Mirror-Based Blade Guard Vision for Precise Exclusion Volumes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Operators of cutting equipment are at risk of traumatic injuries due to the lack of effective surveillance systems that can reliably detect and respond to the presence of hands near hazardous areas, with existing solutions often requiring multiple cameras and complex logic to define exclusion volumes.
Innovation Solution
A single camera with a converging lens and an assembly of mirrors creates a set of spaced-apart viewpoints, defining a polyhedral exclusion volume around cutting machines, allowing for early detection of hands through color contrast and triggering immediate action to stop the blade or provide warnings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple cameras are used to define exclusion volume, then measurement precision and reliability improve, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple camera viewpoints into a single camera system by using mirrors to reflect light from different angles onto one image sensor. This merging approach maintains the measurement precision of multiple cameras while reducing device complexity by eliminating the need for multiple camera units, multiple lenses, and complex synchronization systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates optical copies of multiple viewpoints using mirrors. Each mirror reflects light from a different spatial location to the single camera, effectively copying the visual information that would otherwise require multiple physical cameras. This allows the system to define an exclusion volume with multiple perspective points while using only one camera device.
2Device complexity
If a single camera is used, then device complexity reduces, but measurement precision and coverage area deteriorate due to diverging cone effects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent addresses the single-camera limitation by adding optical dimensions through mirrors. Instead of relying on a single direct viewpoint, the system uses multiple reflected viewpoints to create a multi-dimensional observation capability. This allows the single camera to achieve measurement precision comparable to multiple cameras by observing the same space from multiple optical angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The mirrors act as intermediaries between the single camera and the multiple spatial viewpoints. Each mirror mediates the light path from a different angle to the camera sensor, enabling the system to overcome the inherent limitation of a single converging lens and achieve better measurement precision without increasing device complexity.
3Measurement precision
If mirrors are added to create multiple viewpoints, then exclusion volume definition improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the optical path into multiple reflected pathways, each handled by a separate mirror. This segmentation allows each mirror to be relatively simple in design while collectively achieving complex multi-viewpoint coverage. The segmentation of light paths enables precise exclusion volume definition without requiring a single complex optical system.
Solution Approach 2:
The mirror assembly serves multiple functions: it creates multiple viewpoints, defines the exclusion volume boundaries, and maintains optical axis alignment. By making the mirror system multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby improving measurement precision without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively reduces the risk of injury by using a single camera to create a reliable exclusion volume with parallel optical axes, enabling immediate blade stopping or warning signals when hands approach hazardous areas, overcoming the limitations of diverging cone effects and multiple-camera setups.
Implementation Method 1
uses an assembly of mirrors held in front of the lens of a single camera to reflect a contiguous plurality of bundles of light derived from a plurality of spaced-apart viewpoints
Implementation Method 2
a single camera having an image sensor and a converging or focusing lens
Data Source
AI summary
Optical imaging apparatus and a machine vision camera system for an alarm protecting a person's hands when working at a motorized cutting or abrading machine, uses trains of sets of mirrors to define four spaced-apart viewpoints and transfer non-overlapping scenes on to an image sensor of a single camera. An optical axis from each viewpoint allows a cuboidal protected volume to be created. The cuboid may have vertical sides. Recognizable objects inside that volume cause the machine to stop, while objects near but outside the volume cause the apparatus to raise an alarm.