Sand cleaning vehicle and a method of cleaning sand using the same

• US 9,988,781 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pickover, Clifford A., Vukovic, Maja, Weldemariam, Komminist
• Primary Examiner(s): MATTHEWS, TERRELL HOWARD
• Application Number:
  US15/273,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20180080188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 209420, 209421
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/10 Ultraviolet radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/18 Liquid substances or solutions comprising solids or dissolved gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/11 Apparatus for generating biocidal substances, e.g. vaporisers, UV lamps
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/15 Biocide distribution means, e.g. nozzles, pumps, manifolds, fans, baffles, sprayers
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2202/16 Mobile applications, e.g. portable devices, trailers, devices mounted on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/34 Sorting according to other particular properties material testing per se G01N; quality control G07C3/14
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/3422 using video scanning devices, e.g. TV-cameras
• CPC Class Codes: E01H 12/002 Treatment in situ E01H12/006 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S17/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/88 Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A sand cleaning vehicle including a debris collection mechanism that collects debris from sand, a storage compartment that stores the collected debris, a capture device that captures at least one image of the collected debris, a memory storing a computer program, and a processor that executes the computer program. The computer program categorizes the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using at least one image of the collected debris.

Claims

1. A sand cleaning vehicle, comprising:

a debris collection mechanism that collects debris from sand;

a storage compartment that stores the collected debris;

a capture device that captures at least one image of the collected debris;

a memory storing a computer program;

a processor that executes the computer program, wherein the computer program categorizes the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using the at least one image of the collected debris,

wherein the computer program determines a pattern in locations of the collected debris;

a global positioning system (GPS) device that detects a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle; and

a network adapter that establishes a network connection with a remote computer, wherein the computer program;

tracks the current location of the sand cleaning vehicle during at least one sand cleaning outing;

identifies a high tide line on a beach during the at least one sand cleaning outing, wherein the high tide line corresponds to a continuous physical marking identified by the capture device that indicates a portion of the beach furthest from an ocean that is reached by a rising tide;

records locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected, and location corresponding to the high tide line;

determines a relationship between the locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected and the locations corresponding to the high tide line; and

transmits a report indicating the determined relationship to the remote computer via the network adapter.

2. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1,

wherein the computer program transmits the at least one image of the collected debris via the network adapter to the remote computer.

3. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 2, wherein the computer program categorizes the collected debris into the plurality of different debris types using a debris classification model received via the network adapter from the remote computer.

4. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1,

wherein the computer program generates an assessment report indicating the different debris types collected from the sand, and transmits the assessment report to the remote computer.

5. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the computer program creates a map indicating locations at which the collected debris were collected using the at least one image of the collected debris and the current location of the sand cleaning vehicle.

6. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 5,

wherein the computer program transmits the map to the remote computer via the network adapter.

7. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1, further comprising:

a disinfecting mechanism, wherein one of the different debris types represents hazardous debris, and the disinfecting mechanism disinfects the sand at a location at which debris categorized as the hazardous debris is collected, wherein the sand is disinfected while it is located within the sand cleaning vehicle or on ground below the sand cleaning vehicle.

8. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 7, wherein the disinfecting mechanism comprises one of an ultraviolet (UV) light disinfecting mechanism that irradiates the sand with UV light, and a disinfectant spraying mechanism that sprays the sand with a disinfectant spray.

10. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1, further comprising:

a sorting mechanism that sorts the collected debris,

wherein the storage compartment comprises a plurality of sub-compartments, and the sorting mechanism separates the collected debris into the sub-compartments according to the different debris types.

