CN118851035A - A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of logistics loading and unloading automatic equipment, in particular to a crawler self-adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot which comprises a crawler type walking platform, a clamping mechanism, a dragging mechanism, a combined guide rail, a double-vision double-radar system, a central control system and the like. The compressing mechanism comprises a segmented grabbing device and a clamping loading mechanism, so that grabbing and clamping of the whole soft tray are realized; the dragging mechanism comprises a parallel four-bar mechanism, a hydraulic cylinder, a baffle plate and the like, and can be replaced by a fork foot fork to get a whole stack of goods with trays, so that the goods are loaded, unloaded and dragged; the combined guide rail is an adaptive conveying line composed of a plurality of sections of belt conveying or roller units, and the goods unloaded from the loading and unloading vehicle are conveyed to a warehouse according to path planning; the double-vision double-radar system comprises a front high-definition camera and a radar, and a rear camera and a radar, wherein the front camera and the radar realize positioning identification of a soft pallet and position identification of container goods, and the rear camera and the radar realize condition identification of the conveying line goods and monitoring of surrounding environments of a loading and unloading vehicle; the central control system comprises a controller, a memory, an integrated circuit, sensors on all components, a user interface and the like, can position loading, unloading and conveying, can identify loading, unloading and unloading cargoes, and can realize the control of automatic loading and unloading of soft-support cargoes.

Description

A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of logistics loading and unloading methods, and mainly to a crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot. The method can realize unmanned logistics loading and unloading of goods from a carriage to a warehouse, and significantly improve the work efficiency of logistics loading and unloading.

Background Art

At present, the market transaction scale of my country's smart logistics industry exceeds 600 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 16%. Logistics automation and intelligent software and hardware facilities are widely used in major logistics links such as information, transportation, warehousing, handling, inventory and packaging. Only the loading and unloading links are still done manually, which is inefficient and insufficient to meet the needs of logistics economic development.

The huge market demand is still completed by manual work, which is quite inefficient. my country's logistics loading and unloading links are still labor-intensive industries. More than 90% of logistics product transfers are loaded and unloaded without pallets, and most of the loading and unloading workers are over 45 years old. According to the calculation of 40ft containers, each container of goods varies according to the product size specifications, ranging from about 1500 to 3000 pieces of goods. For example, it takes about 3-4 hours for two loading and unloading workers to load and unload 1 container of goods. Without calculating the sorting time, it is difficult to match the logistics timeliness requirements. Therefore, there are still some problems in the logistics loading and unloading links: first, the standardization of pallets is low, second, logistics companies expect higher loading rates to increase logistics profits, and third, there is no industry standard for the loading and unloading industry, and the cost of automation development is high and the technology is difficult.

Summary of the invention

In order to solve the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention designs a crawler adaptive soft pallet loading and unloading robot, which has the characteristics of high efficiency, path planning ability and easy operation, and is particularly suitable for goods transported by soft pallets such as boxed and bagged goods. The following is the details of the present invention:

The robot of the present invention is mainly composed of a crawler walking platform, a clamping mechanism, a towing mechanism, a front radar and front vision and rear radar and rear vision system, a central control system, a pneumatic hydraulic device and a pure electric power system, etc., and cooperates with a combined conveyor line to realize the automatic transportation of goods from a truck compartment to a warehouse.

The clamping mechanism is composed of a segmented grabbing device and a clamping loading mechanism. The segmented grabbing device includes three clamping claws, a connecting beam and a cylinder. The cylinder pushes the beam to move up and down, so that the clamping claws can move up or down synchronously, and can be adapted to grab soft pallets of different heights; and the clamping force of the clamping claws can be controlled according to the algorithm in the central control system to avoid damaging the soft pallet.

A further solution is that the revolving gantry of the towing mechanism is equipped with a high-definition camera, radar and lighting device. The high-definition camera is used to capture images of cargo and soft pallets in the container, and the lighting device can assist the high-definition camera to work in low-light environments; the radar is used to measure the distance between the cargo, soft pallet and the robot in real time, and transmit the data to the central control system. The two work together to improve the accuracy of cargo positioning.

