IDA Universal

I DA U N I V E R S A L J a n u a r y - Fe b r u a r y 2 0 2 4 20 says. "So, the operator is off the machine in a nice seated, quiet environment operating the machine. Non-line-of-sight is way more versatile in the respect that we can be local to the machine or in a diff erent state. e distance really is only limited by the connec- tivity. "As long as they meet the specifi cations laid out in our technical documents, there is no limitation on distance," Plumkin says. " at operator in that Command Station is in a seated position, nice ergonomics, and it's usually a climate-controlled environ- ment with no exposure to the dust and vibration that you'd see on a job site. It's a more productive, less fatigued environment." e benefi ts of an NLOS system expand on all the safety aspects of a portable LOS system. ["A] popular application we're seeing is digging out and remediating ash ponds," Plumkin says. "Ash ponds are the result of burning coal, and it is a very dangerous applica- tion. Most of the machines that break through the ground and have accidents are o en fatalities because the ground is unstable. A lot of these companies are mandating remote control. In the past, customers have talked about the sacrifi ce of productivity for safety… and now you can really have both." Of course, technology costs money and an NLOS system will be more expensive than an LOS system, but it can also save money. "[Operators] can also switch to a diff erent machine or even a diff erent job site instantly, with no downtime," Plumkin says. "And because no one is in the cab, an idle machine can be shut down to save fuel. ere's no need to run the engine to keep the cab at a comfortable temperature." Plumkin tells the story of a contractor that was running three D8 crawler dozers and experimented with remote- control technology. " ey actually realized that with Command, with the added productivity, they can get the same work out of two D8s," Plumkin says. " ink about the lunch, the day in the life of an operator, the transition of the preshi meetings, the time it takes to walk to the machine, and the breaks," he says. "Operators can hot swap; so they found out they could be running the machine a lot more, so much so that they can be doing the same amount of work with two dozers now. Eventually, they were able to re-allocate a third of their workforce to support other operations that needed those skilled operators." Perhaps the most obvious benefi t is to demolition opera- tions. OSHA reports that at least 100 demoli- tion workers lost their lives over the past fi ve years. ere can be unstable walls and surfaces, drop-off s, crumbling walls, and choking dust. A non-line-of-sight application from Teleo. e company's proprietary remote-control autonomous system is brand-agnostic and may be retrofi tted to diff erent types of equipment. Dozers from Teichert, a construction and materials company in California, have been retrofi tted with Teleo remote-control semi-auton- omous technology. Remote continued from page 19 TRENDS AND TIDBITS continued from page 19

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