CN115115301A - Scheduling method, apparatus, medium, and program product for transport apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a scheduling method, apparatus, medium, and program product for a conveyance apparatus. The scheduling method of the conveying equipment comprises the following steps: acquiring a traveling instruction which needs to be executed by each handling device in the target warehouse within a target time period after the current moment; judging whether a travel conflict exists in the process of executing the travel command corresponding to each transport device according to each travel command; if so, determining two or more target handling equipment with traveling conflicts; and adjusting the traveling of the target carrying equipment according to a target resolution strategy so as to resolve traveling conflicts between two or more target carrying equipment. The operation efficiency of the carrying equipment can be improved through the method and the device.

Description

Scheduling method, equipment, medium and program product for handling equipment

technical field

The present disclosure relates to the field of logistics technology, and in particular, to a scheduling method, equipment, medium and program product for handling equipment.

Background technique

Automated warehousing logistics system software is generally composed of warehouse management system and equipment control system. Among them, the equipment control system is responsible for coordinating and dispatching various types of handling equipment at the bottom layer. In the related art, the travel instructions (including movement instructions and/or steering instructions) of the handling equipment are uniformly distributed by the equipment control system. When the handling equipment obtains the traveling instruction, it can complete the logistics task arranged by the equipment control system by executing the traveling instruction.

In the related art, in the process of the handling equipment performing the logistics task according to the traveling instruction, a traveling conflict often occurs between the handling equipment (for example, two handling equipments meet at an intersection). In the related art, in the case of a traveling conflict between conveying equipment, the conflict can be resolved by scheduling the conveying equipment. Although this method can resolve the traveling conflict between the conveying equipment, the traveling conflict has already occurred. Therefore, the overall operation efficiency of the automated warehousing and logistics system will be affected, and there are problems of long operation cycle and poor operation efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the problems existing in the related art, the present disclosure provides a scheduling method, equipment, medium and program product for handling equipment.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a scheduling method for handling equipment is provided, including:

Obtain the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within the target time period after the current moment; according to each of the travel instructions, determine whether each of the handling devices has a travel conflict in the process of executing the respective corresponding travel instructions; If there is, then determine that there are two or more target handling devices with a traveling conflict; adjust the traveling of the target handling devices according to the target resolution strategy to resolve the traveling conflict between the two or more target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the acquiring the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within a target time period after the current moment includes: receiving the respective instruction execution reported by each of the handling devices in the target warehouse. based on the execution of the instructions, determine the travel instructions that each of the handling equipment needs to execute within the target time period; wherein, the execution of the instructions includes the instructions that have been executed, the instructions have not been executed, the instructions One of the commands received but not executed and not received.

In one embodiment, the determining, according to each of the travel instructions, whether there is a travel conflict in the process of executing the respective corresponding travel instructions of each of the transporting devices includes: determining that each of the transporting devices executes the respective corresponding travels. The travel trajectory corresponding to the command; if it is determined that there are two or more transport equipment in each of the transport equipment, there are overlapping points in the travel trajectories, and the time difference between the overlapping points of the transport equipment passing through the coincident point is less than the target difference. value, then it is determined that the handling equipment has a traveling conflict in the process of executing the respective corresponding traveling instructions; the determining that there are two or more target handling equipment with a traveling conflict includes: there is a coincidence point and passes through the coincidence point Two or more handling devices whose time difference value is smaller than the target difference value are determined as target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the adjusting the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy to resolve the travel conflict between the two or more target handling equipment includes: determining the two or more targets Priority between handling equipment; controlling the target handling equipment with low priority to avoid the handling equipment with high priority, so as to resolve the traveling conflict between two or more target handling equipment.

In an implementation manner, the determining the priority between the two or more target handling equipment includes: obtaining the target priorities respectively configured for the two or more target handling equipment; or based on the a timing relationship in which two or more target handling devices travel to a coincident point where a travel conflict occurs, and a priority between the two or more target handling devices is determined; or based on each of the two or more target handling devices The task priority of the executed task determines the priority between the two or more target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the adjusting the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment includes: arranging the conflicting target handling equipments. The travel instructions of one or more target handling equipment are replaced with waiting instructions; when the conflict is resolved, a release waiting instruction is issued to the corresponding target handling equipment.

In one embodiment, the adjusting the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target resolution strategy to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment includes: adjusting the conflicting target handling equipment. The issuing time or execution time of the travel instructions of one or more target handling devices, so as to avoid travel conflicts between two or more of the handling devices.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a scheduling device for handling equipment, including:

The obtaining unit is used to obtain the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within the target time period after the current moment; the determining unit is used to determine, according to each of the travel instructions, that each of the handling devices is executing the corresponding Whether there is a travel conflict in the process of the travel instruction; if so, determine two or more target handling devices with travel conflicts; a processing unit is used to adjust the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy, so as to resolve the two or more target handling devices. Or a travel conflict between a plurality of said target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the obtaining unit obtains the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within a target time period after the current moment in the following manner: receiving the respective information reported by each handling device in the target warehouse. based on the execution status of the instructions, determine the travel instructions that each of the handling equipment needs to execute within the target time period; wherein, the execution status of the instructions includes that the instructions have been executed and the instructions have not been executed. one of completed, command received but not executed, and command not received.

In one embodiment, the processing unit judges, according to each of the travel instructions, whether there is a travel conflict in the process of executing the respective travel instructions for each of the conveying devices: determining that each of the conveying devices executes the respective corresponding travel instructions. The travel trajectory corresponding to the travel instruction; if it is determined that there are two or more travel trajectories in each of the handling equipment, there is a coincidence point, and the time difference between the handling equipment with the coincident point passing through the coincident point is less than the target difference, then it is determined that the handling equipment has a traveling conflict in the process of executing the respective corresponding traveling instructions; the determining unit determines two or more target handling equipment with traveling conflicts in the following manner: there will be overlapping points. And two or more conveying devices whose time difference passing through the coincident point is smaller than the target difference are determined as target conveying devices.

In one embodiment, the processing unit adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy in the following manner to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment: determining the two or more Priority among multiple target handling equipment; controlling the target handling equipment with low priority to avoid the handling equipment with high priority, so as to resolve the traveling conflict between two or more target handling equipment.

In one embodiment, the determining unit determines the priority between the two or more target handling devices in the following manner: acquiring the target priorities configured for the two or more target handling devices respectively; or determining a priority between the two or more target handling devices based on the timing relationship of the two or more target handling devices traveling to coincident points where a travel conflict occurs; or based on the two or more target handling devices The task priorities of the respective tasks performed by the handling devices determine the priorities among the two or more target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the processing unit adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target resolution strategy in the following manner to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment: handling conflicting targets. The traveling instructions of one or more target handling equipments in the equipment are replaced with waiting instructions; when the conflict is resolved, a waiting instruction to cancel the waiting is issued to the corresponding target handling equipment.

In one embodiment, the processing unit adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target resolution strategy in the following manner to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment: adjusting the conflicting target handling equipment. The issuing time or execution time of the traveling instruction of one or more target handling equipments in the equipment, so as to avoid traveling conflict between two or more said handling equipments.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, including:

processor; memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

Wherein, the processor is configured to: execute the first aspect or the method for scheduling a handling device described in any embodiment of the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a storage medium, where instructions are stored in the storage medium, and when the instructions in the storage medium are executed by a processor, the processor can execute the first aspect or the first aspect The scheduling method of the conveying equipment described in any one of the embodiments.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the first aspect or any one of the implementation manners of the first aspect is implemented. The scheduling method of handling equipment.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may include the following beneficial effects: the present disclosure may adjust the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy, so as to resolve the travel conflict between the various handling equipment. In addition, since the travel instructions acquired by the present disclosure are the travel instructions that each conveying device needs to execute within the target time period after the current moment, the possible travel conflicts between the conveying devices can be eliminated in the estimation process. , the method reduces the possibility of traveling conflict when each conveying device actually executes the traveling instruction, and improves the overall operation efficiency. It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure.

Description of drawings

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

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing a scheduling method for handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a method for obtaining travel instructions that each handling device needs to execute within a target time period after the current moment, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of another method for scheduling handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for adjusting the travel of a target handling device according to a target solution strategy, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of another method for adjusting the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another method for adjusting the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a scheduling apparatus for handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an electronic device for scheduling of handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment.

