Development of a Retrofit Backhoe Teleoperation System Using Cat Command

Most existing retrofit remote-control systems for backhoes are large, hard-to-install, and expensive. Therefore, we propose an easy-to-install and inexpensive teleoperation system. The proposed system comprised remote-control and sensing systems. The remote-control system retrofits robot arm-based devices to “Cat Command”, a compact embedded teleoperation system with a limited communication range, and controls these devices via a 5G commercial network to realize control from a remote office. Because this system does not require any additional modifications to the embedded control unit in the cockpit, the operator can continue working in the cockpit even if the backhoe is remotely controlled. The system enables the remote control of various devices from an extremely long distance by changing the joint parts between the robot arm and the embedded remote-control device. The sensing system estimates the posture and position of the backhoe by attaching original sensing devices to the backhoe. In addition, a 360 camera was installed in the cockpit to transmit work images from the construction site to a remote office in real time. The sensing device was smaller and lighter than conventional devices. We confirmed that the proposed system can be used to operate a construction site backhoe from a remote office, and that the system can be used to excavate soil using an actual backhoe.