35th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2018) Earthmoving Construction Automation with Military Applications: Past, Present and Future Q.P. Haa, L. Yenb, and C. Balaguerc a Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia b Land Vehicles & Systems, Defence Science & Technology Group, SA 5111, Australia c Robotics Lab, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain E-mail: {
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[email protected] } Abstract – Amongst increasing innovations in Robotic systems used in military applications frontier engineering sciences, the advancements in represent RAS that integrate sensors, vision imaging, Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) has brought actuators, end-effector manipulation, computer control about a new horizon in construction applications. and human interface, operating in hard, heavy and There is evidence of increasing interest in RAS hazardous conditions. In army operations, construction technologies in the civil construction sector being tasks required to enhance the force and the force reflected in construction efforts of many military protection usually include such earthmoving tasks as forces. In particular, Army or ground-based military filling of protective barriers (HESCO baskets), building forces are frequently called upon to conduct retaining walls around storage using dirt (dirt bunding), construction tasks as part of military operations, as well as anti-tank ditching and trenching. For this, a tasks which could be partially or fully aided by the variety of heavy construction machinery such as employment of RAS technologies. Along with recent excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, graders, rigid advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber- frame trucks, articulated dump trucks, backhoe loaders, physical system infrastructure, it is essential to rollers, pavers, all-terrain fork lifts, etc.