Plantforce Rentals in partnership with BAM, Leica Geosystems and SMP is undertaking the first UK trials of a semi-automated excavator and tiltrotator combination powered by Leica’s innovative new MC1 GPS machine control platform.
Strategic partners, BAM Construction are initially conducting the trials on a civil engineering and road construction project in Southampton and are planning to continue across various sites in the UK over the coming months.
“Plantforce Rentals has a great record of showcasing and presenting new technologies and bringing them into the hire market,” declares Sam Mercer, Plantforce Rentals Operations Director, “and we pride ourselves on operating one of the largest fleets of technology focused exactors and dozers in the UK”.
“We were privileged to be chosen by Leica Geosystems to be involved in a new trial of a semi-automated excavator with GPS and tiltrotator combination, working with strategic partners such as BAM, Kobelco and SMP. With months in the planning we have now began trials of the new machine on various BAM projects who, with a wealth of industry and technological know-how to draw upon, are the perfect partner for the job. We are very excited to see the future of machine control advancing at such a fast rate for our customers, and, as a supplier to some of the largest infrastructure projects, we feel it’s our duty to push such innovations to the forefront of the industry”.
The system
The advanced GPS platform solution automatically controls boom, bucket, and tiltrotator functions to dig faster and more accurately to the target design surface and cross slope. The new semi-automatic functionality enables the operator to execute complex tasks, reduce manual controls, increase productivity, speed and accuracy of the work, even for less experienced operators.
“Automating the excavator on a jobsite will increase productivity and accuracy, decrease operator fatigue and fuel consumption. I am convinced that a more focused and alert operator is a safer operator, decreasing the risk of accidents and costly rework errors,” explains Kris Maas, product management director in the machine control division at Leica Geosystems.
The new solution is developed through the hydraulic controller and requires the installation of a hydraulic control unit. The advanced 3D excavator machine control solution offers several new functions:
- Simple engagement of the auto function by pulling the stick.
- The cross-cut surface protection prevents the operator from digging into other parts of the design surface.
- The solution automatically adjusts the bucket height to minimise over-excavation and costly rework.
- Intelligent slope detection to automatically snap to the correct slope of the surface under the bucket.
- Rotation controlled cross-cut, combining the auto bucket and the auto tilt functions to match the target surface regardless of the bucket rotation.
The Machine
A specifically chosen Kobelco SK210 was retro fitted with a P4 hydraulic pump system, a fully installed Leica MC1 machine control platform with valve control unit and an SMP ST22 Tilt Rotator, and vinyl wrapped in partner branding.
