CN109928131B

CN109928131B - Sorting area and inventory sorting system

Info

Publication number: CN109928131B
Application number: CN201910354343.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘凯; 王梦迪
Original assignee: Beijing Geekplus Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-29
Filing date: 2019-04-29
Publication date: 2020-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-29
Also published as: CN109928131A

Abstract

The invention belongs to the technical field of warehouse logistics, and particularly discloses a sorting area and an inventory sorting system, wherein the sorting area comprises one or more sorting stations, and at least one sorting station comprises: two picking channels and two picking points respectively located on the two picking channels; the picking point is used for picking the target goods by the picking main body; the picking passage provides a passing path for a picking robot to enter the picking station and leave the picking station after passing through the picking point in the picking station. The inventory picking system includes the picking zone described above. The sorting area and the inventory sorting system provided by the invention can improve the efficiency of goods sorting.

Description

Sorting area and inventory sorting system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of warehouse logistics, in particular to a sorting area and an inventory sorting system.

Background

With the rapid development and the increasing maturity of the electronic commerce, the electronic commerce plays an increasingly important role in the life of consumers, users also put forward higher requirements on the quality of the electronic commerce service, and how to improve the picking efficiency, reduce the time from order to delivery and reduce the labor burden is an important problem to be solved urgently in the logistics and warehousing industry.

In previous robotic automated inventory picking systems, person-to-person was a more common model. The goods-to-people mode is based on an intelligent picking robot 40, the robot automatically drives to the position under a target tray/target inventory container and lifts the target tray/target inventory container to a picking point according to order needs and inventory information, the picking point is provided with a display device such as a display screen, the display device prompts the position information of goods required by a goods order, a picker takes down the required goods according to prompts and puts the required goods into a specified container to complete a picking task, and the robot sends the tray/inventory container back to the specified position after the picking task is finished.

Above-mentioned goods reach people's scheme whole journey need not personnel and walks about, has improved the efficiency of selecting by a wide margin, reduces personnel intensity of labour. It is worth pointing out that, the goods-to-human robot scheme generally adopts a mode that one picking point corresponds to one picking person, so that idle time of robots such as people to a certain extent can occur, and the picking efficiency is not improved.

Disclosure of Invention

One object of the present invention is to provide a sorting area, which reduces the waiting time of the sorting robots in the sorting area and improves the sorting efficiency.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inventory picking system, which reduces the waiting time of the picking robots in line and improves the picking efficiency.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

a picking zone, the picking zone comprising one or more picking stations, at least one of the picking stations comprising: two picking channels and two picking points respectively located on the two picking channels;

the picking point is used for picking the target goods by the picking main body;

the picking passage provides a passing path for a picking robot to enter the picking station and leave the picking station after passing through the picking point in the picking station.

As an alternative to the picking zone, the two picking channels are respectively U-shaped and arranged side by side or side by side, the two picking points are respectively located at the U-shaped bottom of the picking channels, and a picking work zone for the picking main body to move is formed at one end of the picking channel far away from the opening of the U-shape.

As an alternative to a picking zone, two of the picking lanes are located immediately adjacent.

As an alternative to picking zones, two of the picking points are located in close proximity.

As an alternative to the picking zone, two opposite sowing walls are arranged in the picking work zone, a plurality of order containers are accommodated on the sowing walls, and two picking points are located in an extended space formed by the two sowing walls.

As an alternative to the picking zone, two picking channels in each picking station are respectively U-shaped and arranged at an opposite interval, two picking points are respectively located on U-shaped sides of the two picking channels and arranged oppositely, and a picking work zone for the picking main body to move is formed between the two picking channels.

As an alternative to the picking zone, two of the picking lanes are directly opposite and spaced apart.

As an alternative to a picking zone, two of the picking points are located directly opposite and spaced apart.

As an alternative to the picking zone, one of the two picking lanes provides a transit path in a clockwise direction and the other provides a transit path in a counter-clockwise direction.

As an alternative to a picking zone, the picking lanes have an entry grid forming the entry of the picking lane and an exit grid forming the exit of the picking lane, respectively, the entry and exit grids having a passage width greater than the maximum outer diameter of the inventory receptacles.

As an alternative to a picking zone, the picking aisles include inlet and outlet aisles forming two sides of the U, the outlet aisles being located on one side of the picking aisles adjacent to another of the picking stations, one of the outlet aisles being common to two adjacent picking stations.

As an alternative to the picking zone, the picking zone is logically provided with a two-dimensional grid, wherein one two-dimensional grid corresponds to one of the picking points.

As an alternative to the picking zone, the two-dimensional grid of the picking lanes upstream of the picking point forms an area for the picking robot to pass and wait.

As an alternative to a picking zone, the center of at least one of the two-dimensional grids is provided with a reference mark for positioning by the picking robot.

An inventory picking system comprising:

an inventory receptacle area for storing a plurality of inventory receptacles;

a picking robot for handling the inventory receptacles;

a picking zone for picking target items from the inventory receptacles handled by the picking robot;

the picking zone includes one or more picking stations, at least one of the picking stations including: two picking channels and two picking points respectively located on the two picking channels;

the picking passage provides a passing path for the picking robot to enter the picking station and leave the picking station after passing through the picking point in the picking station.

As an alternative to the inventory picking system, the two picking channels are respectively U-shaped and are arranged side by side or in parallel, the two picking points are respectively located at the U-shaped bottom of the picking channels, and a picking work area for the picking main body to move is formed at one end of the picking channels far away from the inventory container area.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, two of the picking lanes are located in close proximity.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, two of the picking points are located in close proximity.

As an alternative of the warehousing and picking system, two opposite seeding walls are arranged in the picking work area, a plurality of order containers are accommodated on the seeding walls, and the two picking points are located between the two seeding walls.

As an alternative of the warehousing and picking system, two picking channels in each picking station are respectively in a U shape and are arranged at relative intervals, two picking points are respectively located on two U-shaped sides of the picking channels and are arranged just opposite to each other, and a picking working area for the picking main body to move is formed between the two picking channels.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the picking surfaces of the inventory receptacles located in the picking zone are parallel to the U-shaped sides of the picking aisles.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, one of the two picking lanes provides a transit path in a clockwise direction and the other provides a transit path in a counter-clockwise direction.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the picking aisles have an entrance grid forming the entrance of the picking aisles and an exit grid forming the exit of the picking aisles, respectively, the entrance and exit grids having a passage width greater than the maximum outer diameter of the inventory receptacles.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the picking aisles include inlet and outlet aisles forming two sides of the U-shape, the outlet aisles being located on one side of the picking aisles adjacent to another of the picking stations, one of the outlet aisles being common to two adjacent picking stations.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the inventory receptacle area and the picking area are logically provided with two-dimensional grids, wherein one two-dimensional grid corresponds to one picking point.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the two-dimensional grid of the picking lanes upstream of the picking point forms an area for the picking robot to pass and wait.

As an alternative to an inventory picking system, the centre of at least one of the two-dimensional grids is provided with fiducial markers for positioning by the picking robot.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

in the picking area provided by the invention, two picking points are arranged in each picking station and picking channels are arranged corresponding to the picking points, and the two picking channels can enable a picking robot to enter the corresponding picking points, so that the same picking main body can be in charge of picking of the two picking points, and after the inventory containers on one picking point are picked and the picking robot entering from the picking channel does not convey the inventory containers to the picking points, the picking main body can pick the inventory containers waiting for picking on the other picking point, so that the idle waiting time of the picking main body is reduced, and the picking efficiency is improved.

The inventory picking system provided by the invention can reduce the idle waiting time of the picking main body and improve the picking efficiency by arranging the picking area.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an inventory picking system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an inventory receptacle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the picking station of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a picking station and inventory receptacles provided in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a picking station and inventory receptacles provided in a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a picking station and inventory receptacles provided in a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory picking system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the pick station and inventory receptacles of fig. 8.

The figures are labeled as follows:

10-selecting area; 1-a picking station; 11-a picking work area; 112-a seeding wall; 12-pick waiting area; 121-a picking lane; 1211-inlet channel; 1212-an outlet channel; 1213-a reversing channel; 122-picking point; 123-two-dimensional grid; 1231-portal grid; 1232-exit grid;

20-stock container zone; 201-stock container group; 202-inventory containers; 2021-sorting surface; 2022-barrier layer; 2023-tag code; 2024-support column; 203-longitudinal channels; 204-transverse channels;

30-a common channel;

40-a picking robot; 401-a lifting mechanism; 402-a drive mechanism; 403-a scanning device;

50-storage container.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not limiting of the invention. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.

In the description of the present invention, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "connected," "connected," and "fixed" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning permanently connected, removably connected, or integral to one another; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, "above" or "below" a first feature means that the first and second features are in direct contact, or that the first and second features are not in direct contact but are in contact with each other via another feature therebetween. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply meaning that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

In the description of the present embodiment, the terms "upper", "lower", "right", etc. are used in an orientation or positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings only for convenience of description and simplicity of operation, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used only for descriptive purposes and are not intended to have a special meaning.

Example one

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory picking system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 1, the embodiment provides an inventory picking system which is mainly applied to a warehouse logistics system for picking order items from inventory containers 202 to order boxes in a "goods-to-people" manner. In the embodiment, the inventory picking system is described by taking the application of the inventory picking system to a goods-to-person picker as an example, but it can be understood that the inventory picking system provided by the embodiment is not limited to only realizing the picking work of goods, but also can be applied to the conventional warehouse logistics operations of goods loading, inventory checking and the like.

As shown in fig. 1, the inventory picking system provided in the present embodiment includes an inventory receptacle area 20, a picking area 10, a common aisle 30 area, and a picking robot 40. The inventory container area 20 is used for placing inventory containers 202, storage containers 50 used for storing goods are placed on the inventory containers 202, and the goods are placed in the storage containers 50; the sorting area 10 is separated from the stock container area 20, and is used for sorting order goods and placing the sorted order goods in order boxes; the picking robot 40 is used to transport the inventory containers 202 in the inventory container area 20 to the picking area 10, or to transport the picked inventory containers 202 back to the inventory container area 20; a common aisle 30 is provided between the inventory receptacle area 20 and the picking area 10 for high speed passage of the picking robots 40 to enable operation of the picking robots 40 between the inventory receptacle area 20 and the picking area 10.

When the order management center receives a pick order, the order management center determines the position of the inventory container 202 in which the order goods are located in the inventory container area 20 and moves the picking robot 40; the order management center sends the position of the target inventory container 202 to the picking robot 40, the picking robot 40 autonomously navigates to the bottom of the target inventory container 202 according to the position, and carries the target inventory container 202 to the picking area 10; the picking main body in the picking area 10 picks out the order goods in the target inventory container 202 according to the order goods and places the order goods in the order box; picked inventory receptacles 202 are transported by picking robot 40 from picking zone 10 back to inventory receptacle zone 20 via a common aisle.

As shown in fig. 1, in order to transport inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 by the picking robot 40 and to enable the picking robot 40 to travel in the inventory receptacle area 20, a plurality of inventory receptacle groups 201 are arranged in the inventory receptacle area 20, and a passage for the picking robot 40 to travel is formed between two adjacent inventory receptacle groups 201. To achieve a rational and orderly planning of the stock-container area 20 and to reduce the walking obstacles of the picking robot 40, it is preferred that the stock-container groups 201 in the stock-container area 20 are arranged in rows and columns. Each row of the stock container groups 201 at least comprises one stock container group 201, and a transverse channel 204 arranged along a first direction is formed between every two adjacent rows of the stock container groups 201; each row of the stock container groups 201 at least comprises one stock container group 201, and a longitudinal channel 203 arranged along the second direction is formed between two adjacent rows of the stock container groups 201. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction, and a cross road or a T-shaped intersection is formed at the intersection of the transverse channel 204 and the longitudinal channel 203.

In this embodiment, each inventory container group 201 includes at least one inventory container 202, and in order to improve the utilization efficiency of the inventory container area 20, it is preferable that each inventory container group 201 includes a plurality of inventory containers 202, and the plurality of inventory containers 202 are arranged in rows and columns in the inventory container group 201.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of the inventory container 202 according to an embodiment of the invention, and as shown in fig. 2, the inventory container 202 includes a plurality of partitions 2022 and four floor-standing support columns 2024, which are arranged at intervals along the longitudinal direction, and various goods can be directly placed on each partition 2022, and the goods can also be arranged inside or outside the inventory container 202 by any suitable means such as hooks or rods on the inventory container 202 or inside the inventory container 202. The compartment 2022 of the inventory receptacle 202 may also be provided with a storage receptacle 50, and the storage receptacle 50 may be separate from the inventory receptacle 202 or may be integral with the inventory receptacle 202, and one or more items may be disposed within the storage receptacle 50.

In this embodiment, the inventory receptacle 202 may be one-way open, i.e., one item or storage container 50 may be placed along the depth of the compartment 2022. In another embodiment, the inventory container 202 is bi-directional open, i.e., the inventory container 202 may have two items or storage containers 50 disposed therein along the depth of the compartment 2022, i.e., one item or storage container 50 disposed therein per opening direction. In other embodiments, the inventory receptacle 202 may be four-way open, i.e., the items or storage containers 50 may be placed along all four sides of the inventory receptacle 202.

For convenience of description, the storage container 50 is disposed on the partition 2022 of the inventory container 202, and the goods are placed in the storage container 50. It will be appreciated that whether the items are placed directly in the inventory receptacles 202 or through the storage receptacles 50 in the inventory receptacles 202 does not affect the operation of the inventory picking system of the present embodiment.

To facilitate the following picking description, in the present embodiment, an opening of the stock container 202 is referred to as a picking surface, i.e., a surface for taking and placing the storage container 50, and the picking main body can operate the goods in the storage container 50 on the stock container 202 through the picking surface of the stock container 202. That is, for a two-way open inventory receptacle 202 having two picking surfaces disposed opposite, an order item may be placed in the storage receptacle 50 corresponding to either picking surface of the inventory receptacle 202; for one-way open inventory receptacles 202, having a picking surface, picking operations are only performed on the storage receptacle 50 corresponding to the picking surface; for a four-way open inventory receptacle 202, having four picking planes, picking operations may be performed by any of the four picking planes.

To facilitate the handling of inventory receptacles 202 by the picking robot 40, in the present embodiment, the handling of inventory receptacles 202 by the picking robot 40 is lift-off. Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a picking robot 40 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the picking robot 40 includes a drive mechanism 402 and a lift mechanism 401, by which drive mechanism 402, the picking robot 40 can move in the picking zone 10, the stock receptacle zone 20, and the common aisle 30. The lifting mechanism 401 is used to lift the inventory receptacles 202 out of contact with the floor, thereby moving the inventory receptacles 202. When the picking robot 40 carries the inventory container 202, the picking robot 40 moves to the bottom of the inventory container 202 to be carried through the transverse channel 204 and/or the longitudinal channel 203, a tray is connected to the top of the lifting mechanism 401, the lifting mechanism 401 operates to drive the tray to ascend to contact with the bottom of the inventory container 202, so that the supporting column 2024 of the inventory container 202 is separated from the ground, and therefore the picking robot 40 lifts the whole target inventory container 202 from the ground, and the picking robot 40 drives the inventory container 202 to move to a target position. When the picking robot 40 completes the transportation of the inventory receptacles 202, the lifting mechanism 401 operates to drive the trays to descend, so that the inventory receptacles 202 are driven to descend to be in contact with the ground, and after the trays continue to descend to be separated from the inventory receptacles 202, the picking robot 40 moves out of the bottom of the inventory receptacles 202 through the driving mechanism 402, so that the inventory receptacles 202 are separated from the picking robot 40.

