Testing out some new stuff

Very cool!!!

It looks like a mailbox.

I'm guessing it is a bit more expensive than my mailbox.

Those tracks look like they aren't used much anymore, is it a seldom used siding?

Man, that looks like an exact copy of a GRP5000. Cool tech!

How is your test progressing? What sort of deliverable are you producing? Can you produce section views by station directly from the point cloud and plot the dynamic envelope and everything, seems like a lot of potential there.

Thanks for sharing.

@mightymoe

These tracks don't get used all that much. Maybe one car a month gets unloaded at the pit.  They are mostly used by our train crews to turn engines to head back to Pittsburgh.

@party-chef

Here is a screen shot of the registered point cloud.  The software can cut sections at whatever interval you want and produce the polyline of the section. You can do collision detection in the software. Actually, you can do collision detection real-time in the field.  You can also select, code and export individual points from the cloud as a .csv to bring into whatever CAD package you use.

Wow!

@azweig

That is very cool.  Thanks for sharing!

@azweig

Curious and hope I am not asking a stupid question.

I know that scanners will have some blind spots and you can also see the shadows from the rails but why is there a blank area down the center of the rail you are working on? Isn't that area collected as you move or did you purposely not scan that area?

very cool setup by the way

Thanks 

@gregg-gaffney

That area is directly under the scanner.  When the scanner is on the trolley, it does not spin like it typically would. it only uses the laser and mirror.  You define the angle the scanner is situated relative to the trolley. This scan was done at a 45 degree angle.  So, since it is not spinning at all, the void directly beneath the scanner is not picked up.  I hope that answered your question, kinda long winded, lol

@azweig

Gotcha - not long winded at all, appreciate you telling me and that makes sense

Looks good Adam! I say buy it!

Can you scan while walking? Or Stop/Go? Does to robot provide corrections for location - assuming you stop/go...

@stlsurveyor

I'm working on it! It's looking pretty good. The scanner only uses the mirror and laser when on the trolley, so it's not rotating. You push the trolley as normal and store locations with the robot as usual. There are two different pieces of software running on the DC. One for the scanner and one for the survey. You store points that have the same location in each. That's how it geo references the scan. It's basically mobile lidar using the trolley and the robot for reference 

@azweig

Will the software locate automatically common/overlap points between scans and stitch them together?

What PC hardware specs are needed for the point cloud processing?