Fork-Mounted Sensor Registration for Dense AMR Point Clouds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile robots struggle to acquire a dense point cloud for precise infrastructure detection due to sparse sensor coverage, particularly when scan planes are parallel to a surface. Adding additional hardware increases cost and complexity.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous mobile robot (AMR) system that leverages an existing actuator to raise and lower forks, allowing sensors to acquire data over multiple planes, transforming the data into a common frame of reference to create a dense point cloud for infrastructure localization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If additional sensors are added to achieve dense point cloud coverage, then measurement precision improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the Dynamics principle by transforming the static sensor mounting into a dynamic configuration. The sensor is mounted on the movable fork carriage, which changes its position and scanning plane dynamically during forklift operation. This allows a single sensor to cover multiple planes and achieve dense point cloud data without adding multiple static sensors, thereby improving measurement precision while avoiding increased device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements the Another dimension principle by utilizing the vertical dimension created by fork carriage movement. Instead of adding sensors horizontally to increase coverage, the system leverages the vertical motion of the forks to move the sensor through different height planes. This dimensional approach allows dense point cloud acquisition across multiple elevation levels using a single sensor, resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and device complexity
2Ease of manufacture
If scan planes are kept parallel to the surface for simple sensor mounting, then ease of manufacture improves, but measurement precision deteriorates due to sparse coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static parallel scanning to dynamic multi-plane scanning. As the fork carriage moves vertically during normal forklift operation, the sensor naturally scans through multiple planes at different heights. This dynamic approach maintains ease of manufacture by keeping the sensor mounting simple while attached to the fork carriage, yet achieves superior measurement precision through the inherent multi-plane coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies the Universality principle by making the sensor serve multiple scanning planes simultaneously through its mounting on the movable fork carriage. The single sensor structure is designed to function across multiple elevation levels as the forks move, eliminating the need for separate sensors for each plane while maintaining simple mounting and achieving high detection accuracy
3Measurement precision
If a dedicated actuator is added for sensor actuation, then measurement precision improves through coordinated scanning, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements theUniversality principle by having the existing forklift carriage actuator serve a dual function: its primary role of lifting and lowering the forks, and a secondary role of actuating the sensor through the same motion. This eliminates the need for a dedicated sensor actuator while achieving coordinated data acquisition, as the carriage position feedback already provides the actuation information needed for precise point cloud registration
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the sensor actuation function with the existing forklift carriage actuation system. By mounting the sensor on the carriage and utilizing the carriage's vertical motion for sensor positioning, the patent combines two functions into one actuator system, thereby improving measurement precision through coordinated scanning while avoiding the increased complexity of adding a separate actuator
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with one aspect of the inventive concepts, provided is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR), comprising: a carriage actuation and feedback system configured to robotically control a carriage to control a height of a pair of forks; at least one sensor configured to acquire sensor data over multiple planes in a direction of the forks during actuation of the carriage that raises and lowers the forks; an infrastructure localization system configured to combine the sensor data from the multiple planes into dense point cloud data and identify an infrastructure from the dense point cloud data. A method of localizing infrastructure using dense point cloud data is also provided.