Intelligent Robotic Excavator Unveiled for Improving Construction Efficiency, Safety

A robotic excavator that uses artificial intelligence and carries out operator voice commands will help improve efficiency, worker safety and costs across a host of dangerous and complex environments.

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology’s  Co. unveiled its Intelligent Robotic Excavator that comes equipped with a human-machine interaction system that integrates AI, intelligent control and other technologies to allow it to interact and perform tasks automatically. 

The excavator ingests a 3D model of the digging site to analyze the target area and remove any surrounding debris, without the need for professional operators or surveyors. Zoomlion’s directive operations arm the excavator with what it needs for accurate site positioning. The company also developed a bionic control mode to help with more complex tasks. 

The voice control is a first for Zoomlion, which says the feature understands hundreds of wake words to replace traditional command interactions. Users can issue voice or gesture commands through Zoomlion’s smartphone app Automatic Operation Control.

Liu Yanbin, deputy director of Zoomlion’s Research Center, says Zoomlinon has integrated sensing technology, IoT and big data to further promote the “comprehensive connectivity of people, machines and things since 2014.” 

“The blockbuster launch of the collaborative intelligent robotic excavator not only represents the latest outcome in the field of human-machine collaboration, but achieves a new breakthrough pushing Zoomlion’s application of human-machine interaction to new heights,” said Yanbin.