Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter (O) October 28, 2022

An autonomous crawler excavator for hazardous environments

Ein autonomer Raupenbagger für menschenfeindliche Umgebungen

  • Christian Frese

    Christian Frese graduated in informatics in 2006 and received his PhD degree from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2011, also in informatics. In 2012, he joined the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His main research interests are robot motion planning and multi-sensor information processing.

    ORCID logo
    , Angelika Zube

    Angelika Zube received her degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2011, where she also received her PhD in informatics in 2019. She is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her research focuses on control of autonomous mobile robots and mobile manipulators

    ORCID logo
    , Philipp Woock

    Philipp Woock received his degree in informatics in 2009 from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) where he also received his PhD 2015 in informatics. He is now research associate at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His main research interest is mobile robotics with focus on multi-sensor fusion and processing of sonar sensor data.

    ORCID logo EMAIL logo
    , Thomas Emter

    Thomas Emter received his degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2005, where he also received his PhD in informatics in 2021. He is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on multi-sensor fusion and SLAM for autonomous mobile robots.

    ORCID logo
    , Nina Felicitas Heide

    Nina Felicitas Heide received her degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2017, where she also received her PhD in electrical engineering and information technology in 2022. Her research focuses on perception, machine learning, and explainable artificial intelligence specializing in the research field of autonomous off-road vehicles.

    ORCID logo
    , Alexander Albrecht

    Alexander Albrecht received his degree in mechanical engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2015. He is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on multi-sensor fusion and SLAM for autonomous mobile robots.

    ORCID logo
    and Janko Petereit

    Janko Petereit received his degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2009, where he also received his PhD in informatics in 2016. He now manages the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on motion planning and multi-sensor fusion for autonomous mobile robots.

    ORCID logo

Abstract

As part of ROBDEKON, a 24-ton crawler excavator was equipped with sensors and a digital actuation interface as a technology demonstrator which features autonomy capabilities. The system architecture includes algorithms for localization, perception, mapping, planning, and control. The system is capable of tasks like autonomous driving to a target location, excavation of a predefined area to a given depth, and autonomous loading of an autonomously approaching transport vehicle. To ensure safety, collision avoidance based on 360° perception is always active during autonomous operation. This article presents the concept and implementation of the excavator’s autonomy functionality.

Zusammenfassung

Im Rahmen von ROBDEKON wurde ein 24-Tonnen-Raupenbagger als Technologiedemonstrator mit Sensoren und einer digitalen Schnittstelle für die Aktuatorik ausgestattet, der autonome Fähigkeiten aufweist. Die Systemarchitektur umfasst Algorithmen zur Lokalisierung, Umgebungswahrnehmung, Kartierung, Planung und Regelung. Das System ist in der Lage, Aufgaben wie die autonome Fahrt zu einem Zielort, den Aushub eines vordefinierten Bereichs bis zu einer bestimmten Tiefe und die autonome Beladung eines selbstständig anfahrenden Transportfahrzeugs zu übernehmen. Um einen sicheren Betrieb zu gewährleisten, ist die Kollisionsvermeidung auf Grundlage der 360-Grad-Wahrnehmung während des autonomen Betriebs immer aktiv. Dieser Artikel stellt das Konzept und die Umsetzung der Autonomiefunktionalität des Baggers vor.


Corresponding author: Philipp Woock, Fraunhofer Research Center Machine Learning, Fraunhofer IOSB, Karlsruhe, Germany, e-mail:

About the authors

Christian Frese

Christian Frese graduated in informatics in 2006 and received his PhD degree from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2011, also in informatics. In 2012, he joined the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His main research interests are robot motion planning and multi-sensor information processing.

Angelika Zube

Angelika Zube received her degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2011, where she also received her PhD in informatics in 2019. She is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her research focuses on control of autonomous mobile robots and mobile manipulators

Philipp Woock

Philipp Woock received his degree in informatics in 2009 from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) where he also received his PhD 2015 in informatics. He is now research associate at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His main research interest is mobile robotics with focus on multi-sensor fusion and processing of sonar sensor data.

Thomas Emter

Thomas Emter received his degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2005, where he also received his PhD in informatics in 2021. He is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on multi-sensor fusion and SLAM for autonomous mobile robots.

Nina Felicitas Heide

Nina Felicitas Heide received her degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2017, where she also received her PhD in electrical engineering and information technology in 2022. Her research focuses on perception, machine learning, and explainable artificial intelligence specializing in the research field of autonomous off-road vehicles.

Alexander Albrecht

Alexander Albrecht received his degree in mechanical engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2015. He is now a research associate in the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on multi-sensor fusion and SLAM for autonomous mobile robots.

Janko Petereit

Janko Petereit received his degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2009, where he also received his PhD in informatics in 2016. He now manages the Multi-Sensor Systems research group at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe, Germany. His research focuses on motion planning and multi-sensor fusion for autonomous mobile robots.

