Developing Plans for Robotic Excavators

Abstract

We would like a robot excavator that is able to excavate a volume of soil according to specification. To this end we have developed a general method that can be used to provide prescriptions as to where and how to dig for a variety of excavator configurations and tasks. This paper presents simulation results of a front-end loader performing a loading task. In addition, preliminary results from a trenching experiments conducted with a robot in our lab are presented.