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www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
University of Oulu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.O. Box 4200, FIN-90014, Finland
b
VTT Electronics, P.O. Box 1100, FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland
University of Oulu, Research Unit of Construction Technology, P.O. Box 4400, FIN_90014, Finland
Accepted 26 July 2005
Abstract
New technologies facilitate machine control systems, which use data from CAD and 3D measurement systems to automatically control
construction machinery, such as an excavator. This paper examines the possibilities of controlling a six degrees of freedom (DOF) excavator with
the final objective of controlling the movements of the excavator by using a positioning system such as a GPS in conjunction with a CAD model
of the road surface. In comparison with the traditional 4 DOF machine, the excavator was provided with two additional degrees of freedom by
applying a 2 DOF Rototilt, an accessory commonly in use. To study this problem, Msc.Adams with Matlab/Simulink was used as a simulation
environment. In this paper the path of the bucket is calculated by using the CAD reference of the target plane.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Robotic excavator; Path generation; Dig planning; Modelling; Simulation; Triangular terrain model; CAD
1. Introduction
A robotic excavator is not a new idea as there are many
interesting and advanced systems; for example, Autonomous
Truck Loading from Carnegie Mellon University [1], LUCIE
from Lancaster University [2] and Komatsu PC05-7 in ACRF
[3]. However, in general, the level of automation in the
construction industry is relatively low compared to that in the
other fields of industry. Although various research projects
have been conducted for automating different tasks in
construction, only a few applications are commonly in use. It
would seem, however, that the general level of technology has
finally reached a point where there are means of meeting even
the specific needs of construction automation.
In our study we have focused on, firstly, the intensive use of
a modelling environment, secondly, an assumption that a CAD
model of the target surface is available, thirdly, a 3D
positioning systems such as GPS is available, and fourthly,
the excavator has six degrees of freedom instead of the
traditional four degrees.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: Tomi.Makkonen@oulu.fi (T. Makkonen),
Kalervo.Nevala@vtt.fi (K. Nevala), Rauno.Heikkila@oulu.fi (R. Heikkila).
0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2005.07.009
572
Fig. 2. Rototilt and demonstration of possibilities with extra two degrees of freedom.
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ay bx by ax
t1
B y g1x g1y ax C
C
B t2 C B a
B C B ay bx by ax C
@ t3 A B dy g2x g2y dx C
@ ax dy dx ay A
t4
ax g2y g2x ay
a1
x dy dx ay 0
0
1
0
1
x3 x2
x x1
x x2
g1 @ y y 1 A g2 @ y y 2 A d @ y 3 y 2 A
z3 z2
0 z z1 1
0 z z2 1
x3 x1
x2 x1
a @ y2 y1 Ab @ y3 y1 A
z2 z1
z3 z1
10
MCS
TSCS
1::2;2
MCS
1::2;2j
jTSCS
12
The next step is to find triangles by using Eq. (8) and then
reduce all unnecessary data points. An example of the resulting
group is given in Fig. 7. One can see how the points are chosen
at the end and the start of the path, and between them only
when the triangle changes.
After specifying the path matrix in 2D it is transformed into
3D by using the normal vector w, which was created at the
triangle compilation stage. One form of the equation for the
plane is:
0 10 1 0 10 1
wx
x
wx
x1
@ wy A@ y A @ wy A@ y1 A 0
13
z
wz
wz
z1
which can be solved for z as follows:
0
0 1 0 11
x1
wx
1@
14
wx x wy y @ wy A@ y1 AA:
z
wz
wz
z1
A data set (the same as in Fig. 7) for the path point matrix in
3D is illustrated in Fig. 8.
1
575
N3(x3,y3,z3,)
d
b
g1
N1(x1,y1,z1,)
origin 1
g2
p(x,y,z)
N2(x2,y2,z2,)
origin 2
Fig. 8. Points defining L1, L2 and L3 on 3D triangle surface. Data set is the
same as in Fig. 7.
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576
Fig. 11. Simulated excavator performing cuts L1, L2 and L3. Position and velocity of the centre point of a cutting edge. Buckets target speed = 1000 mm/s.
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