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Automated excavation machine

  • US 7,695,071 B2
  • Filed: 10/15/2003
  • Issued: 04/13/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2002
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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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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