Framework for an intelligent earthwork system - Part I. System architecture

Recently, there has been an increase in the demand to enhance the intelligence of construction equipment and systems. Especially for semiautonomous and autonomous systems that have great potential for impact on the construction industry, artificial intelligence approaches are required to generate instructions and plans necessary to perform tasks in dynamically changing environments on their own. The framework for an intelligent earthwork system (IES) is suggested by the authors. It generates a plan automatically for construction equipment, provides a means of cooperation between construction equipment seamlessly, and improves worker safety. This paper describes some factors that can affect earthwork operation performance, five emerging technologies that can be adapted to implement an IES, the system architecture, and the system control strategy for IES. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.