阅读说明：本技术 物品分拣方法、机械臂分拣系统及存储介质 (Article sorting method, mechanical arm sorting system and storage medium ) 是由 申静朝 唐靖华 郭燃 于 2019-10-12 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请实施例公开了一种物品分拣方法、机械臂分拣系统及存储介质,机械臂分拣系统包括分拣框架和机械臂,机械臂包括用于分拣物品的机械臂末端执行器,分拣框架内设置有至少一个分拣柜,每个分拣柜中包括至少一个格口,至少一个格口中每个格口内底面设置有压力检测模块,机械臂分拣系统还包括与压力检测模块连接的控制模块；控制模块用于在向至少一个分拣柜中的目标格口分拣物品之后,获取目标格口的第一位置信息,以及获取分拣物品的实际格口对应的第一压力数据,并根据第一位置信息和第一压力数据确定物品是否分拣错误。本申请实施例在现有分拣装备没有防错分功能的基础上,提高了物品分拣效率,降低了分拣系统维护成本。(The embodiment of the application discloses an article sorting method, a mechanical arm sorting system and a storage medium, wherein the mechanical arm sorting system comprises a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, the mechanical arm comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, and the mechanical arm sorting system further comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module; the control module is used for acquiring first position information of a target cell after the object is sorted to the target cell in at least one sorting cabinet, acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual cell of the sorted object, and determining whether the object is sorted wrongly according to the first position information and the first pressure data. According to the embodiment of the application, on the basis that the existing sorting equipment does not have the mistake proofing function, the article sorting efficiency is improved, and the maintenance cost of a sorting system is reduced.)

1. The mechanical arm sorting system is characterized by comprising a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm is arranged in the sorting frame and comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, and the mechanical arm sorting system further comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module;

the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to actual grids of sorted articles and sending the pressure data to the control module when the articles are sorted;

the control module is used for acquiring first position information of a target cell in the at least one sorting cabinet after an article is sorted to the target cell, acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual cell for placing the article, and determining whether the article is wrong for sorting according to the first position information and the first pressure data.

2. The robotic arm sorting system of claim 1, wherein the control module comprises a central processor and a pressure data collector, the pressure data collector being connected to each pressure detection module in the at least one sorting cabinet and the central processor, respectively;

the pressure data collector is used for collecting second pressure data detected by the pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell after the articles are sorted to the target cell, and sending the second pressure data to the central processing unit;

the central processing unit is further used for determining whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data.

3. The robotic arm sorting system of claim 1, wherein the central processor is configured to determine an actual pocket for placing the article according to the first pressure data, obtain second location information of the actual pocket, determine whether the first location information and the second location information match, and if not, determine that the article is sorted incorrectly.

4. The robotic arm sorting system according to claim 3, wherein a first depth camera is disposed on the sorting frame above the robotic arm end effector, the first depth camera being coupled to the central processor;

the first depth camera is used for acquiring the shortest distance between the first depth camera and the object when the object is placed in the mechanical arm end effector, shooting an image of the object placed in the mechanical arm end effector, and sending the shortest distance and the image of the object to the central processing unit;

the central processing unit is further configured to: determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance; determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item; acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice; and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

5. The robotic sorting system according to claim 4, wherein the first depth camera is further configured to detect geometric center information of the item when the item is placed in the robotic end effector and send the geometric center information to the central processor;

the central processor is specifically configured to calculate a weight of the item based on a geometric center of the item; after determining the item sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the item based on the pressure data and the weight of the item.

6. The robotic sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sorting bin includes a first sorting bin and a second sorting bin, the robotic arm being disposed between the first sorting bin and the second sorting bin.

7. The robotic sorting system according to claim 6, further comprising a depth information acquisition module disposed on the sorting frame for acquiring a first image of the first sorting bin and acquiring a second image of the second sorting bin;

the central processor is also used for determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

8. The robotic arm sorting system according to claim 7, wherein the depth information collection module includes a second depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin and a third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the second and third depth cameras being respectively connected with the central processor;

the second depth camera is used for collecting a first image of the first sorting cabinet, and the third depth camera is used for collecting a second image of the second sorting cabinet.

9. The robotic sorting system according to claim 8, wherein a first crossbar is disposed on the sorting frame above the robotic arm, a second crossbar is disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin, a third crossbar is disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the first depth camera is disposed on the first crossbar, the second depth camera is disposed on the second crossbar, and the third depth camera is disposed on the third crossbar.

10. The robotic sorting system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the robotic end effector is a hollow hexahedron, and the at least one surface is open or openable for sorting of goods.

11. An article sorting method applied to a robot arm sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the execution subject of the article sorting method is a control module in the robot arm sorting system, and the method comprises:

obtaining first location information for a target bin in the at least one sorting cabinet after sorting an item into the target bin;

acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual lattice for placing the article;

determining whether the article is a sort error based on the first location information and the first pressure data.

12. The method of sorting articles as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

after the articles are sorted to the target cell, collecting second pressure data detected by a pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell;

and determining whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data.

13. The method of sorting articles of claim 11, wherein said determining whether the article is a wrong sort based on the first location information and the first pressure data comprises:

determining an actual lattice for placing the article according to the first pressure data;

acquiring second position information of the actual grid;

judging whether the first position information is matched with the second position information;

and if not, determining that the articles are sorted wrongly.

14. The method of sorting articles as in claim 13, wherein a first depth camera is disposed on the sorting frame above the robotic end effector, the first depth camera being connected to the control module; the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring a shortest distance between the first depth camera and the item, which is acquired by the first depth camera, and an image of the item placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm, which is captured by the first depth camera, when the item is placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm;

determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance;

determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item;

acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice;

and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

15. The method of sorting articles as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

acquiring geometric center information of the item detected by the first depth camera while the item is placed in the robotic arm end effector;

said determining an actual cell in which to place said article based on said first pressure data, comprising:

calculating the weight of the article according to the geometric center of the article;

after determining the article sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the article based on the first pressure data and the weight of the article.

