Our innovative processes afford us the ability to consistently conceive valuable ideas in multiple fields, such as environmental design and economic efficiency. Out of these areas, the one which we consider to be of the most importance is that of “Safety”.
From providing safe products to the overall safety of our automatic operational systems, we persistently utilize the full scope of our innovation capabilities to find ways in which safety is used to maximize the value of our products to our customers.
All manufacturers’ primary responsibility is to provide products that are safe and compliant with the latest international regulations and standards. In our mid-term management plan, we aim to "develop safe, highly productive, smart, and clean workplaces of the future with customers." We also aim to create new customer value (DANTOTSU Value) by integrating DANTOTSU Products (advancement of machines), DANTOTSU Services (advancement of machine operation), and DANTOTSU Solutions (advancement of workplace operations) to generate a positive cycle to resolve ESG issues, including worksite safety, and improve earnings.
In 2013 and 2014, Komatsu introduced the ICT Bulldozer and ICT Hydraulic Excavator respectively, an innovation that made possible the automatic control of blades and buckets. These systems by-pass the need for manual experience, allowing even fresh or less-experienced workers to perfectly reproduce the same high-level precision construction work of a skilled worker. This has eliminated the past need for ancillary workers and guiding processes, thus enabling our customers to make huge savings on labor costs and improving general safety.
The pinnacle of our safety innovations has birthed a fully automated operational system, known as the Autonomous Haulage System (AHS). This ingenious system has been fully-established in certain major mines in Australia and Chile, which involves the unmanned operation of giant dump trucks that carry over 300 tons of soil and minerals. The mine is an often harsh environment which requires constant vigilance and safety protocols, having multiple construction machines and vehicles that operate around the clock on a 24 hour basis. The AHS system utilizes cutting-edge technologies like satellite communication and various radars and sensors to create a useful system that meets this need in its entirety, responding to the diverse nature of our customer's safety requirements.
Despite these significant achievements, we are fully aware that there is always room for amelioration. We will continue to innovate and improve, furthering the evolution of such safety systems in order to realize the optimal safety environment that our customers require in their respective sites of operation.
Komatsu has launched hydraulic excavators*1 equipped with the in-house developed KomVision Human Detection & Collision Mitigation System as a standard feature for the first time in the industry in the Japanese market in 2020.
Komatsu has developed this system by upgrading the “KomVision” bird’s eye view camera system equipped with conventional models as standard in the Japanese market. The system prevents the motion of the excavator when the camera detects people when the excavator starts to travel or swing. The system also stops the excavator when it detects humans while the excavator is traveling at slow speeds. With these functions, the system helps curb the possibility of collisions between the excavator and people.
This system comes standard on the PC200-11 model, which Komatsu began selling in December 2019. Concerning the conventional models already equipped with KomVision as a standard feature, customers can update the software and retrofit their existing machines*2. With this new system, Komatsu will continue to expand support for workplace safety as its goal.
We have expanded the number of models equipped with the “KomVision Human Detection & Collision Mitigation System” and started to install the system as a standard feature on new 7-ton and 30-ton class hydraulic excavators in 2022.
The “KomVision” bird’s-eye-view camera system is used globally for hydraulic excavators, dump trucks, wheel loaders, and motor graders. In 2023, we launched the PC950-11, a large hydraulic excavator equipped with this system.
[Human detection structure of KomVision]
1.All-around machine monitoring with 4 cameras and a monitor
Four monocular cameras capture all-around views of the machine, which are shown on the monitor. The operator can select right, right front, left or rear views.
2. Alerting with buzzer and stopping the machine when people are detected
When human are detected inside the detection or stop-controlled area, the system not only displays markers (yellow or red circles) on the monitor, but also alerts the operator with a buzzer.
This system is not a device designed to mitigate collisions or detect human under all conditions.
The acceleration of growth through innovation is one of the key activities of Komatsu’s mid-term management plan. In this area, we engaged in automation, autonomous operation, electrification, and remote controlling of construction, mining and utility equipment (small machinery), while also working to realize digital transformation of construction through both physical aspects (increased automation and sophistication of construction machinery) and non-physical aspects (optimization of customers’ construction operations), thereby realizing safe, highly productive, smart and clean workplaces of the future with customers. The Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) for unmanned dump truck operation has already launched in the market, and a cumulative total of 43 units of the AHS are in operation as of March 31, 2022. In addition, we are promoting remote control operation of the PC7000-11 hydraulic excavator for mining sites.
