Multi-camera self-exploration intelligent trolley for electrical safety hazard investigation

Abstract

The application discloses a multi-camera self-exploration intelligent trolley for electrical safety hidden danger investigation. The trolley comprises a trolley body and a camera device. The trolley chassis is circular, and the annular track is rotatably arranged on the trolley chassis. The camera device is arranged on the annular track. The camera device comprises six camera detection mechanisms. Each camera detection mechanism comprises a camera, a camera base plate, a camera rotating motor, a camera base, a motion base, a motion base driving motor and a driving gear. The output shaft of the motion base driving motor is coaxially connected with the driving gear downward. The driving gear and the annular rack of the annular track are meshed to form a gear and rack pair. The annular track is clamped between the driven wheel and the driving gear to form a sliding pair. The position of each camera along the annular track is adjusted flexibly to realize multi-type combination of monocular / binoocular / multiocular cameras, and the electrical hidden danger investigation process task of 360-degree full-circle scene shooting is realized simply and conveniently.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application relates to an intelligent trolley for exploring detection functions, in particular to a multi-camera self-exploring intelligent trolley for electrical safety hazard investigation. BACKGROUND

[0002] Electrical safety hazards can cause personal accidents, equipment accidents, electrical fires, explosion accidents and other electrical disasters. The causes of electrical safety hazards include aging of power supply, equipment, socket and wire, exposed live parts caused by insulation damage, long-term overload of electrical circuits, non-standard installation and use of electrical lines and equipment, poor heat dissipation of high-power equipment and other reasons.

[0003] Due to the wide range, long generation cycle and hidden lines of electrical safety hazards, it is difficult to achieve thorough investigation by traditional manual investigation methods. With the increasing cost of human resources, the time-consuming and labor-intensive shortcomings of manual investigation methods are increasingly prominent. At present, the industry is actively developing solutions using robots, intelligent trolleys, drones and other camera-carrying devices to replace manual investigation methods. Among them, intelligent trolleys have low cost and simple operation, so the industry generally expects the application potential of intelligent trolleys in electrical safety hazard investigation.

[0004] After the intelligent trolley investigates the electrical hazards, the hazard location needs to be accurately marked for maintenance personnel to accurately find the hazard. However, how the intelligent trolley accurately marks the hazard location in the building is a current technical difficulty, especially inside the building (even in underground garages, etc.), traditional positioning methods often have unsatisfactory results, such as GPS positioning methods which are difficult to accurately position due to signal strength problems, and wifi or Bluetooth positioning methods which are limited due to the need for pre-construction of equipment.

[0005] Binding several cameras on a mobile trolley for indoor unknown scene exploration has also developed rapidly in recent years, but this method often only performs indoor panoramic shooting without ranging or positioning indoor objects. Some mobile trolleys also bind several laser sensors to range and position indoor objects, however, the number of laser sensors is often limited and difficult to cover 360 degrees, and the indoor scene is unknown, so it is uncertain where the objects will appear in the direction of the trolley. Therefore, the above two types of mobile trolleys are difficult to accurately position the hazard location when used for electrical safety hazard investigation. SUMMARY

[0006] In order to solve the problems in the background art, the object of the present application is to provide a multi-camera self-exploration intelligent trolley for electrical safety hazard investigation in buildings, especially to provide a hardware basis for 360-degree full-scene shooting, wall distance measurement, exploration path planning, trolley position self-positioning, autonomous movement / remote control and other tasks required in the investigation.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the technical scheme adopted by the present application is as follows:

