• 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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• 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.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.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 Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.599-600
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• 2009

• 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.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.226-229
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• 2009

굴삭기는 다양한 산업 분야에서 폭넓게 이용되고 있는 대표적인 장비임에도 불구하고 작업 환경은 매우 열악하여 굴삭 조종자는 각종 소음이나 진동, 분진에의 노출뿐만 아니라 산업재해의 위험성 또한 높다. 이러한 문제점들을 타개하기 위하여 현재 국내에서는 2006년부터 지능형굴삭시스템(Intelligent Excavating System)에 의한 자동화된 굴삭기의 개발을 위하여 연구를 진행 중에 있다. 자동화 굴삭시스템 구축에 있어서 센싱(sensing)을 통해 획득된 지형 및 주변 환경정보를 활용하여 숙련공의 휴리스틱스(heuristics)를 바탕으로 설계된 모듈을 통해 최적의 굴삭 작업 계획을 세우고, GUI (Graphic User Interface)를 제공하여 실시간 작업진행 상태 파악 및 모니터링(monitoring) 내용을 굴삭기 조종자와 공사 감독관에게 제공하는 Task Planning System의 개발은 생산성, 안전성, 작업의 품질 및 장비의 성능에도 지대한 영향을 미치며 자동화된 굴삭시스템을 개발함에 있어서 필수적으로 요구되어지는 핵심기술이다. 본 논문에서는 자동화 굴삭시스템을 위한 자동화 계획생성 시스템인 Task Planning System의 현재까지 진행된 연구 내용과 모니터링 및 작업에 대한 최소간섭을 위한 Task Planning System Interface를 소개한다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.29-36
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• 2006

The hydraulic excavators are mainly applied for excavating, public works, quarrying, etc. In some of the construction site, however, they are used for crane works of relatively light materials, although the crane works by the hydraulic excavators are forbidden by law due to the safety reasons. The major construction equipment companies in forward countries have been developing the new systems, e.g. crane works by the hydraulic excavators, and they are working in the construction site. Therefore, the new system of crane works by the hydraulic excavators should be developed for the domestic construction site in order to prevent the accident. In this paper, the fundamental study and experiment are accomplished for the crane system application on the hydraulic excavators.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.363-375
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• 2013

Today, a shortage of the skilled operator has been intensified gradually and the necessity of an earthwork in extreme environment operators are difficult to access is increasing for the purpose of resource development and new living space creation. For this reason, an effort to develop an unmanned excavation robot for fully automated earthwork system is continuing globally. In Korea, a research consortium called 'Intelligent Excavation System' has been formed since 2006 as a part of Construction Technology Innovation Program of Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of Korea. Among detailed technologies of the Task Planning System is one of the core technologies of IES, this paper explains research and development process of the Local Area Design Module, which provides informatization unit to create automated excavators' work command information at operation level such as location, range, target, and sequence for excavation work. Designing of Local Area should be considered various influential factors such as excavator's specification, working mechanism, heuristics, and structural stability to create work plan guaranteed safety and effectiveness. For this research, conceptual and detail design of the Local Area is performed for analyzing design element and variable, and quantization method of design specification corresponding with heuristics and structural safety is generated. Finally, module is developed through constructed algorithm and developed module is verified.