Missing tooth detection with laser range sensing

This paper describes a proof-of-concept experiment using a prototype system in which laser range data are used for detecting missing teeth of a mining shovel used in the surface mining industry. A 3-D CAD model of the tooth-line is first built graphically. A laser rangefinder on a pan-tilt unit is then used to scan the tooth-line and acquire 3-D data of the shovel teeth. The 3-D data are processed to arrive at a description of the tooth-line in terms of its features, and this description is compared and matched with the CAD model of the tooth-line to detect any abnormal conditions in real-time.