In other embodiments, handling of inventory receptacles 202 may also be intrusive, with docking means provided at the bottom of inventory receptacles 202 or at the top of picking robot 40 for enabling docking of inventory receptacles 202 with picking robot 40. The picking robot 40 travels along the lateral 204 and/or longitudinal 203 paths within the inventory receptacle area 20 and to the bottom of the inventory receptacles 202, and after the docking connection between the inventory receptacles 202 and the picking robot 40 is made by the docking device, draws the inventory receptacles 202 to the target location.

In other embodiments, the picking robot 40 may also be configured to move the inventory receptacles 202 in a tractor, where the picking robot 40 is coupled to the inventory receptacles 202 via a tractor mechanism, and movement of the picking robot 40 pulls the inventory receptacles 202 along. In other embodiments, the picking robot 40 may also handle the inventory receptacles 202 in other manners, which are not illustrated.

In this embodiment, the picking robot 40 is further provided with a rotating mechanism connected with the tray, and the rotating mechanism can drive the tray to rotate, so that the inventory container 202 can be driven to rotate on the basis of keeping the running direction of the picking robot 40 unchanged, and the orientation of the inventory container 202 in the conveying process can be changed. That is, in the present embodiment, the rotational movement of the picking robot 40 may be decoupled from the rotational movement of the inventory receptacles 202, the movement of the picking robot 40 may be forward, backward, spin-reversing, turning, or the like, and the orientation of the inventory receptacles 202 may not change when the picking robot 40 generates forward, backward, spin-reversing, or the like. When the orientation of the inventory receptacle 202 is changed, the tray can be rotated by the rotation mechanism, i.e., the inventory receptacle is rotated 202.

In the present embodiment, the picking robot 40 further has an autonomous navigation function. Taking the autonomous navigation as the two-dimensional code navigation as an example, the picking robot 40 further includes a navigation recognition component for recognizing the two-dimensional code markings laid on the ground. The picking robot 40 also includes a downward camera that can navigate forward based on two-dimensional code information (and other ground markings as well) captured by the downward camera and can travel to under the target inventory receptacle 202 as prompted by the control system based on a route determined by the control system. In other embodiments, the picking robot 40 may adopt other navigation methods, such as inertial navigation and SLAM navigation, besides the two-dimensional code navigation, and may also combine two or more navigation methods, such as two-dimensional code navigation and inertial navigation, SLAM navigation and two-dimensional code navigation.

Further, the picking robot 40 also includes a scanning device 403 with the scanning head facing upward. As shown in fig. 3, the label 2023 is provided at the midpoint of the bottom of the target inventory container 202, and when the picking robot 40 travels under the target inventory container 202, the label 2023 is correctly photographed by the upward scanning device 403, so that the picking robot 40 is ensured to be positioned right under the target inventory container 202, thereby ensuring that the picking robot 40 can smoothly lift and carry the target inventory container 202. In the present embodiment, the label code 2023 is a two-dimensional code, and the scanning device 403 is a camera. In other embodiments, the tag code 2023 may be a bar code, an rfid tag, or the like, and the type of the scanning device 403 corresponds to the type of the tag code 2023.

In the present embodiment, in order to reduce the transportation obstacle of the picking robot 40 to the stock containers 202, in the present embodiment, two rows of the stock containers 202 are provided in each stock container group 201, and a plurality of the stock containers 202 are provided side by side in the second direction in each row of the stock containers 202. That is, each inventory receptacle 202 faces one longitudinal channel 203, when the picking robot 40 carries any inventory receptacle 202 in the inventory receptacle group 201, it can enter the bottom of the inventory receptacle 202 through the longitudinal channel 203 facing the inventory receptacle 202, and after lifting up the inventory receptacle 202, it drives the inventory receptacle 202 to enter the longitudinal channel 203, so as to realize the removal of the inventory receptacle 202; or when it is desired to move the inventory receptacles 202 back to the initial position of the inventory receptacle bank 201, the picking robot 40 moves the inventory receptacles 202 through the longitudinal channel 203 into the initial position, thereby resetting the inventory receptacles 202. That is, by providing two rows of stock containers 202 for each stock container group 201, interference with other stock containers 202 in the stock container group 201 can be avoided when the picking robot 40 carries a stock container 202, and the carrying efficiency can be improved. In another embodiment, two rows of inventory receptacles 202 may be provided in each inventory receptacle group 201, and each row of inventory receptacles 202 includes a plurality of inventory receptacles 202, i.e., each inventory receptacle 202 in the inventory receptacle group 201 is immediately adjacent to one lateral aisle 204, and the picking robot 40 may move a target inventory receptacle 202 out of or into the inventory receptacle group 201 through the corresponding lateral aisle 204. In another embodiment, in order to increase the compactness of the arrangement of the inventory receptacle area 20 and save the space of the inventory receptacles 202, two or more columns and two or more rows of inventory receptacles 202 may be disposed in each inventory receptacle group 201, in which the inventory receptacles 202 are surrounded by some of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle group 201, and when the inventory receptacles 202 are transported, another picking robot or picking robots 40 need to be dispatched to remove the inventory receptacle 202 on one side of the picking robot or picking robots and then transport the target inventory receptacle 202.

To improve the utilization of the inventory receptacle area 20, a group of inventory receptacle sets 201 are respectively disposed at three edges of the inventory receptacle area 20 not adjacent to the picking area 10, wherein the inventory receptacle sets 201 of the inventory receptacle area 20 disposed along the first direction and far away from the edge of the inventory receptacle area 20 include a row of inventory receptacles 202, two edges of the inventory receptacle area 20 disposed along the second direction are respectively disposed with a row of inventory receptacles 202, and two ends of the row of inventory receptacles 202 are connected with two ends of the two rows of inventory receptacles 202, so that the inventory receptacle area 20 forms a semi-enclosed space with an opening facing the picking area 10.

In this embodiment, the common aisle 30 is disposed in the first direction and is located between the picking zone 10 and the inventory receptacle zone 20. The picking robots 40 move in and out of the inventory receptacle area 20, or in and out of the picking area 10, or between the picking area 10 and the inventory receptacle area 20 through the common aisle 30, and therefore, the density of the picking robots 40 in the common aisle 30 is greater than the density of the picking robots 40 in the inventory receptacle area 20 and the picking area 10. To reduce the operational obstacles of the picking robot 40, no obstacles are provided on the common aisle 30.

In the present embodiment, the common aisle 30 includes four travel aisles arranged in a first direction, and the allowed travel directions of two adjacent travel aisles are opposite to each other, so as to avoid collision of the picking robots 40 during the operation of the common aisle 30, and simultaneously, to alleviate traffic in the common aisle 30. In other embodiments, the number of lanes in common aisle 30 may be two, or six or more, and preferably, the number of lanes in common aisle 30 is even, and the direction of travel of picking robot 40 in two adjacent lanes is opposite.

The picking zone 10 is disposed on one side of the inventory receptacle area 20, with the picking zone 10 facing the opening of the inventory receptacle area 20. In the present embodiment, the picking is performed manually, i.e., the picking main body picks the order items in the inventory receptacles 202 delivered to the picking zone 10. In other embodiments, automated picking may be used, i.e., robotic arms may be used to pick the order items in the inventory receptacles 202 moved to the picking zone 10. The present embodiment describes the picking operation of picking zone 10 by way of example of manual picking.

The picking area 10 includes a plurality of picking stations 1 arranged side by side in a first direction, and each picking station 1 is responsible for picking order items by a picking main body. In this embodiment, the number of picking stations 1 in the picking area 10 can be set by itself according to the requirement.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a picking station and an inventory container according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1 and 4, in this embodiment, each picking station 1 is provided with two picking points 122 and two picking tunnels 121, and the picking tunnels 121 are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the picking points 122, so that each picking tunnel 121 provides a path for the picking robot 40 to pass through the corresponding picking point 122. And both picking points 122 of each picking station 1 are available for targeted picking of items by the same picking body.