A further solution is that the towing mechanism consists of a baffle, a parallelogram mechanism, a hydraulic rod, a connecting rod, a push plate and a fork plate, wherein the push plate and the baffle are connected by a parallelogram mechanism, and the parallelogram mechanism is driven by hydraulic pressure to realize the forward and backward movement of the push plate; a triangular wheel is provided below the connection between the fork plate and the baffle, and is located in the empty space between each adjacent fork plate, thereby improving the stability of the mechanism, and when the mechanism is towing the goods, the triangular wheel contacts the ground and rolls, which can both bear some pressure and make it more convenient to tow the goods.

A further solution is that the revolving gantry of the towing mechanism can pitch at a certain angle; the fork plate is always perpendicular to the revolving gantry, and the hydraulic rod pushes the revolving gantry to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise within a certain range, thereby changing the height of the fork plate, which is beneficial for the fork plate to position soft pallets of different heights; in addition, when loading goods, rotating the fork plate clockwise by a certain angle can prevent the goods from rolling back; when unloading goods, rotating the fork plate counterclockwise by a certain angle can facilitate unloading of goods.

A further solution is that a manipulator is installed next to the combined conveyor line, which can be used to destacker and stack goods when they arrive on the conveyor line; the combined conveyor line is composed of multiple sections of detachable belt conveyors or roller units. A rotating disc is installed under the conveyor unit at the corner, which can adjust the direction of the guide rail 360 degrees and can be flexibly arranged according to the warehouse layout. A gravity sensor is installed under the rotating disc. After sensing the change in weight, the gravity sensor sends information to the central control system to control the rotation of the guide rail and change the conveying direction to dock with the next section of the conveyor line. The quick plug-in design is adopted between each section of the guide rail, which is convenient for quickly adjusting the length and direction of the conveyor line according to the operation requirements. QR code recognition sensors are installed at the entrance and exit of the guide rail to identify the cargo information and send the cargo information to the cloud information center.

A further solution is that the front radar front vision rear radar rear vision system includes front and rear high-definition cameras and radars. The front high-definition camera and radar system are equipped with advanced image processing algorithms and can identify various types of goods and obstacles. The rear camera uses panoramic scanning technology to provide the robot with a full range of environmental perception capabilities to ensure safe navigation in the working environment.

A further solution is that the central control system includes a central processing unit, which is responsible for receiving and processing data from the dual-vision dual-radar system and various sensors, and sending control instructions to various actuators to coordinate the normal operation of various agencies. The system has a built-in fault self-diagnosis program that can monitor the working status of each component of the robot in real time. Once an abnormality is found, the emergency plan is immediately activated to ensure the safety of the operation. There is an LCD screen on the side of the robot body, which can display the working status of the robot in real time and can perform simple operations.

A further solution is that the robot has an automatic charging function, which includes power monitoring, path planning and automatic docking with charging stations. The central control system will monitor the power status of the robot in real time. When the robot's power is lower than the set threshold, the central control system will issue a command. After completing the current workflow, it will automatically navigate to the nearest charging station and use automatic docking technology for charging.

The robot identifies the working area through the vision and radar system. The central control system controls the robot to reach the designated position, clamp the soft pallet, and drag it to the platform. Then, based on the information recognized by the camera, the central control system determines which section of the guide rail is suitable for conveying goods. Then, it sends instructions to make the robot drive to the designated guide rail and push the goods onto the guide rail. Then, the QR code recognition sensor identifies the cargo information and sends the information to the information center, indicating that the cargo has been unloaded onto the guide rail. When the cargo is transported to the end of the guide rail and is ready to be put into storage, another QR code recognition sensor is activated to identify the cargo information and send the information to the information center, indicating that the cargo has been put into storage.

Through these technical solutions, the crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot of the present invention not only improves the automation level of logistics loading and unloading, but also brings multiple economic, environmental and social benefits to the logistics industry, and has broad application prospects and market potential.

Beneficial Effects of the Invention

1. The crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot of the present invention utilizes a dual-vision dual-radar system composed of a high-definition camera and a radar. The robot can automatically locate cargo and identify the environment, reducing errors caused by human operation and improving the accuracy and overall safety of loading and unloading operations.

