CN112249187B - Sorting system and robot - Google Patents

Sorting system and robot Download PDF

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Publication number
CN112249187B
CN112249187B CN201910663203.1A CN201910663203A CN112249187B CN 112249187 B CN112249187 B CN 112249187B CN 201910663203 A CN201910663203 A CN 201910663203A CN 112249187 B CN112249187 B CN 112249187B
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China
Prior art keywords
delivery
robot
delivered
opening
item
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CN112249187A (en
Inventor
刘凯
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Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
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Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
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Priority to CN201910663203.1A priority Critical patent/CN112249187B/en
Priority to PCT/CN2020/078975 priority patent/WO2021012687A1/en
Publication of CN112249187A publication Critical patent/CN112249187A/en
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Publication of CN112249187B publication Critical patent/CN112249187B/en
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
    • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
    • B62D57/00—Vehicles characterised by having other propulsion or other ground- engaging means than wheels or endless track, alone or in addition to wheels or endless track
    • B62D57/02—Vehicles characterised by having other propulsion or other ground- engaging means than wheels or endless track, alone or in addition to wheels or endless track with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members
    • B62D57/028—Vehicles characterised by having other propulsion or other ground- engaging means than wheels or endless track, alone or in addition to wheels or endless track with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members having wheels and mechanical legs
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination
    • B07C3/02—Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/36—Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • B07C5/36—Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B07C5/361—Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory
    • B07C5/362—Separating or distributor mechanisms
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots
    • G05D1/02—Control of position or course in two dimensions
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots
    • G05D1/02—Control of position or course in two dimensions
    • G05D1/021—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles
    • G05D1/0212—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles with means for defining a desired trajectory
    • G05D1/0225—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles with means for defining a desired trajectory involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots
    • G05D1/02—Control of position or course in two dimensions
    • G05D1/021—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles
    • G05D1/0268—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles using internal positioning means
    • G05D1/0274—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles using internal positioning means using mapping information stored in a memory device
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
    • G05D1/00—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots
    • G05D1/02—Control of position or course in two dimensions
    • G05D1/021—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles
    • G05D1/0287—Control of position or course in two dimensions specially adapted to land vehicles involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P90/00—Enabling technologies with a potential contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation
    • Y02P90/02—Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Transportation (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Warehouses Or Storage Devices (AREA)

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a sorting system and a robot. The sorting system includes: the control server is configured to plan a delivery path for the robot delivering the item to be delivered at least according to the route information of the item to be delivered and send the delivery path to the robot delivering the item to be delivered; the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings is on the delivery path; the robot is configured to travel to a target delivery port matched with the route information of the items to be delivered according to the delivery route; and controlling the delivery mechanism to deliver the item to be delivered positioned on the delivery mechanism from above the target delivery port to the target delivery port when the robot is driven to the target delivery port and the target delivery port is positioned below the delivery mechanism of the robot. By adopting the scheme, the barrier-free delivery operation of the robot can be realized, the delivery blocking frequency in the delivery process is reduced, and the delivery efficiency of the delivery robot is improved.

Description

Sorting system and robot
Technical Field
The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of logistics storage, in particular to a sorting system and a robot.
Background
Along with the rapid development of the warehouse logistics industry, an automation technology is gradually introduced into various links of the warehouse logistics industry, such as sorting and delivering links, so as to realize intelligent and automatic sorting and delivering operations.
Currently, in existing sorting systems, a plurality of delivery openings (for example, the delivery openings may be grid openings of a steel platform erected above the ground or container openings of a container for collecting goods arranged on the ground, or the like) are arranged in an array, a longitudinal channel and a transverse channel are formed between the delivery openings for a robot to travel, the robot carries a certain item (for example, an express package) along at least one of the longitudinal channel and the transverse channel and rests on one side of a certain delivery opening, and the items are delivered to the delivery opening at the side of the delivery opening.
However, the delivery openings are obstacles in the map on which the robot travels, and the influence of the obstacles needs to be considered when planning a path for the robot, which hinders the flexibility of the travel path of the robot and affects the overall performance and efficiency of the sorting system. Moreover, each robot can only carry and deliver one item at a time, and for a plurality of items, the robot must repeatedly take the items from the supply table and deliver the items, so that the process of repeatedly taking the items by the robot increases the total delivery path of the robot to some extent, and the overall performance and efficiency of the sorting system are affected.
Thus, improvements to existing sorting schemes are highly desirable.
Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the invention provides a sorting system and a robot, which are used for at least partially solving the problems of low overall performance and poor efficiency of the sorting system.
In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide an item delivery system comprising: the system comprises a control server, a plurality of robots and a plurality of delivery openings, wherein the robots are deployed in a delivery area, and the control server is in wireless communication with the robots; wherein,,
the control server is configured to plan a delivery path for a robot delivering the item to be delivered at least according to the route information of the item to be delivered, and send the delivery path to the robot delivering the item to be delivered; the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings is on the delivery path;
the robot is configured to travel to a target delivery port matched with the route information of the items to be delivered according to the delivery path; and controlling the delivery mechanism to deliver items to be delivered, which are positioned on the delivery mechanism, from above the target delivery opening to the target delivery opening when the robot travels to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is positioned below the delivery mechanism of the robot.
In a second aspect, the embodiment of the invention also provides a robot for delivering items to be delivered, which comprises a driving mechanism, a travelling mechanism, a delivery mechanism, a communication unit and a control unit, wherein the control unit is respectively and electrically connected with the communication unit and the driving mechanism, and the items to be delivered are positioned on the delivery mechanism;
the communication unit is configured to receive a delivery path, wherein the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings in the sorting area is on the delivery path;
the control unit is configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the travelling mechanism to travel towards a target delivery opening with matched routing information of the item to be delivered according to the delivery path, and control the delivery mechanism to deliver the item to be delivered into the target delivery opening from above the target delivery opening when the travelling mechanism travels to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is positioned below the delivery mechanism.
