Method and apparatus for determining an excavation strategy for a front-end loader
First Claim
1. A method for planning earthmoving operations using a terrain map of an excavation area, and a front-end loading machine having a work implement including a bucket, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) determining a plurality of candidate regions for starting an excavation;
(b) determining a quality rating for each candidate region by evaluating at least one performance criterion associated with selecting the optimum position for starting the excavation; and
(c) selecting one of said plurality candidate regions as a starting location as a function of the quality rating.
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Abstract
In one embodiment of the present invention, a planning apparatus and method for earthmoving operations with a front-end loader, such as loading a bucket with material and unloading the material in a receptacle, is disclosed including multi-level processing for planning the operation. One of the processing levels is a coarse-level planner that uses geometry of the site and heuristics specified by expert operators to find an optimal area from which to remove material. The next level involves searching the area for an exact starting location. This is accomplished by choosing among candidate excavations for the site with the optimum performance criteria including maximum amount of material protruding from the pile, minimum side loading of the bucket, and minimum distance from the loading receptacle. Other performance criteria that are evaluated for the candidate excavation include whether the front-end loader is capable of making the turns required by a candidate trajectory, and whether obstacles are in the path of the trajectory.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for planning earthmoving operations using a terrain map of an excavation area, and a front-end loading machine having a work implement including a bucket, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) determining a plurality of candidate regions for starting an excavation; (b) determining a quality rating for each candidate region by evaluating at least one performance criterion associated with selecting the optimum position for starting the excavation; and (c) selecting one of said plurality candidate regions as a starting location as a function of the quality rating. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for planning earthmoving operations using a work implement of a front-end loading machine, the work implement includes a bucket, the planning apparatus comprises:
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a terrain map of an excavation site represented in numerical form; and a data processor operable to determine a plurality of candidate regions of the bucket for starting an excavation based upon the terrain map, the data processor further operable to determine a quality rating for each candidate region by evaluating at least one performance criterion associated with selecting the optimum position for starting the excavation, and to select one of said plurality of candidate regions as a starting location as a function of the quality rating. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification