Construction equipment autonomy vendor Teleo announced October 4 that Florida-based Tomahawk Construction will become the first customer to deploy its autonomous capabilities on an active job site.
Fort Myers-based Tomahawk Construction's articulated dump trucks will be able to use autonomous functions to move material to build a residential community in Naples, FL starting in December.
In addition, Teleo announced deals with eight new construction customers, including Florida-based Ajax Paving Industries of FL, LLC. Collectively, Teleo's new customers have placed orders for 42 machines. Teleo also announced the addition of Ozark Laser, Murphy Tractor and Position Partners to its global dealer partner network, establishing its dealer footprint across seven states in American Midwest, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
Tramming Autonomy
The initial autonomous capability being launched by Teleo is tramming, or autonomous hauling materials from one point to another. Tomahawk Construction will use Teleo-equipped articulated dump trucks for autonomous tramming across a Naples, Florida job site where they will move material to build a residential community. The autonomous feature introduction will begin on three machines and roll out to 12 machines over the course of a few months. Operators driving dump trucks spend the majority of their time tramming from one point to another. By automating the tramming portion, one operator can run multiple machines simultaneously, multiplying their productivity. The physical dumping of materials will be handled remotely by one operator controlling multiple machines from a comfortable command center.
"Teleo's technology has the potential to completely transform our operations," said Scott Lyons, Managing Member, Tomahawk Construction. "With Teleo, two of our dump trucks that have been idle will be put back into service to haul dirt across the site autonomously, allowing our remote operators to do more. This will help us to run a more efficient operation."
To date, Teleo has been testing the autonomous capabilities on two John Deere 333G Compact Track Loader skid steers at its Pleasanton, Calif. proving grounds, and on a Komatsu WA500 wheel loader moving dirt at the Ouluzone race track property in Finland, which is affiliated with the University of Oulu.
READ OUR FULL INTERVIEW WITH TELEO ON IRONPROS
Supervised Construction Equipment Autonomy
In an inteview with IRONPROS, Teleo Founder Vinay Shet laid out their technology approach and target market, which has been expanded with the Tomahawk deal.
"For some use cases, we are autonomous," Shet said. "An example may be traveling from point A to point B. We take your best operator and supercharge them, and enable them to do more than they could on site They can switch across machines with each machine in autonomy mode. On rear loaders or skid steers, they can see through cameras under the bucket for unimpeded views."
For the required jobsite connectivity to make the solution work, Teleo ships its own networking solution to ensure a mesh network on site. The solution requires a regular commercial internet connection.
Ideal customers according to Shet include quarries, concrete plants and other loading operations. Dump trucks can be retrofitted to handle back and forth loading duty cycles.