In the embodiment of the invention, a sorting scheme is provided, when the control server plans a delivery path for the robot, the delivery opening can be positioned on the delivery path, namely, the position of the delivery opening can be used as a part of the delivery path, the delivery opening can be used as an obstacle no longer when the delivery path is planned, the position of the delivery opening does not need to be bypassed, the travelling mechanism of the robot can travel to the delivery opening, the delivery mechanism can pass over the delivery opening, and the items can be directly delivered vertically downwards into the target delivery opening. By adopting the scheme of the embodiment, the position of the delivery opening in the delivery area is not an obstacle in the map, and the position of the delivery opening can be completely planned as a part of the delivery path, so that the flexibility of the delivery path of the robot is improved, and the shortest or most suitable delivery path can be planned when the delivery path is planned for the robot without being influenced by the position of the delivery opening.
The foregoing summary is merely an overview of the present invention, and is intended to be implemented in accordance with the teachings of the present invention in order that the same may be more fully understood, and in order that the same or additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention may be more fully understood.
Drawings
Other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments made with reference to the following drawings. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to designate like parts throughout the figures. In the drawings:
fig. 1 is a block diagram of a sorting system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic view of a scenario of a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic view of a chassis driving mechanism of a robot in the sorting system according to the embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic view of the structure of another robot in the sorting system provided in the embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 5 is a schematic view of a structure of a further robot in the sorting system provided in the embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a scene structure of another sorting system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a scenario between a robot and a robot track provided in an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 8 is a block diagram of a robot in a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, although exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and not for the purpose of limiting the same. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In addition, it should be noted that, for convenience of description, only some, but not all of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings.
The following detailed description of the embodiments and alternatives thereof is provided with respect to the article delivery system and robot according to the embodiments of the present invention.
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the technical solution of the present embodiment may be applied to item delivery in a sorting scenario, where a robot is running on the ground, and a container (e.g., a cage) is also disposed on the ground, and where the height of a delivery mechanism of the robot is higher than the height of the container or both, so as to ensure that the robot delivers packages on the delivery mechanism to the container. As shown in fig. 1, a sorting system 100 provided in an embodiment of the present invention specifically includes: a control server 110, at least one robot 120 deployed in a delivery area, and a plurality of delivery openings 130; and, the control server 110 wirelessly communicates with the plurality of robots 120 deployed in the delivery area; wherein,,
The control server 110 is configured to plan a delivery path for a robot delivering an item to be delivered at least according to the routing information of the item to be delivered, and send the delivery path of the item to be delivered to a robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered contained in the delivery area; the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings is on the delivery path;
the robot 120 is configured to travel to a target delivery opening 130 to which the route information of the item to be delivered matches, according to the delivery path; and controlling the delivery mechanism to deliver items to be delivered located on the delivery mechanism vertically downward into the target delivery opening 130 when traveling to the target delivery opening 130 and the target delivery opening 130 is located below the delivery mechanism of the robot 120.
The items can be express packages in a logistics sorting scene, and also can be articles to be sorted in other sorting scenes.
It will be appreciated that in the floor-standing sorting scenario, the delivery openings are container openings of the container, whereas in the steel platform sorting scenario, the delivery openings are grid openings arranged on the steel platform.
In this embodiment, fig. 2 is a schematic view of a scenario structure of a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 2, the control server 110 may establish a wireless communication connection with robots 120 deployed in the delivery area for enabling control and scheduling of each robot 120. The robot 120 may be, for example, a delivery robot located in a delivery area for delivering items. Optionally, the control server 110 refers to a software and/or hardware system with data information storage and data information processing capabilities, which may be communicatively coupled to each robot 120 and other hardware devices or software systems in the sorting system 100 in a wireless manner. Optionally, the control server 110 may send delivery tasks to the robots 120 in the sorting system 100 and other hardware devices or software systems in the sorting system, count delivery conditions of items, detect working states of the sorting system, transmit information to staff, and issue control commands to various types of robots in the sorting system 100.
In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2, taking the robot 120 as an example of a delivery robot, a plurality of delivery robots 120 and a plurality of delivery openings 130 are disposed in a delivery area. Optionally, a plurality of delivery openings 130 are deployed in an array in the delivery area, with an array void between the plurality of delivery openings 130. It should be noted that if the array gap is large to accommodate the robot 120 or the worker, a longitudinal channel and a lateral channel for the robot 120 or the worker to walk may be formed; and cannot accommodate the robot 120 or the worker if the array clearance is small.
In the present embodiment, items to be delivered refer to various types of items that need to be delivered to a delivery opening that is pre-deployed in a delivery area. The items to be delivered are not limited to a particular form, but may be items in the form of packages or a particular unpackaged item. When delivering, the items to be delivered need to be delivered from the delivery opening into the container associated with the delivery opening. Alternatively, in a floor-standing delivery scenario, delivery openings may refer to container openings of individual cargo containers deployed in an array at a delivery area; in the steel platform delivery scene, the delivery openings can be the grid openings positioned on the steel platform, and the grid openings positioned on the steel platform are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the cargo collecting containers below the steel platform.
In this embodiment, the collection container may be a conventional container for holding items to be delivered, such as a movable cargo box, a cage, or the like. Alternatively, the same container is only allowed to hold a plurality of items to be delivered having similar or identical attribute information, and the attribute information of the items to be delivered may include routing information of the items to be delivered, such as a destination address of the items to be delivered. The attribute information of the item to be delivered may also include the type of the item to be delivered and own attribute information of the item to be delivered, such as weight, volume, and the like.
