The work aims to improve the operational efficiency and resource utilization rate of the four-way shuttle storage and retrieval system (FWSS/RS) in the composite operation scenario where both outbound and inbound operation tasks coexist. With focus on single inbound or outbound modes and neglect collaborative scheduling between shuttles and lifts, an improved independent deep Q-network (IDQN)-based task allocation method was proposed for mixed inbound-outbound scenarios. A task allocation model for FWSS/RS composite operations was constructed with the objective of minimizing makespan. Furthermore, the model was transformed into a Markov decision process (MDP), where the MDP elements like state space, action space, and reward function were designed, and the improved IDQN algorithm was employed to derive optimal solutions. Finally, experiments were conducted in conjunction with engineering practice, and comparisons were made with the auction algorithm and the genetic algorithm. Meanwhile, the effects of task scale, transport resource configuration, and other factors on the performance of the proposed method were analyzed, verifying its effectiveness and advantages. The composite operation task allocation method based on the improved IDQN can significantly enhance the collaborative scheduling level of four-way shuttles and lifts, and can effectively support the operation task allocation requirements in actual logistics scenarios.
Key words
four-way shuttle storage and retrieval system /
composite operation /
task allocation /
Markov decision process /
independent deep q-network
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