DEVELON presents future construction solutions at CES 2024

DEVELON (formerly Doosan) unveiled its vision for the future of construction at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where machines are capable of operating themselves and they emit no harmful emissions.

A 15-foot-tall futuristic excavator greeted visitors at the entrance of DEVELON’s booth at CES 2024, which represents DEVELON’s idea of what future construction machinery would look like. It is part of the brand’s Concept X2 range which consisted of an excavator and a dozer. The most obvious feature of the innovative machines is the cabs, or lack thereof, as the equipment has been designed to be completely unmanned and autonomous.

In addition to operating completely autonomously, the machines are packed with safety features such as object or human detection and an emergency stop function to minimize risk for workers on site.

The machines are also fully electric, allowing operators to work in an emissions and noise-free environment.

In addition to machines, DEVELON also displayed several of its innovations which included its Smart Collision Mitigation with Sensor Fusion that promotes safety on site by automatically detecting people and objects within a certain range of the excavator.  The excavator does this using a combination of cameras and AI technology, and when obstacles are detected, visual and audible warnings are activated before the machine slows to a complete stop to prevent accidents.

Another innovation that was showcased was X-Agent, which is an AI-based machine-assistance solution for excavators, wheel loaders, ADTs, and other construction equipment. The technology self-recognizes and judges equipment information, site environment, and work plan using AI and provides optimized machine operation guidance to the operator, hence saving time, cost and money.

In another area of DEVELON’s comprehensive display at the CES 2024, the company presented its innovative remote operation technology based on digital twins. To showcase how this technology works, an operator in the booth in Las Vegas remotely operated a wheel loader near Atlanta, Georgia, some 3000kms away.

The transparent bucket was also part of the exhibit, a concept that first surfaced back in 2021. While the physical bucket wasn’t actually transparent, DEVELON’s technology uses cameras installed on the top and bottom of the bucket to record images of the front of the machine. The system’s processor then automatically adjusts the camera inputs into a single image that makes the bucket appear transparent on an in-cab monitor.

This technology has been designed to minimise blind spots in front of the machine and allow operators to carry out their tasks with more confidence knowing they can see everything in front of the machine even with the bucket raised.

Although autonomous equipment is still in the early stages of development, DEVELON is hoping to lead the construction industry in this field by forming partnerships with companies such as Gravis Robotics and Google.

Moving forward, the company envisions automation of complex tasks such as 3D grading with a tiltrotator attachment, optimizing processes to boost productivity by as much as 60 per cent.