Collaborative Surround View Monitoring for Excavator Blind Spots
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing work machines, especially old-model ones, often lack surround view monitor sensors, leading to blind spots and inadequate monitoring of objects around the machine, and even when sensors are mounted, their positioning can result in incomplete coverage.
Innovation Solution
A surround view monitor system that enables data sharing between work machines using external surround view monitor sensors, allowing machines without sensors to utilize data from equipped peers, enhancing monitoring capabilities through communication networks and data processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surround view monitor sensors are mounted on work machines, then monitoring capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple work machines share surround view monitor data through a communication network, allowing machines without sensors to access monitoring data from equipped peers, thereby pooling resources to improve overall system monitoring capability without requiring every machine to have dedicated sensors
Solution Approach 2:
The surround view monitor system serves multiple functions: it provides monitoring data to the machine that owns the sensors, shares data with other work machines in the vicinity, and enables collaborative monitoring across the work site, maximizing the utility of the sensor installation
2Reliability
If surround view monitor sensors are mounted on work machines, then monitoring capability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the monitoring resources of multiple work machines by enabling data sharing through communication devices, so that the cost of sensors installed on one or a few machines benefits the entire group of machines in the work site
Solution Approach 2:
Surround view monitor data is copied and transmitted from machines with sensors to other machines without sensors, allowing inexpensive data replication to achieve monitoring capability across multiple machines without requiring expensive sensor installation on each one
3Reliability
If surround view monitor sensors are positioned on work machines, then monitoring coverage is improved, but blind spots occur due to positioning limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines monitoring data from multiple work machines with sensors positioned at different locations, merging their respective fields of view to create a composite monitoring coverage that compensates for individual blind spots through spatial diversity
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from single-machine monitoring to multi-machine collaborative monitoring, adding the dimension of spatial distribution across multiple machines to eliminate blind spots that cannot be covered by any single machine's sensor position
Data Source
AI summary
A technique capable of more appropriately monitoring objects around a work machine is provided. A surround view monitor system includes: an excavator including a communication device; and an external surround view monitor sensor (for example, an imaging device or a distance sensor) configured to acquire data on objects around the excavator. The excavator acquires output data of the external surround view monitor sensor or processed data generated based on the output data of the external surround view monitor sensor via the communication device.