Bedrock Puts Fully Autonomous Cat Excavators To Work

Dubai (PlantAndEquipment.com) - Bedrock Robotics has launched fully autonomous excavators on active commercial construction sites, as competition heats up to introduce autonomous technology to huge heavy equipment fleets.

The machines are now doing earthmoving operations on three large projects in Texas and Nevada for contractors Sundt Construction, Champion Site Prep, and Zachry Construction Corporation.

Bedrock's autonomous technology has been deployed on big production equipment, such as Caterpillar Cat 352 and Cat 336 hydraulic excavators, confirming its effectiveness on full-size machines suited for demanding bulk earthmoving.

Bedrock is concentrating on large-scale construction activities where excavators do repeat, high-volume earthmoving operations, rather than smaller or more regulated applications. The tech company views autonomy as a method for contractors to enhance the amount of work that current teams can do while boosting safety and project predictability.

Bedrock first concentrated on excavators, but its long-term goal is to create autonomous systems that can coordinate numerous kinds of construction machines throughout a worksite.

The market for self-driving heavy equipment is becoming more competitive. Bedrock's commercial deployments coincide with Gravis Robotics' efforts to retrofit autonomy technology for excavators and other gear, as well as major OEMs' investments in autonomous construction and mining equipment.

The increased investment reflects expanding demand for technologies that may alleviate labor shortages and increase productivity as contractors work on increasingly big infrastructure, data center, energy, industrial, and residential projects.