.

Therefore, when the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved is determined from the cargo boxes on the movable shelves, the cargo box to be delivered can be selected according to the storage area where the movable shelf is located and the opening and closing states of the corresponding roadway of the movable shelf on the basis of matching of the demand information and the inventory information besides matching of the demand information of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information and the inventory information of each movable shelf.

In an embodiment, when determining the storage position information of the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be delivered, determining the storage area associated with the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf, the storage area where the movable shelf is located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway, and determining the storage position information of the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be delivered according to the order information, the switching state of the roadway in the associated storage area and the inventory information of the movable shelf.

In one embodiment, when determining the storage area associated with the order information, the order information may be split into a plurality of sub order information according to the storage area, and the storage area associated with each sub order information may be acquired. And then determining the stock meeting the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the sub-order information in each storage area, and taking a container corresponding to the stock as a container to be delivered.

Compared with the method that the containers to be delivered are concentrated in the same storage area, the number of the roadways in the same storage area in the open state is limited, and the transfer robot cannot simultaneously execute a plurality of box carrying tasks.

In one embodiment, when determining the storage area associated with the order information, a storage area with the smallest number of existing containers to be delivered may be selected as the target storage area, and containers may be allocated to the goods to be taken in the order information in the target storage area. If the stock in the target storage area can meet the requirement information of each to-be-fetched goods in the order information, the next target storage area is not required to be selected. If the stock in the target storage area does not meet the requirement information of all the goods to be fetched in the order information, continuing to select the storage area with the least quantity of the existing goods to be fetched in the remaining storage areas as the next target storage area until the requirement information of all the goods to be fetched in the order information is met.

Through the arrangement, the number of the containers to be delivered in each storage area can be balanced, and overlong waiting time for taking out the newly allocated containers to be delivered in the storage area due to excessive number of the containers to be delivered in part of the storage areas is avoided, so that the carrying efficiency of the carrying robot is improved.

The implementation of determining the container to be delivered in the storage area is specifically described below by taking any one of a plurality of storage areas satisfying the demand information of the goods to be delivered as an example.

In one embodiment, the roadway in the open state is referred to as a first roadway. The container satisfying the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the order information on each movable shelf is called an alternative container. I.e. the candidate container stores the goods to be retrieved.

For each cargo to be picked, the distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo to be picked and the first roadway corresponding to the cargo to be picked out of the warehouse is smaller than or equal to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected cargo to be picked and the first roadway. Because when opening the tunnel between the movable shelves, firstly opening the tunnel closer to the tunnel which is currently opened, and then opening the tunnel farther to the tunnel which is currently opened, through the arrangement, the moving distance of the movable shelves can be reduced when the goods to be taken out from the storage unit 100, and the opening or closing times of the tunnels between the movable shelves can be reduced, so that the goods to be taken out can be taken out from each warehouse rapidly, and the goods delivery efficiency is improved.

The principle of determining the containers to be discharged is described below with reference to the storage areas shown in fig. 2 and 4. As shown in fig. 8, the lanes corresponding to the 1 st, 2 nd, 5 th and 6 th movable racks are in an open state. The first roadway is a roadway corresponding to the 1 st movable shelf, a roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable shelf and a roadway corresponding to the 5 th movable shelf and the 6 th movable shelf. The alternate containers for SKU1 are located on the 3 rd and 6 th movable shelves. There are 2 alternative containers on the 3 rd mobile pallet, and there are 50 SKUs 1 in the two alternative containers. There are 1 alternate containers on the 6 th movable pallet with 50 SKUs 1 in the alternate containers.

If the required number of SKUs 1 is 10. The roadway corresponding to the candidate container on the 6 th movable goods shelf is a first roadway, the distance from the roadway corresponding to the candidate container on the 3 rd movable goods shelf to the first roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable goods shelf is further, and the candidate container on the 6 th movable goods shelf meets the requirement of SKU1, and then the candidate container on the 6 th movable goods shelf is selected as a container to be delivered. While the unselected candidate containers are the two candidate containers on the 3 rd movable pallet. The distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo box to be delivered to the warehouse and the first roadway is smaller than the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected cargo box to be delivered to the warehouse and the first roadway.

If the required number of SKUs 1 increases to 60, then one of the alternate containers on the 6 th movable pallet and one of the alternate containers on the 3 rd movable pallet needs to be selected. While the unselected candidate container is another candidate container on the 3 rd movable pallet. The distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo box to be delivered to the warehouse and the first roadway is smaller than or equal to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected cargo box to be delivered to the warehouse and the first roadway.

As shown in fig. 9, the lanes corresponding to the 3 rd and 4 th movable racks are in an open state. The first roadway is a roadway corresponding to the 3 rd movable shelf and the 4 th movable shelf. The alternate containers for SKU1 are located on the 5 th and 6 th movable shelves. Each of the 5 th and 6 th mobile racks has an alternate container with 50 SKUs 1 in each alternate container.

If the required number of SKUs 1 is 10. The distance from the roadway corresponding to the candidate container on the 5 th movable shelf to the first roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable shelf is closer, the distance from the roadway corresponding to the candidate container on the 6 th movable shelf to the first roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable shelf is farther, the candidate container on the 5 th movable shelf meets the requirement of SKU1, and the candidate container on the 5 th movable shelf is selected as the container to be delivered. While the unselected candidate containers are those on the 6 th movable pallet.

