CAT goes ‘remote’ at CONEXPO 2017

In its 60,000 square feet exhibit at this year’s CONEXPO-CON/AGG, Caterpillar presented some 40 machines, including things like articulated trucks, skid steer loaders, and even a 90-tonne excavator.

But what caught most people’s eye was a live demo where an operator was using CAT’s new command remote control system to move a D8T dozer in Peoria, Illinois. While sitting at a station that looked very much like an arcade racing game but that is modeled after the actual cab of the machine, the operator used a “Command Vision System” to instruct the tractor to perform a series of tasks such as land clearing and stabilizing slides in high-risk areas.

Interviewed by MINING.com’s Michael McCrae, one of the company’s Sales Support Consultants, Alan Pumklin, explained how the system can be equipped for line-of-sight operation or for teleremote operation with the addition of video and audio feeds from the site and dozer.