by Nick Drew | Tue 17 Apr 2018
One man, runs three dozers, from afar
Automation of plant & machinery continues to gather pace, much like the human element in our everyday lives is gradually being reduced, its all clever stuff, but equally worrying too, will we all one day be replaced by smart technology?
American mining company Arch Coal is using 3 Caterpillar D11T dozers at its Black Thunder mine in the Western United States which are all operated by one man using a semi-autonomous setup, called the Cat MineStar Command for dozing system.
This clever system allows one operator to control anything up to three machines at one time, from the safety and comfort of an office, which could be miles away from where the dozer's are working. Among the many benefits this offers, it means the dozer's work more efficiently and the operator suffers from much less physical fatigue, with less jolting and jarring about in the cab. Check out this video from Caterpillar to find out more.
I would like to thank Digger Man Blog Facebook group member Kenneth Hatcher for highlighting this topic to me.