In this embodiment, a detailed description of the specific operation of the sorting system 100 is provided below in conjunction with the schematic view of the sorting system shown in fig. 2. Referring to fig. 2, when delivering items to be delivered in a delivery area, the control server 110 in the sorting system 100 needs to send a planned one of the possible delivery paths to the robots 120 pre-deployed in the delivery area. Specifically, the control server may plan a delivery path for the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered based on the routing information of the item to be delivered. As can be seen from fig. 2, the control server 110 includes at least one specific position in the planned delivery path for the robot 120 delivering the item to be delivered, where the specific position refers to the position of at least a part of the delivery openings in the plurality of delivery openings in the delivery area, so that it can be ensured that the planned delivery path will pass through the position of the delivery opening 130 in the delivery area. It can be seen that the control server 110, when planning a delivery path for the robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered, does not choose to avoid the position of the delivery opening in the delivery area for path planning, but takes the position of the delivery opening in the delivery area as part of the delivery path as well.
In an alternative manner of this embodiment, before the control server 110 sends the delivery path of the item to be delivered to the robots 120 for delivering the item to be delivered, the control server 110 needs to select a suitable robot from a plurality of robots as the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered according to the operation condition of each robot 120 deployed in the delivery area, so as to control the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered to travel to the initial position of the item to be delivered and carry the item to be delivered. Meanwhile, the control server 110 may plan a delivery path for the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered according to the routing information of the item to be delivered, and send the delivery path to the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered.
Optionally, the operating conditions of the robot 120 include which specific location of the delivery area the robot 120 is currently located in, and whether the robot 120 is in an idle state. Optionally, the control server 110 selects a robot closest to the initial position of the item to be delivered and in an idle state from among the plurality of robots as a selected robot 120 suitable for delivering the item to be delivered according to the operation condition of each robot 120. Wherein, the initial position of the item to be delivered refers to the placement position before the item to be delivered is not delivered, and the item to be delivered is generally placed near the delivery station before the item to be delivered is not delivered.
In this embodiment, the target delivery opening refers to a delivery opening dedicated for receiving items to be delivered by a robot in a pre-deployed delivery area, and the items to be delivered with different attributes are put into different cargo containers from different target delivery openings, so that the items to be delivered with a certain attribute can be put into the cargo containers corresponding to the target delivery opening from a certain target delivery opening. With continued reference to fig. 2, after receiving the delivery path for the item to be delivered sent by the control server 110, the robot 120 deployed in advance in the delivery area will travel to the destination delivery opening where the route information of the item to be delivered matches according to the travel route indicated by the received delivery path. And, the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered passes through the position of at least a part of the plurality of delivery openings located in the delivery area during traveling along the delivery path, that is, the position at which the robot 120 for delivering the item to be delivered does not avoid at least a part of the plurality of delivery openings during traveling.
In this embodiment, when the robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered travels to the target delivery opening 130 to perform the operation of delivering items to be delivered, the conventional delivery method is not adopted to deliver items from the side of the container corresponding to the target delivery opening 130, but delivery is selected to be performed from above the target delivery opening 130, so that the items to be delivered are delivered to the container from above the target delivery opening 130.
Based on the above-mentioned delivery manner, when the robot 120 for delivering items performs a delivery operation at the position of the target delivery opening 130, delivery of items to be delivered from above the target delivery opening 130 can be achieved only by ensuring that the items to be delivered carried by the robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered need to be located above the target delivery opening 130. For this purpose, a delivery mechanism needs to be provided on the robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered, by which the items to be delivered can be carried. The delivery robot 120 may carry items to be delivered through a delivery mechanism and travel along a travel route indicated by the delivery path to the target delivery opening 130. When the robot 120 for delivering the items to be delivered travels to a position that enables the delivery mechanism of the robot to be positioned above the target delivery opening and aligned with the target delivery opening, the robot 120 for delivering the items to be delivered can control the delivery mechanism of the robot to directly deliver the items to be delivered carried by the robot to be delivered from above the target delivery opening to a cargo container corresponding to the target delivery opening, so as to complete the delivery operation of the items to be delivered.
In this embodiment, optionally, a robot for handling the container corresponding to the delivery opening is also included in the sorting system 100, and is denoted as a handling robot. The transfer robot may have an intelligent system and be capable of communicating with the control server 110 and receiving the transfer instruction transmitted from the control server 110. The handling instruction at least comprises: the location of the target delivery opening 130 and route guidance information. The handling machine responds to the handling instructions of the goods collecting containers corresponding to the target delivery openings 130, and the goods collecting containers corresponding to the target delivery openings 130 containing the items to be delivered are handled from the current positions of the target delivery openings 130 to the goods collecting stations corresponding to the current positions of the target delivery openings 130 according to the path navigation information.
In addition, after the transfer robot transfers the container containing the item to be delivered, in order to avoid the subsequent item to be delivered falling to the ground, the control server 110 simultaneously allocates another transfer robot to transfer an empty container to the location of the corresponding target delivery opening. Optionally, when one transfer robot is allocated to the empty container, the control server 110 may plan a travel path for the transfer robot according to the current position of the empty container and the position of the original target delivery opening, and generate a transfer instruction corresponding to the empty container, and further send the transfer instruction to another transfer robot, where the transfer instruction includes the travel path of the other transfer robot, so as to control the other transfer robot to transfer the empty container to the position of the corresponding target delivery opening.
According to the sorting scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, a plurality of position points can be directly selected from any position point of a delivery area to plan a delivery path for an item to be delivered, so that the position of a delivery opening in the delivery area is no longer an obstacle in a map, the control server is more flexible in planning the delivery path without considering the problem that the delivery opening in the delivery area can become an obstacle, the delivery blocking frequency in the delivery process is reduced, the position of the delivery opening can be completely planned as a part of the delivery path, the shortest delivery path can be planned when the delivery area is a delivery robot planning path, the delivery efficiency of the delivery robot is further improved, the overall performance of a sorting system is improved, and the overall sorting efficiency of the sorting system is greatly improved.