In the present embodiment, by providing two picking points 122 and picking lanes 121 corresponding to the picking points 122 in each picking station 1, each picking lane 121 enables the picking robot 40 to enter the corresponding picking point 122, so that the same picking body can be responsible for picking at two picking points 122, and after the inventory containers 202 at one picking point 122 are picked and the picking robot 40 entering from the picking lane 121 has not delivered the inventory containers 202 to the picking point 122, the picking body can pick the inventory containers 202 waiting for picking at another picking point 122, thereby reducing the idle waiting time of the picking body and improving the picking efficiency.

In the present embodiment, picking aisles 121 are U-shaped, opening toward inventory receptacle area 20, and both the entrance and exit of picking aisles 121 are toward inventory receptacle area 20. More preferably, picking aisles 121 are formed from a two-dimensional grid plan arranged in a rectangular array, which facilitates increased regularity of picking aisles 121 and, thus, increased planning consistency and layout compactness throughout picking zone 10.

In the present embodiment, to reduce the travel path of the picking robot 40 and improve the space utilization of the picking area 10, the picking passage 121 is preferably formed by planning two rows of two-dimensional grid groups arranged side by side along the first direction, and each row of two-dimensional grid group includes a plurality of two-dimensional grids 123 arranged side by side along the second direction. The central lines of one row of two-dimensional grid groups along the second direction form an inlet passage 1211 of the U-shaped channel, and the two-dimensional grid 123 of the inlet passage 1211 butted with the common channel 30 is an inlet grid 1231; the central lines of the other column of two-dimensional grid groups along the second direction form an outlet channel 1212 of the U-shaped channel, and the two-dimensional grid 123 of the outlet channel 1212 abutting against the common channel 30 is an outlet grid 1232; the central lines of the two columns of two-dimensional grid groups far away from the two-dimensional grids 123 at the tail ends of the common channel 30 form a reversing channel 1213 of the U-shaped channel, the reversing channel 1213 is arranged along the first direction and is respectively connected with the tail ends of the outlet channel 1212 and the inlet channel 1211, and when the picking robot 40 runs to the intersection of the reversing channel 1213 and the inlet channel 1211 or the outlet channel 1212, the picking robot performs spin reversing to change the running direction of the picking robot 40.

In the present embodiment, it is more preferable that each column of the two-dimensional grid group includes four two-dimensional grids 123, so as to improve the space utilization of the sorting area 10 and the space compactness of the inventory sorting system.

In this embodiment, the two-dimensional grid 123 may be formed by virtual logical partitioning in a controller of the inventory picking system, or may be formed by grid scribing in an actual field. To better enable navigation of the movement of the picking robot 40 along the picking lane 121, in the present embodiment, the center of at least one two-dimensional grid is preferably provided with a reference mark for positioning the picking robot 40. And more preferably, a fiducial marker for navigation of the picking robot 40 is affixed to the center of each two-dimensional grid 123. In the present embodiment, the reference mark is preferably a two-dimensional code, and the picking robot 40 is provided with a camera for scanning the two-dimensional code. Navigation of the picking robot 40 by using the two-dimensional code is a conventional technical means in the field, and the principle and the specific operation thereof are not described in detail in this embodiment.

In the present exemplary embodiment, picking points 122 are arranged at the U-shaped bottom of picking channel 121, and a picking work area 11 for the movement of picking bodies is arranged on the side of picking channel 121 remote from the stock container area. To increase space utilization and layout compactness, preferably two picking lanes 121 of the same picking station 1 are arranged next to each other. In order to reduce the moving distance of the picking main body when switching the picking points 122, in the embodiment, in two-dimensional grid groups forming one picking passage 121, the two-dimensional grid at the bottom end and adjacent to the other picking passage 121 forms the picking point 122, so that the two picking points 122 can be arranged side by side and adjacently, and the distance between the two picking points 122 is reduced. In other embodiments, the two-dimensional grid forming the two picking points 122 may also be spaced apart. In the present example, the outlet channel 1212 of each picking channel 121 is adjacent to another picking channel 121 of the same picking station 1. That is, in this embodiment, the picking points 122 occupy a two-dimensional grid 123 at the intersection of the outlet channel 1212 and the diverting channel 1213. As the picking robot 40 travels to the picking point 122 via the entry 1211 and diversion 1213, the inventory receptacles 202 handled by the picking robot 40 are picked by the picking bodies at the picking point 122. After picking, the picking robot 40 moves out of the picking station 1 along the exit path 1212.

To avoid collision interference between picking robots 40 or between inventory receptacles 202 handled by picking robots 40, in the present embodiment, each two-dimensional grid 123 can be occupied by only one picking robot 40. To increase picking efficiency, when a picking robot 40 is present at a picking station 122, the two-dimensional grid between the entry grid 1231 of the picking aisles 121 and the picking station 122 forms waiting areas for the picking robot 40 to travel and wait, each waiting area accommodating one picking robot 40 waiting to move into the picking station 122 within the waiting area. And after the picking robot 40 at the picking station 122 is finished picking and moves out of the picking station 122, the next waiting picking robot 40 moves the inventory receptacle 202 onto the picking station 122 waiting to be picked. In order to avoid the blockage of the picking channel 121, the two-dimensional grid 123 corresponding to the exit channel 1212 has no waiting picking robot 40 except for the two-dimensional grid 123 occupied by the picking point 122, and the picking robot 40 is directly moved out of the picking station 1 from the exit channel 1212 after being picked. Since the exit channels 1212 are free of standing picking robots 40, operational interference between the picking robots 40 can be reduced by arranging the exit channels 1212 of two picking lanes 121 adjacent to each other.

In the present embodiment, in order to improve the picking efficiency, two seeding walls 112 for placing order containers are provided in the picking work area 11, the two seeding walls 112 are disposed oppositely, and the two picking points 122 are located on the extending side of the space formed by the two seeding walls 112, and a plurality of order containers for storing order boxes are provided on the seeding walls 112. This kind of arrangement can improve the number of depositing of order case in picking workspace 11, improves the order volume that the picking main part can handle in step promptly.

In order to further facilitate the picking of the picking main body, a display screen is arranged in the picking working area 11, and the display screen is in communication connection with a controller of the inventory picking system and is used for displaying order information and picking information which are taken charge of picking at the picking station 1, so that the picking main body can pick goods by referring to the order information. The order information includes at least a type of the order item in each pick order, a quantity of each order item, a corresponding inventory container 202 for each order item, and its location on the inventory container 202. The picking information may include the current picking inventory receptacle 202, the type of target item on the current picking inventory receptacle 202, the location of each target item on the current picking inventory receptacle 202, the number of picks per target item on the current picking inventory receptacle 202, the location of the order box or boxes corresponding to each target item on the seeding wall 112, and so forth.

In this embodiment, the picking main body can pick only one order at a time, that is, after the target goods on each order are picked, the picking of the next order is performed. However, since multiple orders typically have the same item or there are items in multiple orders that are located in the same inventory receptacle 202, to improve picking efficiency, it is preferable that the picking main body perform picking operations on multiple orders simultaneously. The single order picking or the multiple order synchronous picking is a conventional technical means in the art, and the embodiment is not further described.

In this embodiment, when the inventory containers 202 are placed in the inventory container zone 20, the picking face 2021 of the inventory containers 202 faces the picking zone 10, which coincides with the orientation of the working face of the picking point 122, i.e., the face of the picking point 122 facing the picking working zone 11. That is, in the process that the picking robot 40 drives the inventory containers 202 to the picking point 122, the inventory containers 202 do not need to be rotated and reversed, and the picking of the goods by the picking main body can be realized. This applies to the case where the inventory receptacles 202 have openings on opposite sides, and at least one storage receptacle 50 can be arranged side by side in a first direction on each layer of partitions 2022 of the inventory receptacles 202, and only the first storage receptacle 50 is arranged in a second direction; or the inventory receptacle 202 has four open sides, but only one storage receptacle 50 is disposed on each layer of the compartment 2022 of the inventory receptacle 202.