In an embodiment, the total number of movable racks corresponding to the containers to be offloaded is less than or equal to the total number of movable racks corresponding to any one of the alternative container combinations. Through such arrangement, the number of times of opening and closing of the tunnel between the movable racks can be reduced when the goods to be taken out from the storage unit 100, so that the goods to be taken out can be quickly taken out from each storage place, and the goods delivery efficiency is improved.

And matching the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the order information with the inventory information on the movable goods shelf, and determining a plurality of groups of candidate container combinations. Wherein the stock of all the alternative containers in each alternative container combination meets the demand information of the goods to be fetched.

Continuing with the description of the principle of selecting containers to be delivered using the storage unit of fig. 2 as an example, the required number of SKUs 1 in the order information is 10, and the required number of SKUs 2 is 20. As shown in FIG. 10, the 6 th removable shelf has one candidate container for SKU1 and one candidate container for SKU 2. And 50 pieces of stock are in each alternative container. There are two candidate containers of SKU1 on the 3 rd mobile pallet, and 50 SKUs 1 in each candidate container.

All the stock in the candidate container of SKU1 and the candidate container of SKU2 on the 6 th movable shelf already meets the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the order information, and the candidate container of SKU1 and the candidate container of SKU2 on the 6 th movable shelf are the first group of candidate container combinations.

All of the inventory in the candidate container for SKU2 on the 6 th movable shelf and the candidate container for one of SKUs 1 on the 3 rd movable shelf have satisfied the demand information for the goods to be picked in the order information, then the candidate container for SKU2 on the 6 th movable shelf and the candidate container for one of SKUs 1 on the 3 rd movable shelf are the second set of candidate containers in combination.

The alternate container for SKU2 on the 6 th movable shelf and the alternate container for SKU1 on the 3 rd movable shelf may also be combined as a third set of alternate containers.

That is, there are three sets of alternative container combinations, the number of movable racks of the first set of alternative container combinations is 1, the number of movable racks of the second set of alternative container combinations and the third set of alternative container combinations is 2, and the first set of alternative container combinations is selected as a container to be delivered.

In an embodiment, the total distance from the roadway corresponding to the container to be delivered of the goods to be picked in the order information to the roadway in the open state is smaller than or equal to the total distance from the roadway corresponding to each container in the unselected container combination to the roadway in the open state.

And the candidate containers of the SKU1 and the SKU2 in the first group of candidate container combinations are both positioned on the 6 th movable goods shelf, and the roadway corresponding to the 6 th movable goods shelf is in an open state, so that the total distance from the roadway corresponding to the two candidate containers in the first group of candidate combinations to the roadway corresponding to the 6 th movable goods shelf is zero.

And if the candidate container of the SKU1 is positioned on the 6 th movable shelf and the candidate container of the SKU2 is positioned on the 3 rd movable shelf in the second group of candidate container combinations, the calculated total distance is the distance from the roadway corresponding to the 3 rd movable shelf to the roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable shelf.

The total distance calculated in the third set of candidate container combinations is the same as the total distance calculated in the second set of candidate container combinations.

And selecting an alternative container in the first group of alternative container combinations as a container to be delivered.

It should be noted that, when the number of movable racks cannot be satisfied and the total distance of each of the alternative containers is the shortest, the following various embodiments are possible.

For example: the multiple groups of candidate containers may be ordered in a descending order according to the number of the movable racks to obtain a first sequence, and the multiple groups of candidate containers may be ordered in a descending order according to the total distance of the candidate containers to obtain a second sequence. When selecting the alternative container combination as a container to be delivered, ensuring that the selected alternative container combination is positioned at the first K in the first sequence and positioned at the first P in the second sequence, wherein K and P are positive integers; or setting the weight of each factor, and determining the container to be delivered in a weighted average mode.

S303, the dispatching equipment generates a carrying instruction according to the information of the storage position of the goods to be picked up and the goods to be picked out.

The scheduling equipment performs path planning according to the bin position information of all the containers to be delivered, and generates a carrying instruction according to the path planning result. When the path planning is performed, the information of the storage position of the container to be discharged is considered, and the information can be combined with the existing carrying task of the carrying robot. The general principle of path planning may be the shortest distance, the least number of transfer robots to be transferred, etc.

S304, the dispatching equipment sends a carrying instruction to the carrying robot.

S305, the carrying robot carries the container to be carried out of the warehouse according to the carrying instruction.

The transfer robot receives a transfer instruction from the dispatching equipment, analyzes the transfer instruction to obtain a planned path, and takes out a container to be delivered from the movable goods shelf according to the planned path.

In the above technical solution, in a warehouse system having a plurality of storage units, since the on-off states of the lanes located in two different storage units do not affect each other, the container to be delivered is determined according to the on-off states of the lanes corresponding to the movable rack and the storage area where the movable rack is located, besides the order information and the storage position information of the movable rack, and the influence of the on-off states of the lanes corresponding to the movable rack in each storage area on the delivery efficiency of the container can be considered, so that the delivery efficiency of the container can be controlled.

As shown in fig. 11, an embodiment of the present application provides an inventory scheduling method, which specifically includes the following steps:

s401, the scheduling equipment acquires order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the movable shelves are located and job information of corresponding roadways of the movable shelves.

Wherein, this step is already described in detail in the above embodiments, and will not be described here again.

S402, the scheduling equipment determines the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, the storage area where the movable shelves are located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway.

