Collision Warning by Rotating 2D LiDAR for Safe Crane Operation

Abstract

Construction cranes are unanimously used for carrying very heavy items such as steel frames and concrete blocks at construction sites and harbors. One of the issues of using such large machines is how to prevent accidents, including collision of a person and the load. This paper proposes a collision detection and warning system composed of a long-range 2D LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and a rotary table. By rotating the LiDAR, the system covers a spherical field of view. Since the rotation speed is limited, however, we need to deal with the trade-off between the scanning cycle time and the area to be covered. We propose a method to detect collision with setting a warning margin volume around a danger volume. We present equations for determining the appropriate margin and the angular velocity of the table. We verified the system in simulation and in an actual scene.