In one alternative of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with each of the alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 2, in the sorting system according to the embodiment of the present invention, items to be delivered carry preset item identifiers; wherein:
the control server 110 is configured to determine a target delivery opening 130 corresponding to the item to be delivered according to the item identifier carried by the item to be delivered; and generating a delivery path for the item to be delivered as a function of the location of the target delivery opening 130 deployed in the delivery area and the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings.
In this embodiment, each item to be delivered carries a corresponding matched item identifier, and attribute information of the corresponding item to be delivered is recorded in the item identifier, so that the attribute information of the item to be delivered carrying the item identifier can be obtained through the item identifier; the attribute information of the items to be delivered includes routing information of the items to be delivered, and the specific description can be seen in the foregoing description.
In this embodiment, optionally, referring to fig. 2, at least one delivery station 140 is provided at a preset location of the delivery area, and an item identification reader is provided at a preset location of each delivery station 140. When a worker or robot located at the delivery station 140 places an item to be delivered that needs to be delivered into the delivery mechanism of the delivery robot 120, the item identification reader can quickly read the item identification information carried on the item to be delivered. Meanwhile, the item identification reader may send the item identification information obtained by scanning to the control server 110 in a wireless or wired manner, so that the control server 110 obtains the route information of the item to be delivered according to the item identification information. Optionally, the item identification reader is embodied as a swipe camera.
Illustratively, taking the item identifier as a bar code, when the robot 120 travels to the preset position of the delivery station 140 and puts the item to be delivered into the delivery mechanism of the delivery robot 120, the item identifier reader located at the preset position of the delivery station 140 can quickly read the bar code carried on the item to be delivered. Further, the item identifier reader located at the preset position of the delivery station 140 may send the barcode information carried on the item to be delivered, which is scanned and read, to the control server 110, so that the control server 110 obtains the routing information of the item to be delivered according to the barcode information.
In this embodiment, optionally, the correspondence between the route information of the item to be delivered and the delivery opening is stored in the control server 110 in advance. After the corresponding relation between the route information of the items to be delivered and the delivery openings is set, only the items to be delivered of the route information indicated by the target delivery openings are allowed to be delivered at the target delivery openings, but the items to be delivered of other route information are not allowed to be delivered, so that the ordered delivery of the items to be delivered in groups and classification is ensured, and the random unordered delivery of the items to be delivered is not realized. Based on the above situation, the items to be delivered allowed to be contained in the goods collecting container corresponding to the delivery opening are related to the route information. If the routing information of the items to be delivered is the same as the routing information associated with a certain cargo container, the items to be delivered are considered to be contained in the cargo container. The routing information for the item to be delivered includes the shipping address of the item to be delivered. After knowing the routing information of the items to be delivered, the control server 110 may determine, according to the pre-stored correspondence, a delivery port corresponding to the routing information of the items to be delivered, as a target delivery port matched with the routing information of the items to be delivered, so as to deliver the items to be delivered from the target delivery port subsequently.
In this embodiment, optionally, the control server 110 may take the position of the target delivery opening 130 in the delivery area as the delivery end point, take the initial position of the delivery area before the item to be delivered is not delivered as the delivery start point, select the position of at least a part of the delivery openings from the multiple delivery openings in the delivery area as the intermediate passing position, further plan at least one feasible delivery path, and then select a path with the smallest congestion degree and the shortest path from the at least one feasible delivery path according to the operation condition of the robot in the delivery area as the delivery path of the item to be delivered.
By adopting the mode, the subsequent robot can be ensured to pass through the position of at least one delivery opening in the delivery area according to the driving route indicated by the delivery path, so that the position of the delivery opening in the delivery area is no longer an obstacle in a map, the position of the delivery opening is completely planned as a part of the delivery path, and the flexibility of the delivery path of the robot is improved.
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a robot in a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one alternative of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with each of the alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. The sorting scheme of the embodiment is mainly applicable to a floor-type sorting scene, referring to fig. 2 and 3, in the sorting system of the embodiment of the present invention, a travelling mechanism 1201 is disposed on a robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered, which is located in a delivery area, and a supporting assembly 1201a is disposed in the travelling mechanism 1201 of the robot 120, where the robot 120 for delivering items to be delivered is referred to as a delivery robot 120 for convenience of description; wherein:
The support assembly 1201a is capable of supporting the delivery robot 120 in a delivery area and enabling the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot 120 in the delivery area to run over the delivery opening 130;
the delivery robot 120 is configured such that, when traveling at the position of the target delivery opening 130 for which the route information of the item to be delivered matches and passing through the position of any one of the delivery openings indicated by the delivery route, the traveling mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot 120 itself straddles and passes through any one of the delivery openings, and the delivery mechanism 1202 of itself is ensured to be located above any one of the delivery openings.
In this embodiment, the delivery robot 120 is provided with the travelling mechanism 1201, and the travelling mechanism 1201 of the robot 120 is provided with the supporting component 1201a, so that the delivery robot 120 can be supported by the supporting component 1201a, meanwhile, the height of the lower surface of the delivery mechanism 1202 of the supporting component 1201a supporting the delivery robot 120 from the ground is greater than the height of the upper surface of each delivery opening 130 from the ground in the delivery area, thereby ensuring that the delivery robot 120 can pass through any delivery opening in a crossing manner, and the delivery mechanism 1202 on the delivery robot 120 can operate above the delivery opening 130 without being blocked by the delivery opening 130. Alternatively, each delivery opening 130 deployed in the delivery area in the floor sort scenario is specifically a container opening of each container disposed in the delivery area.