When the position information of the goods to be picked up and delivered from the container is determined, the storage area associated with the order information is determined according to the order information, the stock information of the movable goods shelf, the storage area where the goods to be picked up are located and the operation information of the corresponding roadway, and then the position information of the goods to be picked up and delivered from the container is determined according to the order information, the opening and closing states of the roadway in the associated storage area and the stock information of the movable goods shelf.

In one embodiment, when determining a container to be delivered of goods to be picked, the order information is split into a plurality of sub-order information, and a storage area associated with each sub-order information is determined. And determining a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in each piece of sub order information in each storage area.

In an embodiment, the order information is split according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf and the storage area where the order information is located, at least one piece of sub order information and the storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub order information are obtained, and the inventory position information of a to-be-picked cargo box is determined according to the at least one piece of sub order information, the on-off state of a roadway in the storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub order information and the inventory information of the movable shelf.

When the order information is split, an alternative container of the goods to be fetched and a storage area where the alternative container is located are determined according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves and the storage area where the alternative container is located. More specifically, the order information and the inventory information on each movable shelf are matched with each other to obtain an alternative container of the goods to be fetched, and the alternative container of the goods to be fetched is determined according to the storage area of the movable shelf where the alternative container is located.

After the alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located are obtained, the order information is split according to the alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located, and at least one sub order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub order information are obtained. More specifically, the demand information of the goods to be fetched corresponding to the alternative containers located in the same storage area is distributed to the same sub-order, so as to obtain at least one sub-order, and at least one sub-order information and a storage area associated with each sub-order information are obtained.

Through the arrangement, cargoes to be taken with alternative cargoes in the same storage area can be split into the same sub-order, so that cargoes to be taken out are distributed for each cargoes to be taken out according to the opening and closing states of the roadways in the same storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf, the opening and closing times of each roadway are reduced, and the cargo container delivery efficiency is improved.

For example, as shown in fig. 12, the storage system includes four storage units, and is labeled as storage unit a, storage unit B, storage unit C, and storage unit D, and the goods to be fetched in the order information includes SKU1 and SKU2, where the number of SKU1 and SKU2 is 10.

And matching the goods to be picked in the order information with the stock in each storage unit, determining that the storage unit A has a candidate container of SKU1, the storage unit B has a candidate container of SKU2, the storage unit C has candidate containers of SKU1 and SKU2, the candidate container of SKU1 is provided with 60 SKU1 pieces, and the candidate container of SKU2 is provided with 60 SKU2 pieces.

In order splitting, the demand information for SKU1 is placed in one sub-order, associated with storage area a, and the demand information for SKU2 is placed in another sub-order, associated with storage area B.

In an embodiment, the order information is split according to the order information, the inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, the storage areas where the movable shelves are located and the number of the transfer robots operating in each storage area to obtain at least one piece of sub order information and a storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub order information, and the bin information of the to-be-taken-out container is determined according to the at least one piece of sub order information, the on-off state of the roadway in the storage area associated with the at least one piece of sub order information and the inventory information of the movable shelves.

When order information is split, sequentially polling each storage area according to the order from small to large of the transfer robots operating in the storage area, and determining an alternative container of the goods to be fetched and a storage area where the alternative container is located according to the inventory information of the movable goods shelves in the storage area and the order information until all the alternative containers of the goods to be fetched in the order information are determined. That is, when each storage area is polled, the stock information and the order information of the movable shelves in the currently polled storage area are matched with each other, the candidate boxes in the currently polled storage area are determined, and the goods to be picked up of the boxes to be sorted and the goods to be picked up of the boxes not to be sorted are determined in the order information. If the order information does not contain the goods to be fetched which are not allocated with the goods selecting boxes, the polling can be terminated. And if the goods to be picked up of the unallocated alternative containers exist in the order information, updating the currently polled storage area according to the order from small to large of the number of the carrying robots operating in the storage area, and continuously determining the alternative containers in the currently polled storage area.

After the alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located are obtained, the order information is split according to the alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located, and at least one sub order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub order information are obtained.

And a storage area with less transfer robots is preferentially selected to distribute cargo boxes to be delivered for all the cargoes to be delivered in order information, so that the waiting time of the cargo boxes to be delivered for all the cargoes to be delivered in order information is shortened, and the cargo handling efficiency of the transfer robots is improved.

For example: with continued reference to fig. 12, assume that the number of allocated containers to be discharged from storage units a to D is 5, 4, 3, and 2 in order. Firstly, the inventory in the storage unit D is polled, the inventory information in the storage unit D is matched with the demand information of the goods to be fetched, and the fact that the storage area D does not have the inventory of the SKU1 and the SKU2 is determined. And then, the stock in the storage unit C is polled, the stock of the SKU1 and the SKU2 in the storage area C is determined, the requirement information of the goods to be fetched in the order information can be completely met, and the sequence is stopped. The candidate boxes of the goods to be fetched in the order information are located in the storage area C and in the same storage area, i.e. the order information comprises a sub-order information.

In an embodiment, when the order information is split according to the candidate container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the candidate container is located, each sub-order information satisfies any one or more of the following conditions: the variety of goods to be fetched in each sub-order information is minimized and/or the number of storage areas associated with each sub-order is minimized.