16. The method of sorting an item according to claim 15 wherein the robotic arm is a six degree of freedom robotic arm, and wherein calculating the weight of the item from the geometric center of the item comprises:

acquiring B-axis torque of the mechanical arm in no-load;

calculating the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm places the article according to the geometric center of the article;

and calculating the weight of the object according to the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm is unloaded and the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the object is placed.

17. The item sorting method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the robotic arm sorting system further comprises a second depth camera and a third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame, the second depth camera being disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin, the third depth camera being disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the second depth camera and the third depth camera being respectively connected to the central processor; the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring a first image of the first sorting bin acquired by the second depth camera and a second image of the second sorting bin acquired by the third depth camera;

determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image;

and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

18. The mechanical arm sorting system is characterized by comprising a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm is arranged in the sorting frame and comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting an article, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, the mechanical arm sorting system further comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module, and the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to an actual cell of the sorted article and sending the pressure data to the control module when the article is sorted; the control module includes:

one or more processors;

a memory; and

one or more applications, wherein the one or more applications are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor to implement the item sorting method of any of claims 11 to 17.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which is loaded by a processor to perform the steps of the method of sorting articles according to any of claims 11 to 17.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of logistics, in particular to an article sorting method, a mechanical arm sorting system and a storage medium.

Background

In express delivery distribution, express sorting is a very important link, and how to sort with low cost and high efficiency is very important. The existing sorting mode mainly comprises manual sorting, cross belt sorting, push arm sorting and the like, the manual sorting is high in cost and low in efficiency, but the sorting mode is flexible, and articles with fuzzy two-dimensional codes or address information can be correctly sorted. The cross belt and the push arm have high sorting efficiency, but have the defects of large occupied area and the like. Because the cross belt and push arm etc. module are more, the structure is complicated, and power supply, communication line are complicated, just need whole shut down the detection maintenance when a certain module goes wrong, the maintenance cost is high.

The existing sorting equipment has no function of preventing wrong sorting, and the wrong sorting caused by equipment or people seriously affects the sorting efficiency and reduces the customer experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides an article sorting method, a mechanical arm sorting system and a storage medium, which improve article sorting efficiency and reduce maintenance cost of the sorting system.

In one aspect, the application provides a mechanical arm sorting system, which includes a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm is arranged in the sorting frame, the mechanical arm includes a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet includes at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, and the mechanical arm sorting system further includes a control module connected with the pressure detection module;

the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to actual grids of sorted articles and sending the pressure data to the control module when the articles are sorted;

the control module is used for acquiring first position information of a target cell in the at least one sorting cabinet after an article is sorted to the target cell, acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual cell for placing the article, and determining whether the article is wrong for sorting according to the first position information and the first pressure data.

In some embodiments of the present application, the control module includes a central processing unit and a pressure data collector, and the pressure data collector is respectively connected to each pressure detection module in the at least one sorting cabinet and the central processing unit;

the pressure data collector is used for collecting second pressure data detected by the pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell after the articles are sorted to the target cell and sending the second pressure data to the central processing unit;

the central processing unit is further used for determining whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data.

In some embodiments of the present application, the central processor is specifically configured to determine an actual cell for placing the article according to the first pressure data, obtain second position information of the actual cell, determine whether the first position information and the second position information match, and if not, determine that the article is sorted incorrectly.

In some embodiments of the present application, a first depth camera is disposed on the sorting frame above the robotic arm end effector, the first depth camera being coupled to the central processor;

the first depth camera is used for acquiring the shortest distance between the first depth camera and the object when the object is placed in the mechanical arm end effector, shooting an image of the object placed in the mechanical arm end effector, and sending the shortest distance and the image of the object to the central processing unit;

the central processing unit is further configured to: determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance; determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item; acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice; and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first depth camera is further configured to detect geometric center information of the item when the item is placed in the end effector of the robotic arm, and send the geometric center information to the central processor;

the central processor is specifically configured to calculate a weight of the item based on a geometric center of the item; after determining the item sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the item based on the pressure data and the weight of the item.

In some embodiments of the present application, the at least one sorting cabinet includes a first sorting cabinet and a second sorting cabinet, and the robot arm is disposed between the first sorting cabinet and the second sorting cabinet.

In some embodiments of the present application, the robotic arm sorting system further comprises a depth information collection module disposed on the sorting frame, the depth information collection module for collecting a first image of the first sorting bin and collecting a second image of the second sorting bin;

the central processor is also used for determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

In some embodiments of the present application, the depth information collecting module includes a second depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin and a third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the second and third depth cameras being respectively connected with the central processor;

the second depth camera is used for collecting a first image of the first sorting cabinet, and the third depth camera is used for collecting a second image of the second sorting cabinet.

In some embodiments of the present application, a first beam is disposed on the sorting frame above the mechanical arm, a second beam is disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting cabinet, a third beam is disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting cabinet, the first depth camera is disposed on the first beam, the second depth camera is disposed on the second beam, and the third depth camera is disposed on the third beam.

In some embodiments of the present application, the end effector of the mechanical arm is a hexahedron with a hollow interior, and the at least one surface is open or openable for sorting goods.

In some embodiments of the present application, the end effector of the robotic arm comprises a base plate and four side plates, at least one of the base plate or the four side plates having an aperture disposed therein.

