Japanese construction company Obayashi Corporation has successfully conducted an experiment to link multiple automatic and autonomous construction machines and control them remotely from a location 550 kilometers away. Three construction machines were operated by a single operator in an integrated control room 450 meters from the construction site in Fukushima Prefecture. It was also confirmed that remote command, monitoring, and operation was performed from the West Japan Robotics Center in Osaka Prefecture, located approximately 550 km away.

The experiment utilized the "Construction Equipment Fleet Management System," which controls multiple construction equipment to operate in tandem and in a coordinated manner by inputting work details and instructions. Three autonomous machines, a backhoe, a carrier dump truck, and a bulldozer, worked together to perform a series of tasks, including loading earth into the dump truck, transporting and unloading the earth onsite, and spreading and compacting the earth. The system minimizes the number of on-site facilities, and the operator provides construction support from the management base, thereby contributing to labor savings and cost reductions. As the total number of workers needed at the construction site is reduced, it can also lead to a reduction in the number of accidents involving contact with construction equipment. (2022/10/25)