Through the arrangement, order information is scattered to more storage areas, the characteristic that the opening states of the roadways of different storage areas cannot influence each other can be utilized, and the container to be delivered is taken out in a plurality of storage areas by a plurality of transfer robots at the same time, so that the container delivery efficiency is improved.

Assuming that the number of containers to be delivered allocated in storage units a through D is 5, 3, 4, and 2, storage unit B is polled prior to storage unit C, and there is an alternate container for SKU2 in storage unit B, but the requirement information for SKU1 cannot be satisfied, it is necessary to continue to poll storage unit C, and there is SKU1 and an alternate container for SKU2 in storage unit C. In splitting the order, the requirement information for SKU1 may be split into one of the sub-orders associated with storage unit B and the requirement information for SKU2 into the other sub-order associated with storage unit C. The demand information for SKU1 and SKU2 may also continue to be placed in the same order that is associated with storage unit C.

As another embodiment, when the shipment box of the to-be-fetched goods is determined, a storage area having the smallest number of existing shipment boxes is selected from the respective storage areas as the first target storage area. When the inventory of the first target storage area meets the demand of the goods to be fetched in the order information, the inventory position information of the goods to be fetched to be delivered from the warehouse box is determined according to the demand information of the goods to be fetched in the order information, the switch state of the roadway in the first target storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf in the first target storage area.

When the inventory of the first target storage area can only meet the needs of part of the goods to be fetched in the order information, for example: the order information comprises a first part of to-be-fetched goods requirement and a second part of to-be-fetched goods requirement. When the stock of the first target storage area meets the first part of the goods to be fetched demand in the order information, the storage area with the minimum number of the existing containers to be delivered is selected from the remaining storage areas as the second target storage area. When the inventory of the second target storage area meets the requirement of the second part of goods to be fetched in the order information, the inventory position information of the goods to be fetched of the second part of goods to be fetched of the container to be fetched of the second part of goods to be fetched is determined according to the requirement information of the goods to be fetched of the second part of goods to be fetched, the opening and closing states of the roadways in the second target storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelves in the second target storage area.

The storage area with the minimum quantity of the prior goods to be delivered is preferentially selected to distribute the goods to be delivered for each goods to be delivered in order information, so that the waiting time of the goods to be delivered for each goods to be delivered in the order information is shortened, and the box carrying efficiency of the carrying robot is improved.

The implementation manner of determining the container to be delivered in the storage area is specifically described below by taking any one of a plurality of storage areas capable of meeting the demand information of the goods to be delivered as an example.

If sub-order information corresponding to each storage area is determined by splitting order information for any storage area, a to-be-picked cargo box in the sub-order information is determined according to the sub-order information corresponding to the storage area, the on-off state of a roadway in the storage area and the library position information of a movable shelf in the storage area.

And if the target storage areas are selected according to the number of the allocated goods to be delivered to any storage area, and then the required information satisfied in each target storage area is determined according to the inventory in the target storage area, the goods to be delivered to the storage area is determined according to the required information satisfied in the target storage area, the opening and closing states of the laneway in the storage area and the position information of the movable goods shelf in the storage area.

For convenience of description, the sub order information corresponding to the storage area and the requirement information satisfied by the target storage area are collectively referred to as requirement information corresponding to the storage area.

As a first embodiment of determining the cargo box to be delivered, when determining the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be delivered, the distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be delivered and the first roadway is smaller than or equal to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected cargo box to be delivered and the first roadway.

In one embodiment, the candidate containers for each item to be retrieved are determined based on the demand information corresponding to the storage area and the inventory information for the plurality of movable shelves. And matching the demand information corresponding to the storage area with the inventory information of each movable goods shelf to obtain the alternative container of each goods to be fetched. For each goods to be picked, after a plurality of alternative containers of the goods to be picked are determined, calculating and obtaining a first distance from a roadway corresponding to each alternative container to a first roadway, and selecting a container to be picked from the alternative containers according to the first distance. That is, the alternative container with a shorter first distance is selected as the container to be delivered, so as to ensure that the distance between the roadway corresponding to the container to be delivered of the goods to be delivered and the first roadway is smaller than or equal to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected alternative container and the first roadway.

The distance from any alternative container to the roadway in the open state is directly calculated, and complex polling steps are not needed, so that the algorithm complexity is reduced, and the calculation speed is improved.

With continued reference to FIG. 10, the 6 th movable pallet has one candidate container for SKU1 and one candidate container for SKU 2. And 50 pieces of stock are in each alternative container. There are two candidate containers of SKU1 on the 3 rd mobile pallet, and 50 SKUs 1 in each candidate container.

For the SKU1, calculating the distance from the roadway corresponding to the candidate container of the SKU1 on the 6 th movable shelf to the roadway corresponding to the 6 th movable shelf, and further calculating the distance from the roadway corresponding to the candidate container of the SKU1 on the 3 rd movable shelf to the roadway corresponding to the 2 nd movable shelf, wherein the distance from the candidate container of the SKU1 on the 6 th movable shelf is shortest, the requirement of the SKU1 in the requirement information corresponding to the storage area can be met, and the candidate containers of the SKU1 on the 6 movable shelves are selected as the containers to be delivered.

The manner in which the container to be delivered is selected from the candidate containers of SKU2 is the same and will not be described in detail herein.