In some embodiments of the present application, the four side plates include a first side plate and a second side plate which are arranged oppositely, the bottom plate includes a first opening and closing bottom plate and a second opening and closing bottom plate, one end of the first opening and closing bottom plate is arranged at the bottom of the first side plate, and one end of the second opening and closing bottom plate is arranged at the bottom of the second side plate.

In some embodiments of the present application, the end effector of the mechanical arm further includes a top plate, the top plate includes a first opening and closing top plate and a second opening and closing top plate, one end of the first opening and closing top plate is disposed on top of the first side plate, and one end of the second opening and closing top plate is disposed on top of the second side plate.

In some embodiments of the present application, the four side plates include a third side plate and a fourth side plate which are oppositely arranged, and the third side plate is provided with at least one reinforcing plate.

In some embodiments of the present application, the third side panel has a height greater than a height of the fourth side panel.

In some embodiments of the present application, the fourth side panel has at least one opening disposed therein.

In another aspect, the present application provides an article sorting method applied to a robot arm sorting system, where the robot arm sorting system is the robot arm sorting system, and an execution subject of the article sorting method is a control module in the robot arm sorting system, the method includes:

obtaining first location information for a target bin in the at least one sorting cabinet after sorting an item into the target bin;

acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual lattice for placing the article;

determining whether the article is a sort error based on the first location information and the first pressure data.

In some embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises:

after the articles are sorted to the target cell, collecting second pressure data detected by a pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell;

and determining whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data.

In some embodiments of the present application, said determining whether the article is a sorting error based on the first location information and the first pressure data comprises:

determining an actual lattice for placing the article according to the first pressure data;

acquiring second position information of the actual grid;

judging whether the first position information is matched with the second position information;

and if not, determining that the articles are sorted wrongly.

In some embodiments of the present application, a first depth camera is disposed on the sorting frame above the robotic arm end effector, the first depth camera being coupled to the control module; the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring a shortest distance between the first depth camera and the item, which is acquired by the first depth camera, and an image of the item placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm, which is captured by the first depth camera, when the item is placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm;

determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance;

determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item;

acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice;

and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

In some embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises:

acquiring geometric center information of the item detected by the first depth camera while the item is placed in the robotic arm end effector;

said determining an actual cell in which to place said article based on said first pressure data, comprising:

calculating the weight of the article according to the geometric center of the article;

after determining the article sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the article based on the first pressure data and the weight of the article.

In some embodiments of the present application, the robotic arm is a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm, and calculating the weight of the item based on the geometric center of the item comprises:

acquiring B-axis torque of the mechanical arm in no-load;

calculating the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm places the article according to the geometric center of the article;

and calculating the weight of the object according to the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm is unloaded and the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the object is placed.

In some embodiments of the present application, the robotic arm sorting system further comprises a second depth camera and a third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame, the second depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin, the third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the second depth camera and the third depth camera respectively connected to the central processor; the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring a first image of the first sorting bin acquired by the second depth camera and a second image of the second sorting bin acquired by the third depth camera;

determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image;

and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

On the other hand, the application also provides a mechanical arm sorting system, the mechanical arm sorting system comprises a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, the mechanical arm is arranged in the sorting frame, the mechanical arm comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, the mechanical arm sorting system further comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module, and the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to an actual cell of the sorted articles when the articles are sorted and sending the pressure data to the control module; the control module includes:

one or more processors;

a memory; and

one or more applications, wherein the one or more applications are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor to implement the item sorting method.

In another aspect, the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, the computer program being loaded by a processor to perform the steps of the method for sorting items.

The mechanical arm sorting system comprises a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, a pressure detection module is arranged on the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell, and the mechanical arm sorting system further comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module; the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to actual grids of sorted articles and sending the pressure data to the control module when the articles are sorted; the control module is used for acquiring first position information of a target cell after the object is sorted to the target cell in at least one sorting cabinet, acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual cell of the sorted object, and determining whether the object is sorted wrongly according to the first position information and the first pressure data. According to the embodiment of the application, on the basis that the existing sorting equipment does not have the mistake proofing function, the pressure detection module is creatively arranged below each grid opening of the sorting cabinet, and the article wrong sorting is self-checked through the control module according to the first position information of the target grid opening and the first pressure data detected by the pressure detection module, so that the article sorting efficiency is improved, and the maintenance cost of the sorting system is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an article sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the robotic arm sorting system of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an end effector of a robotic arm in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of an end effector of a robotic arm in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of an end effector of a robotic arm in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the torque at idle of an end effector of a robotic arm in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a torque diagram of an end effector of a robotic arm sorting an article according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for sorting articles in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of step 803 in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment in which the control device in the robot arm sorting system is a server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be considered as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

In this application, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. In the following description, details are set forth for the purpose of explanation. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and processes are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the description of the invention with unnecessary detail. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an article sorting method, a robot arm sorting system, and a storage medium, which are described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic view of an article sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which may include an upstream supply system 101, an article scanning system 102, and a robotic sorting system 103.

The upstream supply system 101 may be a supply conveyor belt, the upstream supply system is configured to convey an article to be sorted, the upstream supply system is provided with an article code scanning system 102, for example, when the upstream supply system is the supply conveyor belt, the supply conveyor belt may be provided with a code scanning system and a grating, that is, the article code scanning system 102 includes a code scanning system and a grating, the article code scanning system 102 is configured to scan a code to obtain article information (such as an article name, an article code, and the like) of the article to be sorted on the upstream supply system 101, and transmit the article information to a control device (which may be a robot arm controller or a industrial control device) in the robot arm sorting system 103, and the robot arm sorting system 103 may allocate a free slot for the article to be sorted in at least one sorting cabinet according to the article information of the article to be sorted, so as to store the article to be sorted. The light barrier functions to allow the conveyor to start and stop, and if a new article to be sorted arrives at a designated position, the end effector of the mechanical arm does not arrive at the start position, the upstream supply system 101 (e.g., supply conveyor) is stopped to prevent the article to be sorted from falling onto the floor, the end of the mechanical arm arrives at the start position and then the upstream supply system 101 (e.g., supply conveyor) is started, and the mechanical arm sorting system 103 is used for sorting and storing the article to be sorted arriving at the designated position on the upstream supply system 101 into at least one of the compartments allocated in the sorting cabinet.