In this embodiment, the inventory receptacle 202 has a length L in the first direction₀The width of the inventory receptacle 202 in the second direction is W₀The width L of the transverse channel 204 ensures that the inventory receptacles 202 are handled in the inventory receptacle area 20₂＞L₀Longitudinal direction ofWidth W of channel 203₂＞W₀(ii) a To ensure the operation of inventory receptacles 202 in picking zone 10 and to avoid collisions during operation of picking robot 40, the length L of each two-dimensional grid 123 in the first direction₁＞L₀A width W of each two-dimensional lattice 123 in the second direction₁＞W₀. And W for improving space utilization₁Is slightly larger than W₀And L is₁Is slightly larger than L₀. Further, in order to improve the space utilization and the convenience of path planning, in the present embodiment, it is preferable that each of the two-dimensional meshes 123 is the same in size.

The inventory picking system provided by this embodiment also includes a control system for controlling the operation of the various components in the inventory picking system. The control system comprises an order management center which is used for receiving and dispatching orders to the picking robot and the picking stations.

The embodiment also provides a sorting method which is applied to the inventory sorting system. The sorting method provided by the embodiment comprises the following steps:

step S101: the order management center receives the pick order, analyzes the position of the target inventory container 202 corresponding to the order goods in the pick order in the inventory container area 20, and plans the target picking station 1 corresponding to the pick order;

step S102: the order management center schedules the picking robot 40 and plans a first travel path for the picking robot 40 according to the initial position of the picking robot 40 and the position of the target inventory container 202;

step S103: the picking robot 40 travels to the bottom of the target inventory receptacle 202 according to the first travel path;

step S104: the lifting mechanism 401 of the picking robot 40 acts to drive the tray to ascend to contact the bottom of the inventory container 202 until the inventory container 202 is separated from the ground;

step S105: the control system determines a target picking passage 121 which the picking robot 40 needs to enter according to the congestion condition of the picking robot 40 in two picking passages 121 in the target picking station 1;

step S106: the control system plans a second travel path for the picking robot 40 based on the entry grid location of the target picking lane 121 and the location of the target inventory receptacle 202;

step S106: the picking robot 40 moves to the entrance grid of the target picking passage 121 according to the second travel path, in the process, the inventory container 202 does not make steering movement, and the picking robot 40 can perform actions such as forward movement, backward movement, spin reversing and the like;

step S107: the picking robot 40 moves forward to the end of the entrance passage along the second direction according to the entrance passage, and moves to the picking point 122 along the reversing passage 1213 after rotating for 90 degrees;

step S108: the picking main body picks a target item on the target inventory receptacle 202;

step S109: after picking is finished, the picking robot 40 rotates by 90 degrees and reverses to drive the inventory container 202 to move to an outlet grid 1232 along an outlet channel 1212;

step S110: the control system plans a third travel path based on the exit grid 1232 and the location of the target inventory container 202 in the inventory container zone 20, and the picking robot 40 transports the inventory container 202 back to the inventory container zone 20 based on the third travel path;

step S111: the picking robot 40 operates the lifting mechanism 401 to drive the tray to descend until the inventory container 202 is in contact with the ground and the tray is out of contact with the bottom of the inventory container 202;

step S112: the picking robot 40 drives the mechanism 402 to move the picking robot 40 out of the bottom of the inventory receptacle 202 and out of engagement with the inventory receptacle 202.

The embodiment also provides a warehouse logistics system, which comprises the inventory picking system.

Example two

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking station and an inventory container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the embodiment provides an inventory picking system, which is mainly applied to implement "goods-to-people" type picking of ordered goods, and can also implement conventional warehouse logistics operations such as goods loading and goods inventory. In this embodiment, the inventory picking system includes an inventory container area 20, a common aisle 30, a picking area 10, and a picking robot 40, where the arrangement of the inventory container area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10, and the picking robot 40 is basically the same as that in the first embodiment, and only the arrangement manner of the picking aisle 121 in the picking station 1 is different, and the structure that is the same as that in the first embodiment is not described again in this embodiment.

In the present exemplary embodiment, in the same picking station 1, the inlet passage 1211 of each picking channel 121 is arranged next to another picking channel 121, and the outlet passage 1212 of each picking channel 121 is arranged next to another picking station 1.

In the present exemplary embodiment, to further increase the space utilization of the picking zone, two adjacent picking lanes 1211 of two adjacent picking stations 1 share one outlet lane 1212.

In this embodiment, two adjacent picking stations 1 can share a sowing wall 112, the sowing wall 112 having two-sided openings, each side opening having a receptacle for placing an order. Alternatively, a sowing wall 112 can be arranged in the picking station 11 of a picking station 1, the sowing wall 112 being spaced apart from the picking point 122, so that the picking body can move between the sowing wall 112 and the picking point 122.

EXAMPLE III

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking station and an inventory container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the embodiment provides an inventory picking system, which is mainly applied to "goods-to-people" picking of ordered goods and can also achieve conventional warehouse logistics operations such as goods loading and goods inventory. In this embodiment, the inventory picking system includes the inventory receptacle area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10, and the picking robot 40, wherein the arrangement of the inventory receptacle area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10, and the picking robot 40 is basically the same as that in the first embodiment, and only the arrangement manner of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 and the arrangement manner of the two-dimensional grid 123 are different, and the structure that is the same as that in the first embodiment is not described again in this embodiment.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the inventory receptacles 202 are two-sided openings, and one side of the inventory receptacles 202 is open toward the sorting area 10 and the other side is open away from the sorting area 10. Two rows of storage containers 50 are arranged side by side along the second direction on each layer of the partition 2022 of the inventory container 202, and each row of the storage containers 50 includes at least one storage container 50. That is, the inventory container 202 has two opposite picking surfaces 2021, and each picking surface 2021 can only access the storage container 50 on the corresponding opening side. In this case, if the target item is placed on the picking surface 2021 facing the picking area 10, the picking robot 40 can pick the stock container 202 without turning the stock container 202 when the stock container 202 is transported; if the target item is placed on the picking surface 2021 facing away from the picking area 10, the inventory container 202 needs to be rotated 180 ° during the picking robot 40 carries the inventory container 202 to the picking point 122, so that the picking surface 2021 corresponding to the target item faces the picking work area 11.

In this embodiment, the inventory receptacle 202 has a length L in the first direction₀The width of the inventory receptacle 202 in the second direction is W₀To ensure that the picking robots 40 move the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 and the picking area 10 and to avoid interference collisions with other picking robots 40 or inventory receptacles 202, the width L of the transverse channel 204₂＞L₀Width W of longitudinal channel 203₂＞W₀(ii) a The length L of each two-dimensional grid 123 in the first direction₁＞L₀A width W of each two-dimensional lattice 123 in the second direction₁＞W₀. And W for improving space utilization₁Is slightly larger than W₀And L is₁Is slightly larger than L₀。

In the present exemplary embodiment, each picking lane 121 is provided with a rotation region for the rotational diversion of the inventory receptacles 202, and since the inventory receptacles 202 need to be rotationally diverted before traveling to the picking point 122, the rotation region is preferably one of the two-dimensional grids 123 forming the entry lane 1211. More preferably, in the present embodiment, entrance grid 1231 of each picking lane 121 forms the aforementioned rotation zone to ensure consistency of the subsequent two-dimensional grid 123, reduce the difficulty of sorting and avoid operational interference between picking robots 40. In other embodiments, any one of the two-dimensional grids 123 forming the inlet channels 1211 may also form the aforementioned turning region.