In one embodiment, for each item to be picked, inventory information for each movable pallet is polled and a target container is determined based on the inventory information for the movable pallet. And stopping polling when the preset polling stopping condition is met, and determining the target container as the container to be delivered. The distance between the roadway corresponding to the goods to be picked and the first roadway and the distance between the roadway corresponding to the goods to be picked and the first roadway are smaller than or equal to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the unselected goods to be picked and the first roadway and the distance between the roadway corresponding to the goods to be picked and the first roadway.

When the movable shelves are polled, each movable shelf is polled in turn according to a preset sequence from the movable shelf corresponding to the first roadway. Wherein the predetermined order includes an order from a movable shelf corresponding to a lane closer to the first lane to a movable shelf corresponding to a lane farther from the first lane. The stop polling condition includes demand information corresponding to the inventory-satisfying storage area within each target bin.

The warehouse position information of the movable goods shelves close to the opening roadway is firstly polled, the warehouse position information is matched with the demand information of goods to be fetched, the goods to be taken out of the warehouse of each goods to be fetched are determined, the distance from the roadway corresponding to all the alternative goods boxes to the roadway in the opening state is not required to be calculated, and the data calculation amount is reduced.

In an embodiment, the predetermined sequence further comprises: for each movable pallet, the order from near to far from the sorting deck. That is, when the movable racks are polled in a predetermined order, the inventory information in the respective containers is polled sequentially from the order of approaching the sorting deck to the order of separating from the sorting deck, and the inventory information is matched with the demand information of the goods to be picked up to determine the target container of the goods to be picked up.

Through such setting, can reduce the walking distance of transfer robot when taking out the packing box from the storehouse position to can reduce packing box time of leaving warehouse, promote packing box efficiency of leaving warehouse.

In an embodiment, the preset stop polling condition further includes: the total number of target containers is minimal. That is, when the inventory in each target container meets the requirement information corresponding to the storage area and the total number of target containers is minimum, the polling is stopped.

Through minimizing the total number of target containers, the carrying times of the carrying robot can be reduced, the container delivery time is shortened, and the container delivery efficiency is improved.

With continued reference to FIG. 10, the 6 th movable pallet has one candidate container for SKU1 and one candidate container for SKU 2. And 50 pieces of stock are in each alternative container. There are two candidate containers of SKU1 on the 3 rd mobile pallet, and 50 SKUs 1 in each candidate container. The required number of SKUs 1 is 60 and the required number of SKUs 2 is 20. The first roadway is a roadway corresponding to the 1 st movable shelf and the 2 nd movable shelf and a roadway corresponding to the 5 th movable shelf and the 6 th movable shelf.

For SKU1, inventory information of the 1 st, 2 nd, 5 th and 6 th movable shelves is first polled, and if SKU1 inventory is present on the 6 th movable shelf, the container on the 6 th movable shelf is selected as the target container.

If the stock in the target container cannot meet the requirement information of SKU1, the 3 rd and 7 th movable shelves need to be continuously polled. In polling inventory information on the 3 rd movable shelf, the sorting deck is polled in order from far away. Two containers on the 3 rd movable shelf store the stock of SKU1, first poll the containers near the sorting table, and select the containers near the sorting table on the 3 rd movable shelf as target containers.

And if one target container on the 6 th movable shelf and a target container on the 3 rd movable shelf, which is close to the sorting table, already meet the requirement information of SKU1, stopping polling, wherein the number of target containers is minimum at the moment, so that the minimum number of containers to be discharged is ensured. And finally, taking the target containers on the 3 rd and the 6 th movable racks as containers to be delivered. The candidate container for another SKU1 on the 3 rd movable shelf is the unselected candidate container. And the distance from the roadway corresponding to the container to be delivered on the 3 rd and 6 th movable racks to the first roadway is smaller than or equal to the distance from the roadway corresponding to the other alternative container on the 3 rd movable rack to the first roadway.

In the second embodiment of determining the cargo box to be delivered, when the cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be picked is determined, the total number of movable racks corresponding to the cargo box to be delivered is smaller than or equal to the total number of movable racks corresponding to any one of the alternative cargo box combinations.

In one embodiment, the candidate containers of the goods to be fetched are determined according to the demand information corresponding to the storage area and the inventory information of the movable shelves. And arranging and combining the alternative containers of the goods to be picked to obtain a plurality of groups of alternative container combinations, and selecting a target alternative container combination from the alternative container combinations. The total number of the movable racks corresponding to the target candidate container combination is smaller than or equal to the total number of the movable racks corresponding to any one candidate container combination. The containers in the target candidate container combination are to-be-delivered containers.

The plurality of groups of candidate container combinations are obtained by arranging and combining the candidate containers, so that the total number of movable shelves corresponding to the selected target candidate container combination can be minimized, and the opening and closing times of the movable shelves are minimized when the containers to be delivered are taken out from the movable shelves, thereby improving the delivery efficiency.

In an embodiment, when the candidate containers of the goods to be picked up are arranged and combined, the candidate containers of each candidate container can be randomly selected to be combined into a candidate container combination, and when the candidate containers are combined, the requirement information corresponding to the storage area in the storage area is required to be ensured to be met by the stock in each candidate container in the candidate container combination.

The alternative container combinations of the containers to be taken are directly and randomly selected to form alternative container combinations, and complex polling steps are not needed, so that algorithm complexity is reduced, and calculation speed is improved.

In one embodiment, the mobile racks are polled in order of the number of candidate containers on each mobile rack from large to small, polling is stopped when the inventory within the candidate containers on the mobile racks that have been polled meets the demand information for the goods to be picked, and a candidate container combination is obtained from the candidate containers on the mobile racks that have been polled.

