Shelf management method and system, pickup area and stock pickup system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12162736-B2
Application number	US-201916972003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2019
Priority date	Jun 6, 2018
Publication date	Dec 10, 2024
Grant date	Dec 10, 2024

Abstract

A shelf management method includes predicting whether there is space in the station queue area of a station; if yes, selecting a shelf from among the shelves allocated to the station and have not yet been transported, and controlling a moving robot to transport the selected shelf; after the moving robot is engaged with the selected shelf, re-predicting whether there is space in the station queue areas of all the stations that need the selected shelf; if yes, controlling the moving robot to transport the selected shelf to the station queue area that has been predicted to have space, and when the moving robot has transported the selected shelf to the pre-set area around the station queue area that has been predicted to have space, determining whether there is newly available space in the station queue area; if yes, controlling the moving robot to enter the station queue area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shelf management system, comprising:
a mobile robot, configured to transport a shelf;
the shelf, configured to be provided with locations for placing commodities and be transportable by the mobile robot;
a shelf zone, configured to store the shelf;
a plurality of stations and a station queuing zone of each of the plurality of stations, wherein the station is a worker operation position; and the station queuing zone is an area set near the worker operation position, where the mobile robot transporting the shelf queues and waits for a worker's operation; and
characterized in that a server, communicatively connected with the mobile robot and configured to:
estimate whether there is a free space in a station queuing zone of a first station;
select, in response to estimating that there is a free space in the station queuing zone of the first station, a shelf from shelves that are allocated to the first station and not transported, and control a mobile robot to transport the selected shelf;
after the mobile robot is butt-jointed with the selected shelf, re-estimate whether there is a free space in any of station queuing zones of all stations needing the selected shelf, wherein the all stations needing the selected shelf comprises the first station;
in response to estimating that there is a free space in any of the station queuing zones of all the stations, control the mobile robot to transport the selected shelf to the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space, and determine, in a case where the mobile robot transports the selected shelf and arrives at a preset area around the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space, whether there is a free space vacated in the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space; and
control, in response to determining that there is a free space vacated in the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space, the mobile robot to enter the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a layout mode of the station queuing zone comprises one of:
a dual-station symmetrical layout mode, a parallel layout mode, or a mode of queuing with no specific rotation zone.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the layout mode of the station queuing zone comprises the dual-station symmetrical layout mode, the station queuing zone comprises two rotation zones and two queuing passages around the two rotation zones respectively, the two queuing passages being partially overlapped to form a passage area between the two rotation zones, each queuing passage being provided with an entrance position, an operation position, a plurality of rotation zone entry positions, a plurality of queuing return positions, and an exit position, wherein the operation position is a position where the mobile robot transporting the shelf waits for the worker's operation; the rotation zone entry position is a position allowing the mobile robot to enter the rotation zone from the queuing passage; the queuing return position is a position allowing the mobile robot to enter the queuing passage from the rotation zone; the entrance position is set in the passage area, the two queuing passages sharing one entrance position; and the rotation zone entry positions, the queuing return positions and the exit positions on the two queuing passages are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the passage area.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the layout mode of the station queuing zone comprises the parallel layout mode, the station queuing zone comprises two rotation zones and two queuing passages around the two rotation zones respectively, each queuing passage being provided with an entrance position, an operation position, a plurality of rotation zone entry positions, a plurality of queuing return positions, and an exit position, the two queuing passages being arranged in parallel, wherein the operation position is a position where the mobile robot transporting the shelf waits for the worker's operation; the rotation zone entry position is a position allowing the mobile robot to enter the rotation zone from the queuing passage; and the queuing return position is a position allowing the mobile robot to enter the queuing passage from the rotation zone.

5. The system according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the layout mode of the station queuing zone comprises a mode of queuing with no specific rotation zone, the station queuing zone comprises a queuing passage, and the queuing passage is used as a rotation zone, the queuing passage being provided with an operation position, an exit position, and a plurality of entrance positions, the plurality of entrance positions being located between the operation position and the exit position.

6. The system according to claim 3 , wherein
a plurality of directions are set for the exit position, and in a case where the mobile robot needs to perform shelf rotation again after the operation is completed, the mobile robot is allowed to enter the station queuing zone again from the exit position, or leave the station queuing zone from the exit position and return to the station queuing zone via an external route.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where a layout mode of the station queuing zone comprises a multi-operation point layout mode, the station queuing zone comprises a plurality of operation positions, the plurality of operation positions being arranged in a line, and each operation position being used as an entrance position and an exit position, and the operation position being a position where the mobile robot transporting the shelf waits for the worker's operation.

8. The system according to claim 2 , wherein
a jacking mechanism and a trolley body move independently to achieve that the trolley body does not move, while the jacking mechanism performs descending and jacking operations; the trolley body does not move, while the jacking mechanism rotates; the trolley body and the jacking mechanism are locked up and rotate at a same speed; or the trolley body and the jacking mechanism rotate at different speeds at the same time.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is further configured to:
in response to estimating that there is no free space in any of the station queuing zones of all the stations, control the mobile robot to queue and wait in situ.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is further configured to:
in response to there being no free space vacated in the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space, control the mobile robot to queue and wait at a position, with a quantity of mobile robots less than a set quantity within a set range around the mobile robot, that does not obstruct routes of other mobile robots, or control the mobile robot to transport the selected shelf to another station needing the selected shelf.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is further configured to:
after controlling the mobile robot to enter the station queuing zone estimated to have a free space, determine in real time whether there is a free space vacated ahead of the mobile robot, and in response to determining that there is a free space vacated ahead of the mobile robot, control the mobile robot to move toward the free space ahead, or in response to there being no free space vacated ahead of the mobile robot, control the mobile robot to queue and wait in situ.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is further configured to:
in response to a number of mobile robots that are currently transporting shelves for a

Assignees

• Beijing Geekplus Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Kai
• Wang Mengdi

Classifications

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• B65G1/0492

  with cars adapted to travel in storage aisles · CPC title

• B65G1/0485

  Check-in, check-out devices · CPC title

• B25J9/1664

  characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning · CPC title

• B25J11/00

  Manipulators not otherwise provided for · CPC title