US-12619238-B2 - Control method, control device, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium

US12619238B2US 12619238 B2US12619238 B2US 12619238B2US-12619238-B2

Abstract

A control method of controlling a plurality of moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos includes, by a computer, acquiring a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects, determining a target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a next unit of time, allocating a conveyance unit to each of the moving objects based on a residual battery capacity and a target residual battery capacity of each of the moving objects and a weight of each of the cargos, and transmitting, to each of the moving objects, control information instructing a conveyance work of the conveyance unit allocated to each of the moving objects.

Inventors

Atsuyoshi KITA
Tetsuji Fuchikami
Tatsumi NAGASHIMA

Assignees

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220706
Priority Date: 20200626

Claims (16)

1 . A control method of controlling a plurality of moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos, the control method comprising, by a computer: acquiring a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects; determining a target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a next unit of time; allocating a conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects based on the residual battery capacity and the target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects and a weight of each of the plurality of cargos; and transmitting, to each of the plurality of moving objects, control information instructing a conveyance work of the conveyance unit allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects, wherein in the determining of the target residual battery capacity: the target residual battery capacity is determined with a number of moving objects to be charged in the next unit of time being less than or equal to an upper limit number of moving objects that are simultaneously chargeable by a charging device; the plurality of moving objects is divided into a plurality of groups having the upper limit number of moving objects or less; a charging timing of moving objects in an arbitrary k-th group among the plurality of groups is set to be after k units of time; and the target residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group in the next unit of time is determined with the residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group after the k units of time being a predetermined charge start residual battery capacity.
2 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein in the allocating of the conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects, the residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects, when each of the plurality of moving objects performs the conveyance work of the conveyance unit, is calculated based on the residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects and the weight of each of the plurality of cargos, and the conveyance unit to be allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects is determined based on a difference between the residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects having been calculated and the target residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects.
3 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein in the allocating of the conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects, the conveyance unit is allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects with a sum of the difference in the plurality of moving objects being minimized.
4 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein in the allocating of the conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects, each of the plurality of cargos is regarded as one conveyance unit, a required time for each of the plurality of moving objects to perform the conveyance work of the conveyance unit is calculated based on a conveyance route of each of the plurality of cargos, and the conveyance unit is allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects with a sum of the difference in the plurality of moving objects being minimized and with a sum of the required time in each of the plurality of moving objects being less than or equal to a unit of time.
5 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein in the determining of the target residual battery capacity, the target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a p-th group is determined to be smaller than the target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a q-th group to be charged after q units of time that are longer than p units of time.
6 . The control method according to claim 5 , wherein a difference between the target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in the p-th group and the target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in the q-th group is proportional to a difference between the p units of time and the q units of time.
7 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein when the plurality of moving objects is divided into the plurality of groups, the plurality of moving objects is equally divided into the plurality of groups.
8 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein when the plurality of moving objects is divided into the plurality of groups, a first group to be charged when a work amount of a conveyance of the plurality of cargos is a first work amount has more moving objects than a second group to be charged when the work amount is a second work amount that is larger than the first work amount.
9 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein in the allocating of the conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects, the plurality of cargos is equally divided into a same number of conveyance units as a number of the plurality of moving objects.
10 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cargos includes a plurality of articles stored in a warehouse.
11 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cargos includes a plurality of parts stored in a factory.
12 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cargos includes a plurality of container cargos stored in a harbor.
13 . A control device that controls a plurality of moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos, the control device comprising: a processor; and a memory including a control program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: acquire a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects; determine a target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a next unit of time; allocate a conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects based on the residual battery capacity and the target residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects and a weight of each of the plurality of cargos; and transmit, to each of the plurality of moving objects, control information instructing a conveyance work of the conveyance unit allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects, wherein when the processor determines the target residual battery capacity: the target residual battery capacity is determined with a number of moving objects to be charged in the next unit of time being less than or equal to an upper limit number of moving objects that are simultaneously chargeable by a charging device; the plurality of moving objects is divided into a plurality of groups having the upper limit number of moving objects or less; a charging timing of moving objects in an arbitrary k-th group among the plurality of groups is set to be after k units of time; and the target residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group in the next unit of time is determined with the residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group after the k units of time being a predetermined charge start residual battery capacity.
