Monitoring device for monitoring a sample handling system

A method for determining a distance between at least one obstacle and a monitoring device, the method comprising:

• a. identifying at least one obstacle at at least one first position of the monitoring device and at at least one second position of the monitoring device different from the first position by using at least one monitoring device, wherein identifying the obstacle comprises:
• i. capturing a plurality of images at a plurality of positions of the monitoring device by using the monitoring device and providing the plurality of images via at least one imaging communication interface;
• ii. retrieving the plurality of images via at least one control communication interface of at least one transport control system;
• and
• iii. identifying the obstacle by applying at least one trained object classification and detection model on the plurality of images by using at least one processing unit of the transport control system;
• wherein the monitoring device comprises:
• at least one transportation unit comprising at least one transportation surface, wherein the transportation unit is configured for transporting the monitoring device over at least one sample transport device of a sample handling system;
• and
• at least one imaging streaming unit comprising at least one camera, wherein the camera is configured for capturing a plurality of images, wherein the imaging streaming unit comprises the imaging communication interface for providing the plurality of captured images to the transport control system of the sample handling system,
• wherein the transport control system comprises the control communication interface, wherein the transport control system further comprises the processing unit for evaluating a plurality of images thereby deriving at least one item of information on the obstacle, wherein deriving the at least one item of information comprises applying at least one trained object classification and detection model on the plurality of images, wherein the transport control system is configured for controlling a functionality of the sample transport device of the sample handling system based on the item of information;
• and
• b. determining the distance between the obstacle and the monitoring device by analyzing at least one first image captured at the first position and at least one second image captured at the second position and by determining the distance d according to:
• y
• 2
• y
• 1
• =
• 1
• -
• m
• d
• ,
• wherein y1 denotes a height of the obstacle in the image at the first position, y2 denotes a height of the obstacle in the image at the second position, m denotes a distance travelled from the first position to the second position and d denotes the distance between the obstacle and the monitoring device at the first position,
• wherein the obstacle is any object impeding the transport of sample container holders on the sample transport device.