In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 3, in view of the fact that the delivery path planned by the control server 110 includes at least the positions of at least a part of the plurality of delivery openings disposed in the delivery area, the delivery robot 120 necessarily needs to traverse the positions of at least a part of the plurality of delivery openings indicated by the delivery path when the delivery robot 120 travels along the travel route indicated by the delivery path. At this time, when the delivery robot 120 passes the position of at least a part of the delivery openings, the delivery robot 120 may be supported by the support assembly 1201a in the own travelling mechanism 1201, and the travelling mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot 120 may be supported by the support assembly 1201a to straddle the ground on both sides of the delivery opening 130, and the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot may be ensured to be able to run over the delivery opening 130.
In an alternative way of this embodiment, referring to fig. 3, a driving mechanism is provided at a preset position of the delivery robot 120, and a driving wheel 1201b is provided at a preset position of the running mechanism 1201 on the delivery robot 120 close to the ground, by which the driving wheel 1201b in the running mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot 120 can be driven to run straight and turn on the ground.
In an alternative example, the chassis drive mode employed by the drive mechanism provided on delivery robot 120 is a two-wheel differential drive mode. The two-wheel differential driving method refers to that the driving mechanism on the delivery robot 120 adopts two driving motors when driving the driving wheels 1201b on the left and right sides. The direction of the driving wheel 1201b in the traveling mechanism 1201 can be changed by differential driving of the left and right motors of the driving mechanism, and thus the traveling direction of the delivery robot 120 can be changed. Optionally, the control server 110 may adjust the differential speed of the driving wheels 1201b on both sides of the running mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot 120 according to the size of the delivery area, the volume of the delivery robot 120, and the turning radius of the delivery robot 120, so as to adjust the running direction of the delivery robot 120. Wherein the radius of the delivery robot 120 at the delivery area may be determined based on the spacing between the individual delivery openings in the delivery area.
In the present embodiment, the specific driving process of the delivery robot 120 is: when the delivery robot 120 runs along the running route indicated by the delivery route sent by the control server 110 and encounters the straight running route, the delivery robot 120 can control the driving wheel 1201b in the driving mechanism 1201 to keep straight running by adopting the inertial navigation as a main and the visual navigation as an auxiliary mode; when the delivery robot 120 travels along the travel route indicated by the delivery route and encounters an arc travel route, the delivery robot 120 may drive the driving wheels 1201b of the traveling mechanism 1201 to turn by using the driving mechanism in a two-wheel differential driving manner. The arc driving route means that the delivery robot adopts an arc path to drive when turning, so that the delivery robot can not stop when turning, and the running time of the robot is saved.
In the present embodiment, when the delivery path instructs the delivery robot 120 to turn between the intervals of the delivery openings 130, it is necessary to set the intervals between the delivery openings to satisfy the turning radius of the delivery robot to ensure that the delivery robot 120 can turn between the delivery openings 130. When the delivery path indicates that the delivery robot 120 does not need to turn between the delivery openings 130 spacing, but turns in a set open area, the spacing between the delivery openings does not need to satisfy the turning radius of the delivery robot. At this time, since the delivery robot 120 does not need to turn between the delivery openings 130, the delivery buckles 130 can be made as tight as possible, but it is necessary to ensure that the spacing between the delivery openings 130 can accommodate the support assemblies 1201a and the drive wheels 1201b in the running gear 1201 of the delivery robot 120, so that the running gear 1201 of the delivery robot can ride on the ground on both sides of the delivery openings 130 under the delivery mechanism 1202 itself.
In this embodiment, optionally, the position of the drive mechanism is not shown in fig. 3, but the function of the drive mechanism is not affected, and the drive mechanism may comprise a first drive assembly by which the drive wheel 1201b in the running gear 1201 of the delivery robot 120 may be driven. Further, the drive mechanism may include a second drive assembly by which the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot 120 may be controlled to deliver items to be delivered.
In another alternative example, fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a chassis driving mechanism of another delivery robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4, the delivery robot of fig. 4 is similar to the delivery robot of fig. 3 and will also comprise a travelling mechanism 1201, a delivery mechanism arranged on a chassis table and a drive mechanism. The drive mechanism in fig. 4 is different from the drive mechanism in fig. 3 in that the drive mechanism of the delivery robot in fig. 4 adopts a chassis drive mode which is a mecanum wheel drive mode. The driving wheels 1201b in the running gear 1201, i.e. the four mecanum wheels, can be driven by the driving mechanism to change the running direction of the delivery robot 120. When the delivery robot 120 adopts a Mecanum wheel driving mode without turning, four Mecanum wheels in the travelling mechanism 1201 are driven by the driving mechanism to realize omnibearing movement on the ground. In addition, the support assembly 1201a of the delivery robot in fig. 4 can be raised and lowered to support the delivery robot 120 and enable the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot to operate over the delivery opening. Alternatively, for delivery mechanism 1202, delivery mechanism 1203 with a flap structure as shown in FIG. 3 may be employed.
In this embodiment, although the omni-directional movement of the delivery robot 120 can be achieved without turning by adopting the mecanum wheel driving method, in the omni-directional movement process, it is still necessary to ensure that the distance between the delivery openings 130 can accommodate the support assemblies 1201a and the driving wheels 1201b in the travelling mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot 120, so as to ensure that the travelling mechanism 1201 of the delivery robot can straddle the ground on both sides of the delivery opening 130 below the delivery mechanism 1202 and make the delivery mechanism 1202 operate above the delivery opening 130.
In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 3, the position of the target delivery opening 130 in the delivery area is both the position of one delivery opening in the delivery area and the end position when delivering the item to be delivered. When the delivery robot 120 travels to the target delivery opening 130 through the travelling mechanism 1201 and the target delivery opening 130 is located below the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot 120, that is, when the delivery robot 120 reaches the position of the target cargo container 130 as shown in fig. 3 and the delivery mechanism 1202 is ensured to be above the target delivery opening 130, the items to be delivered carried by the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot are directly put into the cargo container corresponding to the target delivery opening 130 from above the target delivery opening 130.