11. The sand cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sand cleaning vehicle is an autonomous vehicle.

9. A sand cleaning vehicle, comprising:

a debris collection mechanism that collects debris from sand;

a storage compartment that stores the collected debris;

a capture device that captures at least one image of the collected debris;

a memory storing a computer program;

a processor that executes the computer program, wherein the computer program categorizes the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using the at least one image of the collected debris;

a global positioning system (GPS) device that detects a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle; and

a network adapter that establishes a network connection with a remote computer, wherein the computer program;

tracks a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle during at least one sand cleaning outing;

determines a slope of a beach at a first plurality of locations during the at least one sand cleaning outing;

records the first plurality of locations and the corresponding slope, and a second plurality of locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected;

determines a relationship between the slope of the beach and the second plurality of locations at which each piece of the collected debris was collected; and

transmits a report indicating the determined relationship to the remote computer via the network adapter.

12. A method of cleaning sand, comprising:

collecting debris from the sand by a sand cleaning vehicle;

capturing at least one image of the collected debris by a capture device disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

storing the collected debris in a storage compartment disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

categorizing the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using the at least one image of the collected debris;

determining a pattern in locations of the collected debris;

tracking a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle during at least one sand cleaning outing;

identifying a high tide line on a beach during the at least one sand cleaning outing, wherein the high tide line corresponds to a continuous physical marking identified by the capture device that indicates a portion of the beach furthest from an ocean that is reached by a rising tide;

recording locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected, and locations corresponding to the high tide line;

determining a relationship between the locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected and the locations corresponding to the high tide line; and

scheduling a future sand cleaning outing such that the sand cleaning vehicle spends more time cleaning areas having a high debris accrual rate as indicated by the determined relationship than cleaning areas having a low debris accrual rate as indicated by the determined relationship during the future sand cleaning outing.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein categorizing the collected debris into the plurality of different debris types using the at least one image comprises:

comparing the at least one image to a plurality of images stored in a database, wherein each image stored in the database belongs to one of the different types of debris; and

matching the at least one image to one of the plurality of images in the database.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting the at least one image from the sand cleaning vehicle to at least one computer that is remotely located from the sand cleaning vehicle, wherein the collected debris is categorized into the plurality of different debris types by the at least one computer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one image is transmitted from the sand cleaning vehicle to the at least one computer in real-time.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating an assessment report indicating the different debris types collected from the sand; and

transmitting the assessment report to at least one computer that is remotely located from the sand cleaning vehicle.

14. A method of cleaning sand, comprising:

collecting debris from the sand by a sand cleaning vehicle;

capturing at least one image of collected debris capture device disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

storing the collected debris in a storage compartment disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

categorizing the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using the at least one image of the collected debris;

determining a pattern in locations of the collected debris;

tracking a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle during at least one sand cleaning outing;

determining a slope of a beach at a first plurality of locations during the at least one sand cleaning outing;

recording the first plurality of locations and the corresponding slope, and a second plurality of locations at which each piece of the collected debris is collected;

determining a relationship between the slope of the beach and the second plurality of locations at which each piece of the collected debris was collected; and

scheduling a future sand cleaning outing such that the sand cleaning vehicle spends more time cleaning areas having a high debris accrual rate as indicated by the determined relationship than cleaning areas having a low debris accrual rate as indicated by the determined relationship during the future sand cleaning outing.

15. A method of cleaning sand, comprising:

collecting debris from the sand by a sand cleaning vehicle;

capturing at least one image of the collected debris by a capture device disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

storing the collected debris in a storage compartment disposed in the sand cleaning vehicle;

categorizing the collected debris into a plurality of different debris types using the at least one image of the collected debris;

determining a pattern in locations of the collected debris;

tracking a current location of the sand cleaning vehicle, during a plurality of sand cleaning outings, as the sand cleaning vehicle collects the debris from the sand;

recording locations at which each piece of the collected debris was collected during each sand cleaning outing;

identifying an area having a high debris accrual rate and an area having a low debris accrual rate using the recorded locations; and

scheduling a future sand cleaning outing such that the sand cleaning vehicle spends more time cleaning the area having the high debris accrual rate than cleaning the area having the low debris accrual rate during the future sand cleaning outing.