2. The crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot of the present invention realizes precise power transmission and control through the central control system, so that the robot exhibits good stability during loading and unloading operations, ensuring the stability of the goods during the loading and unloading process.

3. The crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot of the present invention adopts a highly integrated design of the central control system, which makes the operation simpler and more intuitive, and the intelligence level of the robot is significantly improved, which greatly reduces the dependence on the operator's skills. At the same time, it also improves the degree of automation of the operation, thereby improving the efficiency of the loading and unloading process.

4. The crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot of the present invention adopts a segmented modular design, and each module can be selected and combined according to specific operation requirements, so that the robot can better meet diverse loading and unloading requirements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is the overall scheme of the loading and unloading robot

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the loading and unloading robot structure

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the clamping mechanism structure

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the clamping mechanism jaws

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the unit conveyor line structure

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a rotatable unit conveyor line

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a gravity sensor

Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the installation position of the triangular wheel

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the triangular wheel structure

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the goods just entering the conveyor line

Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of goods about to enter the warehouse

Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a pallet of goods

Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the visual scanning space

Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the radar scanning space

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is actually only illustrative and is by no means intended to limit the present application and its application or use. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the use of terms such as "first" and "second" to limit components is only for the convenience of distinguishing the corresponding components. Unless otherwise stated, the above terms have no special meaning and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the scope of protection of the present application.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the directions or positional relationships indicated by directional words such as "front, back, up, down, left, right", "lateral, vertical, perpendicular, horizontal" and "top, bottom" are usually based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise specified, these directional words do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction or be constructed and operated in a specific direction, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the scope of protection of the present application; the directional words "inside and outside" refer to the inside and outside relative to the contours of each component itself.

It should be noted that the illustrations provided in this embodiment are only used to illustrate the basic concept of the present invention in a schematic manner, and therefore the illustrations only show components related to the present invention rather than being drawn according to the number, shape and size of components in actual implementation. In actual implementation, the form, quantity and proportion of each component may be changed arbitrarily, and the component layout may also be more complicated.

As shown in Figure 1, the present invention discloses a crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot, including a crawler walking platform 1, a towing mechanism 3, a clamping mechanism 4, a front radar 5, a front vision 6, a rear radar and a rear vision system, a central control system, a pneumatic hydraulic device and a pure electric power system. After starting, the robot first performs a system self-check to ensure that all hardware components and sensors are in normal working condition. The self-check includes but is not limited to the inspection of key components such as the crawler walking platform 1, the towing mechanism 3, the clamping mechanism 4, the front radar 5, the front vision 6, the rear radar and the rear vision system, and the central control system. During the initialization process, the central control system loads the preset working parameters and map information to prepare for autonomous navigation and automatic loading and unloading operations.

According to the specific requirements of cargo loading and unloading tasks, the central control system uses advanced algorithms to plan the path. This includes the shortest path from the truck compartment to the designated storage point in the warehouse, while avoiding fixed obstacles and dynamic obstacles.

After the robot receives the operation instruction, its autonomous navigation system is immediately activated. Through the radar 5 and the high-definition camera 6, the robot accurately identifies the current position and automatically drives along the planned path to the loading and unloading area next to the truck.

After the robot arrives at the loading and unloading area, the front high-definition camera 62 and radar 51 system start working. The camera 62 scans and captures the cargo image, and the radar 51 measures the distance. The two work together to achieve accurate identification and positioning of the cargo on the soft pallet 101.

Based on the results of identification and positioning, the central control system sends a command to the walking platform to move forward slowly until the upper surface of the front end of the fork plate 32 contacts the lower surface of the clamped part of the soft pallet. Then, a command is sent to the hydraulic rod 38, which stretches backward to tilt the fork plate 32 upward a little, so that the clamped part of the soft pallet tilts upward; then a command is sent to the clamping mechanism 4, and the cylinder 41 drives the connecting beam 44 to descend, and the clamping claw 43 follows the connecting beam 44 to descend synchronously, using the anti-slip pad on the clamping claw 43 to increase friction and clamping strength, ensuring that the soft pallet 101 is firmly clamped to prevent the goods from slipping during loading and unloading.

