The present disclosure refers to a method for determining characteristics of particles of a bulk material such as fertilizer, seed or the like, comprising: providing a heap of particles of a bulk material to be distributed by a distribution machine; providing a measurement tool having an optical landmark on a front side in a measurement position in which the heaped particles of the bulk material are provided in proximity to the measurement tool; providing a camera device configured to detect images; detecting image data by the camera device, the image data indicative of an image of the front side of the measurement tool and the heaped particles provided in proximity to the measurement tool; and determining characteristics of the particles from image data analysis of the image data. Further, a measurement system for determining characteristics of particles of a bulk material is provided.

A non-contact dimensional measurement device with micrometric resolution for measuring a distance from an object provided with at least one reflective surface extends along an axis (X-X) and has a light source that produces an emitted light beam towards the object so that the at least one reflective surface produces a reflected light beam, a light barrier element positioned on an opposite side of the light source and having at least one slit allowing the reflected light beam to pass through the at least one slit only, and a detection group. The detection group has an imaging sensor on which a projection of the reflected light beam that passes through the at least one slit is detected and a processing and control assembly operatively connected to the imaging sensor and configured to analyze the projection to identify distance and characteristics of the at least one reflective surface.

A method for analyzing an interaction between a sample surface and a drop of liquid comprises applying the drop of liquid to the sample surface and illuminating the drop of liquid using at least two light sources. The at least two light sources are each arranged at a light source position surrounding the drop of liquid. Light reflected from the drop of liquid detecting and a sensor position on a sensor of a camera is determined for each detected light reflection. Light source positions are assigned to individual light source positions. A position of the drop of liquid is calculated relative to the sensor and an item of size information of the drop of liquid is determined. The position and the item of size information are calculated from the pairs of one sensor position and one associated light source position.

An electronic tape measure for measuring a body part includes a housing having a tape outlet opening, a tape drum rotatably mounted in the housing around an axis of rotation, and a tape having length markings attached with an inner end to the tape drum, windable thereon and extendable out of the tape outlet opening. The axis of rotation defines an axial, a radial and an azimuthal direction. Furthermore, the tape measure comprises the following modules: a read-out module adapted to read out the markings; a data processing module connected to the read-out module and adapted to provide a measuring instruction to the user and to process a readout length measurement; an input module connected to the data processing module and adapted to receive input from the user; and a display module connected to the data processing module and adapted to display the measurement instruction and arranged on the housing in a radial-azimuthal plane, wherein the display module comprises a screen.

According to an embodiment, a distance measuring apparatus includes a multi laser beam emitting unit, an irradiating position changing unit, an image acquiring unit, and a distance calculating unit. The multi laser beam emitting unit irradiates a surface of a measurement target object with a plurality of elliptical laser beams provided in line in a minor axis direction. The irradiating position changing unit reciprocally moves irradiating positions of the laser beams all together along a major axis of the laser beams. The image acquiring unit receives reflected lights of the laser beams, and acquires an image of a bright and dark pattern of the reflected lights of the laser beams formed on an image acquiring face. The distance calculating unit calculates a distance to the measurement target object based on the bright and dark pattern of the reflected lights on the image acquiring face.

Dimensioners and methods for dimensioning an object includes capturing, using a dimensioning system with a single sensor, at least one range image of at least one field-of-view, and calculating dimensional data of the range images and storing the results. Wherein, the number of views captured of the object is automatically determined based on one of three modes. The first mode is used if the object is a cuboid, or has no protrusions and only one obtuse angle that does not face the point of view, where it captures a single view of the object. The second mode is used if the object includes a single obtuse angle, and no protrusions, where it captures two views of the object. The third mode is used if the object includes a protrusion and/or more than one obtuse angle, overhang, protrusion, or combinations thereof, where it captures more than two views of the object.

The present application discloses implementations that relate to devices and techniques for sensing position, force, and torque. Devices described herein may include a light emitter, photodetectors, and a curved reflector. The light emitter may project light onto the curved reflector, which may reflect portions of that projected light onto one or more of the photodetectors. Based on the illuminances measured at the photodetectors, the position of the curved reflector may be determined. In some implementations, the curved reflector and the light emitter may be elastically coupled via one or more spring elements; in these implementations, a force vector representing a magnitude and direction of a force applied against the curved reflector may be determined based on the position of the curved reflector.

An optical calibration system including a calibration module, a light source, an optical sensing device and a calculation module is provided. The calibration module includes a calibration plane and a plurality of calibration structures between the calibration plane and the light source, wherein the calibration structures are disposed at predetermined calibration positions. The light source projects a linear light section toward the calibration module. The optical sensing device senses reflected light from the calibration plane and the calibration structures reflecting the linear light section to generate a sensed frame. The calculation module calculates positions of gravity centers of a plurality of calibration points in the sensed frame corresponding to the calibration structures.

An object is to provide a technique capable of measuring a shape of an object while maintaining accuracy even when positional accuracy of a mechanism configured to move a probe is insufficient. A measurement control device 210 controls a movement mechanism 500 to move a measurement probe 160 to a target position of a target to be measured, calculates an error between an actual position of the measurement probe 160 detected by the measurement probe 160 and the target position, corrects the error by moving the measurement probe 160 by the movement mechanism 500 based on the calculated error, and then causes the measurement probe 160 to perform a distance measurement.

Disclosed herein are techniques for providing an illumination system that emits illumination into an environment while also enabling that system to be undetectable to certain types of external light detection systems. The system includes a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) low light (LL) detection device and a light emitting device. The light emitting device provides illumination having a wavelength of at least 950 nanometers (nm). An intensity of the illumination is set to a level that causes the illumination to be undetectable from a determined distance away based on the roll off rate of the light. While the light emitting device is providing the illumination, the SPAD LL detection device generates an image of an environment in which the illumination is being provided.