Intelligent Machine Control – It’s clever stuff!

by Nick Drew | Fri 09 Sep 2016

Intelligent Machine Control – It’s clever stuff!

Following on from my factory tour at Komatsu UK’s facility in the North East as featured in last week’s blog post, I was invited to take a look at the machines fitted with the companies Intelligent Machine Control.

Like many older operators I find all the new machine control systems rather daunting and when trying them out it all feels a bit surreal to be honest. Suddenly machine operating skills that we have learnt from childhood in many cases, just seems to be thrown out the window as the machine works to the pre-set cut that you have entered into the control panel. Many see it all as an affront to the skills they have acquired over generations a kind of “dumbing down” of skills, but the reality is that the skilled operators are just not out there anymore, at least not in the numbers that are required. Every company these days want a skilled operator but most are not prepared to train them up. So systems like Komatsu’s IMC are going to be the way ahead and are already out there proving their worth not only with novice operators but highly skilled operators who are now taking these skills to the next level.

With the government championing the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology, we are seeing more and more contractors using 3D digital site plans and these IMC systems are ideal for working with the BIM technology, speeding up the whole job process and eliminating the need for any additional ground crew to be in the vicinity of the machine, so a much safer and faster process overall.

Operating a PC210LCi-10 hydraulic excavator, Komatsu’s Grant Young demonstrated how the system worked in front of the grandstand adjacent to the demonstration plot. Having set up the system previously Grant sent out the dipper arm and lowered the boom until it automatically stopped at the pre-determined spot. He then simply pulled on the left hand joystick on its own and the machine took over adjusting the boom and dipper to suit the angle of the slope.

Following this demonstration I was offered some stick time on another IMC fitted PC210LCi-10 machine in a dedicated area of the demo arena which has been stacked out with some fine gravel material. A grade/cut angle was punched into the large IMC control screen which is about the size of an iPad and away I went. It really is the strangest feeling to be just pulling on the left hand joystick and not needing to use the boom lift function until you have completed the pull, in all honesty its mind blowing! There is of course a lot going on with the information on the screen, which tells you all sorts of guidance information, it even tells you if you are not square on to the cut, it really is clever stuff!

Much of the wizardry of this built-in Komatsu integrated technology takes place via the hydraulic cylinders which have stroke sensors fitted to allow the machine to know where they are and there are also rotary encoders fitted to the boom foot and boom point to eliminate errors that can build in any system like this. The reset function on the bucket cylinder comes from a magnetic switch.

It’s all very well just playing about on a demo plot, but I’m sure you would quickly see the benefits these systems can offer when you are out on site in the real world getting stuck in to some challenging work. There are decent numbers of these machines now out working in the UK and proving their worth on a daily basis. Bedfordshire based civil engineering firm ECL are one example with their IMC machines being specifically tasked with all the technical cutting and landscaping works on its jobs.

Depending on how you measure such things, according to Komatsu tests of the system have been proven to offer a 44% efficiency gain and a 51% improvement in productivity over conventionally operated machines. I have to say in the brief spell I was on the machine I was very impressed with how the system worked, although I was well aware I would need a lot longer to fully understand the technology side of things.

I was then sent over to try out the D61PXi dozer which features Komatsu’s IMC technology. Now I’m no dozer operator by any stretch of the imagination, I’ve only really ever spent any time on them on tip work in the past, but it was easy to see that by using the IMC system you could very easily become good enough to cope on a daily basis as your skills improved, the hardest part is learning to use all the functions onscreen and getting used to the settings.

It’s a fact of life that older experienced operators, especially those on dozers, are retiring and taking all those years of experience with them. These clever IMC systems are sure to appeal to today’s computer savvy generation who will be quick to understand the technology.

From my brief encounter with the IMC machines it was clear to see that the future is here today and we are going to be seeing a lot more of this kind of technology in the coming years as all manufacturers and ultimately customers embrace it.

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