The alternative container combinations are determined by polling each movable goods shelf, all the alternative container combinations are not needed to be obtained by combination, the total number of movable goods shelves corresponding to all the alternative container combinations is not needed to be calculated, and the calculation complexity can be reduced.

In an embodiment, when selecting the target candidate container combination from the plurality of candidate container combinations, in addition to making the total number of movable racks corresponding to the target candidate container combination less than or equal to the total number of movable racks corresponding to any one of the candidate container combinations, the total distance from the lane corresponding to each candidate container in the target candidate container combination to the lane in the open state should be less than or equal to the total distance from the lane corresponding to each candidate container in the unselected candidate container combination to the lane in the open state.

If the total number of movable containers in the plurality of sets of candidate container combinations is the smallest, the candidate container combination with the shortest total distance from the roadway corresponding to each candidate container to the roadway in the open state is selected as the target container combination. Through the arrangement, the opening or closing times of the movable goods shelf can be further reduced, and the warehouse-out efficiency is further improved.

In an embodiment, the total number of candidate containers in the target candidate container combination is minimized and/or the total distance of the candidate containers in the target candidate container combination to the sorting deck is minimized.

If there are multiple sets of candidate container combinations, and there are multiple sets of candidate combinations with the smallest total number of movable containers and multiple sets of candidate combinations with the smallest total distance from the movable racks to the open roadway, the candidate combination with the smallest total number of candidate containers may be selected as the target candidate container combination, so as to reduce the number of times of carrying by the carrying robot, and the candidate combination with the smallest total distance from each candidate container to the sorting table may be selected as the target candidate container combination, so as to reduce the travelling distance of the carrying robot when taking out the containers to be taken out.

The number of alternative containers on both the 3 rd and 6 th movable racks is two, and the number of alternative containers on the 1 st, 2 nd, 4 th, 5 th and 7 th movable racks is 0. The information of the stock position of the 6 th movable shelf is firstly polled, and the candidate container of the SKU1 on the 6 th movable shelf and the candidate container of the SKU2 are combined to form a first candidate container combination. And polling the information of the stock positions of the 3 rd movable shelf, and selecting the combination of the candidate container of any SKU1 on the 3 rd movable shelf and the candidate container of SKU2 of the 6 th movable shelf, wherein the combination is marked as a second candidate container combination and a third candidate container combination.

When selecting a target combination from the three sets of candidate container combinations, selecting the candidate container combination with the smallest number of movable racks, wherein the total number of movable racks of the first set of candidate container combinations is the smallest, the distance from two candidate containers in the first set of candidate container combinations to a roadway in an open state is also the shortest, and selecting the first set of candidate container combinations as containers to be delivered.

S403, the dispatching equipment generates a carrying instruction according to the information of the storage position of the goods to be taken out of the storage container.

Wherein, the storage position information of the container to be delivered according to the goods to be fetched generates a carrying instruction, specifically comprising: the method comprises the steps of acquiring the number of carrying robots in a roadway in an open state in real time, and generating carrying instructions according to the number of the carrying robots and the storage position information of a to-be-delivered container on a movable storage rack corresponding to the roadway in the open state.

When the number of the carrying robots reaches a preset threshold value, carrying instructions for controlling the carrying robots to travel to the buffer area are generated according to the storage position information of the to-be-delivered container on the movable storage rack corresponding to the roadway in the opening state, so that the carrying robots wait in the buffer area.

Since the number of transfer robots that can be operated per lane is limited, it is necessary to consider the number of transfer robots already operated in each lane even when a transfer instruction for controlling the transfer robots is generated, and if the number of transfer robots is relatively large, the transfer robots are controlled to wait in a waiting area. If the number of the carrying robots is smaller, the carrying robots are controlled to directly enter a roadway for operation, and the container to be delivered is taken out from the corresponding movable goods shelf.

The scheduling equipment acquires the number of the transfer robots operating in the tunnel in real time, updates the transfer instructions in real time according to the number of the transfer robots, and schedules the transfer robots to enter the tunnel in time to execute transfer tasks.

S404, the dispatching equipment sends a carrying instruction to the carrying robot.

S405, the carrying robot carries the container to be carried out of the warehouse according to the carrying instruction.

S406, the scheduling equipment acquires the delivery state of each delivery container to be delivered on the movable goods shelf corresponding to the roadway in the opening state.

The sensor can be arranged on each bin, and the sensor can sense the delivery state of the container on the bin, or the delivery state of the container to be delivered can be sent to the dispatching equipment when the transfer robot takes out the container to be delivered from the bin on the movable goods shelf each time.

S407, the scheduling equipment generates an opening instruction when the delivery states of all the containers to be delivered on the movable shelves corresponding to the roadway in the opening state are delivered states.

And if the fact that the cargo boxes to be delivered on the movable shelves on the two sides of the roadway in the current opening state are delivered completely is determined, namely, the roadway in the current opening state has no cargo taking task, opening the next roadway, wherein the roadway is closest to the current roadway and is reserved with the cargo boxes to be delivered.

In the technical scheme, the distance from the roadway corresponding to the container to be delivered to the roadway in the opening state is shortest, or the total number of the movable shelves corresponding to the container to be delivered is minimized, so that the opening or closing times of the movable shelves when the container to be delivered is taken out can be reduced, and the delivery efficiency is improved.

