Method and apparatus for dimensioning objects
A method of dimensioning an object includes: projecting, from a plurality of laser emitters disposed on a dimensioning device and having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, respective laser beams onto a surface of the object, the laser beams oriented parallel to each other; controlling an image sensor of the dimensioning device, simultaneously with the projecting, to capture image data representing the surface and projections of the laser beams on the surface; detecting projection pixel coordinates in the image data representing the projections of the laser beams on the surface; detecting edge pixel coordinates in the image data representing edges of the surface; and determining a dimension of the surface based on the projection pixel coordinates, the edge pixel coordinates, and the predefined spatial arrangement.
1. A method of dimensioning an object comprising:
projecting, from a plurality of laser emitters disposed on a dimensioning device and having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, respective laser beams onto a surface of the object, the laser beams oriented parallel to each other;
controlling an image sensor of the dimensioning device, simultaneously with the projecting, to capture image data representing the surface and projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detecting projection pixel coordinates in the image data representing the projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detecting edge pixel coordinates in the image data representing edges of the surface; and
determining a dimension of the surface based on the projection pixel coordinates, the edge pixel coordinates, and the predefined spatial arrangement.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is a box having a rectangular cuboid shape.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a tilt angle of the surface relative to the image sensor.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
projecting, from the laser emitters, respective second laser beams onto a second surface of the object;
controlling the image sensor, simultaneously with projecting the second laser beams, to capture second image data representing the second surface and second projections of the second laser beams on the second surface; and
determining a dimension of the second surface based on the second image data and the predefined spatial arrangement.
5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
projecting, from a plurality of further laser emitters disposed on the dimensioning device and having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, simultaneously with the projecting the laser beams, a plurality of further laser beams onto a second surface of the object, the further laser beams oriented parallel to each other; and
determining a dimension of the second surface based on the image data and the predefined spatial arrangement, wherein the image data further represents the second surface and further projections of the further laser beams on the second surface.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the image data further represents a second surface of the box, and further comprising determining a further dimension of the box based on the image data representing the second surface, and geometric properties of rectangular cuboid shapes.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser beams form laser planes.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface of the object is curved, and determining the dimension comprises determining a radius of curvature of the surface based on projections of the laser planes on the surface and the predefined spatial arrangement.
9. The method of claim 1 , comprising projecting four laser emitters having a rectangular spatial arrangement.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the projection pixel coordinates comprises identifying regions of the image data having a predefined color.
11. A dimensioning device comprising:
a plurality of laser emitters having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, the laser emitters configured to project respective laser beams oriented parallel to each other;
an image sensor configured to capture image data representing projections of the laser beams; and
a dimensioning processor configured to:
control the laser emitters to project the respective laser beams onto a surface of an object;
control the image sensor simultaneously with the projecting, to capture image data representing the surface and projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detect projection pixel coordinates in the image data representing the projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detect edge pixel coordinates in the image data representing edges of the surface; and
determine a dimension of the surface based on the projection pixel coordinates, the edge pixel coordinates, and the predefined spatial arrangement.
12. The dimensioning device of claim 11 , wherein the object is a box having a rectangular cuboid shape.
13. The dimensioning device of claim 12 , wherein the dimensioning processor is further configured to determine a tilt angle of the surface relative to the image sensor.
14. The dimensioning device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a plurality of further laser emitters disposed on the dimensioning device and having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, the further laser emitters configured to project respective further laser beams oriented parallel to each other; and
wherein the dimensioning processor is further configured to determine a dimension of a second surface based on the image data and the predefined spatial arrangement, wherein the image data further represents the second surface and further projections of the further laser beams on the second surface.
15. The dimensioning device of claim 12 , wherein the image data further represents a second surface of the box, and wherein the dimensioning processor is further configured to determine a further dimension of the box based on the image data representing the second surface and geometric properties of rectangular cuboid shapes.
16. The dimensioning device of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of diffractive optical elements corresponding to the plurality of laser emitters, the diffractive optical elements configured to interact with the laser beams to form laser planes.
17. The dimensioning device of claim 16 , wherein the surface of the object is curved, and wherein the dimensioning processor is configured to determine a radius of curvature of the surface based on projections of the laser planes on the surface and the predefined spatial arrangement.
18. The dimensioning device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of laser emitters comprises four laser emitters having a rectangular spatial arrangement.
19. The dimensioning device of claim 11 , wherein the dimensioning processor is configured to detect projection pixel coordinates by identifying regions of the image data having a predefined color.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of computer-readable instructions executable by a dimensioning controller, wherein execution of the instructions configures the dimensioning controller to:
project, from a plurality of laser emitters disposed on a dimensioning device and having a predefined spatial arrangement forming a plane, respective laser beams onto a surface of the object, the laser beams oriented parallel to each other;
control an image sensor of the dimensioning device, simultaneously with the projecting, to capture image data representing the surface and projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detect projection pixel coordinates in the image data representing the projections of the laser beams on the surface;
detect edge pixel coordinates in the image data representing edges of the surface; and
determine a dimension of the surface based on the projection pixel coordinates, the edge pixel coordinates, and the predefined spatial arrangement.