In an alternative to this embodiment, taking the delivery robot shown in fig. 3 as an example, only one delivery mechanism is provided on the delivery robot, and a first partition and a second partition that are mirror images of each other are provided on the lower surface of the delivery mechanism 1202 of the delivery robot itself, and the first partition and the second partition are switchable between an open state and a closed state. For example, the first and second partition are two flaps turned vertically downwards for carrying items to be delivered, the two flaps being switchable between an open state and a closed state.
In this embodiment, optionally, the first and second compartments of the delivery mechanism receive items to be delivered when in the closed state and drop into the target delivery opening when in the open state. Specifically, when the delivery robot 120 travels to the destination delivery opening below the delivery mechanism 1202 of the robot itself, the delivery robot 120 can control the first and second barriers provided on the lower surface of the delivery mechanism 1202 to switch from the closed state to the open state. At this time, when the first and second partition plates of the delivery mechanism are switched from the closed state to the open state, items to be delivered carried by the first and second partition plates fall from the target delivery opening into the underlying cargo container. Optionally, after the delivery robot delivers the items to be delivered, the delivery robot further controls the first partition board and the second partition board to be in a closed state, and then the items to be delivered of the next round are carried.
In another alternative of this embodiment, at least one of the plurality of robots 120 deployed in the delivery area includes at least two delivery mechanisms 1202 disposed on the robot 120 in a vertical orientation. To more intuitively describe the above, the following description will be made in detail with the robot 120 including two delivery mechanisms 1202 therein.
In this embodiment, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of still another delivery robot provided in the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 5, the delivery robot shown in fig. 5 differs from the delivery robot shown in fig. 3 in that the delivery robot shown in fig. 3 comprises only one delivery mechanism 1202, whereas the delivery robot shown in fig. 5 comprises two delivery mechanisms 1202. The delivery robot in fig. 3 can only deliver the items to be delivered corresponding to the same goods collection container at a time, but cannot simultaneously deliver and deliver a plurality of different items to be delivered, and fig. 5 comprises two delivery mechanisms, wherein the items to be delivered can be placed in both delivery mechanisms, so that the problem that the delivery robot must repeatedly pick up the items from a goods supply table and then deliver the items is solved, the walking path of the repeated item picking process is reduced, and the total delivery path of the robot is greatly reduced.
In this embodiment, referring to fig. 5, each delivery mechanism 1202 in delivery robot 120 includes a first diaphragm and a second diaphragm that are mirror images of each other, and the first and second diaphragms are switchable between an open state and a closed state. When the delivery robot 120 travels to the destination delivery opening below the delivery mechanism 1202 of the robot itself, the delivery robot 120 can control the first and second barrier provided on the lower surface of the delivery mechanism 1202 of the next floor to switch from the closed state to the open state. At this time, when the first and second separators of the next-floor delivery mechanism 1202 are switched from the closed state to the open state, items to be delivered carried by the first and second separators of the next-floor delivery mechanism 1202 fall from the target delivery opening into the lower container. When the first and second dividers of the next floor delivery mechanism 1202 are switched from the open state to the closed state, the delivery robot 120 is further configured to control the first and second dividers of the delivery mechanism of the previous floor to be in the open state for dropping items to be delivered on the delivery mechanism of the previous floor onto the next floor for the next delivery.
In this embodiment, optionally, the two flaps of the delivery mechanism may be controlled to switch between an open state and a closed state by a second driving part of the driving mechanism on the delivery robot, and the specific position of the driving mechanism is not shown in fig. 3 and 5, but the function of the driving mechanism is not affected.
According to the item delivery scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, a plurality of position points can be directly selected from any position point of the delivery area to select the planned delivery path, so that the position of a delivery opening in the delivery area is no longer an obstacle in a map, and the control server is more flexible in planning the delivery path; meanwhile, the special travelling mechanism of the delivery robot is adopted to ensure that the delivery robot directly passes through the upper side of the delivery port in a crossing manner when passing through the position of the delivery port, does not need to travel around the position of the delivery port, strictly travels along the delivery path planned by the control server, does not need to worry about the problem that the position of the delivery port in the delivery area can become an obstacle position, and can completely plan the position of the delivery port as a part of the delivery path so as to plan the shortest delivery path when planning the path for the delivery robot in the delivery area.
Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a scene structure of another sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is optimized based on the above embodiment. This embodiment may be combined with each of the alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. The sorting scheme of this embodiment is mainly applicable to sorting scenarios with steel platform structures, see fig. 6, and the optimized sorting system for the bottom of the above-mentioned system further includes: arranging a meshed robot running track 150 in the delivery area, wherein one grid corresponds to one delivery opening, and a corresponding cargo collecting container is arranged below each delivery opening of the robot running track 150; wherein:
In the sorting system 100, a robot 120 (denoted as delivery robot 120) for delivering items to be delivered can run on a robot running track 150, ensuring that the delivery mechanism of the delivery robot 120 itself can be located above any one of the delivery openings.
The delivery robot 120 is configured to travel on the robot running track 150 to the target delivery opening 130 corresponding to the item to be delivered according to the delivery path sent from the control server, and pass through the positions of at least a part of the delivery openings among the plurality of delivery openings indicated by the delivery path during the running of the robot running track 150.
In this embodiment, fig. 7 is a schematic view of a scenario between a delivery robot and a robot running track according to an embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the delivery of items to be delivered, as described above in relation to the item delivery system of fig. 2, fig. 7 differs from the delivery of fig. 2 in that fig. 2 shows the delivery robot straddling over the various delivery openings of the delivery area, i.e. the delivery robot straddles the ground; whereas the delivery robot shown in fig. 6 and 7 is directly driven on the robot running track to realize the process of driving delivery over the respective delivery openings corresponding to the grid of the robot running track in the delivery area. Here, the delivery opening may be a respective grid on the robot running rail 150, or may be a container opening of a container placed under the grid of the robot running rail 150.
