Field test of remote control system for construction machines using robot arm

After disasters, the remote control of construction machinery is often required to ensure the safety of workers during excavation. We have been developing a pneumatic robot arm that has 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) to realize remote control construction machines. While considering the portability issue, a lightweight fiber knitted type pneumatic artificial rubber muscle (PARM) was selected as the actuator for the arm. This arm can be installed on all construction machinery models, can be controlled remotely, and has been designed for easy installation and portability. In this research, we developed a control system to operate construction machinery remotely using the pneumatic robot arm. Then construction machinery was retrofitted with the pneumatic robot and some field tests were achieved in the real construction site. The operation time with the remote control system and with the direct operation was compared. The effectiveness of the system is confirmed from the field tests.