Proposal for Automation System Diagram and Automation Levels for Earthmoving Machinery

In Japan, earthmoving workers are aging rapidly, and more than one million skilled workers will retire at once in the near future. Thus, the mass retirement of these skilled technicians could bring a significant drop in production capabilities throughout the earthmoving industry. To solve this problem, it is expected that automatic construction systems using robotics technology will improve productivity at earthmoving field. To efficiently promote further advancements in earthmoving automation research, it is necessary to systematize the entire earthmoving construction and classify automation levels. In this paper, we formed a team in collaboration with project owners, civil engineers, engineers of construction machinery manufacturers, and robotics researchers, and others. Then, with them, we attempted to formulate a "automation system diagram for earthmoving work" to systematize the entire earthmoving construction, and "automation levels for earthmoving machinery" to grasp the achievement of current technologies. It is anticipated that these will make it possible to give concrete shape to research aims and plans, and that automation research will proceed as a result.