Automated excavation machine
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An excavator, comprising:
- a boom;
a cutter head, mounted on the boom, for excavating in situ material;
a body, wherein the boom is mounted on the body;
a plurality of grippers operable to apply pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to hold the body in a selected position and orientation, anda control system operable to effect operation of the excavator both (a) in a manual mode in which an operator controls operation of the boom and/or cutter head and the plurality of grippers and (b) an automatic mode in which the control system controls operation of the boom and/or cutter head and the plurality of grippers, wherein the control system comprises a task supervisor, the task supervisor is configured as an engine that invokes at least one of a plurality of state machines to perform a selected unit operation and wherein the plurality of state machines correspond to a plurality of;
a mining state in which in situ material is excavated, a walking state in which the excavator is repositioned for the mining state, a boom sweep state in which the boom is moved, a steering state in which an orientation of the excavator is changed, and a self-test state in which a configuration of the excavator is compared against a predetermined configuration.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to an excavator that is operable in manual and automatic modes and uses state machines to effect unit operations, rotationally offset swing actuators to rotate boom and cutter head, a fail safe hydraulic system to maintain gripper pressure in the event of a malfunction of the hydraulic system, differing position and pressure control functions in the hydraulic actuators, a kinematic module to effect pitch and roll adjustments, a cutting face profile generator to generate a profile of the excavation face, and an optimization module to realize a high degree of optimization of excavator operation.
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Citations
73 Claims
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1. An excavator, comprising:
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a boom; a cutter head, mounted on the boom, for excavating in situ material; a body, wherein the boom is mounted on the body; a plurality of grippers operable to apply pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to hold the body in a selected position and orientation, and a control system operable to effect operation of the excavator both (a) in a manual mode in which an operator controls operation of the boom and/or cutter head and the plurality of grippers and (b) an automatic mode in which the control system controls operation of the boom and/or cutter head and the plurality of grippers, wherein the control system comprises a task supervisor, the task supervisor is configured as an engine that invokes at least one of a plurality of state machines to perform a selected unit operation and wherein the plurality of state machines correspond to a plurality of;
a mining state in which in situ material is excavated, a walking state in which the excavator is repositioned for the mining state, a boom sweep state in which the boom is moved, a steering state in which an orientation of the excavator is changed, and a self-test state in which a configuration of the excavator is compared against a predetermined configuration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. An excavation method, comprising:
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providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation; manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face; comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured; commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face; when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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Specification