Patent attributes
Motorized machinery, such as overhead cranes, are widely used in industries all over the world. It is not easy to move crane payloads without oscillation, increasing the likelihood of obstacle collisions and other accidents. One possible solution to such problems could be aiding the operator with a dynamic map of the workspace that shows the current position of obstacles. This method discloses the use of a camera to take images of the workspace, using imaging blurring to smooth the obtained images, and drawing contours to produce an individual, near real-time map of the workspace. In one or more embodiments, known obstacles may be tagged in a manner which is readable by the camera. This image and historical images of the same workspace are layered on top of one another to produce a map of obstacles on the workspace floor. This imaging and layering can produce a near real-time map of obstacles that can be used to guide heavy motorized machinery around a workspace without incident.