As shown in fig. 13, an embodiment of the present application provides an inventory scheduling device 500, where the inventory scheduling device 500 includes:

The acquiring module 501 is configured to acquire order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, storage areas where the plurality of movable shelves are located, and job information of lanes corresponding to the plurality of movable shelves;

The processing module 502 is configured to determine, according to the order information, inventory information of the plurality of movable racks, a storage area where the inventory information is located, and job information of a corresponding roadway, storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information;

The processing module 502 is further configured to generate a handling instruction according to the bin information of the cargo box to be delivered, so that the handling robot carries the cargo box to be delivered out of the bin according to the handling instruction.

In one embodiment, the processing module 502 is specifically configured to:

In an embodiment, for the goods to be picked up in each order information, a distance from a roadway corresponding to a container to be picked up to the roadway in the open state is smaller than or equal to a distance from a roadway corresponding to an unselected candidate container to the roadway in the open state, and the candidate container is a container storing the goods to be picked up.

In one embodiment, the processing module 502 is specifically configured to:

Referring to fig. 14, an embodiment of the present application provides a scheduling apparatus 600, where the scheduling apparatus 600 includes a memory 601 and a processor 602.

A memory 601 for storing computer-executable instructions;

A processor 602 for executing computer-executable instructions stored in a memory to perform the steps performed by the inventory scheduling method in the above embodiments. Reference may be made in particular to the description of the foregoing embodiments of inventory scheduling methods.

Alternatively, the memory 601 may be separate or integrated with the processor 602.

When the memory 601 is provided separately, the processing device further comprises a bus for connecting the memory 601 and the processor 602.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein computer executable instructions are stored in the computer readable storage medium, and when a processor executes the computer executable instructions, the inventory scheduling method executed by the processing equipment is realized.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement an inventory scheduling method as performed by a processing device as described above.

Other embodiments of the application will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the application disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the application following, in general, the principles of the application and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the application pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the application being indicated by the following claims.

It is to be understood that the application is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, which have been described above, and that various modifications and changes may be effected without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the application is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An inventory scheduling method, wherein the method is applied to scheduling devices, the method comprising:

Acquiring order information, inventory information of a plurality of movable shelves, and operation information of lanes corresponding to the movable shelves, wherein the storage areas of the movable shelves are located;

Determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelves, the storage area and the operation information of the corresponding roadway, wherein the operation information of the roadway comprises a switch state, and the switch state comprises an on state and an off state; aiming at goods to be picked in the order information, the distance from a roadway corresponding to a goods to be picked out of a warehouse to a roadway in an opening state is smaller than or equal to the distance from a roadway corresponding to an unselected alternative container to the roadway in the opening state, wherein the alternative container is a container storing the goods to be picked;

generating a carrying instruction according to the bin position information of the to-be-delivered cargo bin, so that the carrying robot carries the to-be-delivered cargo bin out of the bin according to the carrying instruction;

determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the plurality of movable shelves, the storage area and the operation information of the corresponding roadway, wherein the method specifically comprises the following steps:

Splitting the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf and the storage area to obtain at least one sub order information and a storage area associated with the at least one sub order information;

Determining the storage position information of a to-be-picked cargo box according to the at least one sub-order information, the switching state of a roadway in a storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf; or alternatively

when the inventory of the first target storage area meets the demand of the goods to be taken in the order information, determining the inventory position information of a goods to be taken out of the warehouse box according to the demand information of the goods to be taken in the order information, the switch state of the roadway in the first target storage area and the inventory information of the movable goods shelf in the first target storage area.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein splitting the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf and the storage area thereof, to obtain at least one sub-order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub-order information, comprises:

splitting the order information according to the alternative container of the goods to be picked and the storage area where the alternative container is located, and obtaining at least one sub order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub order information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein splitting the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelf and the storage area thereof, to obtain at least one sub-order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub-order information, comprises:

Splitting the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelves, the storage areas and the number of the transfer robots operating in each storage area to obtain at least one sub order information and at least one storage area associated with the sub order information;

the operation information of the roadway further comprises the number of the operating transfer robots.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the order information is split according to the order information, the stock information of the plurality of movable shelves, the storage area in which the movable shelves are located, and the number of transfer robots working in each storage area, and at least one sub order information and a storage area associated with the at least one sub order information are obtained, specifically comprising:

Sequentially polling each storage area according to the sequence from small to large of the number of the carrying robots operating in the storage area, and determining an alternative container of the goods to be fetched and the storage area where the alternative container is located according to the inventory information of the movable goods shelves in the storage area and the order information until all the alternative containers of the goods to be fetched in the order information are determined;

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the categories of items to be picked in each sub-order information are minimized and/or the number of storage areas associated with each sub-order is minimized.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

when the inventory of the first target storage area meets the requirement of a first part of goods to be fetched in the order information, selecting a storage area with the least number of existing containers to be delivered from the residual storage areas as a second target storage area;

When the inventory of the second target storage area meets the requirement of the second part of goods to be fetched in the order information, determining the inventory position information of a goods to be delivered of the second part of goods to be fetched according to the requirement information of the goods to be fetched in the second part, the switch state of a roadway in the second target storage area and the inventory information of a movable goods shelf in the second target storage area, wherein the order information comprises the requirement of the first part of goods to be fetched and the requirement of the goods to be fetched in the second part of goods to be fetched.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the storage location information of the to-be-picked cargo box according to the at least one sub-order information, the on-off state of the roadway in the storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, and the inventory information of the movable shelf, specifically comprises:

