Mobile Warning Triangle Obstacle Avoidance via Binocular Depth Calculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobile warning triangles cannot avoid obstacles while moving, limiting their effectiveness in warning vehicles of hazards on the road.
Innovation Solution
A mobile warning triangle equipped with a binocular camera system that calculates depth information using parallax data from left and right cameras, allowing it to adjust its direction to avoid obstacles by rotating and moving laterally, and stopping when the obstacle is cleared, ensuring safe placement at a predetermined distance from a broken-down vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a mobile warning triangle is equipped with obstacle avoidance capabilities using binocular cameras and active steering, then its ability to navigate around obstacles is improved, but its device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile warning triangle integrates multiple functions into a single device: it serves as both a warning signal device and an autonomous mobile robot with obstacle detection and avoidance capabilities. The binocular camera system and control modules enable the warning triangle to autonomously navigate, detect obstacles, and adjust its position automatically, combining safety warning and navigation functions in one unified system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate components such as the binocular camera system, depth calculating module, and control modules as mediators between the warning triangle and obstacles. These intermediaries enable the warning triangle to perceive its environment, process spatial information, and make autonomous navigation decisions without direct human intervention, thereby achieving complex obstacle avoidance through coordinated subsystems.
2Measurement precision
If real-time obstacle detection using binocular cameras is implemented, then measurement precision of obstacle distance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement systems with an optical-based binocular camera system for depth measurement. Instead of using mechanical rangefinders or LIDAR, the system uses stereo vision technology where two cameras capture images from slightly different positions, and software algorithms calculate depth information based on parallax. This substitution achieves precise distance measurement while avoiding the mechanical complexity of traditional ranging devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The binocular camera system creates a visual copy of the environment from two different perspectives, allowing the system to reconstruct three-dimensional spatial information from two-dimensional images. By capturing and processing duplicate visual information from left and right cameras, the system can calculate precise depth and distance to obstacles without requiring direct physical measurement, thereby achieving accurate detection through information copying and processing.
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
Enables the mobile warning triangle to effectively navigate around obstacles, ensuring it can be safely positioned to warn other vehicles of road hazards, thereby enhancing road traffic safety.
Implementation Method 1
A mobile warning triangle equipped with a binocular camera system that calculates depth information using parallax data from left and right cameras
Data Source
AI summary
A system for controlling a traffic warning triangle to avoid obstacles when moving towards a placement location includes a depth calculating module, a determining module, and a control module. The traffic warning triangle includes a binocular camera to capture real-time images of a path or road in front of the triangle. The depth calculating module compares and analyzes first and second images, captured at the same time, to calculate depth information between the binocular camera and an obstacle. The determining module determines whether the depth information is less than a threshold value. The control module adjusts a moving direction of the mobile warning triangle to avoid the obstacle in response to the depth information being less than the threshold value, according to a process. An obstacle avoidance method of the mobile warning triangle is also provided.