How will new promising systems for remote and automatic control of construction and mining machines work?
Industry digitalization specialists can dive endlessly into increasingly specific details of their activities and industry specifics. In this small article, we will not go into the details of how equipment works or how sensors and systems are interconnected. Instead, we will list the main technical solutions and technologies so that it is clear from their names how these puzzle pieces make it possible to replace the operator and to automate industrial processes.
These are the same technologies that we use in our projects for the design of special machines and automated technological complexes or robotics. For convenience, we have divided them into three thematic groups: mapping, digitalization of machines, algorithms.
Mapping:
• 3D scanning of the work area to determine the geometry of the landscape and stationary objects (from air or from ground).
• For large objects, it is advisable to supplement the digital model with high-resolution satellite images (+the process of updating them with automatic coordinate binding, automated AI control), including the area around the work area and all access roads. This information will allow us to better plan and analyze the movement of supply transport, and predict possible natural and man-made restrictions in this region.
• Linking a 3D map to geodetic coordinates using GNSS RTK or analogues.
• Marking of a digital map. Identification of areas: restricted, safety, working, loading, storage.
Digitalization of machines:
• Creation of 3D models of all types of machines used in the work.
• Creating a list of geometric machine objects whose spatial position needs to be controlled. Chassis - min 3 points. Each rotary unit of the manipulator has 1 point or 1 angle sensor. Linear loads - min 2 points.
• Creation of sensor placement diagrams for each type of machine and each type of moving equipment on them (the correct installation of sensors will have to be automatically checked by the control system).
• Creating a list of restrictions for each type of machine and equipment: the limits of movement of all elements, physical restrictions on loads for each mechanism. Sensor values control via a real-time control system.
Algorithms:
• Formation of a scheme for the arrival of vehicles and transformation from transport to operational status.
• Marking of coordinates and lines for the movement of machines inside the areas.
• Creating a control program for the operation of the equipment of each machine, calculating productivity and introducing time stamps into the program to synchronize work.
• Description in the algorithm of non-standard events and criteria for achieving the goal, which are controlled by computer vision systems with object recognition.
• Loading the created operating algorithm into a software simulator and checking all cycles for conflicts in the movements of machine and equipment elements and areas.
Remote and automatic control in this case have the same set of sensors and security systems, the only difference is in the function of monitoring the work performed (Operator vs Computer system with algorithms and AI). And this fact is very important, thanks to it a gradual and cost-effective transition from classical working methods to completely autonomous and safest ones is possible.