[0008] The present application mainly consists of a trolley body and a camera device, the trolley body includes a trolley chassis and a ring-shaped track; the trolley chassis is circular, the ring-shaped track is rotatably installed on the outer circumferential surface of the trolley chassis through a chassis bearing, and the camera device is installed on the ring-shaped track; the camera device includes six camera detection mechanisms, each camera detection mechanism includes a camera, a camera base plate, a camera rotating motor, a camera base, a motion base, a motion base driving motor and a driving gear; the camera is installed on the top surface of the camera base plate, the camera base plate is hingedly installed in the central hole of the camera base, the camera rotating motor is installed at the bottom of the camera base, and the output shaft of the camera rotating motor is directed towards the central hole of the camera base and is fixedly connected with the camera base plate; the camera base is installed on the top surface of the motion base, the motion base driving motor is installed on the motion base, the output shaft of the motion base driving motor is coaxially connected with the driving gear downward through the motion base, the driving gear is meshingly connected with a ring-shaped rack arranged in the inner circle of the ring-shaped track to form a gear-rack pair, and a plurality of driven wheels are hingedly installed on the ground of the motion base, the driven wheels and the driving gear are arranged on the inner and outer circumferential surfaces of the ring-shaped track, so that the ring-shaped track is clamped between the driven wheels and the driving gear to form a sliding pair.

[0009] The field of view angle of the camera is not less than 70 degrees, and the focal length is not less than 4 mm.

[0010] A plurality of trolley wheels are installed on the bottom of the trolley chassis, one wheel driving motor is connected to each trolley wheel, and the trolley chassis is driven to move forward or backward by the wheel driving motor.

[0011] The trolley chassis is also provided with a main control circuit board and a charging battery, the main control circuit board and the charging battery are connected, and the main control circuit board is connected with the camera, the camera rotating motor, the motion base driving motor and the wheel driving motor of each camera detection mechanism.

[0012] The main control circuit board includes a single-chip microcomputer, an image acquisition and processing module, a remote communication module and a motor driving chip; the input end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected with the camera, the output end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected to the single-chip microcomputer, the single-chip microcomputer is connected with the camera rotating motor, the motion base driving motor and the wheel driving motor through the motor driving chip, the single-chip microcomputer is connected with the charging battery through a power management chip, and the single-chip microcomputer is connected with a cloud server through the remote communication module.

[0013] The application realizes the multi-type combination of monocular / binocular / multiocular cameras by setting the position of each camera along the annular track to move, and by the flexible adjustment of the number of cameras working together.

[0014] The trolley can flexibly combine its vehicle-mounted camera cluster, and autonomously shoot the scenes around the trolley, and then realize self-positioning of the trolley body according to the shooting images, thereby laying a foundation for mobile path self-planning, safety hazard investigation and positioning.

[0015] The application has the beneficial effects that:

[0016] 1. The intelligent trolley has six vehicle-mounted cameras, each of which can flexibly move its position along the annular track, and the number of cameras working together can be flexibly adjusted, so that the application can realize the multi-type combination of monocular / binocular / multiocular cameras, which greatly improves the flexibility of electrical hazard investigation and positioning.

[0017] 2. When the intelligent trolley is in use, the camera shooting direction and the trolley movement direction are independent of each other, which makes the adjustment of the camera shooting direction unnecessary to change the trolley body angle and movement direction, and the adjustment of the trolley movement direction will not cause the change of the camera view angle, greatly improving the investigation efficiency.

[0018] 3. The intelligent trolley has simple structure, flexible use and low cost, so it has good popularization. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the application.

[0020] Figure 1 (a) is a perspective view of the overall structure of the application.

[0021] Figure 1 (b) is a top view of the overall structure of the application.

[0022] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the assembly relationship of the camera device of the application.

[0023] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the main control circuit board of the application.

[0024] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the principle of binocular distance measurement of the application.

[0025] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the principle of monocular distance measurement of the application.

[0026] Figure 6These are three typical applications of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the obstacle avoidance process of the present invention.

[0028] In the diagram: 1. Car body, 1A. Car chassis, 1B. Chassis bearing, 1C. Wheel drive motor, 1D. Main control circuit board, 2. Camera device, 2A. Circular track, 2B. Camera, 2C. Camera base plate, 2D. Camera rotation motor, 2E. Camera base, 2F. Motion base, 2G. Motion base drive motor, 2H. Drive gear. Detailed Implementation

[0029] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0030] like Figure 1 As shown, the trolley mainly consists of two parts: the trolley body 1 and the camera device 2. The camera device is fixed on the outer ring of the trolley body. The trolley body includes a trolley chassis 1A and a circular track 2A. The trolley chassis 1A is circular, and the circular track 2A is rotatably mounted on the outer circumference of the trolley chassis 1A through a chassis bearing 1B. The camera device is mounted on the circular track 2A. In this way, the trolley body and the camera device can rotate independently and arbitrarily. This design ensures that the adjustment of the camera's shooting direction will not hinder the maintenance of the trolley's movement direction.