Detailed ways

Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where the following description refers to the drawings, the same numerals in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the illustrative examples below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with this disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, and are intended to explain the present disclosure and should not be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

With the development of intelligent technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big data, the demand for transforming and upgrading the traditional logistics industry by using these intelligent technologies has become stronger and stronger. Intelligent logistics system has become a research hotspot in the field of logistics. Smart logistics uses artificial intelligence, big data, various information sensors, radio frequency identification technology, global positioning system (GPS) and other Internet of Things devices and technologies, and is widely used in basic material transportation, warehousing, distribution, packaging, loading and unloading and information services. The activity link realizes the intelligent analysis and decision-making, automatic operation and high-efficiency optimization management of the material management process. The Internet of Things technology includes sensing equipment, RFID technology, laser infrared scanning, infrared induction recognition, etc. The Internet of Things can effectively connect the materials in the logistics with the network, monitor the materials in real time, and sense the humidity and temperature of the warehouse. data to ensure the storage environment of materials. Through big data technology, all data in the logistics can be sensed and collected, uploaded to the data layer of the information platform, and the data can be filtered, mined, analyzed, etc. Picking, outbound, inventory, distribution and other links) provide accurate data support. The application directions of artificial intelligence in logistics can be roughly divided into two types: 1) AI-enabled technologies such as unmanned trucks, AGVs, AMRs, forklifts, shuttles, stackers, unmanned delivery vehicles, drones, Intelligent equipment such as service robots, robotic arms, and intelligent terminals replace part of the labor; 2) Software such as transportation equipment management systems, warehouse management, equipment control systems, order distribution systems, etc. driven by technologies or algorithms such as computer vision, machine learning, and operations optimization The system improves labor efficiency. With the research and progress of smart logistics, this technology has been applied in many fields, such as retail and e-commerce, electronic products, tobacco, medicine, industrial manufacturing, footwear, textiles, food and other fields.

The scheduling method for handling equipment provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied to a logistics operation scenario. For example, it can be applied to a scenario in which travel instructions are assigned to each conveying device by the device control system. Among them, the handling equipment may be, for example, AGV, AMR, goods-to-person robot, multi-layer container robot, and the like.

Automated warehousing logistics system software is generally composed of warehouse management system and equipment control system. Among them, the equipment control system is responsible for coordinating and dispatching various types of handling equipment at the bottom layer. In the related art, the travel instructions (including movement instructions and/or steering instructions) of the handling equipment are uniformly distributed by the equipment control system. In the case of obtaining the travel instruction, the handling equipment can complete the logistics task assigned to it by executing the travel instruction.

In the related art, in the process of the handling equipment performing the logistics task according to the traveling instruction, a traveling conflict often occurs between the handling equipment (for example, two handling equipments meet at an intersection). In the related art, when a traveling conflict occurs between the conveying equipment, the traveling conflict can be resolved by controlling each of the conveying equipment, but for the conveying equipment in which the traveling conflict occurs, the overall operation period is prolonged, which reduces the logistics operation efficiency.

In view of this, the present disclosure provides a scheduling method for handling equipment, and the present disclosure can adjust the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy, so as to resolve the traveling conflict between the handling equipment. In addition, since the travel instructions acquired by the present disclosure are the travel instructions that each conveying device needs to execute within the target time period after the current moment, the possible travel conflicts between the conveying devices can be eliminated in the estimation process. , the method reduces the possibility of traveling conflict when each conveying device actually executes the traveling instruction, and improves the overall operation efficiency.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a scheduling method for handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1 , the method includes the following steps.

In step S11 , the travel instructions that need to be executed by each handling equipment in the target warehouse in the target time period after the current time are obtained.

In step S12 , according to each travel instruction, it is determined whether there is a travel conflict in the process of executing each corresponding travel instruction for each conveying device.

In step S13 , if there is, it is determined that there are two or more target handling equipments in conflict with each other.

In step S14, the travel of the target handling equipment is adjusted according to the target solution strategy to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment.

Of course, correspondingly, if it is determined that there is no travel conflict when each handling device executes the corresponding travel instruction, it is not necessary to determine the target handling device, and it is not necessary to adjust the travel of the handling device.

In the scheduling method of the handling equipment provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the execution mode of the target handling equipment to execute the target traveling instruction is adjusted, each handling equipment satisfies that there is no traveling conflict in the process of executing the corresponding traveling instruction.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the traveling instruction may be obtained by calculation, and the instruction is used to plan each handling device to complete corresponding actions, and make each handling device take the shortest time when there is no traveling conflict.