Acknowledgments

We also would like to thank Liebherr-France SAS for their helpful and enduring support.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The project “ROBDEKON – Robotic Systems for Decontamination in Hazardous Environments” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the scope of the German Federal Government’s “Research for Civil Security” program under grant no. 13N14674.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

References

[1] J. Petereit, J. Beyerer, T. Asfour, et al.., “ROBDEKON: robotic systems for decontamination in hazardous environments,” in IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), 2019.10.1109/SSRR.2019.8848969Search in Google Scholar

[2] S. Dadhich, U. Bodin, and U. Andersson, “Key challenges in automation of earth-moving machines,” Autom. Construct., vol. 68, pp. 212–222, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2016.05.009.Search in Google Scholar

[3] P. Woock, N. F. Heide, and D. Kühn, Robotersysteme für die Dekontamination in menschenfeindlichen Umgebungen, Leipzig, 16. Leipziger Deponiefachtagung (LDFT), 2020.Search in Google Scholar

[4] P. Woock, D. Kühn, and S. Planthaber, Unterstützung der Altlastensanierung durch moderne Robotersysteme, Karlsruhe, 21. Karlsruher Altlastenseminar, Karlsruhe, 2021.Search in Google Scholar

[5] S. Singh, “Synthesis of tactical plans for robotic excavation,” Ph.D. thesis, Carnegie Mellon University, 1995.Search in Google Scholar

[6] S. Singh, “The state of the art in automation of earthmoving,” J. Aero. Eng., vol. 10, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(1997)10:4(179).10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(1997)10:4(179)Search in Google Scholar

[7] S. Singh and H. Cannon, “Multi-resolution planning for earthmoving,” Proceedings 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146), vol. 1, 1998, pp. 121–126.10.1109/ROBOT.1998.676332Search in Google Scholar

[8] A. Stentz, J. Bares, S. Singh, and P. Rowe, “A robotic excavator for autonomous truck loading,” Aut. Robots, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 175–186, 1999. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008914201877.10.1109/IROS.1998.724871Search in Google Scholar

[9] G. J. Maeda, “Learning and reacting with inaccurate prediction: applications to autonomous excavation,” Ph.D. thesis [Online], 2013. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/9460.Search in Google Scholar

[10] G. J. Maeda, I. R. Manchester, and D. C. Rye, “Combined ILC and disturbance observer for the rejection of near-repetitive disturbances, with application to excavation,” IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol., vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 1754–1769, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2014.2382579.Search in Google Scholar

[11] Y. Yang, P. Long, X. Song, J. Pan, and L. Zhang, “Optimization-based framework for excavation trajectory generation,” IEEE Rob. Autom. Lett., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1479–1486, 2021.10.1109/LRA.2021.3058071Search in Google Scholar

[12] P. Wolf, A. Vierling, J. Husemann, K. Berns, and P. Decker,“Extending skills of autonomous off-road robots on the example of behavior-based edge compaction in a road construction scenario,”in Commercial Vehicle Technology 2020/2021, K. Berns, K. Dressler, R. Kalmar, N. Stephan, R. Teutsch, and M. Thul, Eds., Wiesbaden, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2021, pp. 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29717-6˙5.10.1007/978-3-658-29717-6_5Search in Google Scholar

[13] T. Groll, S. Hemer, T. Ropertz, and K. Berns, “Autonomous trenching with hierarchically organized primitives,” Autom. Construct., vol. 98, pp. 214–224, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.11.016.Search in Google Scholar

[14] L. Zhang, J. Zhao, P. Long, et al.., “An autonomous excavator system for material loading tasks,” Sci. Robot., vol. 6, no. 55, p. eabc3164, 2021.10.1126/scirobotics.abc3164Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[15] Y. Yang, L. Zhang, X. Cheng, J. Pan, and R. Yang, “Compact reachability map for excavator motion planning,” in 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019, pp. 2308–2313.10.1109/IROS40897.2019.8968050Search in Google Scholar

[16] D. Jud, P. Leemann, S. Kerscher, and M. Hutter, “Autonomous free-form trenching using a walking excavator,” IEEE Rob. Autom. Lett., vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 3208–3215, 2019.10.1109/LRA.2019.2925758Search in Google Scholar

[17] D. Jud, S. Kerscher, M. Wermelinger, et al.., “HEAP – the autonomous walking excavator,” Autom. Construct., vol. 129, p. 103783, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103783.Search in Google Scholar

[18] Verbundprojekt Bauen 4.0, 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://www.verbundprojekt-bauen40.de [accessed: Jan. 25, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[19] M. Frank, “A step towards the design of collaborative autonomous Machines – a study on construction and mining equipment”, Ph.D. thesis, 2019.Search in Google Scholar

[20] S. Ishihara, A. Kanazawa, and R. Narikawa, “Realization of excavator loading operation by nonlinear model predictive control with bucket load estimation,” IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 54, no. 20, pp. 20–25, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2021.11.147.Search in Google Scholar

