Pile Shape Measuring in Excavating and Loading by Wheel Loader

Abstract

As a part of research on the autonomous wheel loader, the authors developed 3D shape measurement method of the pile in the scooping operation. 2D laser scanner is fixed on canopy of the wheel loader with a tilt angle for targeting the ground in front of the loader. 3D shape of the ground and the pile is composed by the scans at back and forth traveling of the wheel loader. Tires are deformed in the real loading operations and the posture of the laser scanner changes. The composed 3D shape is influenced by it. The rolling and the pitch angles of the laser scanner by tires deformation are estimated from measuring points on a flat part of the ground near the pile. A real time correction method based on the estimated angles for obtaining proper shape of the pile is developed. The volume of the pile is estimated by using the column model.