As shown in fig. 2, the robotic sorting system 103 includes a sorting frame 104 and a robotic arm 105, the robotic arm 105 is disposed in the sorting frame 104, the robotic arm 105 includes a robotic end effector 106 for sorting an article, at least one sorting cabinet 107 is disposed in the sorting frame 104, each sorting cabinet includes at least one cell 108, a pressure detection module 109 is disposed on an inner bottom surface of each cell 108 of the at least one cell, and the robotic sorting system 103 further includes a control module connected to the pressure detection module; the pressure detection module 109 is configured to detect pressure data corresponding to actual cells of sorted articles when the articles are sorted, and send the pressure data to the control module; the control module is configured to, after an article is sorted to a target cell in the at least one sorting cabinet 107, obtain first position information of the target cell, obtain first pressure data corresponding to an actual cell in which the article is placed, and determine whether the article is a wrong sorting according to the first position information and the first pressure data. According to the embodiment of the invention, on the basis that the existing sorting equipment has no error separation prevention function, the pressure detection module is creatively arranged below each cell of the sorting cabinet, and the control module carries out self-checking on the error separation of the articles according to the first position information of the target cell and the first pressure data detected by the pressure detection module, so that the article sorting efficiency is improved, and the maintenance cost of the sorting system is reduced.

Specifically, the Pressure detecting module 109 may be a Pressure sensor, and the Pressure sensor (Pressure Transducer) is a device or apparatus capable of sensing a Pressure signal and converting the Pressure signal into a usable output electrical signal according to a certain rule. A pressure sensor is usually composed of a pressure sensitive element and a signal processing unit. The pressure sensors may be classified into gauge pressure sensors, differential pressure sensors, absolute pressure sensors, flat diaphragm pressure sensors or diaphragm pressure sensors according to different test pressure types, and the pressure detection module 109 in the embodiment of the present invention may be various types of pressure sensors, such as a flat diaphragm pressure sensor or a diaphragm pressure sensor, and is not limited herein.

In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one sorting cabinet 107 may include a plurality of, preferably, as shown in fig. 2, the robotic arm sorting systems 103 may be correspondingly configured as 2 sorting cabinets, respectively disposed on both sides of the robotic arm 105, so as to facilitate the robotic arm 105 to sort the articles.

In fig. 1, an upstream supply system 101 for automatically supplying articles supplies articles at a uniform speed at equal time intervals, the upstream supply system 101 and a robot arm sorting system 103 both have independent control systems, both of the control systems can establish communication connection with industrial control equipment, when an article to be sorted passes through an article code scanning system 102, the flow direction of the article, i.e. a corresponding sorting bin, is automatically calculated, and bin information for sorting the article to be sorted is sent to the industrial control equipment, the industrial control equipment performs path planning, after the path planning is completed, the planned path is sent to a control device in the robot arm sorting system 103, the control device in the robot arm sorting system 103 controls a robot arm end effector to complete article sorting, and after the article sorting is completed, the robot arm end effector returns to a fixed starting position of the robot arm end effector 106, and article sorting is completed.

The mechanical arms are mechanical electronic devices with anthropomorphic arm, wrist and hand functions, each mechanical arm 105 is provided with a drivable mechanical arm end effector 106 and a control device for driving the mechanical arm end effector 106, and the control device in the mechanical arm sorting system 103 can control the mechanical arm end effector 106 to move according to time-varying requirements of spatial poses (positions and postures), so that the operation requirements of certain industrial production are met. The industrial control equipment is configured to plan a motion path for the robot arm and send the planned motion path to the robot arm 105, so that the control device in the robot arm 105 can drive the robot arm end effector 106 to sort the articles according to the received motion path.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the mechanical arm may be a six-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm, but is not limited to the six-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm, for example, the five-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm and the seven-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm may be used, and the specific description is not limited herein.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is a structure capable of holding an object, such as a suction cup or a shovel, a hexahedral structure, and the like, because most of the end effectors 106 of the conventional mechanical arm are suction cups, which are difficult to suck objects with a large weight, in the embodiment of the present invention, the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is mainly used for sorting objects in the field of logistics, and the surfaces of the objects in the field of logistics are not flat and difficult to suck up, in the embodiment of the present invention, the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is preferably hexahedral and has an open top, specifically, the end effector of the mechanical arm may be a hollow hexahedron, and at least one side of the end effector of the mechanical arm is open or open, and is used for sorting goods, when sorting the objects, the objects are input from an upstream supply system, and the objects may directly fall into the end effector The design of the end effector base plate, in which the articles fall to the sorting grid by gravity, can ensure that the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm does not fly out under the condition of high-speed movement, and can meet the requirements of various types of articles to be sorted, such as boxes, envelopes, packaging bags or folders with different specifications.

