The development of tele-operated electro-hydraulic actuator (T-EHA) for mini excavator tele-operation

High risk and dangerous post disaster recovery operation requires the use of heavy vehicle tele-operation. This study deals with tele-operated electro-hydraulic actuator system or T-EHA for the operation of construction vehicle tele-operation that focuses on a robotic system to remotely control a mini excavator. The current development of the system, from design, simulation and control aspects of T-EHA is presented. A wireless PS2 controller with Arduino programming has been utilized as the remote controller for the system. The T-EHA system is later used to control a lever which is used to manipulate the movement of the mini excavator's boom. Simulation on the position control of T-EHA is conducted at a designated signal interval, with system flow rate and pressure of 0.7lpm and 20 bar respectively. The overall movement correlates with the simulated input signal. Laboratory evaluation on T-EHA tele-operation have been conducted at a distance of 5 meters, accordingly.