Exemplarily, the travel instruction may be obtained through a multi-agent path finding algorithm (Multi-Agent Path Finding, MAPF). Specifically, the search task is arranged through a multi-agent pathfinding algorithm, each handling device is regarded as a subject, and the travel instruction corresponding to each handling device is regarded as a search space corresponding to each handling device. Further, iterative methods can be performed by calculating and solving. If it is found that there is a traveling conflict, the allocation time is adjusted and the solution is solved again until there is no traveling conflict between each handling equipment after the adjustment. travel instructions. The travel instructions obtained in the above manner satisfy the requirement that in theory no travel conflict occurs between each conveying device and the execution time of the instructions is the shortest. Although in an ideal state, there is no travel conflict when each handling device executes its corresponding travel instructions. However, for actual scenarios, factors such as performance differences of handling equipment may cause deviations in theoretical results, and the scheduling method for handling equipment provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can make each handling equipment actually execute the corresponding travel instructions. Further reducing the possibility of actual sending travel conflict, the method can ensure the operation efficiency of each handling device, thereby improving the overall logistics operation efficiency.

In the above embodiment, the travel instruction includes a movement instruction and/or a steering instruction. If the travel command is a steering command, the handling device can perform a steering action at the same point; if the travel command is a moving command, the handling device performs a travel action according to the current direction.

Generally, there is a difference between the estimated operation condition of each handling equipment and the actual operation condition of each handling equipment. If all the travel instructions included in the complete operation process are directly estimated at one time, there is still a risk of travel conflicts during the actual operation of each handling equipment. In view of this, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the traveling conflict between each conveying equipment can be detected in the target time period after the current time, so as to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the conflict detection.

In one embodiment, the travel instructions that each conveying device needs to execute in the target time period after the current time may be obtained in the following manner.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a method for obtaining travel instructions that each handling device needs to execute in a target time period after the current moment according to an exemplary embodiment, as shown in Fig. 2 , including the following steps.

In step S21, the respective instruction execution status reported by each handling equipment in the target warehouse is received.

Wherein, the execution of the instruction includes one of the instruction has been executed, the instruction has not been executed, the instruction has been received but not executed, and the instruction has not been received.

In step S22, based on the execution of the instructions, the travel instructions that each conveying device needs to execute within the target time period are determined.

In an example, if it is determined that the instruction execution status of the handling equipment is that the instruction has been executed, it means that the handling equipment has the ability to execute new instructions. (New Directive). In another example, if it is determined that the instruction execution status of the handling equipment is that the instruction has not been executed or the instruction has been received but not executed, then the unexecuted or unexecuted travel instruction of the handling equipment is deemed to be required by the handling equipment within the target time period. Executed travel instructions (old instructions that have been received by the handling equipment). In yet another example, if it is determined that the instruction execution status of the handling equipment is that the instruction has not been received, that is, the handling equipment has not successfully received the traveling instruction issued by the equipment control system, the unsuccessful traveling instruction is regarded as the handling equipment. The travel instructions that need to be executed within the target time period (old instructions not received by the handling equipment).

In addition, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the travel instructions that each handling device needs to execute within the target time period may be acquired periodically. For example, the travel instructions that need to be executed within 2T after the current moment of each handling device may be acquired at every interval T. Among them, T is the acquisition period, and 2T is the target time period. For example, if the system first obtains the travel instructions that need to be executed within 2T after the current time of each handling equipment at time 1T (that is, from time 1T to time 3T), the system will perform the second travel at time 2T Get the command. Among them, for the second time that the system obtains the travel instructions, the system will receive the instructions reported by each handling equipment at time 2T, and according to the instructions of each handling equipment at time 2T, estimate the current time of each handling equipment. The travel command that needs to be executed within 2T (ie, from the time 2T to the time 4T).

The method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can estimate the travel instruction that each handling device needs to execute within a certain period of time in the future according to the command execution status reported by each handling device.

For example, it is possible to estimate whether there is a travel conflict when each handling device executes the corresponding travel instruction based on the travel trajectory corresponding to each handling device executing the corresponding travel instruction.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another method for scheduling handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3 , step S31 and step S34 in the embodiment of the present disclosure are the same as step S11 and step S14 in FIG. 1 . The execution method is similar and will not be repeated here.

In step S32 , the corresponding travel trajectories when each conveying device executes the corresponding travel instruction is determined.