[21] D. Lee, I. Jang, J. Byun, H. Seo, and H. J. Kim, “Real-time motion planning of a hydraulic excavator using trajectory optimization and model predictive control,” in 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2021, pp. 2135–2142.10.1109/IROS51168.2021.9635965Search in Google Scholar

[22] TopCon. 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://www.topconpositioning.com/machine-control [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[23] Kobelco. 2019 [Online]. Available at: https://www.kobelco-europe.com/news/kobelco-joins-forces-with-engcon-and-leica-geosystems/ [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[24] Caterpillar. 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/technology/assist/assist/153921756853575.html [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[25] Novatron. 2022, [Online]. Available at: https://novatron.fi/en/automation-for-excavators [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[26] John Deere. 2021 [Online]. Available at: https://www.deere.com/en/news/all-news/2021apr06-smartgrade-excavators/ [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[27] ASI Robots. 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://asirobots.com/mining/excavator [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[28] Built Robotics. 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://www.builtrobotics.com/technology/exosystem [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[29] released 2022-01-04, 2022 [Online]. Available at: https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/company/news-media/press-releases/2022-ces-media-day [accessed: Sep. 28, 2022].Search in Google Scholar

[30] C. Walther, N. Heide, C. Eisenhut, et al.., Intelligente Unterstützungsfunktionen für Navigation und Manipulation für mobile Arbeitsmaschinen (Verbundprojekt: Autonomie-KIT für seriennahe Arbeitsfahrzeuge zur vernetzten und assistierten Bergung von Gefahrenquellen – AKIT), Ilmenau, 2020.Search in Google Scholar

[31] T. Emter, C. Frese, A. Zube, and J. Petereit, “Algorithm toolbox for autonomous mobile robotic systems,” ATZoffhighway Worldwide, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 48–53, 2017.10.1007/s41321-017-0037-0Search in Google Scholar

[32] M. Quigley, B. Gerkey, K. Conley, et al.., “ROS: an open-source robot operating system,” in ICRA Workshop on Open Source Software, Japan, Kobe, 2009.Search in Google Scholar

[33] J. Osten, C. Weyers, K. Bregler, T. Emter, and J. Petereit, “Modular and scalable automation for field robots,” At – Automatisierungstechnik, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 307–315, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/auto-2020-0039.Search in Google Scholar

[34] T. Emter, A. Schirg, P. Woock, and J. Petereit, “Stochastic cloning for robust fusion of multiple relative and absolute measurements,” in IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium IV, 2019.10.1109/IVS.2019.8814068Search in Google Scholar

[35] S. I. Roumeliotis and J. W. Burdick, “Stochastic Cloning: a generalized framework for processing relative state measurements,” in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2002.10.1109/ROBOT.2002.1014801Search in Google Scholar

[36] N. F. Heide, S. Gamer, and M. Heizmann, “UEM-CNN: enhanced stereo matching for unstructured environments with dataset filtering and novel error metrics,” in 52nd International Symposium On Robotics, 2020.Search in Google Scholar

[37] F. Neuhaus, D. Dillenberger, J. Pellenz, and D. Paulus, “Terrain drivability analysis in 3d laser range data for autonomous robot navigation in unstructured environments,” in IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), 2009.10.1109/ETFA.2009.5347217Search in Google Scholar

[38] P. Fankhauser and M. Hutter, “A universal grid map library: implementation and use case for rough terrain navigation,” in Robot Operating System (ROS): The Complete Reference, vol. 1, A. Koubaa, Ed., Cham, Springer International Publishing, 2016, pp. 99–120.10.1007/978-3-319-26054-9_5Search in Google Scholar

[39] J. Petereit, Adaptive State × Time Lattices: A Contribution to Mobile Robot Motion Planning in Unstructured Dynamic Environments, Karlsruhe, KIT Scientific Publishing, 2017.Search in Google Scholar

[40] A. De Luca, G. Oriolo, and C. Samson, “Feedback control of a nonholonomic car-like robot,” in Robot Motion Planning and Control, J. -P. Laumond, Ed., Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer, 1998, pp. 171–253.10.1007/BFb0036073Search in Google Scholar

[41] H. Lu, G. Xiong, and K. Guo, “Motion predicting of autonomous tracked vehicles with online slip model identification,” Math. Probl Eng., vol. 2016, 2016, Art. no. 6375652.10.1155/2016/6375652Search in Google Scholar

[42] R. Seyboldt, C. Frese, and A. Zube, “Sampling-based path planning to cartesian goal positions for a mobile manipulator exploiting kinematic redundancy,” in Proceedings of the 47th International Symposium on Robotics, VDE Verlag, 2016, pp. 1–9.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2022-05-18
Accepted: 2022-09-16
Published Online: 2022-10-28
Published in Print: 2022-10-26

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 23.2.2025 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/auto-2022-0068/html
Scroll to top button