Research on robot charging strategy based on the scheduling algorithm of minimum encounter time

In recent years, robots have been increasingly and extensively put into use in storage and transportation. Different from conventional fixed-pile charger, this article studies the scheduling strategy of mobile chargers (MC) for power supplements of on-duty robots that are performing tasks of storage and transportation. First, we shall determine the minimum quantity of MC that could meet all robots charging needs through stochastic simulation. Then, the optimal charging sequence algorithm is exercised to allocate robots to be charged for each MC. Finally, the encounter time of the MC and robots is optimised though scheduling algorithm of minimum encounter time. In the smart warehousing system with robot task as the priority, the robot charging scheduling strategy based on the scheduling algorithm of minimum encounter time proposed in this article takes into account the relative distance between MC and robot as well as the real-scene factors such as MC load. As a result, it provides new idea for solving the robot-charging scheduling problem. Through simulation experiments and comparative analysis, it is found that the MC movement speed is positively correlated with the number of robots. Furthermore, as the robot number m and the MC movement speed vc alter, the proposed average charging delay of the charging scheduling strategy is generally better than the method of M/M/n/∞/m/FCFS.