System and method of material handling using one or more imaging devices on the transferring vehicle to control the material distribution into the storage portion of the receiving vehicle

A method for facilitating the transfer of material from a transferring vehicle having a material distribution end to a receiving vehicle having a bin to store the transferred material, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. obtaining image data from at least one imaging device facing the bin, wherein the at least one imaging device is mounted on the transferring vehicle;
• b. identifying and locating the bin from the image data using an image processing module;
• c. identifying a spout from the image data using the image processing module to determining a location and orientation of the spout;
• d. detecting a representation of the fill level or volumetric distribution of the material in the bin;
• e. determining a position of the spout relative to the bin using an alignment module based on an identified location of the bin and the identified location and orientation of the spout;
• f. aligning the spout over a current target area of the bin requiring the material by generating command data used by at least one of a vehicle controller and a spout controller,
• wherein the command data is based in part on the position of the spout relative to the bin;
• g. determining subsequent target areas of the bin that require material based on the representation of the fill level or volumetric distribution of the material in the bin;
• h. transferring the material from the transferring vehicle to the current target area of the bin of the receiving vehicle;
• i. detecting when the current target area of the bin is filled with the material;
• j. repeating steps f-i until the subsequent target areas of the bin are filled;
• and
• k. terminating the transfer of the material from the transferring vehicle to the receiving vehicle.