Referring to fig. 6 and 7, the control server 110 plans a delivery path for a robot delivering an item to be delivered according to at least the route information of the item to be delivered, and sends the delivery path of the item to be delivered to the delivery robot 120 located at the robot running track, wherein the delivery path includes the positions of at least a part of the plurality of delivery openings. Then, the delivery robot 120 runs on the robot running track 150 according to the planned delivery path to travel toward the target delivery opening 130 to which the route information of the item to be delivered matches. When the delivery robot 120 runs on the robot track 150 and when traveling to the destination delivery opening below the delivery mechanism of the robot itself, the delivery mechanism is controlled to deliver items to be delivered located on the delivery mechanism from above the destination delivery opening to the destination delivery opening.
Optionally, referring to fig. 6, based on the above embodiment, the control server 110 may determine, according to the item identification information carried by the item to be delivered, a target delivery port 130 to which the route information of the item to be delivered is matched; and generating a delivery path for the item to be delivered as a function of the location of the target delivery opening 130 deployed in the delivery area and the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings.
On the basis of the above-described embodiment, optionally, referring to fig. 6, a delivery station is provided at a preset position of the delivery area, an item identification reader is provided at a preset position of the delivery station, and a transfer robot 160 is also provided between the delivery station and the robot running rail 150; wherein: when the delivery station places the item to be delivered onto the transfer robot 160, item identification information of the item to be delivered is read, and the read item identification information is transmitted to the control server 110. At the same time, the transfer robot 160 may transfer items to be delivered located at the delivery station into the delivery robot 120 located on the robot running track 150. When the transfer robot 160 transfers an item to be delivered into the delivery robot 120 located on the robot running track 150, the control server 110 transmits a planned delivery path of the item to be delivered to the delivery robot 120.
Alternatively, the delivery robot in fig. 7 may also have a delivery mechanism similar to that of fig. 3 and 5, see fig. 3 and 5, on the basis of the above-described embodiments. Optionally, at least two delivery mechanisms are included on at least one of the plurality of delivery robots 120 running on the robot running track 150, and the at least two delivery mechanisms are disposed on the robot in a vertical direction.
Alternatively, on the basis of the above-described embodiment, the delivery mechanism of the delivery robot 120 running on the robot running track 150 comprises a first diaphragm and a second diaphragm that are mirror images of each other, and the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm are switchable between an open state and a closed state. Optionally, the first barrier and the second barrier switch from a closed state to an open state when the robot travels to the target delivery opening below the delivery mechanism.
On the basis of the above-described embodiments, optionally, the first and second barrier panels, when in the closed state, receive items to be delivered, and when in the open state, the items to be delivered fall into the target delivery opening or onto the next floor of delivery facility. Optionally, the delivery robot 120 is further configured to control the first and second compartments of the delivery mechanism of the previous floor to be in an open state for dropping items to be delivered on the delivery mechanism of the previous floor onto the next floor for the next delivery when the first and second compartments of the delivery mechanism of the next floor are determined to be in a closed state.
It should be noted that the delivery robot 120 running on the robot track performs the same procedure of delivering the items to be delivered using the delivery mechanism, and specific procedures will not be specifically described herein, and reference is made to the foregoing.
According to the item delivery scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, a plurality of position points can be directly selected from any position point of the delivery area to select the planned delivery path, so that the position of a delivery opening in the delivery area is no longer an obstacle in a map, and the control server is more flexible in planning the delivery path; meanwhile, the delivery robot runs and delivers on the robot running track, so that the delivery robot can directly run above the delivery opening when passing through the position of the delivery opening, and does not need to bypass the position of the delivery opening and then run along the delivery path planned by the control server in a strict sense, and the problem that the position of the delivery opening in the delivery area can become an obstacle is avoided, and the position of the delivery opening can be completely planned as a part of the delivery path, so that the shortest delivery path can be planned when the delivery area is planning the delivery path for the delivery robot.
Fig. 8 is a block diagram of a robot located in a sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the technical solution of the present embodiment may be applied to a scenario of delivery sorting in a sorting process, and in particular, to a scenario of drop-on-floor sorting or a scenario of delivery sorting in a steel platform sorting scenario. The sorting robot of the embodiments of the present invention may perform at least part of the flow in the sorting system provided in any of the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 8, the robot provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes: the delivery device comprises a driving mechanism, a travelling mechanism, a delivery mechanism, a communication unit and a control unit, wherein the control unit is respectively and electrically connected with the communication unit and the driving mechanism, and an item to be delivered is positioned on the delivery mechanism; the control unit can control the delivery mechanism and the travelling mechanism which are indirectly connected with the driving mechanism by directly controlling the driving mechanism;
The communication unit is configured to receive a delivery path, wherein the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings in the sorting area is on the delivery path;
the control unit is configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the travelling mechanism to travel towards a target delivery opening with matched routing information of the item to be delivered according to the delivery path, and control the delivery mechanism to deliver the item to be delivered into the target delivery opening from above the target delivery opening when the travelling mechanism travels to the position, below the delivery mechanism, of the target delivery opening.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, the delivery mechanism is configured to cross through any one of the delivery openings indicated by the delivery path and the delivery mechanism is located above the any one of the delivery openings when the robot passes the position of the any one of the delivery openings in the delivery area.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, a supporting component is arranged in the running mechanism of the robot; the support component is used for supporting the delivery mechanism and enabling the height of the delivery mechanism to be higher than that of any delivery opening.
On the basis of the alternative of the embodiment, optionally, arranging a meshed robot running track in the delivery area, wherein one grid corresponds to one delivery port;
the running gear of the robot is configured to run on a gridded track.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, at least one robot of the plurality of robots includes at least two delivery mechanisms, and the at least two delivery mechanisms are disposed on the robot in a vertical direction.