As shown in fig. 3, when the end effector 106 of the robot arm is hexahedral, the end effector 106 of the robot arm may include a bottom plate 113 and four side plates, and at least one of the bottom plate or the four side plates is provided with an opening 114, which is a weight-reducing opening to reduce the weight of the end effector of the robot arm, preferably, the bottom plate 113 and the four side plates may be provided with openings 114, and the number of the openings is as large as possible, so as to reduce the weight of the end effector of the robot arm as much as possible, reduce energy consumption, and improve the portability and flexibility of the end effector of the robot arm. When a plurality of openings are provided in the bottom plate 113 or the four side plates, the plurality of openings may be the same size or different sizes, and may be specifically provided according to actual conditions, which is not limited herein.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the four side plates include a first side plate 115 and a second side plate 116 which are oppositely arranged, and it is time-consuming to place sorted articles by rotating the end effector 106 by 180 °, which may reduce the article sorting efficiency by about 10%, therefore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the bottom plate 113 of the end effector 106 of the robot arm is configured as an open-close bottom plate, specifically, the bottom plate 113 includes a first open-close bottom plate 1131 and a second open-close bottom plate 1132, one end of the first open-close bottom plate 1131 is disposed at the bottom of the first side plate 115, one end of the second open-close bottom plate 1132 is disposed at the bottom of the second side plate 116, when the bottom plate 113 is closed, one end of the first open-close bottom plate 1131 away from the first side plate 115 and one end of the second open-close bottom plate 1132 away from the second side plate 116 are abutted to close the bottom of the end effector 106 of the, can prevent that the article of placing from dropping among the arm end effector 106, when arm end effector 106 reachs the target lattice, arm end effector 106 need not to rotate 180 degrees, directly opens first bottom plate 1131 and the second bottom plate 1132 that opens and shuts and can rely on article gravity to sort the object to the target lattice, has improved letter sorting efficiency.

In order to structurally reinforce the end effector 106 of the robot arm, the first side plate 115 may be provided with at least one reinforcing plate, and similarly, the second side plate 116 may be provided with at least one reinforcing plate.

In some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, the four side plates include a third side plate 117 and a fourth side plate 118 which are oppositely disposed, and the third side plate 117 may also have at least one reinforcing plate 119 disposed thereon.

As shown in fig. 3, in some embodiments of the present invention, the height of the third side plate 117 is greater than the height of the fourth side plate 118, that is, the third side plate 117 and the fourth side plate 118 are respectively high and low sides, and the high and low sides are designed to prevent the side plates from blocking the light of the first depth camera 110, which may affect the volume measurement of the article placed in the end effector 106 of the robot arm.

In the structure of the end effector of the robot arm in fig. 3 and 4, because the upper end is open, in order to ensure that an article does not fall out of the end effector of the robot arm, it is required to ensure that the top surface of the end effector of the robot arm is always upward during the moving process, which is high for the planning of the moving path of the end effector of the robot arm, based on which, in some embodiments of the present invention, a top plate may be further disposed on the end effector of the robot arm, and after the article is sorted in the end effector 106 of the robot arm, the end effector 106 of the robot arm may be sealed and the article is dropped, specifically as shown in fig. 5, in some embodiments of the present invention, the end effector 106 of the robot arm further includes a top plate, the top plate includes a first opening and closing top plate 120 and a second opening and closing top plate 121, one end of the first opening and closing top plate 120 is disposed on top, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm sorts an article, the top plate of the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is opened (the first opening and closing top plate 120 and the second opening and closing top plate 121 are opened toward both ends), the article drops into the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm, the top plate of the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is closed during the motion process of the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm, when the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm reaches a target cell for sorting, the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm rotates 180 degrees or the bottom plate of the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is opened (a scene of opening and closing the bottom plate is set), the article drops into the target cell, when the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is provided with a top plate, the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm can meet the requirement that the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm moves in any posture during the, the sorting efficiency is improved. However, the top plate may increase the weight of the end effector 106 to a certain extent, and therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, in order to reduce the mass of the end effector, at least one opening may be formed in the fourth side plate, and in addition, the end effector 106 may be made of a light-weight material such as rubber, plastic, or a composite material, so as to further reduce the weight of the end effector 106.

It should be noted that the structure of the end effector of the robot arm in fig. 3 to 5 is only an example, and the end effector 106 of the robot arm in the embodiment of the present invention includes, but is not limited to, the shape shown in fig. 3 to 5, for example, the end effector 106 of the robot arm may also be a cylinder with an open top surface, a sector cylinder with a bottom surface, and other shapes, and is not limited herein.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the control module of the robot arm sorting system may further include a central processing unit and a pressure data collector, and the pressure data collector is respectively connected to each pressure detection module in the at least one sorting cabinet and the central processing unit;

the pressure data collector is used for collecting second pressure data detected by the pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell after the articles are sorted to the target cell, and sending the second pressure data to the central processing unit; at this time, the central processing unit is further configured to determine whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data.

Furthermore, the central processing unit and the pressure data collector can be arranged in a mechanical arm control cabinet, and the mechanical arm control cabinet is arranged on one side of one sorting cabinet in the at least one sorting cabinet.

Specifically, the pressure data collector collects pressure sensor data F (x, y) of each cell at any time, the x, y are coordinates of the cell (a coordinate system can be established by taking at least one position in the sorting cabinet as an origin of coordinates in advance), and sends the collected pressure data to the central processing unit at any time. The variable indicating whether the mechanical arm is IDLE, the mechanical arm is IDLE in an initialization state, the IDLE is 0, when the IDLE is 0, the central processing unit sends a Supply instruction Supply to the upstream Supply system, the IDLE is set to 1, the upstream Supply system receives the Supply instruction Supply and supplies to the mechanical arm end effector 106 actuator, the article code scanning system 102 obtains two-dimensional code information of the article, a database correspondingly arranged in the article sorting system is inquired about which cell P (x, y) the article is assigned to (relevant sorting data is stored in the database), and the sorting cell information P (x, y) is sent to the central processing unit.