In step S33, if it is determined that there are overlapping points in the travel trajectories of two or more transporting devices in each transporting device, and the time difference between the transporting devices with overlapping points passing through the overlapping points is less than the target difference, then determining that each transporting device is In the process of executing the respective corresponding travel instructions, there is a travel conflict, and two or more handling devices that have overlapping points and whose time difference passing through the coincident points is less than the target difference are determined as target handling devices.

By way of example, the travel instructions include movement instructions and/or steering instructions. If the travel command is a steering command, the handling equipment can remain at the same point for a specified period of time; if the travel command is a movement command, the handling equipment will correspond to points at different times. In addition, it can be understood that there may be one or more coincidence points between the handling equipment, and in the case of multiple coincidence points, multiple determinations can be performed respectively according to the number of coincidence points (that is, for each coincidence point) point, respectively determine the time difference of the handling equipment traveling to the coincident point).

In one embodiment, for two or more conveying devices that have a traveling conflict, it is possible to give priority to ensuring that the conveying device with high priority passes through, and when it is confirmed that the conveying device with high priority has moved out of the coincidence point, control the lower priority conveying device. The handling equipment of the second stage drives into the coincidence point, so that the two or more handling equipments that have a traveling conflict will not have a traveling conflict in the process of executing their respective corresponding traveling instructions.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for adjusting the travel of a target handling device according to a target solution strategy according to an exemplary embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4 , including the following steps.

In step S41, the priority between two or more target handling equipments is determined.

In step S42, the target transport equipment with a low priority is controlled to avoid the transport equipment with a high priority, so as to resolve the traveling conflict between two or more target transport equipment.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can control the target handling equipment with low priority to avoid the handling equipment with high priority, and the method can satisfy the actual operation requirements of each handling equipment while solving the traveling conflict.

For example, if the target handling equipment includes handling equipment A1, handling equipment A2, and handling equipment A3, and handling equipment A1 has a higher priority than handling equipment A2, and handling equipment A2 has a higher priority than handling equipment A3, then handling equipment A1 takes priority. Through the coincidence point, the handling equipment A2 will drive into the coincidence point when the handling equipment A1 drives out of the coincidence point, and the handling equipment A3 will drive into the coincidence point when the handling equipment A2 drives out of the coincidence point, so as to realize the conflict of travel. Mediation.

Exemplarily, the priority between two or more target handling devices may be determined in the following manner.

Method 1: Obtain the pre-configured target priorities for two or more target handling devices.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, if the target handling device B1 is used to perform important tasks by default, and the handling device B2 is used to perform common tasks by default, the handling device B1 can be configured with a high priority in advance, and the handling device B2 can be configured with a low priority. In order to make the system give priority to guaranteeing the normal task of the transporting device B1 when it is estimated that there is a traveling conflict when the transporting device B1 and the transporting device B2 execute their corresponding travel instructions.

Since the same handling equipment may be used to perform tasks with different task priorities, the default priority configuration in the above-mentioned method 1 may not meet the actual requirements. In view of this, another method for determining the priority of handling equipment is provided below.

Manner 2: Based on the task priorities of the tasks performed by the two or more target handling devices, the priority between the two or more target handling devices is determined.

For example, for handling equipment C1, handling equipment C2, and handling equipment C3 that perform different types of tasks, if the tasks performed by handling equipment C1 are more important than those performed by handling equipment C2 and handling equipment C3, the handling equipment C1 can be set highest priority. In this case, if there is a running conflict between the transport equipment C2 and/or the transport equipment C3 and the transport equipment C1, the transport equipment C1 is prioritized to normally execute the travel command, and the travel of the transport equipment C2 and/or the transport equipment C3 is adjusted.

In addition, in consideration of the overall work efficiency, it is usually necessary to reduce the waiting time of each conveying device. In view of this, another method for determining the priority of handling equipment is provided below.

Manner 3: Determine the priority between the two or more target handling devices based on the time sequence relationship between the two or more target handling devices traveling to the coincident points where the traveling conflict occurs.

