• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4D
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• pp.433-442
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• 2010

Recent decrease in the availability of experienced skilled labor and a corresponding lack of new entrants has required the need for automating many of the construction equipment used in the construction industry. In particular, excavators are widely used throughout earthwork operations and automating its tasks enables work to be performed with higher productivity and safety. This paper introduces an optimal path generation method which is one of the core technologies required to make "Intelligent" excavators a reality. The method divides a given earthwork area into unit cells, identifies networks created by linking these cells, and identifies the optimal path an excavator should follow to minimize its total transportation costs. In addition, the method also accounts for drainage direction and path continuity to ensure that the generated path considers site specific conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.921-924
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• 2007

토목, 건축과 관련된 노동현장은 여느 3D 업종들과 마찬가지로 숙련된 기능공의 부재 및 산업재해 발생으로 인해 어려움을 겪고 있으며 이를 극복하기 위한 노력을 계속하고 있다. 대표적인 토목공사인 토공 작업 역시 위험 혹은 유해한 작업환경으로 인해 토공장비의 안전사고 및 생산성과 품질저하가 발생하며 이를 방지하기 위한 장비의 지능화가 절실하게 요구되고 있다. 이를 위해 최근 지능형 굴삭 시스템 개발을 위한 연구가 진행되고 있으며, 토공작업은 일반적으로 광범위한 작업영역을 가지기 때문에 지능형 굴삭시스템의 개발을 위해서는 효율적인 작업을 수행할 수 있도록 하는 작업계획의 수립이 매우 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 작업계획의 대상을 굴삭로봇과 토사로 구분하였으며, 글로벌 영역에서 단위작업 영역, 로컬 영역으로의 분할을 통해 전체 작업 진행에 대해 효율적으로 작업계획을 수립할 수 있도록 구성하여 계획단계에서부터 토공작업 자동화 및 효율와에 기여하고자한다. 토공작업계획 시스템은 토공 작업자 및 감독자의 작업 특성 및 노하우를 컴퓨터, 즉 두뇌에 부여함으로써 숙련된 장비조종자의 작업 방법 및 특성을 반영하여 토공 작업 프로세스 모델링을 구축하고 실제 작업환경상의 센서에 의해 측정된 데이터를 실제 작업환경과 동일하게 모델링된 컴퓨터내의 가상환경을 바탕으로 영역분할, 최적 플랫폼 위치선정 및 작업 순차생성을 통해 최적의 토공작업계획을 수립할 수 있도록 한다.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.136-145
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• 2009

The objective of the Intelligent Excavation System (IES) is to recognize the work environment and produce work plan and automatically control the excavator through integrating sensor and robot technologies. This paper discusses one of the core technologies of IES development project, development of 3D work environment modeling. 3D laser scanner is used for 3-dimensional mathematical model that can be visualized in virtual space in 3D. This paper describes (1) how the most appropriate 3D imaging system has been chosen; (2) the development of user interface and customization of the s/w to control the scanner for IES project; (3) the development of the mobile station for the scanner; (4) and the algorithm for the automatic registration of laser scan segments for IES project. The development system has been tested on the construction field and lessons learned and future development requirements are suggested.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3D
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• pp.269-274
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• 2012

A study on automation system for construction industry has been conducted for decades. However, performance evaluation of automation system has not been suggested yet. The performance evaluation has been conducted only for partial technical elements or for benefits gained through the introduction. This study develops a framework to evaluate the performance of intelligent excavation system in terms of economic feasibility and benefit, and presents a performance evaluation method for automation equipments. The applicability of intelligent excavation system on a site is also analyzed in this study.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3D
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• pp.259-267
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• 2012

The development of construction automation systems is proposed as a potent solution to the difficulties encountered by the construction industry and the preparation for the rapidly changing construction environment. A research concerning an intelligent excavation system has taken place since 2006. The intelligent excavation system has several functions for environment sensing, 3D site modeling, work planning, work path generation, unmaned control, and information management. This paper presents a space information model and a work path simulator for work planning and work path generation which is one of key technologies required to apply the earthwork system to the real world. A data structure for an earthwork site is suggested. It overcomes the limitations of previous data structures such as Quadtree and Octree. The work path simulator can generate an effective work path with considering information on work environment, equipment and operator's heuristic. The work path generated by the simulator is compared with that suggested by human operators.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.184-192
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• 2008

Recently, one of the solutions for the problems of construction industry such as low productivity, lack of experts, insufficiency of manpower, high percentage of calamity and so forth, construction automation which let underdeveloped construction production system be a ultramodern technology is under research. Internal study of construction automation has been initiated since 1980s focusing on robotics and semi-automation for reduction of labor. Therefore development of construction robots is being concentrated with the high development of information technology and Intelligent Excavating System(IES) project had been launched by ministry of land, transportation, and maritime affairs as one way of construction technology revolution business. This study introduces the final goal and the research progress until second year of IES.

• Journal of KIBIM
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2011

Earthwork is important in terms of construction time and duration, and highly related to the construction productivity. However, current earthwork system has stick to labor intensive process depending on skilled operator's heuristic decision making, so it is hard to improve overall productivity. To overcome this drawback, this paper presents a BIM based Intelligent Excavation System(IES). The BIM technology is applied in the excavation task planning system, Human-Machine Interface for remote-control/autonomous work environment, and web-based Project Management Information System(PMIS) in the IES integration process, and the results are addressed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2551-2562
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• 2013

Since 2006, an Intelligent Excavation Robot which automatically performs the earth-work without operator has been developed in Korea. The technologies for automatically recognizing the terrain of work environment and detecting the objects such as obstacles or dump trucks are essential for its work quality and safety. In several countries, terrestrial 3D laser scanner and stereo vision camera have been used to model the local area around workspace of the automated construction equipment. However, these attempts have some problems that require high cost to make the sensor system or long processing time to eliminate the noise from 3D model outcome. The objectives of this study are to analyze the advantages of the existing 3D modeling sensors and to examine the applicability for practical use by using Analytic Hierarchical Process(AHP). In this study, 3D modeling quality and accuracy of modeling sensors were tested at the real earth-work environment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.790-793
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• 2008

Recently, Intelligent Excavating System(IES) for earthwork automation is on progress since the end of 2006 as a part of construction technology innovation projects in Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. Task Planning System(TPS), one of the detail core technologies of IES, is an optimal work planning system in conditions of effectiveness, safety and economic efficiency by analyzing the work environment data based on earthwork design and work environment recognition technology. For effective earthwork planning, the location of platform must be the most optimal spot for minimization of time, maximization of productivity and reduction of overlapped work spaces and unnecessariness. Besides, the decision of optimal platform location is to be based on the specifications and then is able to be converted with the local area calculation algorithm. This study explains the decision of optimal platform location on the basis of local area from the work space separate process and judges the effectiveness.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.130-141
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• 2011

The intelligent excavating system(IES), the development in South Korea of which has been underway since 2006, aims for the full-scale automation of the excavation process that includes a series of tasks such as movement, excavation and loading. The core elements to ensure the quality and safety of the automated excavation equipment include 3D modeling of terrain that surrounds the excavating robot and the technology for detecting objects accurately(i.e., for detecting the location of nearby loading trucks and humans as well as of obstacles positioned on the movement paths). Therefore the purpose of this research is to ensure the quality and safety of automated excavation detecting the objects surrounding the excavating robot via a 3D laser scanning system. In this paper, an algorithm for estimating the location, height, width, and shape of objects in the 3D-realized terrain that surrounds the location of the excavator was proposed. The performance of the algorithm was verified via tests in an actual earthwork field.