Autonomous Vehicles ConstructionWorX Komatsu has now put Smart Construction and intelligent Machine Control into effect on more than 8,000 sites worldwide
Komatsu’s World of Autonomous Operations Companies like Google’s Waymo and Elon Musk’s Tesla make it look like autonomous vehicles are something of the near future. With concept cars being tested out on the road people are starting to wonder why has this technology not found its way to other industries like construction? Komatsu’s Richard Clement, deputy general manager Smart Construction delves deep into the reality of autonomous machines… Currently there is no existing road ahead on how autonomous operation can be integrated into the construction industry. But we at Komatsu believe that just creating autonomous machines isn’t going to be sufficient. Having a total overview not just visually but also in the form of data is needed to bring safety, efficiency and great implementation to the jobsite. In the past decade, our Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) has been responsible for moving over two billion tons of material. It’s an achievement that has proven the practicality of autonomous operations. With the experience and knowledge we have gained creating this system - which started six years before GPS was commercially available - we want to start focusing on the next big innovation in autonomous operations.
AUTONOMOUS HAULAGE Technically, our Autonomous Haulage System isn’t meant for construction. It was created specifically for the repetitive operations in the mining sector. Where the production process is relatively predictable and there is consistency of haulage routes etc. On these job sites there are strict rules and measures in place to keep pedestrians and non-production vehicles out of harm’s way. Mining is an industry where autonomous technology was able to be deployed for use in an enclosed, tightly managed environment. Construction is not. For that reason, it’s not possible to simply transplant the AHS technologies to the very different circumstances of the construction world. So, we are not attempting to directly do this. We are taking a
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different approach. We’re still pursuing technological advancements in autonomous machinery, but at the same time we find it important to investigate how we can evolve the jobsite and processes used in a construction environment.
SMART CONSTRUCTION This way of thinking led Komatsu to the development of a set of Smart Construction solutions. With this innovation we aim to bring a digital transformation of processes to current job sites. One easy to grasp example is drone surveying, an effective way for your employees to measure the terrain safely, accurately and efficiently. There’s also intelligent Machine Control (iMC), which aims to help the excavator or dozer operator to be more accurate and to improve the speed of new recruits being able to operate with their more experienced peers. You can see that beside an increase in safety and efficiency these are tiny but strong steps towards the digital transformation of the construction environment. By combining our experience from the development of products for autonomous operations with what we learnt from developing the Smart Construction solutions, we at Komatsu developed a strategic roadmap for the transformation of (autonomous operation) products and (digitally transformed) job sites. Following this vision, products, on the horizontal axis, will be designed to operate with increasing autonomy. At the same time, the job site will undergo a transformation. It will become increasingly digitalized. The core message of this approach? The road to optimal performance incorporates a combination of autonomous product development and digital transformation.
