Systems and methods for guiding a crane operator
The present disclosure presents systems and methods for assisting a crane operator. An imaging system automatically images each building material object contained within a shakeout field on a construction site and processes the images to determine each object's identifying indicium and its geometric properties. These values are compared with a construction site database to ensure that all necessary building materials are present. A positioning device tracks, in real time, the location of the imaging system, the location of structural members within the shakeout field, and/or other important features of the job site, such as obstacles that the crane operator will need to avoid while lifting a structural member from its initial location to its destination location. Real-time images of the construction site, including indications of the next building material object to be hoisted and/or a path between the object's initial and final locations, can be generated to guarantee that the crane operator hoists the expected object to the expected location.
1. A guidance system for guiding a crane operator to a location of a first building material object having a first identifying indicium and located within a shakeout field, the guidance system comprising:
an imager providing at least one image of the shakeout field, including the first building material object;
a GPS receiver coupled to a hook-block of a crane operated by the crane operator, wherein the GPS receiver is configured to provide a GPS location of the hook-block and a GPS location of the first building material object within the shakeout field; and
a computer coupled to the imager and the GPS receiver, wherein the computer is configured to:
recognize the first building material object within the shakeout field image based upon the first identifying indicium; and
provide a visual recognition to the crane operator for guiding the operation of the hook-block to the location of the first building material object based on of the GPS location of the first building material object.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the GPS receiver provides a two-dimensional location of the hook-block.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer determines a two-dimensional location of the first recognized building material object.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the visual recognition includes the two-dimensional location of the recognized building material object.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imager includes a wavelength-responsive progressive scan CMOS imager.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imager is calibrated for lens and perspective distortion.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the imager is calibrated to determine a GPS position of the imaged object.
8. A guidance system for guiding a crane operator to a location of a first building material object having a first identifying indicium and located within a shakeout field, the guidance system comprising:
an imager mounted on a hook-block of a crane, the imager providing a sequence of overlapping images of the shakeout field;
a GPS receiver coupled to the imager and the hook-block, wherein the GPS receiver is capable of providing a GPS location of the hook-block and a GPS location of the first building material object;
a computer coupled to the imager and the GPS receiver, wherein the computer is configured to:
generate an image of the shakeout field including the first building material object based on the sequence of overlapping images;
recognize the first building material object within the image; recognize the first identifying indicium of the first building material object within the image; and
provide a visual recognition to the crane operator for guiding the operation of the hook-block to the location of the first building material object based on of the GPS location of the first building material object.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer determines a two-dimensional location of the hook-block and a two-dimensional location of the first recognized building material object.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the visual recognition includes the two-dimensional location of the hook-block.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the visual recognition includes the two-dimensional location of the recognized building material object.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the imager includes a wavelength-responsive progressive scan CMOS imager.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the imager is calibrated for lens and perspective distortion.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the imager is calibrated to determine a GPS position of each image pixel.
15. A guidance system for guiding a crane operator to a location of a first building material object having a first identifying indicium and located within a shakeout field, the guidance system comprising:
an imager mounted on a hook-block of a crane, wherein the imager is configured to generate one or more images of the shakeout field;
a GPS receiver coupled to the imager and the hook-block, wherein the GPS receiver is capable of providing a GPS location of the hook-block and a GPS location of the first building material object; and
a computer coupled to the imager and the GPS receiver, wherein the computer is configured to:
generate a composite image of the shakeout field including the first building material object based on the one or more images;
recognize the first identifying indicium of the first building material object within the composite image;
recognize the first building material object within the shakeout field image based on the first identifying indicium;
obtain the GPS position of the first building material object; and
provide a visual recognition to the crane operator for guiding the operation of the hook-block to the location of the first building material object based on of the GPS location of the first building material object.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the computer determines a two-dimensional location of the hook-block.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the computer determines a two-dimensional location of the first recognized building material object.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the visual recognition includes the two-dimensional location of the recognized building material object relative to the two-dimensional location of the hook-block.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the imager includes a wavelength-responsive progressive scan CMOS imager.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the imager is calibrated for lens and perspective distortion.
21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the imager is calibrated to determine a GPS location of the imaged object.
22. A guidance system for guiding a crane operator to a location of a first building material object having a first identifying indicium and located within a shakeout field, the guidance system comprising:
means for providing one or more images of the shakeout field;
a GPS receiver for providing a location of the hook-block and a GPS location of the first building material object; and a computer coupled to the imaging means and the GPS receiver, the computer configured to:
generate a composite image of the shakeout field including the first building material object based on the one or more images;
recognize the first building material object within the composite image using the first identifying indicium;
obtain the GPS location of the first building material object and the GPS location of the hook-block; and
provide a visual recognition to the crane operator for guiding the operation of the hook-block to the location of the first building material object based on of the GPS location of the first building material object.
23. The guidance system of claim 8 , wherein the image is formed from a sequence of overlapping images of the shakeout field.
24. The guidance system of claim 23 , wherein the image includes a stitched sequence of the overlapping images formed into a composite image.
25. The guidance system of claim 15 , wherein the composite image is formed from a sequence of overlapping images of the shakeout field.
26. The guidance system of claim 25 , wherein the composite image includes a stitched sequence of the overlapping images formed into the composite image.
27. The guidance system of claim 22 , wherein the composite image is formed from a sequence of overlapping images of the shakeout field.
28. The guidance system of claim 27 , wherein the composite image includes a stitched sequence of the overlapping images formed into the composite image.