Calculating and obtaining the distance from a roadway corresponding to the candidate container of each to-be-fetched goods in the sub-order information to a roadway in an opening state according to each storage area;

Selecting a cargo box to be delivered of each cargo to be retrieved from the cargo boxes to be retrieved according to the distance between the roadway corresponding to the cargo box to be retrieved from the sub-order information and the roadway in the switch state, and acquiring the information of the bin positions of the cargo boxes to be delivered of each cargo to be retrieved.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the storage location information of the to-be-picked cargo box according to the at least one sub-order information, the on-off state of the roadway in the storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, and the inventory information of the movable shelf, specifically comprises:

For goods to be fetched in each piece of sub order information, polling inventory information of a movable goods shelf in a storage area associated with the sub order information, and determining a target container according to the inventory information of the movable goods shelf; the polling sequence comprises the steps of sequentially polling each movable shelf according to a preset sequence from the movable shelf corresponding to the roadway in the switch state to the movable shelf corresponding to the roadway in the far switch state;

stopping polling when a preset polling stopping condition is met, determining that the target container is the container to be delivered, and acquiring the position information of the container to be delivered;

Wherein, the preset polling stopping condition comprises: and the stock in each target container meets the requirement of the goods to be fetched in the sub-order information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined sequence further comprises: for each movable pallet, in order from near to far from the sorting deck.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the preset stop-poll condition further comprises: the total amount of inventory within the target container is minimal.

11. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The total number of the movable racks corresponding to the containers to be delivered is smaller than or equal to the total number of the movable racks corresponding to any one of the alternative container combinations;

Wherein, stock in each alternative container combination meets the demand of goods to be fetched in the order information.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein determining the bin information of the to-be-picked cargo box according to the at least one sub-order information, the on-off state of the lane in the storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information, and the inventory information of the movable shelf, specifically comprises:

Arranging and combining alternative containers of all goods to be fetched in the sub order information to obtain a plurality of groups of alternative container combinations;

selecting a target candidate container combination from the candidate container combinations; the containers in the target alternative container combination are containers to be delivered, and the total number of movable shelves corresponding to the target alternative container combination is smaller than or equal to the total number of movable shelves corresponding to any one of the alternative container combinations.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the arranging and combining the candidate containers of the respective goods to be picked in the sub-order information to obtain a plurality of groups of candidate container combinations specifically includes:

14. The method of claim 12, wherein a total distance from a lane corresponding to each candidate container in the target candidate container combination to a lane in an open state is less than or equal to a distance from a lane corresponding to each candidate container in the unselected candidate container combination to a lane in an open state.

15. The method according to claim 9, 12, 13 or 14, characterized in that:

the total amount of inventory in the container to be delivered is minimum; and/or

And the total distance from the container to be delivered to the sorting table is the smallest.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating a handling instruction according to the bin position information of the to-be-picked cargo box, specifically comprises:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein generating the transfer instruction according to the number of transfer robots and the bin location information of the to-be-picked-up cargo bin, specifically comprises:

When the number of the carrying robots reaches a preset threshold, generating carrying instructions for controlling the carrying robots to travel to a cache area according to the storage position information of a to-be-delivered container on a movable storage rack corresponding to a roadway in an open state, so that the robots wait in the cache area;

When the number of the carrying robots is smaller than the preset threshold value, carrying instructions for controlling the carrying robots to travel to the roadway are generated according to the storage position information of the to-be-delivered container on the movable storage rack corresponding to the roadway in the opening state.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein after generating the transfer instruction from the bin location information of the to-be-picked cargo out of the bin, the method further comprises:

the opening instruction is used for opening a roadway which is nearest to the roadway in the current opening state and corresponds to the movable goods shelf in which the goods box to be delivered is placed.

19. An inventory scheduling device, comprising:

The processing module is used for determining the storage position information of a cargo box to be delivered of the cargo to be retrieved in the order information according to the order information, the inventory information of the movable shelves, the storage areas and the operation information of the corresponding roadways, wherein the operation information of the roadways comprises a switch state, and the switch state comprises an on state and an off state; aiming at goods to be picked in the order information, the distance from a roadway corresponding to a goods to be picked out of a warehouse to a roadway in an opening state is smaller than or equal to the distance from a roadway corresponding to an unselected alternative container to the roadway in the opening state, wherein the alternative container is a container storing the goods to be picked;

the processing module is also used for generating a carrying instruction according to the bin position information of the to-be-delivered cargo bin, so that the carrying robot carries the to-be-delivered cargo bin out of the bin according to the carrying instruction;

The processing module is specifically configured to split the order information according to the order information, inventory information of the movable shelf, and a storage area where the inventory information is located, so as to obtain at least one sub-order information and a storage area associated with the at least one sub-order information;

20. A scheduling apparatus, comprising: a memory, a processor;

a memory; a memory for storing the processor-executable instructions;

Wherein the processor is configured to perform the inventory scheduling method of any one of claims 1 to 18.

21. A robotic system comprising a scheduling device according to claim 20 and a handling robot.

22. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor are for implementing the inventory scheduling method of any one of claims 1 to 18.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the inventory scheduling method of any one of claims 1 to 18.