[0031] The camera device includes six camera detection mechanisms, such as Figure 2 As shown, each camera detection mechanism includes a camera 2B, a camera base plate 2C, a camera rotary motor 2D, a camera base 2E, a motion base 2F, a motion base drive motor 2G, and a drive gear 2H. The camera 2B is mounted on the top surface of the camera base plate 2C, and the camera base plate 2C is hinged in the center hole of the camera base 2E to form a clearance fit. The camera rotary motor 2D is mounted on the bottom of the camera base 2E, and the output shaft of the camera rotary motor 2D faces through the center hole of the camera base 2E and is fixedly connected to the camera base plate 2C. The operation of the camera rotary motor 2D drives the camera base plate 2C to rotate, which in turn drives the camera 2B to rotate.

[0032] The camera base 2E is mounted on the top surface of the moving base 2F, the moving base driving motor 2G is mounted on the moving base 2F, the output shaft of the moving base driving motor 2G penetrates through the moving base 2F and is coaxially connected with the driving gear 2H, the inner circumferential surface of the annular track 2A is provided with an annular rack, the driving gear 2H and the annular rack arranged on the inner ring of the annular track 2A are in meshing connection to form a gear-rack pair, and a plurality of driven wheels are hingedly mounted on the ground of the moving base 2F, the driven wheels and the driving gear 2H are arranged on the inner ring and the outer ring of the annular track 2A, so that the annular track 2A is clamped between the driven wheels and the driving gear 2H to form an annular sliding pair. The moving base driving motor 2G drives the driving gear 2H to rotate, and then drives the moving base 2F as a whole to move along the annular track 2A under the guidance of the sliding pair.

[0033] The above-mentioned camera detection mechanism has a total of six groups, all of which are mounted on the annular track, and each assembly can independently move on the annular track. This structure design ensures that the intelligent car can obtain monocular / dual-camera / multi-camera in any direction combination.

[0034] The field of view angle of the camera 2B is not less than 70 degrees, and the focal length is not less than 4 mm.

[0035] A plurality of wheel subs are mounted on the bottom of the car chassis 1A, one wheel driving motor 1C is connected to each wheel sub, and the wheel driving motor 1C drives the wheel sub to rotate to drive the car chassis 1A to move forward / backward. The car chassis 1A can adopt a common four-wheel car, or a three-wheel car or a multi-wheel car.

[0036] The car chassis 1A is also provided with a main control circuit board 1D and a charging battery, the main control circuit board 1D and the charging battery are connected, and the main control circuit board 1D is connected with the camera 2B, the camera rotating motor 2D, the moving base driving motor 2G and the wheel driving motor 1C of each camera detection mechanism.

[0037] As shown in Figure 3 , the main control circuit board 1D includes a single-chip microcomputer, an image acquisition and processing module, a remote communication module and a motor driving chip; the input end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected with the camera 2B, the output end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected to the single-chip microcomputer, the single-chip microcomputer is connected with the camera rotating motor 2D, the moving base driving motor 2G and the wheel driving motor 1C through the motor driving chip, the single-chip microcomputer is connected with the charging battery through a power management chip, and the single-chip microcomputer is connected with a cloud server through the remote communication module.

[0038] As shown in Figure 2 , the specific embodiment of the camera device includes six cameras. In order to ensure that the six cameras can realize 360-degree full-range scene shooting, 15% of the overlapping area is reserved, and the field of view angle of each camera is required to be not less than 70 degrees. In order to ensure that the farthest shooting distance is not less than 10 meters, the focal length of each camera is required to be not less than 4 mm.

[0039] As Figure 3 shown, the main control circuit board of the multi-camera self-exploration intelligent trolley is composed of a single-chip microcomputer, an image acquisition and processing module, a remote communication module, a motor driving chip and the like. Among them, the single-chip microcomputer is mainly responsible for the movement of the trolley and the camera, and can select an STM32 of the STMicroelectronics; the image processing module is mainly responsible for image processing, and can select an S3C6410 processor of Samsung, to realize image acquisition, display and storage of the camera, and then process the image under the OpenCV vision library environment; the remote communication module adopts a 4G or 5G module, to facilitate remote and rapid transmission of the image and real-time remote control of the intelligent trolley by the operator; and the motor driving chip can adopt an L293D chip of the STMicroelectronics and the like.

[0040] Figure 4 The principle for binocular distance measurement when any two cameras in the application are combined together. Figure 4 Among them, P represents a to-be-measured object, O L represents a left camera aperture center, O R represents a right camera aperture center, P L represents a left imaging point, P R represents a right imaging point, b represents a distance between the left and right camera aperture centers, u L represents a distance between the left optical center and the left imaging point, |u R represents a distance between the right optical center and the right imaging point, f represents a focal length, z represents a distance of a to-be-measured object, and d represents a parallax.

[0041] As Figure 4 shown, when binocular distance measurement is performed, according to a triangular similarity relationship, the following relationship is obtained:

[0042]

[0043] Further, according to the above formula, a distance measurement formula is obtained:

[0044]

[0045] Figure 5 The principle for monocular mobile distance measurement when any single camera in the application is used. The system invents a monocular distance measurement method by virtue of the movable advantage of the trolley, as Figure 5 shown, which is realized by twice shooting of the same object at different positions of the trolley.

[0046] In the figure, l represents the object to be measured, O represents the initial camera optical center, O' represents the camera optical center after moving, c1 represents the initial image plane, c2 represents the image plane after moving, z represents the distance of the object to be measured, x represents the moving distance, f represents the focal length, h represents the height of the object to be measured, h' represents the image height captured by the initial optical center, and h'' represents the image height captured by the optical center after moving. The trolley captures the object to be measured at the initial position, and has the following relationships:

[0047]

[0048] The trolley captures the object to be measured again after moving x distance, and has the following relationships:

[0049]

[0050] The above two formulas are combined to obtain the distance measuring formula:

[0051]

[0052] It should be noted that the moving distance x in the above formula can be accurately calculated according to the number of pulses sent to the motor, and the image height can be obtained by the image acquisition processing module after processing.

[0053] The intelligent trolley of the application is mainly applied to the investigation of electrical safety hazards, and the following simple examples of several typical application scenarios are listed to illustrate the investigation process:

[0054] For the investigation of the use of high-power illegal electrical appliances such as electric kettles and electric heaters, the trolley always has at least four cameras to capture the 360-degree scene around it during the journey, and the captured images are uploaded to the cloud in real time. The cloud will run image comparison algorithms in real time, that is, compare the pictures taken on site with the saved historical pictures. If differences are found between the two pictures (some objects are added in the on-site picture), the neural network algorithm is called to identify the object. If the identification result is an illegal electrical appliance such as an electric kettle, a calibration command is issued to the trolley, and the trolley adjusts the camera to take a positioning binocular shot of the object, and the trolley always moves during the binocular shot.

[0055] For the case of one power strip being plugged into another power strip, for the case of private wire inside the building, for the case of electric vehicle charging indoors, the investigation process of the above non-standard electrical use is similar to the investigation process of the above illegal electrical appliances.

[0056] For the long-term opening of multi-functional printers, central air conditioners and other high-power electrical appliances, the trolley determines whether the power indicator is on through image analysis, if the machine is turned on for a long time after multiple troubleshooting, or if the machine is still on at the time of leaving work at night, the trolley needs to adjust two groups of binocular cameras to locate and shoot the characteristic objects (such as house numbers, seat arrangement, etc.) in the room to help the cloud identify which room the multi-functional printer, central air conditioner and other electrical appliances are located in, and then make corresponding alarm.

[0057] For the troubleshooting of power transmission and distribution lines outside the building, since the power transmission and distribution lines to the building are usually exposed, the trolley can periodically shoot along the building periphery to determine whether the insulating layer is broken, whether the insulating layer is aging, etc.

[0058] For the troubleshooting of wiring terminals, sockets, distribution boxes and other devices inside the building, including whether there is aging and cracking, including whether there is condensate, etc., the troubleshooting process is similar to the above two types of troubleshooting processes.

[0059] Figure 6 The first and second typical application methods are that the connection between the measured distance object and the intelligent trolley is parallel or perpendicular to the moving direction of the trolley, at this time one camera shoots the front of the intelligent trolley, one camera shoots the back of the intelligent trolley, two cameras shoot the left side of the intelligent trolley, and two cameras shoot the right side of the intelligent trolley. The third typical application method is that four cameras shoot the front, back, left and right directions of the intelligent trolley, and the other two cameras aim at the objects in the diagonal direction.

[0060] Figure 7 The obstacle avoidance method of the present application is shown in the figure, the trolley needs to avoid the obstacle in front of the trolley, and at this time the binocular vision system needs to capture the object to collect information in real time, the chassis bearing of the present application can isolate the trolley body from the image acquisition device, so that the turning of the trolley body does not change the shooting angle of the cameras in the camera device. The two cameras for target measurement move along the ring track through the moving base, and rotate through the camera base rotating shaft, so that the target can be locked in real time through the cooperation of the two, the synchronization of obstacle avoidance and measurement is realized, and the work efficiency is improved significantly.

[0061] The obstacle avoidance method of the present application fully embodies the advantages of the structural design of the present application, compared with the disadvantage that the camera view angle is deviated when the traditional panoramic shooting trolley turns, the present application ensures the mutual independence of the camera shooting direction adjustment and the trolley moving direction adjustment, that is, the camera shooting direction adjustment does not need to change the trolley body angle and moving direction, and the trolley moving direction adjustment does not cause the change of the camera view angle.

[0062] Through Figures 1 to 7The design of the intelligent trolley makes the intelligent trolley simple and convenient to realize the common tasks in the electrical safety hazard investigation process, such as 360-degree full-scene shooting, target distance measurement of wall, exploration path planning, trolley position self-positioning, hidden danger position marking, autonomous movement / remote control, etc.

[0063] Therefore, the intelligent trolley can simply and conveniently realize the common tasks in the electrical safety hazard investigation process, such as 360-degree full-scene shooting, target distance measurement of wall, exploration path planning, trolley position self-positioning, hidden danger position marking, autonomous movement / remote control, etc., and can be applied to electrical safety hazard investigation of various buildings such as shopping malls, office buildings and schools.

[0064] The above specific embodiments are used to explain and illustrate the present application, rather than limit the present application, and any modification and change made to the present application within the spirit and protection scope of the claims of the present application shall fall into the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A multi-camera self-exploration intelligent vehicle for detecting electrical safety hazards, characterized in that: It mainly consists of two parts: a car body (1) and a camera device (2). The car body (1) includes a car chassis (1A) and a circular track (2A). The chassis (1A) of the trolley is circular, and the annular track (2A) is rotatably mounted on the outer circumference of the chassis (1A) via the chassis bearing (1B). The camera device (2) is mounted on the annular track (2A). The camera device includes six camera detection mechanisms. Each camera detection mechanism includes a camera (2B), a camera base plate (2C), a camera rotation motor (2D), a camera base (2E), a motion base (2F), a motion base drive motor (2G), and a drive gear (2H). A camera (2B) is mounted on the top surface of a camera base plate (2C), which is hinged to the center hole of a camera base (2E). A camera rotation motor (2D) is mounted on the bottom of the camera base (2E), with its output shaft facing through the center hole of the camera base (2E) and fixedly connected to the camera base plate (2C). The camera base (2E) is mounted on the top surface of a motion base (2F), on which a motion base drive motor (2G) is mounted. The output shaft of the motion base drive motor (2G) faces downward, passing through the motion base (2F) and coaxially connected to a drive gear (2H). The drive gear (2H) meshes with a ring rack on the inner ring of the ring track (2A) to form a gear rack pair. Multiple driven wheels are also hinged to the ground of the motion base (2F). The driven wheels and the drive gear (2H) are arranged on the inner and outer ring sides of the ring track (2A), so that the ring track (2A) is clamped between the driven wheels and the drive gear (2H) to form a sliding pair. The chassis (1A) of the vehicle is equipped with multiple wheels at the bottom, and each wheel is connected to a wheel drive motor (1C). The wheel drive motor (1C) drives the wheel to rotate, which in turn drives the chassis (1A) to move forward / backward. The multi-camera self-exploration intelligent vehicle sets the position of each camera to move along a circular track, and at the same time, by flexibly adjusting the number of working cameras, it can realize various combinations of monocular / dual-cular / multi-camera cameras to simultaneously investigate and mark the locations of multiple electrical hazards. Furthermore, it can flexibly combine vehicle-mounted camera clusters and autonomously capture images of the scene around the car. Then, based on the captured images, it can achieve self-positioning of the vehicle body, self-planning of movement paths, and identification and location of safety hazards.

2. The multi-camera self-exploration intelligent vehicle for investigating electrical safety hazards according to claim 1, characterized in that: The camera (2B) has a field of view of not less than 70 degrees and a focal length of not less than 4mm.

3. The multi-camera self-exploration intelligent vehicle for investigating electrical safety hazards according to claim 1, characterized in that: The chassis (1A) of the vehicle is also equipped with a main control circuit board (1D) and a rechargeable battery. The main control circuit board (1D) and the rechargeable battery are connected. The main control circuit board (1D) is connected to the camera (2B), camera rotation motor (2D), motion base drive motor (2G) and wheel drive motor (1C) of each camera detection mechanism.

4. The multi-camera self-exploration intelligent vehicle for investigating electrical safety hazards according to claim 3, characterized in that: The main control circuit board (1D) includes a microcontroller, an image acquisition and processing module, a remote communication module, and a motor drive chip; the input end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected to the camera (2B), the output end of the image acquisition and processing module is connected to the microcontroller, the microcontroller is connected to the camera rotation motor (2D), the motion base drive motor (2G), and the wheel drive motor (1C) via the motor drive chip, the microcontroller is connected to the rechargeable battery via the power management chip, and the microcontroller is connected to the cloud server via the remote communication module.

5. A method for obstacle avoidance and measurement based on a multi-camera self-exploring intelligent vehicle according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that: The method involves having the cameras of the four camera detection mechanisms of the intelligent vehicle take pictures of the four directions of the intelligent vehicle's movement (front, back, left, and right), while the other two cameras aim at the object being measured in the diagonal direction to perform binocular / monocular shooting and measurement. Furthermore, when there are obstacles to avoid in front of the car, and the binocular vision system needs to capture the object and collect information in real time, the chassis bearings are used to isolate the car body from the image acquisition device, so that the turning of the car body will not change the shooting angle of the camera in the imaging device. Two cameras for target measurement move in a circular motion along a circular track via a motion base, and rotate through a rotating shaft connected to the camera base. Through the cooperation of the two cameras, the target is locked in real time, achieving simultaneous obstacle avoidance and measurement.

6. The obstacle avoidance shooting and measurement method according to claim 5, characterized in that: During its movement, the intelligent vehicle performs monocular motion ranging on the object under test using a single camera. This is achieved by taking two photos of the same object from different positions, following the formula below: Where z represents the distance to the object being measured, h″ represents the image height taken by the optical center after the movement, h′ represents the image height taken by the initial optical center, and x represents the movement distance; The moving distance x is calculated based on the number of pulses sent to the motor, and the image height is obtained by the image acquisition and processing module.

Images