Robotic Earth-Movers Coming from Caterpillar
(39 votes, average: 3.95 out of 5)
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by Mike Zazaian September 25, 2006 - 8:21am, 22 Comments
Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Illinois, plans to spend $1.3 billion dollars on research and development this year, a substantial portion of which will go toward robotic machinery. The company hopes that within a decade, its machines will do their jobs without a man on board, perhaps even operating with complete automation. Said Mark Pflederer, the chief technology officer at Caterpillar:
Ten or 15 years down the road it’s not too much of a stretch to think that we could run multiple bulldozers, wheel loaders or trucks on a site and move the operators to a remote location.
The $1.3 Billion dollars spent by Caterpillar on R&D represents a 30% increase in such spending over last year, and more four times that which the company spent only four years ago. GPS units are also being integrated into prototypes, hypothetically allowing remote control of the robotic machines from anywhere on the globe.
Caterpillar is also innovating with a new line of environmentally friendly construction vehicles. A hydrogen-cell-powered underground mining vehicle is in development at the company’s Mossville campus, just north of Peoria. Unlike the robotic equipment, hydrogen-powered machines are only about a year off, with Engineers developing a proof-of-concept vehicle by next spring, and a production model by Summer of 2007. Said Pflederer of the company’s forward-thinking attitude:
Maybe it’s just remote control. Maybe it’s completely autonomous. Automation is our long-term dream.
[via Reuters]
does it work like any other machine
tanner
iiiii
amit
a mi modesto entender ,pienso que caterpillar es lo maximo en equipos pesados ,de mecanica sencilla y rapida mas en las topadoras D8-N-R soy mecanico de una empresa privada y alli hay varios equipos CAT tambien hay otras marcas pero como CAT ninguna ,estoy reparando un motor 3406 a nuevo con todos los repuestos originales y tambien todo el equipo hidraulico sera´ removido porque se encontro demasiada viruta , bueno muchachos proximamente seguire comentando de mis travesuras con los equipos CAT saludos atte angel…
angel
fghdfghfdgfd
MARLOM
isnt that a D12
suede
The dozer D8L-SA is coming without a front blade and a ripper,could it receive those attachment? if possible how much will it cost approximately?will that require major modifications or simply yhey can be fitted on that after removing pulling hooks?
Abdalla Nasr
es una maquina muy poderosa debido a su tamaño la caterpilar se encuentra a la vanguardia en potencia y diseño
lorenzo mora
WHOA
samm
I have no frame of referance here but the future with all it’s robotic gadgets and doodads…ROBOTS..PERIOD, their’s going to be ALOOT of lost jobs. What are all these people going to do? Become robot doodad and gadget techs and programers, controllers, or what ever. No really, what are they gona do.
Frank
uhm, the end of man is near the xix century we made bodies of machines, boats and trains, in the xx c. heads of machines, eye-cameras, chip-brains ear-phones, now we put them together, so darwinian evolution will make us obsolete, no jobs as frank say, the pentahgon also will replace soldiers by robots in a decade, and in a decade too self-reproductive metla bacteria will be there. So we are over, finito, what troubles me is that we are so arrogant that we will create our nemesis. No cool, what people make for a buck…’oiur long awaited dream’, sure, peoria deserves its reputation…
lu
i run these machines i run a d 11 and 6 57′e’s and g’s and this crap about the machines being alble to run with out a human running them means me and alot of others employes at kidco and other employes at other companys around the world are out of jobs and what are we gonna do … i am a finishing opperator and there is no machine that can do what i can do no matter how much money you guys spend have fun replacing us……… you guys should stop spending your money and maybe spen a little more on your employes … justr a thought
jonny boy
i run a D10 and a stupid robot cant take the place of a good operator
patrick eelis
it’s very perfect
istván perneki
It’s very perfect
Mujib Rajpoot
beau mecanique je t’aime
brahim
this is massive…i work for cat…the biggest thing we see is d 8s…what size is this d 10 or d11>
mark
thats it just carry on shafting the working man,why bother,no machine can do the job without the skill of a qualified operator or are u going to get the man,to train the machine,it may work on a job thats just back/ forewards, but levels,banks ,loading shovels? trucks no way hozay,i have been driving big plant since 1973,and u cant do it with robots,they r ok to build em not poerate.yours bobcat .
bobcat
The topic sounds great but what will become of the people that pay the bills running Cat’s.
Jason Payne
hola covarde
edgar