Lateral optical sensor with slip detection of natural objects on moving conveyor

This paper presents a method to determine the 2D profile and velocity of an object on a moving conveyor from a lateral optical sensor that consists of an orthogonal pair of line array (LA) scanners. Unlike most LA scanners which are designed to provide a 2D image of a static object, the lateral optical sensor presented here offers an additional and practical means to detect object slippage on the conveyor in real time. We illustrate numerically the effectiveness of this sensing method with two illustrative examples. The first simulates the 2D boundary of a geometrically well-defined object on an accelerating conveyor, which offers intuitive insights on the effects of conveyor dynamics and object slippage on the accuracy of the 2D boundary measurement. The second demonstrates the application of the lateral optical sensor as a real time feedback sensor for active singulation of natural objects.