In this embodiment, to avoid interference with the operation of the picking robots 40 around the rotation zone when the inventory receptacles 202 are diverted and to maintain the consistency of the layout of the picking zone 10, the length L of the two-dimensional grid 123 corresponding to the rotation zone along the first direction₃The length L of the two-dimensional grid 123 corresponding to the non-rotated region along the first direction₁Consistently, the width of the two-dimensional grid 123 corresponding to the region of rotation in the second direction is greater than the maximum outer diameter of the inventory receptacle 202, i.e., the width of the two-dimensional grid

In this embodiment, to ensure consistency of road force cell planning, the outlet grid 1232 and the inlet grid 1231 are the same size, i.e., the inventory receptacle 202 may also be rotated at the outlet grid 1232 to return the rotated inventory receptacle 202 to the original orientation. That is, in the present embodiment, the length of the two-dimensional grid 123 in each picking lane 121 in the first direction is uniform, but the width of the exit grid 1232 and the entrance grid 1231 in the second direction is greater than the width of the other two-dimensional grids 123 in the picking lane 121 to provide space for the rotational diversion of the inventory receptacles 202 while improving the space utilization of the picking zone 10.

The embodiment also provides a sorting method which can realize double-sided sorting of the inventory receptacles. The sorting method provided by the embodiment is as follows:

step S107: the picking robot 40 moves to the entrance grid 1231 of the target picking lane 121 according to the second travel path, in this process, the inventory receptacle 202 does not make a turning motion, and the picking robot 40 can perform forward, backward, spin reversing, and other actions;

step S108: the control system determines whether to perform two-sided picking or one-sided picking on the inventory container 202 according to the order information, if the picking of the inventory container 202 is one-sided picking and the picking side 2021 deviates from the picking point 122, step S109 is executed, otherwise, step S1110 is executed;

step S109: after the tray of the picking robot 40 rotates to rotate the inventory receptacles 202 by 180 degrees, step S110 is performed.

Step S110: the picking robot 40 advances to the end of the entrance passage along the second direction according to the entrance passage 1211, rotates by 90 degrees and then runs to the picking point 122 along the reversing passage 1213;

step S111: the picking main body picks a target item on the target inventory receptacle 202;

step S112: after picking is finished, the picking robot 40 rotates by 90 degrees and reverses to drive the inventory container 202 to move to an outlet grid 1232 along an outlet channel 1212;

step S116: the control system plans a third travel path based on the exit grid 1232 and the location of the target inventory container 202 in the inventory container zone 20, and the picking robot 40 transports the inventory container 202 back to the inventory container zone 20 based on the third travel path;

step S117: the picking robot 40 operates the lifting mechanism 401 to drive the tray to descend until the inventory container 202 is in contact with the ground and the tray is out of contact with the bottom of the inventory container 202;

step S118: the picking robot 40 drives the mechanism 402 to move the picking robot 40 out of the bottom of the inventory receptacle 202 and out of engagement with the inventory receptacle 202.

In this embodiment, if the inventory receptacle 202 is rotated and reversed over the entrance grid 1231, the inventory receptacle 202 may or may not be rotated and reversed over the exit grid 1232, and the control system needs to update the position and orientation of the inventory receptacle 202.

For the double-sided picking inventory containers 202, in the present embodiment, after one picking operation is completed, the containers enter the exit grid 1232 to undergo a rotary reversing operation, and then pick the containers on the other picking surface 2021, in other embodiments, after one picking operation is completed, the containers enter the entry grid of the picking passage 121 again, and then undergo a rotary reversing operation.

In this embodiment, by setting the rotation area, it is beneficial to realize the double-sided picking work for the stock container 202, and it reduces the occupation of the independent rotation area setting to the space, and improves the compactness of the structure and the space utilization rate of the picking area.

Example four

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking station and an inventory container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the embodiment provides an inventory picking system, which is mainly applied to "goods-to-people" picking of ordered goods and can also implement conventional warehouse logistics operations such as goods loading and goods inventory. In this embodiment, the inventory picking system includes an inventory receptacle area 20, a common aisle 30, a picking area 10, and a picking robot 40, where the arrangement of the inventory receptacle area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10, and the picking robot 40 is basically the same as that in the embodiment, and only the arrangement manner of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 and the arrangement manner of the two-dimensional grid 123 are different, and the structure that is the same as that in the embodiment is not described again in this embodiment.

In the present embodiment, when the inventory containers 202 are in the inventory-container area 20, the picking surfaces 2021 of the inventory containers 202 face the longitudinal channel 203 or face away from the longitudinal channel 203, and at this time, since the picking surfaces 2021 of the inventory containers 202 do not face the picking area 10, no matter which picking surface 2021 the target item is located, the inventory containers 202 need to be rotated so that the picking surfaces 2021 face the picking work area 11. When double-sided picking of the stock containers 202 is required, after one-sided picking, the stock containers 202 need to be reversed, and then the other-sided picking of the stock containers 202 needs to be performed.

In the present embodiment, when the inventory container 202 is stored in the inventory container area 20, the length of the inventory container 202 along the first direction is L₀The width of the inventory receptacle 202 in the second direction is W₀To ensure that picking robot 40 moves inventory receptacles 202 normally within inventory receptacle area 20, width L of transverse channel 204₂＞L₀Width W of longitudinal channel 203₂＞W₀. To ensure that the inventory receptacles 202 rotate within the rotation zone, the length L of the two-dimensional grid 123 along the first direction corresponding to the rotation zone₃＞W₀Width in the second direction

The length L of each picking lane 121 in the first direction of the two-dimensional grid 123 except for the rotation zone₁＞W₀Width W in the second direction₁＞L₀And in order to improve space utilization, W₁Slightly larger than L, and L₁Is slightly larger than W₀。

step S107: the picking robot 40 moves to the entrance grid 1232 of the target picking lane 121 according to the second travel path, in this process, the inventory receptacle 202 does not make a turning motion, and the picking robot 40 can perform forward, backward, spin reversing, and other actions;

step S108: the control system determines the angle of rotation of the inventory receptacle 202 according to the relationship between the initial orientation of the corresponding picking surface 2021 of the target item on the inventory receptacle 202 and the working surface of the picking point 122;

step S109: the tray of the picking robot 40 rotates, causing the inventory receptacles 202 to rotate a predetermined angle.

In this embodiment, the picking robot 40 diverts the inventory receptacles 202 at the entry grid 1231 so that the picking surface 2021 coincides with the working surface of the picking point 122. In other embodiments, the picking robot 40 may also move the inventory containers 202 to the common aisle 30, and then divert the inventory containers 202 so that a picking surface 2021 of the inventory containers 202 is aligned with the working surface of the picking point 122. That is, in this embodiment, the first rotational diversion to bring one of the picking facets 2021 of the inventory receptacles 202 into alignment with the working plane of the picking point 122 may occur in the common aisle 30, as well as at the entrance grid 1231 of the picking aisles 121.

Step S109: the picking robot 40 moves forward to the end of the entrance passage along the second direction according to the entrance passage, and moves to the picking point 122 along the reversing passage 1213 after rotating for 90 degrees;

step S110: the picking main body picks a target item on the target inventory receptacle 202;

step S111: after picking is finished, the picking robot 40 rotates by 90 degrees and reverses to drive the inventory container 202 to move to an outlet grid 1232 along an outlet channel 1212;

step S112: the control system determines whether the inventory receptacle 202 is double-sided picked, if so, proceeds to step S113, and if not, proceeds to step S115.

Step S113: the tray of the picking robot 40 rotates, causing the inventory receptacles 202 to rotate 180 °.

Step S114: the system determines a target picking passage 121 which needs to be entered by the picking robot 40 again according to the congestion condition of the picking robot 40 in two picking passages 121 in the target picking station 1, enters an entrance grid 1231 of the target picking passage 121 from an exit grid 1232 where the picking robot is located, enters the picking point 122 through an entrance channel 1212 to be picked, and moves to the exit grid 1232 of the target picking passage 121 through the exit channel 1212 after the picking is finished.

