Vision-based measurement of spatio-temporal deformation of excavated soil for the estimation of bucket resistive force

This paper reports a vision-based technique of measuring the spatio-temporal deformation of excavated soil for estimating the bucket resistive force. The proposed measurement technique uses two depth cameras to determine three-dimensional soil-surface displacement. The technique consists of the following two processes: the first is related to image correlation between the two cameras, and the second involves data filtering and smoothing for generating soil deformation as a continuously curved surface. The proposed technique delivers measurement accuracy to the nearest centimeter. Typical experimental results of the three-dimensional measurement of soil deformation using the proposed technique are presented in the paper. Further, this study updates an interaction model for the resistive-force estimation while a bucket excavates soil. The model introduces a correction variable that changes with the bucket wrist angle by exploiting the experimental measurement of soil deformation. The model estimates the resistive force with an error of less than one quarter of the maximum force. These updates also exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed technique.