AUTOMATICALLY SCANNING AND REPRESENTING AN ENVIRONMENT HAVING A PLURALITY OF FEATURES

• US 20170142403A1
• Filed: 11/16/2015
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Technology AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: ZHANG, Biao, MARTINEZ, Carlos, MORATO, Carlos W., BOCA, Remus, WANG, Jianjun
• Granted Patent: US 10,349,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/002 Active optical surveying means optical plumbing G01C15/105
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/75 involving models
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/64 Three-dimensional objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/204 using stereoscopic image cameras stereoscopic photography G03B35/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules

Abstract

Automatic scanning and representing an environment having a plurality of features, for example, includes scanning the environment along a scanning path, interspersing a plurality of localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment during the scanning along the scanning path of the environment wherein the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment being different from the scanning the environment along the scanning path, and obtaining a representation of at least a portion of the environment based on the scanning of the environment and the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

scanning an environment along a scanning path;

interspersing a plurality of localized scanning of a plurality of features in the environment during the scanning along the scanning path of the environment, the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment being different from the scanning the environment along the scanning path; and

obtaining a representation of at least a portion of the environment based on the scanning of the environment and the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the interspersing the plurality of localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment comprises identifying one of the plurality of features during the scanning of the scanning path of a first portion of the environment, scanning a localized portion of the environment having the identified one of the plurality of features in the first portion of the environment, continuing the scanning along the scanning path of the environment another portion of the environment, identifying another one of the plurality of features during the scanning of the scanning path of the another portion of the environment, and scanning another localized portion of the environment having the identified another of the plurality of features in the another portion of the environment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning along the scan path of the environment is at a first resolution or speed and the scanning of the localized portions of the environment is at a second resolution or speed different from the first resolution or speed.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning of the environment along the scanning path is performed using a first scanning parameter, the interspersing comprises using at least one criteria for identifying the plurality of features along the first scanning path, and the scanning of the localized portions is based the plurality of identified features and performed using a second scanning parameter different from the first scanning parameter.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning along the scanning path employs a 3D imager and the scanning the localized portions employs the 3D imager.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining the representation comprises obtaining a first plurality of frames of data of the scanning along the scan path of the environment and a plurality of frames of data of the localized portions of the plurality of features of the environment, and merging together data from the first plurality of frames of data of the scanning along the scan path of the environment and the plurality of frames of data of the localized portions of the plurality of features of the environment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning the environment along the scanning path comprises updating a statistical model of feature location prediction based on prior feature detection results, and estimating a certainty of a current detected feature using the updated statistical model of feature location prediction and a current feature detection result, and wherein the obtaining the representation of the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment is based on the estimated certainty of the current detected feature being above a threshold.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning along the scan path comprises scan across a plane.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning the localized portions comprises scanning the localized portions from a plurality of orientations.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the scanning along a scan path and the scanning of the localized portions comprises employing a robotically supported movable imager.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the environment comprises a rock wall and the plurality of features comprise a plurality of elongated holes defining axes for receiving charges for mining.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein the scanning the wall along the scanning path comprises updating a statistical model of hole location prediction and a drilling map matching based on prior hole detection results, and estimating a certainty of a current detected hole using the updated statistical model of hole location prediction, the updated drilling map matching, and a current hole detection result, and wherein the obtaining the representation of the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of holes in the wall is based on the estimated certainty of the current detected feature being above a threshold.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 further comprising determining orientations of the axes of the plurality of holes based on the scanning of the localized portions.

14. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a physical processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

scanning an environment along a scanning path;

interspersing a plurality of localized scanning of a plurality of features in the environment during the scanning along the scanning path of the environment, the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment being different from the scanning the environment along the scanning path; and

obtaining a representation of at least a portion of the environment based on the scanning of the environment and the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment.

15. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor for performing a method comprising;

scanning an environment along a scanning path;

interspersing a plurality of localized scanning of a plurality of features in the environment during the scanning along the scanning path of the environment, the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment being different from the scanning the environment along the scanning path; and

obtaining a representation of at least a portion of the environment based on the scanning of the environment and the interspersed localized scanning of the plurality of features in the environment.