Step S115: the tray of the picking robot 40 rotates to drive the inventory receptacle 202 to rotate by a preset angle, so that the inventory receptacle 202 returns to the original orientation;

while in this embodiment inventory receptacles 202 are returned to their original orientation at exit grid 1232 of picking lane 121, in other embodiments, the picking robot 40 may rotate inventory receptacles 202 to their original orientation after bringing the inventory receptacles 202 to remove picking station 1 and into common lane 30.

EXAMPLE five

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory picking system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking station and an inventory container according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, this embodiment provides an inventory picking system, which is mainly applied to achieve "goods-to-person" picking of ordered goods, and may also achieve conventional warehouse logistics operations such as loading and inventory. In this embodiment, the inventory picking system includes the inventory container area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10 and the picking robot 40, wherein the arrangement of the inventory container area 20, the common aisle 30, the picking area 10 and the picking robot 40 is basically the same as that in the first embodiment, and only the arrangement manner of the picking area 10 is different, and the structure same as that in the first embodiment is not described again.

In this embodiment, inventory receptacle 202 has two oppositely disposed picking surfaces 2021, with one of the two picking surfaces 2021 facing longitudinal channel 203 and the other facing away from its adjacent longitudinal channel 203. One or more storage containers 50 may be disposed side-by-side in the second direction on each layer of the compartments 2022 of the inventory receptacles 202.

In the present exemplary embodiment, each picking station 1 comprises two picking points 122 and two picking channels 121, the picking channels 122 forming a U-shape and having their inlets and outlets facing the stock-container area 20. The two picking channels are arranged at opposite intervals, and a picking working area 11 for the picking main body to move is formed between the two picking channels. The picking point 122 is located on one side of the U-shape of the picking channel 121, with the picking point 122 facing the picking work area 11.

In this arrangement, since the picking point 122 is located at one side of the picking work area 11, when the picking robot 40 carries the inventory containers 202 to travel from the inventory container area 20 to the picking point 122, the inventory containers 202 do not need to rotate, and the picking surfaces 2021 of the inventory containers 202 face the picking work area 11, so that the picking efficiency is improved, and the increase of space caused by the arrangement of an additional rotating area is avoided. And the picking points 122 and the picking channels 121 are arranged on both sides of the picking working area 11, so that the same picking main body can be responsible for picking two picking points 122, and when the inventory containers 202 on one picking point 122 are picked and the picking robot entering from the picking channel 121 does not transport the inventory containers 202 to the picking point 122, the picking main body can pick the inventory containers 202 waiting to be picked on the other picking point 122, thereby reducing the idle waiting time of the picking main body and improving the picking efficiency.

In the present embodiment, it is preferable that one picking channel 121 of the two picking channels 121 is disposed clockwise, and the other picking channel 121 is disposed counterclockwise. That is, the inlet passages 1211 of both picking passages 121 are located on the side of the picking passage 121 adjacent to the picking work area 11, or the outlet passages 1212 of both picking passages 121 are located on the side of the picking passage 121 adjacent to the picking work area 11. In this arrangement, the picking surfaces 2021 facing the picking work area 11 differ when the picking robot 40 carries inventory receptacles 202 to the picking points 122 of different picking lanes 121. That is, one of the two picking lanes 121 may be selected to enter the picking station 1 according to the orientation of the target item on the corresponding picking surface 2021 of the inventory container 202, so that when the inventory container 202 is located at the picking point 122, the picking surface 2021 where the target item is located faces the picking work area 11, which facilitates picking by the picker. The picking robot is beneficial to picking the inventory containers 202 picked on two sides, avoids the rotation and the reversing of the inventory containers 202 in the carrying process of the picking robot 40, and improves the picking efficiency.

In the present embodiment, the picking station 1 is provided with the communicating channel 124 communicating with the two picking channels 121 on the side of the picking work area 11 facing the inventory receptacle area 20, the communicating channel 124 is formed by two logically divided two-dimensional grids, and the two-dimensional grids of the communicating channel are arranged side by side with the entrance grid 1231 and the exit grid 1232, so as to realize the communication between the two picking channels 121, thereby enabling the picking robot 40 to realize the movement between the two picking channels 122 in the same picking station 1 without removing the picking station 1, and realizing the double-sided picking operation on the inventory receptacle 202.

In the present exemplary embodiment, it is further preferred that the inlet passages 1211 of both picking passages 121 are located on the side of the picking passage 121 adjacent to the picking work area 11, and that two adjacent picking passages 121 of two adjacent picking stations 1 share an outlet passage 1212. Due to the arrangement mode, the arrangement compactness of the picking stations 1 in the picking area 10 can be improved, and the space is saved.

In the present embodiment, it is more preferable that each column of the two-dimensional grid group includes four two-dimensional grids 123, so as to improve the space utilization of the sorting area 10 and the space compactness of the inventory sorting system. And more preferably, in this embodiment, the third two-dimensional grid 123 in the direction of the inlet passage 1211 forms the picking point 122. This arrangement, on the one hand, enables the first two-dimensional grids 123 to be used for picking robots 40 entering picking lanes 121 and waiting in the picking lanes 121, increasing the number of picking robots 40 available for waiting in the picking lanes 121; on the other hand, it is convenient to provide the sowing walls 112 on both sides of the picking point 122 in the second direction, so that the picking main body can promptly pick and place the target items on the inventory receptacles 202 in the picking work into the order boxes of the sowing walls 112. In other embodiments, the picking points 122 may be formed by the end two-dimensional grid 123 of the inlet channel 1211 remote from the inlet grid 1231.

The inventory receptacle 202 has a length L in the first direction₀The width of the inventory receptacle 202 in the second direction is W₀The width L of the transverse channel 204 ensures that the inventory receptacles 202 are handled in the inventory receptacle area 20₂＞L₀Width W of longitudinal channel 203₂＞W₀(ii) a To ensure the operation of inventory receptacles 202 in picking zone 10 and to avoid collisions during operation of picking robot 40, the length L of each two-dimensional grid 123 in the first direction₁＞L₀A width W of each two-dimensional lattice 123 in the second direction₁＞W₀. And W for improving space utilization₁Is slightly larger than W₀And L is₁Is slightly larger than L₀。

In this embodiment, to improve the uniformity of the layout of the culling area 10, each two-dimensional grid 123 is preferably identical.

In the present exemplary embodiment, a sowing wall 112 is arranged in the picking work area 11, and the sowing wall 112 is located between two picking points 122, the sowing wall 112 being arranged facing away from the stock-container area 20. In other embodiments, the picking work area 11 may be provided with two seeding walls 112, and the two seeding walls 112 are disposed opposite to each other and respectively located at two sides of the picking point 122 along the second direction.

In this embodiment, the initial orientation of the picking surface 2021 of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 is the same as the working surface orientation of the picking point 122, as the picking surface 2021 of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 faces toward or away from the longitudinal channel 203. That is, the picking robot 40 need not reverse inventory receptacles 202 during the transfer of the inventory receptacles 202. In other embodiments, the placement of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 may not be defined, and the picking robot 40 may rotationally divert the inventory receptacles 202 before transporting the inventory receptacles 202 to the picking station 1 such that the picking surfaces 2021 of the inventory receptacles 202 are aligned with the working surface of the picking point 122.

The embodiment also provides a sorting method, which is applied to the inventory sorting system and can realize double-sided sorting of the inventory receptacles 202. The sorting method comprises the following steps:

step S105: the control system determines whether the inventory receptacle 202 is double-sided picking, if so, determines a target picking passage 121 which needs to enter according to the congestion condition in the two picking passages 121 in the target picking station 1, and if not, determines a target picking passage 2021 which needs to enter according to the orientation of a picking surface 2021 of the inventory receptacle 202;

step S107: the picking robot 40 moves to the entrance grid of the target picking passage 121 according to the second travel path, in the process, the inventory container 202 does not make steering movement, and the picking robot 40 can perform actions such as forward movement, backward movement, spin reversing and the like;

in this embodiment, the initial orientation of the inventory receptacles 202 in the inventory receptacle area 20 is the same as the orientation of the work surface in one of the picking points 122, and thus, there is no need to reverse the inventory receptacles 202; in other embodiments, if the initial orientation of the inventory containers 202 in the inventory container zone 20 is not consistent with the orientation of the work surfaces in both picking stations 122, the picking robot 40 may be caused to rotationally reverse the inventory containers 202 such that the picking surfaces 2021 of the inventory containers 202 are oriented the same as the work surfaces of one of the picking stations 122 before driving the inventory containers 202 into the picking station 1.

