Towards autonomy of construction machines and swarms – experiments and next challenges

This presentation reviews the global development of autonomous control for construction machines and machine swarms in infrastructure construction. The evolution is progressing from today’s widely used 3D machine control systems towards higher levels of automation, where machines can operate without a human driver in the cabin.

The University of Oulu has conducted research in this field since 1998, when its first research project developed a 3D machine control system for a road grader. Today, research and experiments are carried out with six different types of construction machines, covering remote operation, autonomous control based on InfraBIM models, adaptive machine control, and AI- and neural-network-enhanced real-time information modelling. The research extends from autonomous operation of individual machines towards coordinated control of multi-machine fleets and swarms.

The presentation discusses recent experimental results and identifies the key challenges on the path toward.