Monitoring the orientation of a laser scanner

A method for monitoring the orientation of a laser scanner, the method comprising:

• repeatedly determining distances of the laser scanner from multiple respective measuring points on different planar outer surfaces of a measuring object using the laser scanner, wherein all measurement objects have a same geometric shape with planar outer surfaces and are arranged in such a way that normal vectors of the outer surfaces of all the measurement objects have defined directions in a fixed first reference system;
• determining from the determined distances, the directions of the normal vectors of the outer surfaces of the measurement object for each measurement object in a second reference system related to the laser scanner;
• determining the directions of the normal vectors of the outer surfaces of a measurement object in the second reference system from a multiplicity of measurement point directions which are each assigned a measurement point and are determined as an eigenvector of a scatter matrix which is formed from coordinates of the measurement point and measurement points adjacent to the measurement point in the second reference system;
• and
• inferring a change in the orientation of the laser scanner when the direction of at least one normal vector changes significantly in the second reference system.

A crane, comprising:

• a trolley;
• a gripping facility arranged on the trolley, wherein the trolley and gripping facility are configured to transport a container;
• and
• a laser scanner, wherein an orientation of the laser scanner is monitored by:
• repeatedly determining distances of the laser scanner from multiple respective measuring points on different planar outer surfaces of the container using the laser scanner, wherein all containers have a same geometric shape with planar outer surfaces and are arranged in such a way that normal vectors of the outer surfaces of all containers have defined directions in a fixed first reference system,
• determining from the determined distances, the directions of the normal vectors of the outer surfaces of the container for each container in a second reference system related to the laser scanner,
• determining the directions of the normal vectors of the outer surfaces of a container in the second reference system from a multiplicity of measurement point directions which are each assigned a measurement point and are determined as an eigenvector of a scatter matrix which is formed from coordinates of the measurement point and measurement points adjacent to the measurement point in the second reference system, and
• inferring a change in the orientation of the laser scanner when the direction of at least one normal vector changes significantly in the second reference system.