Exemplarily, if the two or more target handling equipment includes handling equipment D1 and handling equipment D2, and the time when handling equipment D1 enters the coincidence point is T1, and the time when handling equipment D2 travels to the coincident point is T2 (example, T1 earlier than T2), it means that the first handling device reaches the coincidence point first, and then the handling device D1 can be determined as a high-priority handling device, and the handling device D2 can be determined as a low-priority handling device. In the above-mentioned embodiment, priority is given to ensuring that the transport equipment that arrives at the coincidence point first passes the coincidence point, which can reduce the time consuming for resolving the traveling conflict, thereby improving the overall operation efficiency.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the equipment control system may issue virtual instructions to each handling equipment. The virtual instruction includes a waiting instruction and a release waiting instruction. The waiting instruction is used to control the transport equipment to suspend the execution of the traveling instruction, and the release waiting instruction is used to control the transport equipment to continue executing the traveling instruction. For example, adjusting the order in which the two or more target handling devices pass through the coincident point according to the priority may be implemented by issuing virtual instructions to the handling devices.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another method for adjusting the travel of target handling equipment according to a target solution strategy according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5 , step S51 in the embodiment of the present disclosure and step S41 in FIG. 4 The execution method is similar and will not be repeated here.

In step S52, the traveling instructions of one or more target transporting equipments in the conflicting target transporting equipment are replaced with waiting instructions.

In step S53, when the conflict is resolved, a release waiting instruction is issued to the corresponding target transport equipment.

For example, if the two or more target handling equipments include handling equipment E1 and handling equipment E2, and the priority of handling equipment E1 is higher than that of handling equipment E2, then the traveling instruction of handling equipment E2 can be replaced with a waiting instruction to make the handling The device E1 normally executes the corresponding travel instruction. Further, according to the execution of the instructions reported by the handling equipment E1, it is determined that the handling equipment E1 has driven out of the coincidence point, and a release waiting instruction is issued to the handling equipment E2 to release the travel restriction on the handling equipment E2.

For example, in addition to issuing virtual instructions for the handling equipment, the traveling conflict may also be resolved by adjusting the issuing time or execution time of the traveling instruction.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another method for adjusting the travel of target handling equipment according to a target solution strategy according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6 , step S61 in the embodiment of the present disclosure and step S41 in FIG. 4 The execution method is similar and will not be repeated here.

In step S62, the issuing time or execution time of the travel instruction of one or more target handling devices in the conflicting target handling devices is adjusted, so as to avoid traveling conflict between the two or more handling devices.

Illustratively, taking the adjustment of the issuing time of the travel instruction as an example, for a low-priority target handling device, a target travel instruction that causes the target handling device to travel to the coincident point can be determined, and in the instruction queue to which the target handling device belongs, The travel instruction before the target travel instruction is issued to the target handling equipment, and the issuance of the travel instruction after the target travel instruction (including the target travel instruction) is prohibited. Further, monitor the instruction execution of the high-priority target handling equipment, and release the travel instruction for the low-priority handling equipment when the high-priority handling equipment is determined to drive out of the coincidence point according to the instruction execution. Limit, so that the low-priority handling equipment passes the coincidence point, so as to control the target handling equipment with low priority to avoid the handling equipment with high priority. In addition, the specific implementation manner of adjusting the execution time of the target handling equipment to execute the travel instruction is similar to the above-mentioned implementation manner of adjusting the issuing time of the travel instruction, and the present disclosure will not list them one by one.

For example, a logistics business scenario usually involves multiple sub-areas. Among them, a sub-area can be a floor or a partition in the warehouse. The present disclosure can separately perform travel conflict detection and instruction allocation time adjustment for each sub-area, so as to meet the actual needs of logistics business scenarios.

Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a scheduling device for handling equipment.

It can be understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the scheduling apparatus for handling equipment provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure includes hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to executing each function. Combining with the units and algorithm steps of each example disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a scheduling apparatus for handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 7 , the apparatus 100 includes an acquisition unit 101 , a determination unit 102 and a processing unit 103 .

The obtaining unit 101 is configured to obtain the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within a target time period after the current moment. The determining unit 102 is configured to determine, according to each travel instruction, whether each conveying device has a travel conflict in the process of executing the corresponding travel instruction. If so, it is determined that there are two or more target handling devices that are traveling in conflict. The processing unit 103 is configured to adjust the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy, so as to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment.

