Capital Equipment News April 2019

that are not being dispatched can turn themselves off. As these vehicles move around the site, they are perceiving their world, but at the same time they are doing full scale asset monitoring of the facility. Q: Can autonomous machines have the same skill level as human operators? PN: There are certain tasks that are, for the moment, beyond what machines can do. Take very skilled excavator operators and the precise and delicate ways they control the buckets. It’s extraordinary. It’s a celebration of everything it is to have a human cortex. But actually, that same operator gets asked to do dreary and repetitive tasks – what a waste of that super brain. We might say there are things which we would want humans to do, and others that a machine can do ceaselessly in the middle of the night in the dark. It’s about empowering the genus of the human brain by taking away the monotonous tasks. PN: Technology is an enabler. It makes us healthier, wealthier and happier. It just does. This is like the next chapter, the next hammer in our toolkit. We are going to build more things, because we can do it better. We are going to build, and mine, and do more stuff because we can, because we are enabling humans to do more. Q: What about job losses from machines no longer needing operators? PN: In the 1970s people feared that computers were going to take everybody’s jobs. Now look at all the jobs computers have created – we have got the best employment ever. Jobs will change and new roles will be created gradually over time, there won’t be a big bang changeover. So, in construction and mining we will have whole crews of people who are upskilled to look after the autonomous machines. PN: Machines and humans will work together for some time to come. There are places where machines will think: ‘This is really tricky – I need you human’. And the human goes: ‘I got it’. It’ll be a long time before anything comes near to the extraordinary skill of a human being. But then there are some roles that are simple and repetitive worksite tasks that autonomy systems can do better and more safely. b Q: So autonomous machines don’t have to be the enemy? Q: Can anything stop the rise of the robots?

Safety could be the number one advantage of autonomous machines.

places, at all times and in all applications. But for clearly understood and defined applications we are able to install, train-up and deliver machines today. Q: Will autonomous machines be safer? PN: Safety could be the number one advantage of autonomous machines. Today, one of the highest causes of construction deaths is people being struck by construction equipment. That’s not okay, so we can create ‘guardian angel’ features that work in cooperation with human operators and simply say: ‘I’m just not going to let you hit anyone’. PN: In all technology, in all environments, accidents happen. And they are awful. With autonomous machines there should be very few of them, but we should admit that there will be some accidents. They won’t be the kind of accidents that happen if a human is in control. Something like 80% of accidents on road are caused by failings that computers never ever have. Accidents often caused by boredom and distraction. Autonomy can cut those sorts of accidents to zero. Computers have an inhuman ability to concentrate – they never get bored. But the knockout blow for this technology is learning. Human operators take a long time, years even, to become expert in driving their machines. But construction vehicles can be programmed ahead of their first day on site with all the data and learnings of all other machines that preceded them. From all around the Q: So, no accidents at all with autonomous machines?

world. From every accident that’s ever been recorded, everywhere. So, an accident in Kuala Lumpur in the morning really should reduce the chances of the same accident happening in London that afternoon. Q: What’s the relationship between autonomy and connectivity? PN: Autonomous machines should be able to operate independent of anything external. However, that’s not to say that if you do have connectivity you shouldn’t use it. It’s a nice-to-have, but the point is that you shouldn’t need it in order to succeed. Q: Can autonomous machines deliver greater productivity by never having to go to the toilet? By never having to sleep? By never having to stop for lunch? PN: I’ve got so many stories of why this is true. The answer is unequivocally, in capital letters, in flashing neon: YES. Q: Can you quantify it? PN: Autonomy will allow an operator to drive multiple machines rather than just one at a time. That’s what gets talked about most, but that’s not all. There are lots of second-order advantages that don’t get talked about. Potholes, for example, in off-road applications can cause all kinds of trouble. But the machine knows they’re coming, it knows they’re being made. So it moves slowly to the side, which means the tyres last longer. The controlled acceleration and deceleration of these vehicles massively reduces fuel costs. Autonomous machines can work in complete darkness. Vehicles

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