After clamping the cargo, the robot's towing mechanism 3 starts to work, the hydraulic rod 36 connected to the connecting rod 35 moves backward, driving the parallel four-bar mechanism 33 to move backward, so that the baffle 34 moves backward, dragging the cargo to the fork plate 32, and then the central control system sends a command to the hydraulic rod 38, the hydraulic rod 38 retracts backward, so that the fork plate 32 tilts upward at a certain angle, combined with the triangular wheel 371 to assist in movement, so as to facilitate the smooth transportation of the cargo. The robot smoothly drags the cargo out of the truck compartment, and then determines the appropriate conveyor line based on the information recognized by the camera 63, and transports the cargo to the loading point of the combined conveyor line 7.

After the goods are placed on the guide rail 7, the manipulator 12 starts to work, unstacking or stacking the goods, and then the conveying unit of the combined conveyor line 7 is started. The motor 71 drives the belt or roller to rotate, and automatically conveys the goods along the planned path to the designated storage area inside the warehouse.

At the beginning of the conveying process, the QR code recognition sensor 9 recognizes the cargo information and sends the cargo information to the information center, which means that the cargo has been unloaded and entered the conveyor line; when the cargo arrives at the corner of the guide rail, the gravity sensing sensor 88 under the rotating disc 83 recognizes the gravity change, and the central control system sends a command to the motor 87 to rotate the guide rail 90 degrees and enter the next section of the conveying guide rail; at the end of the conveying process, another QR code recognition sensor 9 recognizes the cargo information and sends the cargo information to the information center, which means that the cargo has been put into storage.

During the entire loading, unloading and transportation process, the robot's rear-mounted high-definition camera 63 and radar 52 monitor the surrounding environment in real time. Through advanced image processing and pattern recognition algorithms, the robot can identify and actively avoid obstacles to ensure safe operation.

The central control system continuously monitors the robot's power status. When the power level is below the preset threshold, the robot automatically navigates to the charging station for charging. The charging station is equipped with an automatic docking device to ensure the efficiency and safety of the charging process.

The staff can monitor the working status of the robot in real time through the LCD screen 2 on the side of the robot body. The LCD screen 2 provides a graphical interface to display the robot's current position, power, work progress and other information, and provides the option of manual intervention when necessary.

After the goods are successfully delivered to the designated storage point, the robot receives a signal that the task is completed. Subsequently, the robot automatically executes the return path planning, navigates to the standby area and enters the standby state, ready to perform the next task. At this point, a loading and unloading process is completed. In addition, during the operation, if a system failure or abnormal situation occurs, the central control system will activate the emergency plan. This may include suspending the operation, issuing a warning signal, automatically navigating to a safe area, and other measures to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment.

Claims (9)

1. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot, characterized in that it mainly comprises a crawler walking platform (1), a towing mechanism (3), a clamping mechanism (4), a front radar (5), a front vision system (6), a rear radar and a rear vision system, a combined conveyor line (7) and a central control system; The rear end of the towing mechanism (3) is connected to the crawler walking platform (1) through a rotating gantry (37); the rotating gantry (37) and the crawler walking platform (1) are connected at the top through a hydraulic cylinder (38); and the lower connection is a rotatable connection; the clamping mechanism (4) is fixed to the baffle (34) of the towing mechanism (3) through a sliding guide rail (42), and drives the connecting crossbeam (44) through a cylinder (41), thereby driving the clamping claw (43) to move up and down; the front radar (5), front vision (6), rear radar and rear vision system are divided into a front camera The camera (62) is connected to the front radar (51) and the rear radar (52), the front camera (62) is located above the side of the revolving gantry (37), the front radar (51) is located directly above the revolving gantry (37), the rear camera (63) is located behind the side of the crawler walking platform (1), and the rear radar (52) is located directly behind the crawler walking platform (1); the central control system is located inside the main body of the crawler walking platform; the combined conveyor line (7) is distributed on the route between the cargo loading and unloading point and the warehouse through path planning. 2. A crawler adaptive soft pallet loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the segmented grasping device of the clamping mechanism (4) is composed of three adjustable claws (43), a connecting beam (44), a cylinder (41) and a sliding guide rail (42), and the cylinder (41) pushes the connecting beam (44) to move up and down, so that the claws (43) can move up or down synchronously to achieve adaptive grasping of soft pallets (101) of different heights; at the same time, the claws (43) can adjust the grasping force in real time to adapt to goods of different weights, and an anti-slip pad is provided on the inner side of the claws to enhance the friction during grasping and effectively prevent the goods from slipping during transportation. 3. A crawler adaptive soft pallet loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotating gantry (37) of the towing mechanism (3) can pitch at a certain angle, the fork plate (32) is always perpendicular to the rotating gantry (37), and the hydraulic rod (38) pushes the rotating gantry (37) to rotate in a certain range of clockwise and counterclockwise directions, thereby changing the height of the fork plate (32), which is beneficial for the fork plate (32) to position soft pallets (101) of different heights; in addition, when loading goods, rotating the fork plate (32) in the clockwise direction by a certain angle can prevent the goods from rolling back; when unloading goods, rotating the fork plate (32) in the counterclockwise direction by a certain angle is beneficial for unloading goods. 4. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the towing mechanism (3) is composed of a baffle (34), a parallelogram (33), a hydraulic rod (36), a connecting rod (35), a push plate (31) and a fork plate (32), wherein the push plate (31) and the baffle (34) are connected by a parallelogram (33), and the parallelogram (33) is driven by hydraulic pressure to realize the forward and backward movement of the push plate (31); a triangular wheel (371) is provided below the connection between the fork plate (32) and the baffle (34), and is located in the space between each adjacent fork plate (32), thereby improving the stability of the mechanism, and in the process of towing the goods, the triangular wheel (371) contacts the ground and rolls, which can bear some pressure and is more convenient for towing the goods. 5. A crawler adaptive soft pallet loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a high-definition camera (62), a radar (51) and a lighting device (61) are installed on the rotating gantry (37) of the towing mechanism (3), the high-definition camera (62) is used to capture images of goods in the container and images of the soft pallet (101); the radar (51) is used to measure the distance between the goods, the soft pallet (101) and the robot in real time, and transmit the data to the central control system (2), and the two work together to improve the accuracy of cargo positioning. 6. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that each conveying unit of the combined conveyor line (7) is equipped with an independent motor (71) to drive; the combined conveyor line (7) is composed of multiple sections of detachable belt conveyors or roller units, and a rotating disc (83) is provided under the conveying unit at the corner, which can adjust the direction of the guide rail by 360 degrees and can be flexibly arranged according to the warehouse layout. A gravity sensor (88) is provided under the rotating disc (83), and after sensing the weight change, a signal is sent to the central control system (2), and then the motor (81) is controlled to work, so that the guide rail rotates, thereby changing the conveying direction and docking with the next section of the conveyor line. A quick plug-in design is adopted between each section of the guide rail, so as to facilitate the rapid adjustment of the length and direction of the conveyor line according to the operation requirements. A two-dimensional code recognition sensor (9) is provided at the entrance and exit of the guide rail, which can recognize the cargo information and send the cargo information to the cloud information center. 7. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the front radar (5), front vision (6), rear radar and rear vision system include front and rear high-definition cameras and radars, and the front high-definition camera (62) and radar (51) system are equipped with advanced image processing algorithms and can identify various types of goods and obstacles. The rear camera (63) uses panoramic scanning technology to provide the robot with all-round environmental perception capabilities to ensure safe navigation in the working environment. 8. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the central control system includes a central processing unit, which is responsible for receiving and processing data from the front radar (5), front vision (6), rear radar and rear vision system and various sensors, and sending control instructions to various actuators to coordinate the normal operation of various mechanisms. The system has a built-in fault self-diagnosis program that can monitor the working status of various components of the robot in real time. Once an abnormality is found, the emergency plan is immediately activated to ensure the safety of the operation. A liquid crystal display (2) is provided on the side of the robot body, which can display the working status of the robot in real time and can perform simple operations. 9. A crawler adaptive soft-support loading and unloading robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the crawler adaptive soft-support robot has an autonomous charging function, and the autonomous charging function of the robot includes power monitoring, path planning and automatic docking with a charging station. The central control system will monitor the power status of the robot in real time. When the power of the robot is lower than the set threshold, the central control system will issue a command, and after completing the current workflow, it will automatically navigate to the nearest charging station and use automatic docking technology for charging.