Crane Lowering Guidance Using a Attachable Camera Module for Driver Vision Support

2025-12-04

International Conference Control and Robots

AI Summary

This study addresses the safety hazards in crane lifting operations caused by the suspended load obstructing the operator’s line of sight, which renders the landing zone invisible and necessitates reliance on ground personnel for guidance. To mitigate this issue, the authors propose an embedded vision system that can be affixed directly to the load. The system integrates a compact camera, a single-board computer, and a battery to capture and process images of the ground beneath the load in real time, wirelessly transmitting positioning guidance to the operator’s cabin. This approach provides, for the first time, real-time visual feedback of the landing area during lifting operations, significantly reducing dependence on manual signaling. Preliminary field trials demonstrate that the system reliably acquires and transmits images under real-world working conditions, highlighting its potential to enhance construction site safety.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Vision for Robotics & Autonomous Driving
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Cost models of using LLMs in production systems

Abstract

Cranes have long been essential equipment for lifting and placing heavy loads in construction projects. This study focuses on the lowering phase of crane operation, the stage in which the load is moved to the desired location. During this phase, a constant challenge exists: the load obstructs the operator’s view of the landing point. As a result, operators traditionally have to rely on verbal or gestural instructions from ground personnel, which significantly impacts site safety. To alleviate this constraint, the proposed system incorporates a attachable camera module designed to be attached directly to the load via a suction cup. This module houses a single-board computer, battery, and compact camera. After installation, it streams and processes images of the ground directly below the load in real time to generate installation guidance. Simultaneously, this guidance is transmitted to and monitored by a host computer. Preliminary experiments were conducted by attaching this module to a test object, confirming the feasibility of real-time image acquisition and transmission. This approach has the potential to significantly improve safety on construction sites by providing crane operators with an instant visual reference of hidden landing zones.

Problem

• crane operation
• load lowering
• visual obstruction
• site safety
• landing point visibility

Innovation

• attachable camera module
• crane operation
• real-time vision guidance
• blind zone visualization
• construction safety