Komatsu showcases new technologies at CEATEC JAPAN
Komatsu President and CEO Tetsuji Ohashi is participating in CEATEC JAPAN for the first time. In this four-day event held in Makuhari Messe from October 16 to 19, Komatsu is introducing new challenges taken up by its SMARTCONSTRUCTION initiative under the theme of safer, more productive and smart construction jobsites of the future.
In 2015 Komatsu embarked on SMARTCONSTRUCTION, a solutions business designed to improve the safety and productivity of construction jobsite operations by connecting information
related to jobsites, i.e., man and things (machines, earth, etc.).
Komatsu has deployed SMARTCONSTRUCTION at over 6,000 jobsites to date.
Autonomous and Remote-controlled Construction Equipment
Showcasing unmanned construction jobsites of the future, visitors can watch demonstrations of autonomous construction equipment at the Komatsu booth, which is connected to the Komatsu IoT Center Tokyo in Mihama-ku, Chiba City where the equipment is operating. Visitors can also watch demonstrations of remotely-controlled equipment in the 5G mobile communications generation.
Komatsu is also planning to offer live streaming of a fully autonomous hydraulic excavator and crawler dump truck working together at Komatsu IoT Center Tokyo. The excavator will excavate,
swing and load earth while engaging in image analysis, by using AI, and in topographic survey. The dump truck will haul excavated earth to a designated dumping site while detecting obstacles by using a camera, etc.
Komatsu will also demonstrate remotely controlled construction equipment by using a 5G mobile network which features greater speed and capacity as well as reduced latency. The operator will sit down in the special cockpit installed in the Komatsu booth and remotely control the bulldozer at the IoT Center, as he looks at the real-time images sent from different cameras.
Komatsu’s remote control technology incorporates variable compression, ultra-low latency video streaming technology, owned by Soliton Systems K.K., thereby achieving high-precision and stable video streaming and enabling remote control without feeling strange. It also adopts the OKI-developed Flying View which enables a bird’s-eye view monitoring of the surrounding areas of the machine, achieving machine operation from all directions virtually with no blind spot.
Land Report and Holo Diorama
Letting visitors experience construction progress management by means of AR and VR Civil engineering jobsite operations consist of not only operating construction equipment but also installing engineering structures and managing building materials.
Visitors can experience two concept models currently under development, Land Report and Holo Diorama, which are designed to comprehend and share all those jobsite elements.
Land Report is an application for mobile phones to share a variety of jobsite information. It combines AR technology and positional information, overlaps, on a real-time basis, the positions of equipment and the like as well as work progress on the jobsite space image taken by smart phones, and shares the image with others.
This device creates the same environment of a jobsite in virtual space and enables the person with a special pair of VR goggles to check and manage the jobsite as if he/she were there. As all kinds of information at the jobsite are updated on a real-time basis, he/she can plan survey and construction work just like being on the jobsite. It also enables him/her to simultaneously manage different jobsite operations by quickly changing to a multiple number of remote jobsites.
SMARTCONSTRUCTION Application
Becoming more user-friendly with new functions Komatsu is going to significantly update its SMARTCONSTRUCTION Application which allows for checking jobsite information, such as the latest construction progress, on smart phones anytime and anywhere.
Komatsu will introduce new functions of its SMARTCONSTRUCTION Application, such as the displays of contours, gradients and aerial photos (orthophotos) taken from drones, on the 3D terrain viewer.
The new application is an evolution, creating a system which quickly provides more user-friendly and easier-to-understand information one needs in an intuitive-use format.
LANDLOG Corner
Construction jobsites of the future will feature more connectivity with Komatsu’s LANDLOG, an open platform designed to accelerate IoT-driven changes of production processes of construction.
In its booth, Komatsu will introduce cutting-edge solutions provided by LANDLOG as well as the latest services and applications offered by LANDLOG Partners.
Cutting-edge solutions provided by LANDLOG
- Analyses of jobsite machines and work by using AI-based video analysis (daily camera)
- Analysis of machine operations by using smart phones
Solutions offered by LANDLOG Partners
- Remote work support solutions which use wearable terminals
- Optimal fuelling support and other solutions based on KOMTRAX (Komatsu Machine Tracking System) information, etc.
Joint Exhibition at IoT Town
IoT Town, sponsored by the sponsor of CEATEC JAPAN 2018, is a joint exhibition space designed for participating companies to engage in joint creation which will lead to new business models for
achieving Society5.0, a theme of the event.
Jointly with Magellan Systems Japan, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-precision GNSS receivers, Komatsu will exhibit the portable terrain survey device which can easily survey visible terrains and compare them with design drawings.