Specifically, the step of determining, by the central processing unit, whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data may specifically be a process of: when the articles are sorted to the actual gates, the pressure data of the actual gates are changed, and whether the articles are sorted incorrectly is judged according to the pressure data, if the pressure data of a certain target gate (x1, y1) before sorting is F1, the pressure data of the target gate after sorting is F2 ═ F1+ G1, and G1 is the measured weight of the articles, if the pressure data of the target gate (x1, y1) after sorting is not changed, and the pressure data of the actual gate (x2, y2) is changed, the articles to be sorted to the target gate (x1, y1) are considered to be wrongly divided to the actual gate (x2, y2), after the article is detected to be sorted incorrectly, the central processor reports wrong information and notifies the subsequent manual processing, after sorting is finished, the IDLE is set to be 0, and the next round of sorting is carried out.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the central processor is specifically configured to determine an actual cell for placing the article according to the first pressure data, obtain second position information of the actual cell, determine whether the first position information and the second position information match, and if not, determine that the article is sorted incorrectly. Taking the above embodiment as an example, when the actual cell (x2, y2) where the article is placed is determined from the first pressure data and the target cell is (x1, y1), it is considered that the article that should be directed to the target cell (x1, y1) is erroneously diverted to the actual cell (x2, y2), and the article sorting error is determined.

As shown in fig. 2, a first depth camera 110 may be disposed on the sorting frame 104 above (e.g., directly above) the robot arm end effector 106, the first depth camera 110 being coupled to the central processor; the first depth camera 110 is configured to capture a shortest distance to the item when the item is placed in the end effector 106, capture an image of the item placed in the end effector 106, and send the shortest distance and the image of the item to the central processor; where the shortest distance refers to the vertical distance of the camera lens of the first depth camera 110 to the highest point of an item placed in the end effector 106 of the robotic arm.

Since the size of the sorting grid in the sorting cabinet is generally fixed, for example, the sorting grid is in a square shape with a length and a width, the volume of the article can be measured through the shortest distance and the article image, whether the article is an article with an abnormal volume is judged, the article volume judgment is performed once before the article sorting, and whether the article is mistakenly sorted is judged through the article volume, specifically, the central processor is further configured to: determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance; determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item; acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice; and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

In addition, the first depth camera 110 may be further used to perform an article weight determination once before the articles are sorted, and determine whether the articles are misclassified according to the article weight, specifically, the first depth camera 110 is further used to detect and obtain the geometric center information of the articles when the articles are placed in the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm, and send the geometric center information to the central processing unit;

at this time, the central processor is specifically configured to calculate the weight of the article according to the geometric center of the article; after determining the item sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the item based on the pressure data and the weight of the item.

In specific implementation, when an article is thrown into the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm, the first depth camera 110 and the torque data of the joint of the mechanical arm will change, the volume information of the article is obtained by the first depth camera 110, and the weight information of the article is obtained by the torque data of the joint, and the specific calculation method is as follows:

volume of the article: when there is no article, the first depth camera 110 needs to be calibrated, the distance between the camera mounting position and the bottom of the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm is H1, when an article is placed in the end effector 106 of the mechanical arm, the shortest distance between the first depth camera 110 and the article is H2, the maximum height of the article is H1-H2, and the maximum cross-sectional length of the article is calculated according to the RGB image of the article obtained by the first depth camera 110 (the method of calculating the maximum cross-sectional length of the article according to the image of the article is the prior art, and is not described herein again).

Weight of the article: when there is no article, taking the robot arm as a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm, and calculating the weight of the article according to the geometric center of the article, may further include: acquiring B-axis torque of the mechanical arm in no-load; calculating the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm places the article according to the geometric center of the article; and calculating the weight of the object according to the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm is unloaded and the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the object is placed.

Specifically, taking the robot arm as a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm as an example, the torques of six joints of the robot arm collected by the central processing unit are respectively M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6. The B-axis (wrist swing) torque of the robot arm during idle operation is M50 ═ L0 × G0, as shown in fig. 6, where L0 denotes the distance between the B-axis center of the robot arm and the center of gravity of the load, and G0 denotes the weight of the B-axis load (body and end effector) of the robot arm. After an article is loaded into the end effector of the robot arm, the B-axis torque M51 for the robot arm to place the article is calculated, as shown in fig. 7, where M51 is L0 by G0+ L1 by G1, where L1 represents the distance from the B-axis joint axis of the robot arm to the geometric center of the plane of the article, as measured by the first depth camera 110, and G1 represents the weight of the article. The joint torque data can be collected through the bottom layer of the mechanical arm controller, so that the weight of the article can be calculated

G1＝(M51-M50)/L1

When article volume information, weight information, check mouth pressure data were gathered to central processing unit, be greater than article check mouth when judging article volume at first, article sorting can not be gone down when article volume is greater than the check mouth size, can block in check mouth department, leads to article to be crushed or influence the arm letter sorting, so when L > a or H1-H2> a, think that this article is too big, block to check mouth department easily, the arm is with its letter sorting to spacious unusual volume article processing area. When the volume of the article is smaller than the size of the cell, the central processing unit performs motion planning (motion planning algorithms such as RRT, PRM, A, artificial potential field and the like) according to the initial position of the mechanical arm end effector and target cell data sent by the article code scanning system, sends the planned track to the mechanical arm controller, the mechanical arm controller controls the mechanical arm to complete sorting, and when the article is sorted to the corresponding cell, the pressure data of the corresponding cell can be changed. Assuming that pressure data of a certain target cell (x1, y1) before sorting is F1, the pressure data of the target cell after sorting should be F2 ═ F1+ G1, and G1 is the measured weight of the article, if the pressure data of the target cell (x1, y1) after sorting does not change, but the pressure data of the actual cell (x2, y2) changes, the article which should be divided into the target cell (x1, y1) is considered to be wrongly divided into the actual cells (x2, y2), after detecting that the article is wrongly divided, the central processor reports wrong information and notifies subsequent manual processing, and after sorting, IDLE is set to 0, and next round of sorting is performed.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the at least one sorting cabinet 107 includes a first sorting cabinet and a second sorting cabinet, and the robot arm is disposed between the first sorting cabinet and the second sorting cabinet.

