External Recognition Apparatus and Excavation Machine Using External Recognition Apparatus

• US 20160094806A1
• Filed: 06/12/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: HASEJIMA, Noriyasu, MATSUO, Shigeru
• Granted Patent: US 9,832,386 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/261 Surveying the work-site to be treated
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/264 Sensors and their calibration for indicating the position of the work tool
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/14 for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures G01B11/26 takes precedence; rangefinders G01C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/40 Extraction of image or video features
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/42 Global feature extraction by analysis of the whole pattern, e.g. using frequency domain transformations or autocorrelation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/64 Three-dimensional objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/106 Processing image signals for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0081 Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

An external recognition apparatus and an excavation machine using the external recognition apparatus, the external recognition apparatus including: a three-dimensional distance measurement device configured to acquire distance information in a three-dimensional space in a predetermined, region which is under a hydraulic shovel and which includes a region to be excavated by the hydraulic shovel; a plane surface estimation unit configured to estimate a plane surface in the predetermined region based on the distance information; and an excavation object region recognition unit configured to recognize the region to be excavated in the predetermined region based on the plane surface and the distance information.

Claims

1. An external recognition apparatus comprising:

a three-dimensional distance measurement device configured to acquire distance information in a three-dimensional space in a predetermined region which is under a hydraulic shovel and which includes a region to be excavated by the hydraulic shovel;

a plane surface estimation unit configured to estimate a plane surface in the predetermined region based on the distance information; and

an excavation object region recognition unit configured to recognize the region to be excavated in the predetermined region based on the plane surface and the distance information.

2. The external recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plane surface estimation unit estimates the plane surface in the predetermined region by straight. Line estimation according to a RANSAC method.

3. The external recognition apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recognition result display unit configured to separately display the region to be excavated recognized by the excavation object region recognition unit and a non-excavation object in the predetermined region.

4. An excavation machine comprising the external recognition apparatus according to claim 1.