Learning about integrated machine guidance system

Hi @Benny
Please tell me more about integrated machine guidance system!

Depending on your ambitions you may be here at just the right time. I'm convinced that the first major part of construction to be robot driven will be site preparation. If I'm right you might be in a good place to catch the wave. I'm sure you know all about Trimbles work in this domain. It'd be interesting to know from @gonzalocasas if COMPAS has been used for managing excavators? Make sure to watch their presentation to our monthly meetup.

JesusbillJanF

Comments

  • Turn out that "automated" excavators are the best way extract fiber optic lines or water pipes under pressure ... So man behind will last for long time.

    Jesusbill
  • Duncan@. Yes, of course, construction work will also be robot-controlled sooner or later. The system I (and as far as I know everyone else) currently use is a machine guiding system with an emphasis on guiding. The workflow is something like this: I get a drawing in DWG. Constructs a model at the correct position and height directly in the coordinate system at home on the computer. Send the model to my excavator and when I get to the machine, just download and start digging.
    It is a good aid because I get information about the depth/width, etc. I will dig/fill directly into the cab. However, it is currently a guiding system. I see the bucket and model visually in 3D on the screen and get all the info ex how far it is left to the right shaft depth both in writing, colors, and sound ( sounds much like parking assist in the car). But it's just visual. I have to drive the machine myself and try to follow the model. There are systems called semi-automatic as the system fully controls one or more of the functions as a driver assistance. Type as a driver assistance system in cars when the car helps you start on a hill without rolling backwards. It is also a great tool but mostly as a function to improve the driver ergonomics because those functions are usually regulated with small rollers on the levers and it allows you to sit day in and day out with very static load on your fingers.
    Another great feature of machine guiding is that I can measure and store points in real time as the job is done. In this way, you can have relationships that are rooted in reality.
    Trimble is probably the leader in gps systems here with us in Sweden. There are a number of different make machine guidancesystems and I can probably say that all work well, in that part of the system that has to do with GNSS so I think Leica Geosystems and Trimble are the big (the only?) players. On my machine I have mounted a system from MOBA.
    Trimble of course has good software tools for my needs, but since I am a one-man entrepreneur and that they use Autodesk as a platform for their products, it is completely out of the question for me to be able to use their systems.
    The program I use is Swedish "Topocad" by Adtollo and is absolutely perfect for my needs and more such as calculation functions, transformations, etc. Besides, they have great support. Everything's fine except ifc ( and it`s not for free).
    @stephen_I problem with existing pipes is recurrent and sometimes quite unpleasant when there are high voltage lines for electricity or pressurized water pipes that need to be released. Unfortunately, it is also common for them to be old and in poor condition and also to be amazed at what bad documentation exists of what and where things are buried. You always get unpleasant surprises.... Thinking that it's time to start measuring everything as carefully as possible and replenish that information in the BIM model... As it is, it is probably difficult to automate those works because no one knows for sure where wires and the like are located, there are of course maps with wires and things like that although quite often they do not correspond very well with reality.

    brunopostleJesusbillJanFMoultstephen_lJohnLaurensJN
  • @duncan Aha ! I probably need to write this in the correct order.....sorry.

    duncan
  • @duncan said:
    It'd be interesting to know from @gonzalocasas if COMPAS has been used for managing excavators?

    As far as I know, it hasn't been used on excavators yet. We have this project of a menzi muck legged excavator in which COMPAS was used, but not for the machine operation, it was used for the terrain design.
    However, for all things machine-operation, it is most likely possible using ROS via the COMPAS FAB extension, provided there's a driver available for the machine you want to control.

    Cheers

    duncan
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