In one embodiment, the obtaining unit 101 obtains the travel instructions that each handling device in the target warehouse needs to execute within a target time period after the current moment in the following manner: receiving the respective instruction execution status reported by each handling device in the target warehouse. Based on the execution of the instructions, determine the travel instructions that each handling device needs to execute within the target time period. Wherein, the execution of the instruction includes one of the instruction has been executed, the instruction has not been executed, the instruction has been received but not executed, and the instruction has not been received.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 103 uses the following method to determine whether each handling device has a traveling conflict in the process of executing the corresponding traveling instruction according to each traveling instruction: determine the traveling corresponding to each handling device when executing the corresponding traveling instruction. trajectory. If it is determined that there are overlapping points in the travel trajectories of two or more transporting devices in each transporting device, and the time difference between the transporting devices with overlapping points passing through the overlapping points is less than the target difference, then it is determined that the transporting devices are performing their respective travels. There is a marching conflict during the instruction. The determining unit 102 determines two or more target handling devices with a traveling conflict in the following manner: two or more handling devices that have overlapping points and whose time difference passing through the overlapping points is less than the target difference are determined as target handling devices.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 103 adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target solution strategy to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment in the following manner: priority. The target handling equipment with a lower priority is controlled to avoid the handling equipment with a higher priority, so as to resolve the traveling conflict between two or more target handling equipments.

In one embodiment, the determining unit 102 determines the priority between two or more target handling devices in the following manner: acquiring the target priorities respectively configured for the two or more target handling devices. Or based on the time sequence relationship between the two or more target handling devices traveling to the coincident points where the traveling conflict occurs, the priority between the two or more target handling devices is determined. Or based on the task priorities of the respective tasks performed by the two or more target handling devices, the priority between the two or more target handling devices is determined.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 103 adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target resolution strategy in the following manner to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment: one of the conflicting target handling equipment or The travel instructions for multiple target handling equipment are replaced with wait instructions. When the conflict is resolved, a release waiting instruction is issued to the corresponding target handling equipment.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 103 adjusts the travel of the target handling equipment according to the target resolution strategy in the following manner to resolve the travel conflict between two or more target handling equipment: adjusting one of the conflicting target handling equipment or The issuing time or execution time of the travel instructions of multiple target handling equipments, so as to avoid traveling conflicts between two or more handling equipments.

Regarding the apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs operations has been described in detail in the embodiment of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an electronic device 200 for scheduling of handling equipment according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic device 200 . The electronic device 200 includes a memory 201 , a processor 202 , and an Input/Output (I/O) interface 203 . Among them, the memory 201 is used for storing instructions. The processor 202 is configured to invoke the instructions stored in the memory 201 to execute the method for scheduling a handling device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. The processor 202 is respectively connected to the memory 201 and the I/O interface 203, for example, it can be connected through a bus system and/or other forms of connection mechanisms (not shown). The memory 201 can be used to store programs and data, including programs of the methods involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor 202 executes various functional applications and data processing of the electronic device 200 by running the programs stored in the memory 201 .

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 202 may adopt at least one of a digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processing, DSP), a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), and a programmable logic array (Programmable Logic Array, PLA). It is implemented in a hardware form, and the processor 202 may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU) or one or a combination of other forms of processing units with data processing capability and/or instruction execution capability.

The memory 201 in the embodiments of the present disclosure may include one or more computer program products, and the computer program products may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) and/or a cache memory (cache). The non-volatile memory may include, for example, a read only memory (Read Only Memory, ROM), a flash memory (Flash Memory), a hard disk (Hard Disk Drive, HDD), or a solid state drive (Solid State Drive, SSD), and the like.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the I/O interface 203 can be used to receive input instructions (such as numeric or character information, and generate key signal input related to user settings and function control of the electronic device 200 , etc.), and can also output various external information (for example, images or sounds, etc.). In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the I/O interface 203 may include one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), mouse, joystick, trackball, microphone, speaker, and touch panel, etc. indivual.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform any of the methods described above .

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, performs any of the methods described above.

Although operations are depicted in the figures in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that the operations be performed in the particular order shown, or in a serial order, or that all operations shown be performed to obtain desirable results . In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

The methods and apparatus of the present disclosure can be accomplished using standard programming techniques, using rule-based logic or other logic to implement the various method steps. It should also be noted that the terms "means" and "module" as used herein and in the claims are intended to include implementations using one or more lines of software code and/or hardware implementations and/or means for receiving input.

Any steps, operations or procedures described herein may be performed or implemented using one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented using a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code executable by a computer processor for performing any or all of the described steps, operations or procedures.

