Best Jobs For Remote & Autonomous Construction Equipment Operators

Soil compaction certainly fits into the “Dull” task category. A compactor’s job is to go over the same patch of ground again and again. The compactor must maintain a set path with predetermine overlaps between passes to deliver consistently compacted soil.

For operators, the shift-long repetition of the job can quickly tax their concentration. For an autonomous machine, however, it's an ideal application:

• An autonomous machine will precisely follow the compaction plan, hour after hour.
• It can be mapped out in advance on a digital site plan, or site personnel can simply identify a number of GPS waypoints to set compaction boundaries. 
• These waypoints might be set by another machine, which can simply touch a point on the ground to record and transmit GPS coordinates to the compactor.

One of the technologies Caterpillar is working on is a lead/follow system that pairs an autonomous soil compactor with a manned or remotely controlled dozer. Once the dozer has finished a section of grade, the operator triggers the compactor to begin work on that section.

The operator can now move on to grade the next section of the site while the compactor goes about its business. The only time the dozer operator needs to attend to the compactor is if it calls for assistance.

Handling A Dusty Fly-Ash Application

There are a number of jobs that fall into the “Dirty” category, but one of the dirtiest jobs ever has to be cleaning out fly ash from under an electric power plant boiler. It has all the elements of an application nightmare:

• A loader operator has to go into a dark, interior space to scoop out the fly ash, which then is used in cement plants. 
• The dust is so fine that the job can't begin for a week after the ash is dropped from the boiler.
• Once the dust has settled, operators have to work in a sealed, pressurized cab to keep the dust out. 
• They must maintain contact at all times with safety personnel outside of the work area.

The benefits of keeping the operator out of the cab in this situation are obvious. Working from a comfortable, clean, indoor operator station that may be miles away would make the job much safer and easier.

That brings up another “D” — Distance. Today’s data communication technology enables an operator to run a machine remotely from virtually anywhere in the world. It eliminates long commutes to remote worksites, lets employees live wherever they want and lets them switch between machines and/or jobsites in seconds.

Eliminating Barge Terminal Dangers

Distance plays a role in the last application we’ll look at, but that’s only part of the story.

Associated Terminals, a barge terminal management company, has a number of unloading terminals stretched along 120 miles of the Mississippi riverbank. By locating a remote operator station in a central location, their equipment operators don't have to travel up and down the river between terminals. The biggest driver in the company’s move to remotely controlled equipment, however, was operator safety.

The application involves lowering compact wheel loaders, dozers and excavators into the holds of huge river barges. The operator's task is to gather loose material together so gantry cranes can load it out. It’s a job that stacks a variety of dangers one on top of the other.

• Simply boarding a barge anchored on a moving current comes with risks of its own, including drowning.
• Once aboard, operators descend a gantry some three stories down into the hold — a situation ripe for injuries from trips and falls.
• Barge holds are deep, wet and dark. They can also be unbearably hot in the summer and frigidly cold in the winter, even in the deep south.

Using remotely controlled equipment and placing operators in a climate-controlled environment miles away, provides an ideal solution.