Further, the robotic arm sorting system may further include a depth information collecting module disposed on the sorting frame, the depth information collecting module being configured to collect a first image of the first sorting cabinet and collect a second image of the second sorting cabinet; the central processor is also used for determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

As shown in fig. 2, the depth information collecting module includes a second depth camera 111 and a third depth camera 112 disposed on the sorting frame 104, the second depth camera 111 is disposed on the sorting frame above (e.g. may be directly above) the first sorting cabinet, the third depth camera 112 is disposed on the sorting frame above (e.g. may be directly above) the second sorting cabinet, and the second depth camera 111 and the third depth camera 112 are respectively connected with the central processor; the second depth camera 111 is used for acquiring a first image of the first sorting bin, and the third depth camera 112 is used for acquiring a second image of the second sorting bin; the central processor is also used for determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image. The second depth camera 111 can detect a depth distance H3 between the camera lens and the first compartment in the first sorting cabinet, if the first compartment is not sorted, the depth distance H4 between the camera lens of the second depth camera 111 and the first compartment in the first sorting cabinet, if H4 is H3, it indicates that the first compartment in the first sorting cabinet is not sorted, H3 < H4, it indicates that the first compartment is sorted, and so on, it can detect whether the first sorting cabinet is full in each compartment, and when all the compartments in the first sorting cabinet are sorted, it is determined that the first sorting cabinet is full.

Similarly, the third depth camera 112 may detect a depth distance H5 between the camera lens and the second compartment in the second sorting cabinet, if the second compartment does not sort the articles, the depth distance H6 between the camera lens of the third depth camera 112 and the second compartment in the second sorting cabinet, if H5 is H6, it indicates that the second compartment in the second sorting cabinet does not sort the articles, H5 < H6, it indicates that the articles are sorted in the second compartment, and so on, may detect whether the articles are sorted in each compartment in the second sorting cabinet, and when all the compartments in the second sorting cabinet sort the articles, it is determined that the second sorting cabinet is full.

As shown in fig. 2, in some embodiments of the present invention, a first beam is disposed on the sorting frame above (e.g., directly above) the robot arm, a second beam is disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin, a third beam is disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the first depth camera 110 is disposed on the first beam, the second depth camera 111 is disposed on the second beam, and the third depth camera 112 is disposed on the third beam.

In order to better implement the mechanical arm sorting system in the embodiment of the present invention, based on the mechanical arm sorting system, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an article sorting method, where the article sorting method is applied to the mechanical arm sorting system, the mechanical arm sorting system is the mechanical arm sorting system as described in the above embodiment, an execution subject of the article sorting method is a control module in the mechanical arm sorting system, as shown in fig. 8, which is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of the article sorting method in the embodiment of the present invention, and the method includes:

801. after sorting an item into a target bay in the at least one sorting cabinet, first location information for the target bay is obtained.

The articles can be various types of articles such as documents, boxes for packaging express mails, envelopes and the like.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, a coordinate system may be established in advance with a position in at least one sorting cabinet as an origin of coordinates, each cell in at least one sorting cabinet corresponds to coordinate information, and the first position information of the target cell may be coordinate information of the target cell in the coordinate system established in advance.

802. And acquiring first pressure data corresponding to the actual lattice opening for placing the article.

In particular, the first pressure data of the actual cell may be detected by a pressure detection module (e.g. a pressure sensor) arranged below the actual cell.

803. Determining whether the article is a sort error based on the first location information and the first pressure data.

According to the embodiment of the invention, on the basis that the existing sorting equipment has no error separation prevention function, the pressure detection module is creatively arranged below each cell of the sorting cabinet, and the control module carries out self-checking on the error separation of the articles according to the first position information of the target cell and the first pressure data detected by the pressure detection module, so that the article sorting efficiency is improved, and the maintenance cost of the sorting system is reduced.

In some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the determining whether the article is sorted incorrectly according to the first position information and the first pressure data may further include:

901. and determining an actual lattice for placing the article according to the first pressure data.

902. And acquiring second position information of the actual grid.

Likewise, the second position information of the actual lattice may also be coordinate information of the actual lattice in a pre-established coordinate system.

903. And judging whether the first position information is matched with the second position information.

Specifically, whether the first location information and the second location information are matched may be determined by whether the first location information and the second location information are the same, if the first location information and the second location information are the same, the first location information and the second location information are matched, otherwise, the first location information and the second location information are not matched, if the first location information and the second location information are not matched, step 904 is executed, and if the first location information and the second location information are matched, the article is determined to be sorted correctly.

904. Determining the item sorting error.

In some embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: after the articles are sorted to the target cell, collecting second pressure data detected by a pressure detection module corresponding to the target cell; and determining whether the object is placed in the target cell according to the second pressure data. For example, if the pressure data of a target cell (x1, y1) before sorting is F1, and the second pressure data is F1 after sorting, the pressure data of the target cell is unchanged, and the article is not sorted.