The foregoing descriptions of implementations of the present disclosure have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive nor to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed, and various variations and modifications are possible in light of the above teachings or may be obtained from practice of the present disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and its practical application to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Regarding the apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs operations has been described in detail in the embodiment of the method, and will not be described in detail here.

It should be understood that in the present disclosure, "plurality" refers to two or more than two, and other quantifiers are similar. "And/or", which describes the association relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the related objects are an "or" relationship. The singular forms "a," "the," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

It is further understood that the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to describe various information, but the information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish the same type of information from one another, and do not imply a particular order or level of importance. In fact, the expressions "first", "second" etc. are used completely interchangeably. For example, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

It should be further understood that, unless otherwise specified, "connection" includes a direct connection between the two without other components, and also includes an indirect connection between the two with other elements.

It is further to be understood that, although the operations in the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in a specific order in the drawings, it should not be construed as requiring that the operations be performed in the specific order shown or the serial order, or requiring Perform all operations shown to obtain the desired result. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or techniques in the technical field not disclosed by the present disclosure . The specification and examples are to be regarded as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the scope of the appended rights.

Claims (10)

1. A method of scheduling a handling apparatus, the method comprising:

acquiring a traveling instruction which needs to be executed by each handling device in the target warehouse within a target time period after the current moment;

judging whether a travel conflict exists in the process of executing the travel command corresponding to each transport device according to each travel command;

if so, determining two or more target handling equipment with traveling conflicts;

and adjusting the traveling of the target carrying equipment according to a target resolution strategy so as to resolve traveling conflicts between two or more target carrying equipment.

2. The method for scheduling conveying equipment according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the travel instruction to be executed by each conveying equipment in the target warehouse within the target time period after the current time comprises:

receiving respective instruction execution conditions reported by each handling device in the target warehouse;

determining the traveling instructions which need to be executed by the carrying equipment in the target time period based on the instruction execution condition; wherein the instruction execution condition includes one of the instruction executed, the instruction not executed, the instruction received but not executed, and the instruction not received.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining, based on each travel command, whether or not there is a travel collision in the process of executing the travel command corresponding to each of the transport apparatuses includes:

determining a corresponding travelling track when each carrying device executes the corresponding travelling instruction;

if it is determined that a coincident point exists in the travel tracks of two or more transport devices in each transport device, and the time difference value of the transport devices with the coincident point passing through the coincident point is smaller than the target difference value, determining that travel conflicts exist in the process of executing the corresponding travel instructions of the transport devices;

the determining that there are two or more target handling apparatuses in a travel conflict includes:

and determining two or more conveying devices which have coincident points and pass through the coincident points with time difference values smaller than the target difference value as target conveying devices.

4. The method for scheduling a carrier according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting the travel of the target carrier according to a target resolution strategy to resolve a travel conflict between two or more target carriers comprises:

determining a priority between the two or more target handling devices;

and controlling the target carrying equipment with low priority to avoid the carrying equipment with high priority so as to solve the traveling conflict between two or more target carrying equipment.

5. The method for scheduling a carrier according to claim 4, wherein the determining the priority between the two or more target carriers includes:

acquiring target priorities respectively configured for the two or more target carrying devices; or

Determining the priority between the two or more target handling equipment based on the time sequence relation of the two or more target handling equipment to the coincident point of the collision of the traveling; or

Determining a priority between the two or more target handling apparatuses based on task priorities of tasks performed by the two or more target handling apparatuses, respectively.

6. The method for dispatching transport equipment according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the adjusting the travel of the target transport equipment according to a target resolution strategy to resolve a travel conflict between two or more target transport equipment comprises:

replacing the traveling instructions of one or more target conveying equipment in the target conveying equipment with waiting instructions;

and when the conflict is removed, issuing a removal waiting instruction to the corresponding target carrying equipment.

7. The method for dispatching transport equipment according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the adjusting the travel of the target transport equipment according to a target resolution strategy to resolve a travel conflict between two or more target transport equipment comprises:

and adjusting the issuing time or the executing time of the traveling instructions of one or more target conveying equipment in the target conveying equipment with conflict so as to avoid traveling conflict between two or more conveying equipment.

8. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory, characterized in that the processor executes the computer program to implement the method of any of claims 1-7.

9. A computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program/instructions are stored, characterized in that the computer program/instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any one of claims 1-7.

10. A computer program product comprising computer programs/instructions, characterized in that the computer programs/instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of claims 1-7.

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