Step S108: the picking robot 40 proceeds in a second direction to a picking point 122 according to the entryway;

step S109: the picking main body picks a target item on the target inventory receptacle 202;

step S110: after picking, the picking robot 40 travels along the diversion aisle 1213 and the exit aisle 1212 to the exit grid 1232.

Step S111: the control system determines whether the inventory receptacle 202 is double-sided picked, if so, proceeds to step S112, and if not, proceeds to step S113.

Step S112: the picking robot 40 enters another picking passage 121 through the communicating passage 124, drives the inventory containers 202 to the corresponding picking point 122, picks the objects by the picking robot, and moves the objects to the exit grid 1232 of the target picking passage 121 through the exit passage 1212 after picking.

Step S113: the control system plans a third travel path based on the exit grid 1232 and the location of the target inventory container 202 in the inventory container zone 20, and the picking robot 40 transports the inventory container 202 back to the inventory container zone 20 based on the third travel path;

step S114: the picking robot 40 operates the lifting mechanism 401 to drive the tray to descend until the inventory container 202 is in contact with the ground and the tray is out of contact with the bottom of the inventory container 202;

step S115: the picking robot 40 drives the mechanism 402 to move the picking robot 40 out of the bottom of the inventory receptacle 202 and out of engagement with the inventory receptacle 202.

It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. 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, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A picking zone, characterized in that the picking zone (10) comprises one or more picking stations (1), at least one of the picking stations (1) comprising: two picking lanes (121) and two picking points (122) located on the two picking lanes (121), respectively;

the picking point (122) is used for picking the target goods by the picking main body;

the picking passage (121) providing a transit path for a picking robot (40) to enter the picking station (1) and exit the picking station (1) after passing the picking point (122) in the picking station (1);

the picking channels (121) are U-shaped and arranged side by side or in parallel, the picking points (122) are located at the U-shaped bottoms of the picking channels (121), and picking working areas (11) for the picking bodies to move are formed at one ends, far away from the openings of the U-shaped picking channels (121).

2. A picking zone as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that two picking channels (121) are provided in immediate proximity.

3. The picking zone of claim 2, characterized in that two picking points (122) are disposed in close proximity.

4. A sorting zone according to claim 3, characterised in that two opposite sowing walls (112) are provided in the sorting workspace (11), a plurality of order containers being accommodated on the sowing walls (112), two sorting points (122) being located in an extended space formed by two sowing walls (112).

5. A picking zone, characterized in that the picking zone (10) comprises one or more picking stations (1), at least one of the picking stations (1) comprising: two picking lanes (121) and two picking points (122) located on the two picking lanes (121), respectively;

two picking passages (121) in each picking station (1) are respectively in a U shape and are arranged at relative intervals, two picking points (122) are respectively positioned on two U-shaped side edges of the picking passages (121) and are arranged oppositely, and a picking working area (11) for the picking main body to move is formed between the two picking passages (121).

6. A picking zone according to claim 5, characterised in that two picking channels (121) are provided directly opposite and spaced apart.

7. The picking zone of claim 6, wherein two picking points (122) are disposed directly opposite and spaced apart.

8. The picking zone according to any of claims 1-7, characterized in that one of the two picking lanes (121) provides a passage path in a clockwise direction and the other provides a passage path in a counter-clockwise direction.

9. A picking zone according to any of claims 1-4, characterised in that the picking lane (121) has an entrance grid (1231) forming the entrance of the picking lane (121) and an exit grid (1232) forming the exit of the picking lane (121), respectively, the passage width of the entrance grid (1231) and the exit grid (1232) being larger than the largest outer diameter of the inventory receptacles (202).

10. A picking zone as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the picking channel (121) comprises an inlet channel (1211) and an outlet channel (1212) forming two sides of the U, the outlet channel (1212) being located on one side of the picking channel (121) adjacent to another picking station (1), two adjacent picking stations (1) sharing one outlet channel (1212).

11. The picking zone according to claim 1, characterized in that the picking zone (10) is logically provided with a two-dimensional grid, wherein one two-dimensional grid corresponds to one picking point (122).

12. The picking zone of claim 11, characterized in that the two-dimensional grid in the picking lane (121) upstream of the picking point (122) forms an area for the picking robot (40) to pass and wait.

13. The picking zone according to claim 11, characterized in that the center of at least one of the two-dimensional grids is provided with a reference mark for positioning by the picking robot (40).

14. An inventory picking system comprising:

an inventory receptacle area (20) for storing a plurality of inventory receptacles (202);

a picking robot (40) for handling the inventory receptacles (202);

a picking zone (10) for picking target items from the inventory receptacles (202) handled by the picking robot (40);

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the picking zone (10) comprises one or more picking stations (1), at least one of the picking stations (1) comprising: two picking lanes (121) and two picking points (122) located on the two picking lanes (121), respectively;

the picking point (122) for the picking main body to pick the target item;

the picking passage (121) providing a transit path for the picking robot (40) to enter the picking station (1) and exit the picking station (1) after passing the picking point (122) in the picking station (1);

15. The inventory picking system according to claim 14, characterised in that two picking lanes (121) are arranged next to each other.

16. The inventory picking system of claim 15, characterized in that two picking points (122) are located in close proximity.

17. The inventory picking system according to claim 16, characterised in that two opposite sowing walls (112) are arranged in the picking work area (11), a plurality of order containers being accommodated on the sowing walls (112), two picking points (122) being located in an extended space formed by two sowing walls (112).

18. An inventory picking system comprising:

a picking robot (40) for handling the inventory receptacles (202);

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the picking point (122) for the picking main body to pick the target item;

each picking station (1) is provided with two picking channels (121) which are arranged in a U shape and are arranged at opposite intervals, the two picking points (122) are respectively positioned on the two U-shaped sides of the picking channels (121) and are arranged just opposite to each other, and a picking working area (11) for the picking main body to move is formed between the two picking channels (121).

19. The inventory picking system according to claim 18, characterized in that the picking faces (2021) of the inventory receptacles (202) located in the picking zone (10) are parallel to the U-shaped sides of the picking lane (121).

20. The inventory picking system according to any of claims 14-19, characterised in that one of the two picking lanes (121) provides a passage path in a clockwise direction and the other provides a passage path in a counter-clockwise direction.

21. The inventory picking system according to any of claims 15-17, characterized in that the picking lane (121) has an entrance grid (1231) forming an entrance of the picking lane (121) and an exit grid (1232) forming an exit of the picking lane (121), respectively, the entrance grid (1231) and the exit grid (1232) having a passage width larger than the largest outer diameter of the inventory receptacles (202).

22. An inventory picking system according to any one of claims 15-19, characterised in that the picking lane (121) comprises an inlet lane (1211) and an outlet lane (1212) forming two sides of the U, the outlet lane (1212) being located on the side of the picking lane (121) adjacent to another one of the picking stations (1), the adjacent two picking stations (1) sharing one of the outlet lanes (1212).

23. Inventory picking system according to claim 14 or 18, characterised in that the inventory-container zone (20) and the picking zone (10) are logically provided with a two-dimensional grid, wherein one two-dimensional grid corresponds to one picking point (122).

24. The inventory picking system according to claim 23, characterized in that the two-dimensional grid in the picking lane (121) upstream of the picking point (122) forms an area for the picking robot (40) to pass and wait.

25. An inventory picking system according to claim 23, characterised in that the centre of at least one of the two-dimensional grids is provided with a reference mark for the picking robot (40) to locate.