On the basis of an alternative to the above-described embodiment, the delivery means optionally comprise a first and a second membrane that are mirror images of each other, and the first and second membrane are switchable between an open state and a closed state.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, the first and second barrier switches from a closed state to an open state when the robot travels to the destination delivery opening below the delivery mechanism.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, the first and second partition plates receive the items to be delivered when in the closed state and drop the items to be delivered into the target delivery opening or onto the next delivery mechanism when in the open state.
On the basis of the alternatives of the above embodiments, optionally, the delivery mechanism of the robot is further configured to control the first and second partitions of the delivery mechanism of the previous layer to be in an open state for dropping items to be delivered on the delivery mechanism of the previous layer onto the next layer for the next delivery when the first and second partitions of the delivery mechanism of the next layer are determined to be in a closed state.
The sorting system provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the robot provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and has corresponding functions and beneficial effects of the robot, and technical details not described in detail in the foregoing embodiment may be specifically referred to the sorting system provided in any embodiment of the present application.
Note that the above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the technical principle applied. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, while the invention has been described in connection with the above embodiments, the invention is not limited to the embodiments, but may be embodied in many other equivalent forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims (12)

1. A sorting system, comprising: the system comprises a control server, a plurality of robots and a plurality of delivery openings, wherein the robots are deployed in a delivery area, and the control server is in wireless communication with the robots; wherein,,
the control server is configured to plan a delivery path for a robot delivering the item to be delivered at least according to the route information of the item to be delivered, and send the delivery path to the robot delivering the item to be delivered; the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings in the delivery area is selected as an intermediate pass location plan on the delivery path; the delivery openings are container openings of all cargo collecting containers which are arranged in an array in a delivery area in a floor type delivery scene;
the robot is configured to travel to a target delivery port matched with the route information of the items to be delivered according to the delivery path; when passing through the position of any one delivery opening on the delivery path in the delivery area, the travelling mechanism of the robot spans the ground on the two sides of the delivery opening and passes through the any one delivery opening, and the delivery mechanism of the robot is positioned above the any one delivery opening; a supporting component is arranged in the running mechanism of the robot; the supporting component is used for supporting the delivery mechanism of the robot, and the height of the delivery mechanism of the robot is higher than the height of any delivery opening; and when the robot runs to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is positioned right below a delivery mechanism of the robot, controlling the delivery mechanism to vertically and downwards deliver the items to be delivered positioned on the delivery mechanism to a cargo container corresponding to the target delivery opening.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of robots includes at least two delivery mechanisms thereon, the at least two delivery mechanisms being disposed on the robot in a vertical orientation.
3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the delivery mechanism comprises a first and a second barrier that are mirror images of each other, and wherein the first and second barriers are switchable between an open state and a closed state.
4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the first and second barrier switch from a closed state to an open state when the robot is travelling to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is located directly below the delivery mechanism.
5. A system according to claim 3, wherein the first compartment, when in the closed state
A plate and a second separator plate receive the item to be delivered; when in the open state, the items to be delivered fall into the target delivery opening or onto the next delivery mechanism.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,
the robot is further configured to control the first and second dividers of the delivery mechanism of the previous floor to be in an open state for dropping items to be delivered on the delivery mechanism of the previous floor onto the delivery mechanism of the next floor for next delivery when the first and second dividers of the delivery mechanism of the next floor are determined to be in a closed state.
7. The robot is used for delivering items to be delivered and is characterized by comprising a driving mechanism, a travelling mechanism, a delivery mechanism, a communication unit and a control unit, wherein the control unit is respectively and electrically connected with the communication unit and the driving mechanism, and the items to be delivered are positioned on the delivery mechanism;
the communication unit is configured to receive a delivery path, wherein the location of at least a portion of the plurality of delivery openings in the delivery area is selected as an intermediate pass location plan on the delivery path; the delivery openings are container openings of all cargo collecting containers which are arranged in an array in a delivery area in a floor type delivery scene;
the control unit is configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the travelling mechanism to travel towards a target delivery opening matched with the route information of the item to be delivered according to the delivery path, and control the delivery mechanism to vertically and downwards deliver the item to be delivered to a corresponding cargo container in the target delivery opening when the travelling mechanism travels to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is positioned right below the delivery mechanism;
the travelling mechanism is configured to cross the ground on both sides of a delivery opening through any one of the delivery openings and the delivery mechanism is positioned above the any one of the delivery openings when the robot passes through the position of the any one of the delivery openings on the delivery path in the delivery area; a supporting component is arranged in the running mechanism of the robot; the support component is used for supporting the delivery mechanism of the robot, and the height of the delivery mechanism of the robot is higher than the height of any delivery opening.
8. The robot of claim 7, wherein at least one of the plurality of robots includes at least two delivery mechanisms thereon, the at least two delivery mechanisms being disposed on the robot in a vertical orientation.
9. The robot of claim 7 or 8, wherein the delivery mechanism comprises a first barrier and a second barrier that are mirror images of each other, and the control unit is further configured to control the first barrier and the second barrier to switch between an open state and a closed state.
10. The robot of claim 9, wherein the control unit is further configured to control the first barrier and the second barrier to switch from a closed state to an open state when the robot travels to the target delivery opening and the target delivery opening is located directly below the delivery mechanism.
11. The robot of claim 9, wherein the first and second shelves receive the items to be delivered when in the closed state; when in the open state, the items to be delivered fall into the target delivery opening or onto the next delivery mechanism.
12. The robot of claim 11, wherein the control unit of the robot is further configured to control the first and second shelves of the delivery mechanism of the previous floor to be in an open state for dropping items to be delivered on the delivery mechanism of the previous floor onto the delivery mechanism of the next floor for the next delivery when the first and second shelves of the delivery mechanism of the next floor are determined to be in a closed state.
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