In other embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, a first depth camera 110 is disposed on the sorting frame above the end effector 106 of the robotic arm, and the first depth camera 110 is connected to the control module; the method further comprises the following steps:

acquiring a shortest distance between the first depth camera and the item, which is acquired by the first depth camera, and an image of the item placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm, which is captured by the first depth camera, when the item is placed in the end effector of the mechanical arm; determining the height of the article according to the shortest distance; determining a maximum cross-sectional length of the item from the image of the item; acquiring the length and the height of the target lattice; and if the height of the article is greater than the height of the target cell or the maximum cross section length of the article is greater than the length of the target cell, determining that the article is an abnormal-volume article.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the article sorting method may further include: acquiring geometric center information of the item detected by the first depth camera while the item is placed in the robotic arm end effector. At this time, the determining an actual lattice for placing the article according to the first pressure data includes: calculating the weight of the article according to the geometric center of the article; after determining the article sorting error, determining an actual crate in which to place the article based on the first pressure data and the weight of the article.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the robot arm is a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm, and calculating the weight of the item based on the geometric center of the item comprises: acquiring B-axis torque of the mechanical arm in no-load; calculating the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm places the article according to the geometric center of the article; and calculating the weight of the object according to the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the mechanical arm is unloaded and the B-axis torque of the mechanical arm when the object is placed.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the robotic arm sorting system further comprises a second depth camera and a third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame, the second depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the first sorting bin, the third depth camera disposed on the sorting frame above the second sorting bin, the second depth camera and the third depth camera respectively connected to the central processor; the method further comprises the following steps: acquiring a first image of the first sorting bin acquired by the second depth camera and a second image of the second sorting bin acquired by the third depth camera; determining whether the first sorting cabinet is full according to the first image; and determining whether the second sorting cabinet is full according to the second image.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the above-mentioned mechanical arm sorting system and the article sorting method, the description of each embodiment has a respective emphasis, and a part which is not described in detail in a certain embodiment may refer to the above detailed description of other embodiments, and is not described herein again.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a mechanical arm sorting system, which comprises a sorting frame and a mechanical arm, wherein the mechanical arm is arranged in the sorting frame, the mechanical arm comprises a mechanical arm end effector for sorting articles, at least one sorting cabinet is arranged in the sorting frame, each sorting cabinet comprises at least one cell, the inner bottom surface of each cell in the at least one cell is provided with a pressure detection module, the mechanical arm sorting system also comprises a control module connected with the pressure detection module, and the pressure detection module is used for detecting pressure data corresponding to an actual cell of the sorted articles and sending the pressure data to the control module when the articles are sorted; the control module includes:

one or more processors;

a memory; and

one or more applications, wherein the one or more applications are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor for performing the steps of the item sorting method as described in any of the above-described embodiments of the item sorting method.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a robot arm sorting system, which integrates the control device provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and the following is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the robot arm sorting system in the embodiment of the present invention in combination with a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, which shows a schematic structural diagram when the control device according to the embodiment of the present invention is a server, specifically:

the server may include components such as a processor 1001 of one or more processing cores, memory 1002 of one or more computer-readable storage media, a power source 1003, and an input unit 1004. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the server architecture shown in FIG. 10 is not meant to be limiting, and may include more or fewer components than those shown, or some components may be combined, or a different arrangement of components.

Wherein:

the processor 1001 is a control center of the server, connects various parts of the entire server using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the server and processes data by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 1002 and calling data stored in the memory 1002, thereby performing overall monitoring of the server. Optionally, processor 1001 may include one or more processing cores; preferably, the processor 1001 may integrate an application processor, which mainly handles operating systems, user interfaces, application programs, etc., and a modem processor, which mainly handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 1001.

The memory 1002 may be used to store software programs and modules, and the processor 1001 executes various functional applications and data processing by operating the software programs and modules stored in the memory 1002. The memory 1002 may mainly include a storage program area and a storage data area, wherein the storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required by at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.), and the like; the storage data area may store data created according to the use of the server, and the like. Further, the memory 1002 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid state storage device. Accordingly, the memory 1002 may also include a memory controller to provide the processor 1001 access to the memory 1002.

The server further includes a power source 1003 for supplying power to each component, and preferably, the power source 1003 may be logically connected to the processor 1001 through a power management system, so that functions of managing charging, discharging, power consumption, and the like are implemented through the power management system. The power source 1003 may also include any component including one or more of a dc or ac power source, a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converter or inverter, a power status indicator, and the like.

The server may also include an input unit 1004, and the input unit 1004 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and generate keyboard, mouse, joystick, optical or trackball signal inputs related to user settings and function control.

Although not shown, the server may further include a display unit and the like, which will not be described in detail herein. Specifically, in this embodiment, the processor 1001 in the server loads the executable file corresponding to the process of one or more application programs into the memory 1002 according to the following instructions, and the processor 1001 runs the application programs stored in the memory 1002, so as to implement various functions as follows:

obtaining first location information for a target bin in the at least one sorting cabinet after sorting an item into the target bin;

acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual lattice for placing the article;

determining whether the article is a sort error based on the first location information and the first pressure data.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of the methods of the above embodiments may be performed by instructions or by associated hardware controlled by the instructions, which may be stored in a computer readable storage medium and loaded and executed by a processor.

To this end, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may include: read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic or optical disks, and the like. Stored thereon, is a computer program which is loaded by a processor to perform the steps of any of the article sorting methods provided by the embodiments of the present invention. For example, the computer program may be loaded by a processor to perform the steps of:

obtaining first location information for a target bin in the at least one sorting cabinet after sorting an item into the target bin;

acquiring first pressure data corresponding to an actual lattice for placing the article;

determining whether the article is a sort error based on the first location information and the first pressure data.

In the above embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have respective emphasis, and parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment may refer to the above detailed descriptions of other embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In a specific implementation, each unit or structure may be implemented as an independent entity, or may be combined arbitrarily to be implemented as one or several entities, and the specific implementation of each unit or structure may refer to the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

The above operations can be implemented in the foregoing embodiments, and are not described in detail herein.

The above detailed description is provided for an article sorting method, a robotic arm sorting system and a storage medium according to embodiments of the present invention, and specific examples are applied herein to illustrate the principles and embodiments of the present invention, and the description of the above embodiments is only provided to help understanding the method and the core concept of the present invention; meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there may be variations in the specific embodiments and the application scope, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention.