System and method for measuring material swelling of material loaded on a dump vehicle - Patents.com

JP2025503932A5Pending Publication Date: 2026-01-08CATERPILLAR INC
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2024543577
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Priority Date
2022-02-01
Filing Date
2023-01-16
Publication Date
2026-01-08

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The prior art cannot accurately measure the expansion rate of materials removed from the excavation site by construction equipment, resulting in overloading of loading vehicles, damaging equipment and roads, and failing to meet legal weight limits.

Method used

The construction equipment equipped with imaging equipment is adopted to scan the site and load vehicles in real time, and the expansion rate of the material is calculated using stereoscopic image matching technology, and a 3D point cloud map is generated, and the material removal and loading volume are monitored in real time.

Benefits of technology

Accurate volume and weight monitoring of the loading materials of construction equipment is achieved, avoiding overload, ensuring equipment and road safety, and complying with legal weight restrictions.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

A system and method for measuring material swell of material loaded onto a dump vehicle (300) using a work machine (100) including a frame (102), an engine (103), ground engaging elements (104), a work mechanism (106), and an imaging device (114). The imaging device (114) mounted on the work machine (100) identifies the dump vehicle (300) at a terrain site (200) and continuously scans the site (200) and the dump vehicle (300) using continuous 3D mapping. The imaging device (114) scans continuously during operation of the work machine (100) as the work machine (100) removes a load of material from a pile of the terrain or site (200) with the work mechanism (106) and transfers the load to the dump vehicle (300). The imaging device (114) calculates the volume (606) of piles removed from the site (200) and the excavated volume (706) of the load transferred into the dump vehicle (300) to determine material swell of the load as the work machine (100) operates.
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Description

[Technical field]

[0001] SUMMARY The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for measuring material swell of piled material removed from a terrain by a work machine as the work machine excavates the material from a site and transfers the excavated material to a dump vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Earthmoving equipment such as backhoes, front-end loaders, and excavators are used to move earth, soil, and other materials from an excavation site or terrain. When material is excavated or removed from a pile at an excavation site or terrain, the material breaks down into particles of different masses and sizes that create voids that reduce the weight per volume. Swell % value is the percentage of the original volume that the material increases to when it is removed from its pile and loosened.

[0003] Determining the material swell of material removed from an excavation or terrain site is beneficial in avoiding overloading dump vehicles, such as dump trucks. Dump vehicles have a threshold limit on the amount of material the vehicle can physically hold. Dump vehicles must also adhere to legal weight limits set by state and federal regulations for use on local and federal roads. Overloading a dump vehicle with earthmoving material can severely damage the truck, rendering it damaged and / or inoperable. Similarly, overloaded trucks can damage roads that were not built for their use beyond a certain weight, resulting in significant government fines.

[0004] It is desirable to know the volume of material being placed on a dump vehicle by earth moving equipment during operation to avoid overloading the dump vehicle removing material from a job site location, and it is desirable to know the amount of material being placed on a dump vehicle to comply with local and federal highway regulations.

[0005] Traditional methods of determining the volume of material removed from a particular terrain site require computer software to create a digital model of the site's geography or topography collected by traditional survey, aerial photography, or kinetic GPS survey techniques. Other methods have attempted to measure the volume of material removed from a pile by a work machine. For example, U.S. Patent No. 6,085,583 to O'Ward discloses a method that uses a representation of the excavation site and uses the bucket trajectory and the geometry of the excavation site to estimate the volume of material captured by an excavation machine's bucket to determine when the bucket has reached a desired capacity. However, this method requires many assumptions and results in less accurate volume measurements.

[0006] In another example, Bell's U.S. Patent Publication No. 20210148086A1 discloses a system of autonomous or semi-autonomous earth forming vehicles capable of filling a fill location at an excavation site with earth. A first earth forming vehicle configured with a transport tool carrying a volume of earth moves to a fill location. At the fill location, the first earth forming vehicle travels on a target tool path to fill earth from the transport tool to the fill location. As the first earth forming vehicle fills the fill location with earth, a measurement sensor coupled to the first earth forming vehicle measures a compaction level of the earth filled at the fill location. If the measured compaction level is determined to be below a threshold compaction level, the first earth forming vehicle communicates a request for a second earth forming vehicle configured with a compaction tool to compact earth at the fill location. The fill estimation engine is used to generate a point cloud representation of the current state of the assembled site using spatial sensors to determine the pre-excavated volume of soil in the excavated hole and to access from a central computer or remote server a soil swelling factor that relates the volume of soil in the tool to the pre-excavated volume of soil in the hole. Using the pre-excavated volume of soil in the hole and the soil swelling factor properties, the fill estimation engine estimates the volume of soil in the tool.

[0007] For earthmoving equipment performing material removal from a designated site, it is desirable to know the material swell of the material being removed from the site and transferred to the dump vehicle in real time during operation of the earthmoving equipment to obtain accurate material swell measurements rather than relying on pre-loaded or existing data which may be inaccurate. Summary of the Invention

[0008] In one aspect of the disclosure, a work machine for measuring material swell is provided that includes a frame, ground engaging elements supporting the frame for movement, an engine mounted to the frame for powering the work machine, a work mechanism extending from the frame including a bucket, and at least one imaging device for measuring material swell of material removed from a work site and transferred to a dump vehicle during operation of the work machine.

[0009] In another aspect of the disclosure, a system is disclosed that includes a dump vehicle, a work machine with a frame, ground engaging elements supporting the frame for movement, an engine mounted to the frame, and a work mechanism extending from the frame with a bucket. The work mechanism further includes at least one imaging device for measuring material swell of a load of material removed from a site during operation of the work machine. The imaging device calculates material swell of the load by continuously scanning images of the site and the dump vehicle during operation of the work machine as the work mechanism removes the load of material from the site and transfers the load to the dump vehicle. The volume of pile removed from the site and the excavated volume of the load transferred into the dump vehicle are measured from the parallax between the images scanned by the imaging device to determine material swell of the load of material.

[0010] In another aspect of the disclosure, a method is disclosed for measuring material swell of material loaded into a dump vehicle using a work machine. The method includes providing an imaging device on the work machine; continuously scanning a site with the imaging device; continuously scanning the dump vehicle with the imaging device; removing a load of material from the site using a work mechanism on the work machine; calculating a pile volume of the load removed from the site; transferring the load to the dump vehicle; calculating an excavated volume of the load transferred into the dump vehicle; and calculating material swell of the load from the pile volume and the excavated volume.

[0011] These and other aspects and features of the present disclosure will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a work machine in accordance with the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a work machine at an excavation site, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a work machine transferring material to a dump vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a camera system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a camera system mounted on a portion of a work machine in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a representation of a site map and corresponding disparity map generated from a site to determine pile volume, according to one embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a representation of a site map and corresponding disparity map generated from a dump bed for determining excavation volume, according to one embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the method of the present invention, according to one embodiment.

[0013] The figures illustrate, for purposes of example only, one embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods described herein may be used without departing from the principles described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Referring now to FIGURE 1, an exemplary work machine 100 is shown and is illustrated as an excavator and may be used, for example, to remove earth, soil, and other materials from a terrain. An excavator is a heavy machine designed to move civil materials from the ground or terrain at an excavation site. Excavators are typically large and capable of excavating large amounts of earth at one time by scraping or digging the earth from beneath the ground or terrain surface. The following detailed description describes exemplary aspects related to an excavator, although it should be understood that the description applies equally to the use of the present disclosure in other machines.

[0015] The work machine 100 includes a frame 102 including an engine 103 supported on ground engaging elements 104, illustrated as a continuous track. It is to be contemplated that the ground engaging elements 104 may be any other type of ground engaging elements 104, such as, for example, wheels. The work machine 100 further includes a work mechanism 106 for performing work, such as, for example, excavating terrain or otherwise moving earth, soil, or other material. The work mechanism 106 includes a boom 108, an arm 110, and a bucket 112 that are used to remove earth, soil, and other material from the terrain site.

[0016] The work machine 100 further includes an imaging device 114 for generating a 3D site map of the terrain while removing material from the terrain site during operation of the work machine 100. The imaging device 114 may be positioned on the work mechanism 106 to obtain a field of view 116 at the terrain site. The imaging device 114 includes multiple imaging devices 114 and is positioned on the work machine 100 to capture images within its field of view 116 during operation of the work machine 100.

[0017] In the illustrated embodiment, the multiple imaging devices 114 include a first imaging device 114a mounted on the boom 108 and a second imaging device 114b mounted on the arm 110. In other embodiments, there may be at least four imaging devices 114, with at least one imaging device 114 mounted on each side of the boom 108 and arm 110. The imaging devices 114 may include a stereo camera, a smart camera, or a smart vision system with a dedicated processor on-board, including video processing acceleration provided by a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a general purpose graphics processing unit (GP-GPU), or any other suitable microprocessor with supporting application software capable of determining depth and volume from images or real-time video.

[0018] In the illustrated embodiment, a first imaging device 114a is mounted on the boom 108 and captures continuous images or video within its field of view 116 of the terrain on which the work machine 100 is operating. A second imaging device 114b is mounted on the arm 110 and acquires continuous images or video within its field of view 116 of the terrain on which the work machine 100 is operating.

[0019] 2, work machine 100 is shown generally and illustrated as an excavator at a site 200. Site 200 may be a terrain, topography, or other environmental pile of earth, soil, or other material. Earthwork equipment is typically operated by a human operator, but may be autonomous.

[0020] 3, the work machine 100 is shown transferring material to a dump vehicle 300. The dump vehicle 300 may be a dump truck or other common truck with a dump bed 302 capable of receiving and removing material from the work site 200, for example, via roads, highways, etc. An imaging device 114 integrated into the work mechanism 106 uses its field of view 116 to capture images of the dump vehicle 300 and the dump bed 302 to analyze the volume of the dump bed 302. The imaging device 114 may also identify the dump vehicle 300 by image recognition and / or vehicle fiducial markings, and the like, and may recall characteristics of the dump vehicle 300, such as weight and volume threshold limits, towing capacity, and the like.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 4, the imaging device 114 is illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, the imaging device 114 is a stereo camera including at least one monochrome camera lens 400 and at least one color camera lens 402. The stereo camera with at least one monochrome camera lens 400 allows the imaging device 114 to record each position on the image showing a different amount of light. The monochrome feature includes all forms of black and white photography commonly known in the art. The equipped stereo camera may also include at least one color camera lens 402 that includes all known color tones.

[0022] 5, the imaging device 114 is illustrated on a mount 500 on a portion of the work mechanism 106 of the work machine 100. The mount 500 may be a magnetic mount or another commonly known mount for integrating the imaging device 114 to the work mechanism 106. According to one embodiment, the mount 500 may integrate the imaging device 114 into the boom 108 or arm 106 of the work mechanism 106, as shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0023] The imaging device 114 utilizes a 3D point cloud system commonly known in the art that stitches points together to create a 3D cloud map of the site 200 and dump bed 302. The imaging device 114 perceives the terrain of the site 200 in three dimensions (3D) with a vision that can determine the depth and distance of objects around the work machine 100 within the field of view 116 of the imaging device 114 by mapping continuously. Continuous mapping refers to a continuous function between two images in a phase space, commonly known in the art. Continuous mapping can detect the spatial context of the terrain. The imaging device 114 can generate a 3D point map through 3D continuous mapping and determine the volume of material removed at the site 102 and transferred to the dump bed 302 by generating a disparity map between the new 3D point map and the previous 3D point map. The 3D cloud map is used in real time to estimate the volume removed by each excavation and transfer of the work machine 100. The imager 114 may be capable of capturing the terrain of the scene 200 during the day and at night, with or without color.

[0024] As shown in one embodiment of the work machine 100, the imaging device 114 on the excavator may consist of at least two stereo cameras positioned on either side of the boom 106 and arm 110 of the work mechanism 106 to obtain an acceptable field of view 116 of the site. In another embodiment, the imaging device 114 includes a set of four stereo camera modules mounted on each side of the boom 106 and / or stick 110. The stereo camera imaging device 114 uses the field of view 116 of the environment around the excavator at the site 200 to continuously generate a 3D point map. The stereo camera has the features of converting the camera images into 3D depth maps and point clouds, delivering them at a high frame rate, and converting the pixel data into accurate range measurements. As a result, the present disclosure may create both accurate depth maps and high quality images of the site 200 terrain and dump bed 302.

[0025] 7 and 8, a representative set of scene maps and disparity maps are shown for scene 200 and dump bed 302, respectively. Disparity maps refer to the pixel difference or motion between a pair of images, as is commonly known in the art.

[0026] As the work machine 100 operates, the imaging device 114 continuously scans the environment around the work machine 100 as it removes material from the site 200. The imaging device 114 scans the site 200 and outputs a 3D point cloud to create a first site scan 600. The first site scan 600 is generated prior to removing material from the site 200 and a new site scan 602 is generated after the material has been removed. The imaging device 114 compares the 3D image data of the starting site scan 600 and the new site scan 602 to generate a disparity site map 604 to measure the volume 606 of the pile of material removed from the site 200. The disparity site map 604 calculates the difference between the starting site scan 600 and the new site scan 602 using commonly known computational methods to determine the volume 606 of the pile of material removed by the work machine 100.

[0027] In one embodiment, the work machine 100 removes material from a pile on the terrain at the job site 200 and transfers the removed material to a dump bed 302 of a dump vehicle 300. As the work machine 100 fills the dump bed 302 with the removed pile material 606, the imaging device 114 records the volume of material transferred into the dump bed 302 of the dump vehicle 300.

[0028] The imaging device 114 also outputs a 3D point cloud to create a first bed scan 700 of the dump bed 302 prior to transferring the volume of pile 606 into the dump bed 302, and to generate a new bed scan 702 after the material has been transferred. The imaging device 114 compares the first bed scan 700 and the new bed scan 702 to generate a disparity bed map 704 to measure the excavated volume 706 of material removed from the site 200. The disparity bed map 704 calculates the difference between the first bed scan 700 and the new bed scan 702, using commonly known calculation methods, to determine the excavated volume 706 of material transferred by the work machine 100 in the dump vehicle 300. The disparity bed map 704 shows the volume of the load of material transferred into the dump bed 302.

[0029] The excavated volume of material 706 is the loose volume of material being removed from the work site 200. As the pile volume 606 is transferred into the dump bed 302, the excavated material is loosened into the larger excavated volume 706. As the excavated volume 706 is transferred into the dump bed 302, the available volume in the dump bed 302 decreases and the imaging device 114 tracks the volume. The available weight allowed by the towing capacity of the dump vehicle 300 may be recalled to prevent the work machine 100 from transferring additional material into the dump bed 302 and prevent overload damage to the dump vehicle 300.

[0030] At the end of each load, the excavated volume 706 of the dump bed 302 is compared to the volume 706 of the pile of material removed from the site 200 to determine material swell. Material swell = (Volume of load transferred into dump vehicle) / (Volume of material removed from site) = (Excavated volume 706) / (Pile volume 606). Material swell can be calculated for each bucket and for each filled dump vehicle 300. The total material swell of a filled dump vehicle 300 may be the average of the material swell for each load delivered to the dump vehicle 300.

[0031] The imaging device 114 may have the ability to identify the dump vehicle 300 in order to determine the volume and weight limitations of the dump vehicle 300 to prevent overloading by using material swell. The work machine 100 cycles back and forth between the job site 200 and the dump vehicle 300 until the dump bed 302 is fully loaded and there is no available volume in the dump bed 302 for additional excavated material. The work machine 100 may cycle back and forth between the job site 200 and the dump bed 302 until the dump vehicle 300 is at its maximum weight and cannot carry additional material.

[0032] The material swell for each load of material removed and transported in dump bed 302 may be tagged with a time stamp, the GPS location of the removal site, and the vehicle identification number for future use. Work machine 100 may be equipped with a GPS system or other common geographic location device or feature. [Industrial Applicability]

[0033] Generally, the present disclosure may find applicability in many applications, including, but not limited to, excavation, agriculture, moving, tilling, and the like. Although the illustrated embodiments are shown as generally described with excavators and dump trucks, it should be understood that these are merely exemplary and may be used with equal effectiveness with many other work machines, such as, but not limited to, backhoes, front end loaders, dump lines, mining trucks, crushers, and the like.

[0034] 8, a method in accordance with the present disclosure is illustrated in flow chart form. The present disclosure provides a method for measuring material swell of a load of material being removed and transferred by a work machine 100 into a dump vehicle 300. The method includes a work machine 100 equipped with an imaging device 114 that enables continuous 3D image mapping around the work machine 100.

[0035] The method begins with a first step 800 of arriving at the site 200 with the work machine 100. The work machine 100 uploads an existing site map similar to a first site scan 600 of the site 200, as indicated by step 802. In some instances, the work machine 100 may already be located at the site 100. The existing site map of the environment at the site 200 may be derived from a previous drone scan of the site 200, or otherwise available. The work machine 100 then locates its position at the site 200 at step 804. The work machine 100 may have GPS capability for precise position positioning at the site 200. If no existing site map exists, the imaging device 114 may begin by generating a first site scan 600 at the site 200. The existing site map and the starting site map 600 may be identical.

[0036] The imaging device 114 then begins scanning the environment at step 806 in the scene 200 around the work machine 100 to create a first scene scan 600. For example, the imaging device 114 scans the environment by taking images or video and updates the work machine 100 with the current state of the scene 102 environment. Parallax may be calculated from the volume removed from the scene 200 by supporting software in the imaging device 114.

[0037] In step 808, the work machine 100 then locates the dump vehicle 300 or other storage site using the imaging device 114 and scans the dump bed 302 to generate a first bed scan 700 of the dump bed 302 in step 810. The dump vehicle 300 may also be located or identified through existing site maps, driver apps, image recognition, GPS systems, and / or vehicle fiducial markings and the like. The dump bed 302 may be identified using machine learning generally known in the art. Those skilled in the art may recognize that the dump vehicle 300 may be identified early in the method or at any point and the dump bed 302 may be scanned for the first bed scan 700 as soon as the dump vehicle 300 is identified. Identifying the dump vehicle 300 allows the imaging device 114 to recall vehicle characteristics of the dump vehicle 300, such as weight limits and towing capacity.

[0038] Next, in step 812, the work machine 100 begins excavating and removing the load of piled material from the site 200. As the load of piled material is removed from the site 200, the imaging device 114 takes images of the site 200 around the work machine 100, in step 814, continuously scanning by updating a new site scan 602 on the fly as each load is removed from the site 200.

[0039] In step 816, a disparity site map 604 is generated by comparing the new site scan 602 to the first site scan 600. The disparity site map 604 shows the difference in the volume of material removed from the site 200 to obtain a volume of sediment removed 606 for each excavation or load removed. The imager 114 records the disparity site map 604.

[0040] The work machine 100 then dumps or transfers the load of excavated material onto the dump bed 302, step 818. The imaging device 114 scans the dump bed 302 for a new bed scan 702 of the dump bed 302, step 818, to create a 3D site map of the dump bed 302, similar to the site map of the site 200.

[0041] The new bed scan 702 is compared to the first bed scan 700. A disparity bed map 704 is generated to determine the excavated volume 706 of a load in the dump bed 302 at step 822. The imaging device 114 calculates the volume disparity between the first bed scan 700 and the new bed scan 207 to obtain the excavated volume 706 of material transferred into the dump bed 302. The available empty volume in the dump bed 302 decreases with each load of excavated material transferred into the dump bed 302. The imaging device 114 tracks the excavated volume 706 transferred into the dump bed 302 for each transfer of the load.

[0042] Based on all of the foregoing, the present disclosure significantly improves upon the prior art by comparing, in step 824, the volume 606 of sediment removed from the job site 200 to the excavated volume 706 of material in the dump bed 302 to determine the material swell for each load.

[0043] As shown by step 826, the work machine 100 may determine if the dump vehicle 300 has reached a maximum volume of material or a maximum weight capacity of material by using material swelling. The work machine 100 cycles back and forth between removing material from the job site 200 and dumping or transferring the currently loose piled, excavated load of material in the dump vehicle 300. The work machine 100 continues this cycling until the dump bed 302 does not have any available volume to receive an additional load of material by weight or volume. The work machine 100 may recall the characteristics of the dump vehicle 300 from identifying the dump vehicle 300 in step 808 to prevent overloading the dump vehicle 300.

[0044] In step 828, an average material swell may be calculated when the dump vehicle 300 is filled. The average material swell may be determined from the total pile volume removed from the job site 200 and the total excavated volume transferred into the dump vehicle 300.

[0045] Each loading and filling dump vehicle 300 material load may be stored and tagged with a timestamp, the GPS location of the removal site, and the vehicle identification number.

[0046] From the foregoing, it can be seen that the techniques disclosed herein have industrial applicability in a variety of settings, such as, but not limited to, measuring material swelling of material being removed from a site 200 and transferred to a dump vehicle 300.

[0047] It is beneficial to determine, in real time, the material swell of on-site material removed from an excavation or terrain site to avoid overloading that may damage and / or inoperable the dump vehicle 300. Determining material swell may also be beneficial to ensure that the dump vehicle complies with legal weight limits set by state and / or federal regulations for operation on local and federal roads.

[0048] Other aspects, objects, and advantages of this invention can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.

[0049] Although particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein.Various modifications, changes, and variations, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, may be made in the arrangement, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method for measuring material swelling of material loaded on a dump vehicle (300) having a dump bed (302) using a work machine (100) having a frame (102), an engine (103), a ground engaging element (104), a work mechanism (106), and a GPS location system, comprising: providing an imaging device (114) on said work machine (100); identifying the dump vehicle (300) at the job site (200) by one of an operator, a driver app, an image recognition feature, and a vehicle fiducial marking; continuously scanning the work site (200) and the dump vehicle (300) with the imaging device (114) while the work machine (100) is operating; removing a load of material from the site (200) with the work mechanism (106) and transferring the load of material into the dump bed (302) of the dump vehicle (300); calculating a volume (606) of the deposit of the load with the imaging device (114); calculating an excavation volume (706) of the load with the imaging device (114); calculating the material swell of the load with the imaging device (114); removing an additional load of material from the site (200) and transferring the additional load to the dump vehicle (300) until the dump vehicle (300) reaches a dump threshold; Calculating a final material swell of the total payload volume transferred from the site (200) into the dump vehicle (300) when the dump vehicle (300) reaches the dump threshold; scanning the site (200) and the dump vehicle (300) by continuous 3D image mapping with the imaging device (114); generating a parallax scene map (604) of the scene (200) to determine the volume (606) of the deposit from sequential 3D image mapping with the imaging device (114); generating a parallax bed map (704) of the dump vehicle (300) to determine the excavation volume (706) from continuous 3D image mapping with the imaging device (114); Calculating the material swell by comparing the volume of the deposit (606) with the excavation volume (706); and recording the material swell and the final material swell with a timestamp, a GPS location tag of the site (200), and a vehicle identification number of the dump vehicle (300).

2. the work machine (100) is an excavator having the work mechanism further comprising a boom (108), an arm (110), and a bucket (112); The method of claim 1, wherein the imaging device (114) is a plurality of imaging devices (114) mounted on the sides of the boom (108) and the sides of the arm (110) of the excavator.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of imaging devices (114) are magnetically mounted on the work machine (100).

4. The plurality of imaging devices (114) further comprises a plurality of stereo cameras (114), The method of claim 2 , wherein the stereo camera further comprises at least one monochrome lens (400) and at least one color lens (402).

5. A work machine (100), A frame (102); a ground engaging element (104) that supports the frame (102) for movement; an engine (103) attached to the frame (102); a working mechanism (106) extending from the frame (102) and including a bucket (112); at least one imaging device (114) for measuring material swelling of a load of material removed from the site (200) and transferred to the dump vehicle (300) during operation of the work machine (100) by continuously scanning the site (200) and the dump vehicle (300); The work machine (100) wherein the at least one imaging device (114) is equipped with a processor capable of generating a 3D point map of the work site (200) and the dump vehicle (300), and the processor is capable of generating a disparity map of the work site (200) and the dump vehicle (300).

6. 1. A system comprising: A dump vehicle (300), A work machine (100) according to claim 5, the material swelling is determined for each load removed from the site (200) and transferred to the dump vehicle (300) by comparing the volume (606) of the pile removed from the site (200) determined by the imaging device (114) with the excavated volume (706) of the load transferred into the dump vehicle (300) determined by the imaging device (114); The system is configured such that the imaging device (114) uses the material swelling to monitor the dump vehicle (300) and prevent overloading of the dump vehicle (300) when transferring the payload.

7. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the continuous scanning of the imaging device (114) is configured to generate a 3D disparity map for continuously 3D mapping the site (200) and the dump vehicle (300) and determining the volume (606) of the pile removed from the site (200) and the excavated volume (706) transferred into the dump vehicle (300) to calculate the material swelling of the load.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the work machine (100) is configured to identify the dump vehicle (300) by an operator, a driver app, image recognition features, or vehicle fiducial markings.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the imaging device (114) is configured to identify image recognition features or vehicle fiducial markings of the dump vehicle (300) and recall the weight and volumetric capacity of the dump vehicle (300).

10. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the imaging device (114) is configured to record and track the material swelling with a timestamp, a GPS location tag of the site (200), and a vehicle identification number of the dump vehicle (300).