14 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer of a control device, that controls a plurality of moving objects that conveys a plurality of cargos, to: acquire a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects; determine a target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a next unit of time; allocate a conveyance unit to each of the plurality of moving objects based on the residual battery capacity and the target residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects and a weight of each of the plurality of cargos; and transmit, to each of the plurality of moving objects, control information instructing a conveyance work of the conveyance unit allocated to each of the plurality of moving objects, wherein when the computer determines the target residual battery capacity: the target residual battery capacity is determined with a number of moving objects to be charged in the next unit of time being less than or equal to an upper limit number of moving objects that are simultaneously chargeable by a charging device; the plurality of moving objects is divided into a plurality of groups having the upper limit number of moving objects or less; a charging timing of moving objects in an arbitrary k-th group among the plurality of groups is set to be after k units of time; and the target residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group in the next unit of time is determined with the residual battery capacity of the moving objects in the arbitrary k-th group after the k units of time being a predetermined charge start residual battery capacity.
15 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining determines the target residual battery capacity of each of the plurality of moving objects in the next unit of time.
16 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the target residual battery capacity is a target value of the residual battery capacity in the next unit of time.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a technique in which a plurality of chargeable moving objects convey a plurality of cargos. BACKGROUND ART In recent years, a technique in which a plurality of chargeable moving objects convey a plurality of cargos has become widespread. As such a technique, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an automated warehouse system in which a plurality of chargeable robots convey parcels in a warehouse. In this automated warehouse system, a part of the warehouse is provided as a parking space for the robots, and batteries of the robots are charged in the parking space. However, in the automated warehouse system, when charging timings of the batteries of the plurality of robots overlap with each other, the plurality of robots cannot be accommodated in the parking space simultaneously, and there is a risk that a space near the parking space is compressed. It is therefore conceivable to provide a parking space capable of simultaneously accommodating the plurality of robots in the warehouse, but in this case, there may be a problem that a space for arranging the cargos is reduced. CITATION LIST Patent Literature Patent Literature 1: JP 2018-513817 A SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to reduce opportunities for a charging device to simultaneously charge a plurality of chargeable moving objects conveying a plurality of cargos, the number of moving objects being more than or equal to the number of moving objects that are simultaneously chargeable. In order to solve the above problems, a control method according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a control method of controlling a plurality of moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos, the method including, by a computer, acquiring a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects, determining a target residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects in a next unit of time, allocating a conveyance unit to each of the moving objects based on a residual battery capacity and a target residual battery capacity of each of the moving objects and a weight of each of the cargos, and transmitting, to each of the moving objects, control information instructing a conveyance work of the conveyance unit allocated to each of the moving objects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic logistics system. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of controlling a plurality of moving objects and a charging device. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of dividing the plurality of moving objects into a plurality of groups. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions used for determining a target residual battery capacity. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a difference between a residual battery capacity of an i-th moving object and a target residual battery capacity when the i-th moving object performs conveyance work of a j-th work category. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a difference between a residual battery capacity of the i-th moving object and a target residual battery capacity and a required time for conveyance work of a j-th cargo when the i-th moving object performs the conveyance work of the j-th cargo. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS (Knowledge Underlying the Present Disclosure) As described above, in recent years, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, for example, a technique in which a plurality of chargeable moving objects convey a plurality of cargos has become widespread. However, in a case where charging timings of the plurality of moving objects overlap with each other, it is necessary to charge the plurality of moving objects at a predetermined charging place simultaneously, and there is a possibility that a space near the charging place is compressed. It is therefore conceivable to provide a charging place capable of sufficiently accommodating the plurality of moving objects, but in this case, a problem that a space for arranging the cargos is reduced may occur. These problems may also interfere with movement of other moving objects not required to be charged in the conveyance work of the cargos. Therefore, as a result of intensive studies on reducing opportunities for simultaneously charging a plurality of chargeable moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos, the number of moving objects being more than or equal to the number of moving objects that are simultaneously chargeable by the charging device, the present inventor has arrived at the following aspects of the present disclosure. A control method according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a control method of controlling a plurality of moving objects that convey a plurality of cargos, the method including, by a computer, acquiring a residual battery capacity of the plurality of moving objects, determin