VIDEO: Komatsu smart tech paving the way

What does the rice cooker, LCD TV and digital camera have in common? They make our lives easier, richer – and they all hail from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Some of the best cars on the market are of Japanese origin, and in the construction industry it is no different.

Since 1921, Komatsu has been churning out quality earthmoving and mining equipment including excavators, dozers and mining trucks. As demand for efficiency and productivity increases, companies are scrambling over each other to come up with innovative solutions to cater to buyers' needs.

About three years ago, Komatsu beat everyone to the punch by releasing its game-changing Intelligent Machine Control system (iMC).

It claims it is the first OEM to release a fully integrated machine control solution.

Put simply, it is a system that "makes a crappy operator, a good operator", says Komatsu Australia’s Technology Solution Expert Team Manager, Aaron Marsh.

But more importantly, it provides an effective solution to a major challenge currently plaguing the construction industry – skill shortages.

While the system is not completely autonomous and operators are still required in the cab to drive the machines, some functions including levelling and bucket control are automated, which helps prevent track slip and over digging, hence increasing overall productivity.

Currently the system is available on four dozers and one excavator in Komatsu's line up – which includes the PC210LCi-10 excavator as well as the D61EXi-23, D65EXi-18, D85EXi-18 and D155AXi-8 dozers.

Recently Komatsu Australia held a demonstration cum launch day at the Hunter Plant Operator Training School (HPOTS) in NSW's Hunter Region to show a group of trade journalists with varying earthmover operating experience (read: little to none) exactly how the technology works.

Members of the media were even allowed to hop into the machines for a test drive, just to prove Komatsu's point that the system is capable of carrying out its tasks without issues even in the hands of the most inexperienced of operators.

Intelligent machine control: How it works

While aftermarket solutions for machine control have been around for some time, Komatsu says its integrated system is definitely a first in the industry.

It comes fully factory fitted with the machines and eliminates any risks of theft and equipment damage that may come with a 'bolt-on' aftermarket product, the company says.

Conventional machine control solutions consist of components that sit on the blade or bucket of the earthmover complete with counterweight and cables, which require manual installation.

"There's a lot of money sitting on the machines with these products, so if you damage or run over them, they're quite expensive to replace," Marsh says.

"Also, employees need to climb on top of the machines to install the units, and that can be dangerous.

"With the iMC, all these issues are removed for improved safety, reliability and accuracy."

Komatsu's iMC system consist of GNSS antennas, an inertial measuring unit (iMU+), as well as stroke-sensing hydraulic cylinders on both the excavator and dozers.

Antennas are cab-mounted (dozers) and handrail-mounted (excavator), which not only prevents theft and damage, but also provide better positioning accuracy.

"When the antenna sits on the blade, it will vibrate as the blades move and that changes the vertical and horizontal positional accuracy of the machine," Marsh says.

"When you move it up on to the roof or the handrails, it stays fairly stable and that's where we get the accuracy from."

As the antenna receives GPS satellite signals, a fixed base station at the job site will send correctional information to the machine using radio signals as the satellites move in their axes.

That ensures the machine receives the most accurate blade or bucket position information at all times.

“iMC allows contractors to complete bulk dozing and excavation, along with grading and final trim operations, faster and to closer tolerances, with fewer passes to achieve finish grades or excavation profiles," Marsh says.

"It also allows far more efficient machine use and less rework – just dig or grade it once, then move on."

Dozer tech

On the dozers, a GNSS antenna is mounted on top of the cab, and the inertial measuring unit on the chassis.

The 19-tonne model on display at the HPOTS facility features a Power Angle Tilt (PAT) blade with six ways of movement.

Stroke-sensing hydraulic cylinders on the blade using a combination of rollers and magnetic strips feeds the dozer with blade positioning and angle information at all times, so the machine can make the change on grade when it needs to.

"Once you're in grade, all you need to do in the dozer is push the auto button, control forward and reverse on the machine, and it will do the rest for you," Marsh says.

A load-sensing technology further adds to the efficiency of the system, Marsh says.

"This is where it makes a crappy operator a good operator," he says.

"Loading of the blade at the start of the cut is controlled via set parameters; during the pass, if the load on the blade increases during bulk dozing operation, the blade is automatically raised to control the load and minimise shoe slip, ensuring efficient dozing at all times.

"Then when the material level approaches the target design surface, the blade will follow it with millimetre accuracy for close finish grading."

There are four work modes available on the iMC dozers: cut-and-carry, cutting, spreading and final trim grading.

Marsh adds the technology is not putting operators out of jobs – quite the opposite, in fact.

"Highly experienced dozer operators are reporting that with this technology they can be more productive than they have ever been before – placing material faster and with more accuracy than any existing dozer/machine control combination," he says.

"While an inexperienced operator can drive these machines, they need to still be familiar with construction sequences and procedures to do the job properly. This system can't teach that.

"Compared with the best aftermarket solution, the Komatsu iMC system is 15 per cent more productive," Marsh adds.

The iMC also allows remote troubleshooting, which enables an operator to access information on the machine without having to be inside the cab.

"I've been working on these machines for about two years now and I've been able to remotely fix and troubleshoot 99 per cent of our issues, without having to leave the office," Marsh says.

Semi-autonomous excavator

The iMC system on the digger is the same as that on the dozer, except there are two antennas mounted on the excavator handrails instead of one atop the dozer cab.

An inertial measurement unit is installed inside the machine to detect machine pitch and roll. Stroke-sensing hydraulic cylinders are located within the boom, arm and bucket to provide real-time bucket position information to the system.

"With conventional excavator guidance systems, the final finish quality depends entirely on the skill of the operator," Marsh says.

"One of the biggest problems customers have had with these systems is speed and accuracy from sensor lag and 100 per cent operator inputs, so operators have had to constantly monitor the system to check they are on design, while also having grade checkers regularly confirming design surface accuracy.

"But with machine automation, Komatsu's iMC excavator enables operators to achieve optimum speed to final grade accuracy with minimal operator inputs, while eliminating the need for manual grade checking."

Komatsu's PC210LCi-10 excavator with iMC comes with three operation modes: auto grade assist, auto stop control and minimum distance control.

Regardless of what it is operators are doing with the excavator – bulk excavation or finish grading, the iMC system helps in ensuring operators don't over excavate or dig too deep.

Once the required grade is achieved, the boom and bucket automatically stops when the bucket edge reaches the design surface, hence preventing over-excavation.

"Studies by Komatsu have shown the iMC excavator achieves up to a 63 per cent reduction in construction time compared with conventional staking/construction/inspection processes, and far greater accuracy in finished surface levels," Marsh says.

"It also eliminates constant redo work, ultimately reducing project costs."

Inside the cab, a 12.1-inch monitor with touchscreen functions provides operators with plenty of information to work with, including magnified grading view, 3D view, current as-built status and more.

Drones flying high

To complement the iMC system, Komatsu is also offering integrated autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) for survey and site management purposes.

"Drone capability enhances Komatsu Australia's total site solution for our customers," Marsh says.

"It is fully integrated with the Skycatch cloud platform, using the EVO3x precision 3D mapping drone, which is the only commercial quadcopter capable of creating 3D point clouds with sub-5cm accuracy without the use of ground control points.

"This technology delivers quick, reliable and accurate survey for all earthmoving, quarry and mining applications, adding value to our integrated iMC operations."

It features terrain-following capabilities to accurately record information including current as-built data as well as cut and fill volume.

Having a go

When Komatsu is confident enough in its iMC system to allow people with little to no experience with earthmovers to hop on to 20-odd-tonne machines and start driving them, you know you're in safe hands.

Members of the media were asked to have a go at building their very own golf green with the machines and even play a game or two of golf at the launch day.

After being given a brief rundown on the basic functions of both machines, journos were let loose to take turns digging and grading and do whatever the machines are designed to do.

Being the sceptic that I am, I was determined to try and dig deeper than I should with the excavator and rebel against the system but, alas, the boom and bucket simply would not budge once the target grade was achieved.

Activating the iMC was as simple as pushing a button, and all that's required of the operator was to move the machine forwards and backwards, as well as the boom and bucket for digging. The machine decides where you should dig and where you should stop digging.

Operating the dozer was perhaps much simpler than the excavator, as all I needed to do was just push mounds of dirt forward to achieve a certain grade. With the iMC activated, the blade adjusts itself automatically whenever the load was full to prevent track slip.

To listen to all the tech chatter is one thing, to see the technology in action is something entirely different altogether.

The whole experience was truly mind blowing, to say the least. If this is the state of technology in the construction industry right now, one can only imagine how things will be 10 years from now…