The unoccupied excavator being operated in South Korea form Germany
Construction equipment manufacturer Doosan has used 5G technology to remotely operate an excavator in South Korea from the Bauma exhibition in Germany, 8,500km away, in what it has claimed was a world first.
Using what it calls worldwide ‘TeleOperation’, an operator in a booth at Bauma controlled a Doosan DX380LC-5 40 tonne crawler excavator in Incheon, South Korea
The technology used has been developed in conjunction with LG U+, the South Korean telecommunications and data services company.
For TeleOperation to function properly, it requires live video streaming at the operator’s station in a reliable way that minimises time lag in the system for the operator. The new 5G network claims to be able to offer 10 times faster bandwidth and 10 times lower latency than the 4G network.
The system also offers 3D machine guidance, real time diagnostics and a full gauge display in the control booth.
Doosan said that while TeleOperation can be used for general earthmoving applications, it is designed for operating excavators in dangerous applications such as industrial waste disposal, involving hazardous, toxic or radioactive substances. It is also useful for work on collapsing waste piles and in areas where there are buried mines and other munitions, Doosan said.
The excavator being remotely controlled from a booth using 5G technology
