PANTOBOT-3D: an automatic vision-based inspection system for locomotive pantographs

• DOI: 10.1049/cp.2016.1208
• Publication Date: 2017-05-03T20:08:42Z
• Authors: P. Capece; L. Chiesi; A. Pinazzi; T. Kelsey; C. Wilson; M. Sabbatelli; M. Sacchi; L. Venturi
• Keywords: 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology

This paper describes Pantobot-3D, a vision-based monitoring system for rail pantograph inspection developed by Camlin Italy srl, part of Camlin Group. The system is based on an automatic inspection algorithm able to provide: a fully three-dimensional representation of the pantograph using stereo cameras, the pantograph model classification, and an integrity assessment for the main pantograph components, e.g. horns and strips. The paper provides details of the architecture, the algorithm overview of each functionality and system performance. Presently, two installations of the Pantobot-3D system are monitoring the mainline of the Italian High Speed Train Network as final functional test.