360 Excavator Simulator

Excavators are capable of digging deeper and more efficiently than most other earthmoving equipment.

They are primarily used to dig above and below grade, and can also be used to trench, load material into trucks and lift light loads using slings.

The upper structure of the excavator is composed by a hoe, the operator’s cab and the engine compartment, and it rests and rotates on a turntable supported by an undercarriage with tracks.

The turntable is capable of rotating 360º, allowing the operator to dig and load in tighter areas in a timelier manner.

Equipment

• Cabin located on platform with 2 to 6 degrees of freedom.
• Real operation console.
• Instructor's console with full control over the simulation.
• Real environment digital sound effects.
• Projection system with 2 to 5 high resolution screens.
• Motion capture system to position and orient the camera's point of view.

Visualization system

• High quality images, generated in real time.
• 3D real graphics.
• Picture textures from a real facility.
• Configurable external views to observe excavator parameters.
• Stereoscopic mode.
• Heads-Up Display (HUD) window showing information about positions and machine parameters.

Special driving conditions

• Weather events: wind, rain, fog, snow, etc.
• Variable light conditions, from full light to night time. Work with artificial light.
• Simulation of accidents and collisions, with realistic response.
• Realistic response of the excavator according to the load carried and the collisions produced.
• Realistic ground and terrain dynamics: terrain mass, excavation forces, inertial properties and collisions that affect the behavior of the machine.
• Presence of avatars in the work environment.
• Other vehicles included on stage, such as transport trucks, crane trucks, etc. They contribute to the realistic environment.

Instructional design and 360 Excavator Simulator exercises

• Exercise tests block: several exercises with test questions on general aspects, controls, maneuvers and maintenance of the machine.
• Block of the familiarization with the controls of the machine: check of controls, precise positioning of the bucket, arc paths.
• Driving block: obstacle driving circuits, access to elevated sites, parking the machine, loading and unloading the excavator in a trailer.
• Excavation block: transfer of material, construction of piles of land, excavation.
• Ditch block: land mark, realization of ditches, refilling and leveling.
• Loads' operations block: load of trucks from different heights, construction of ramps.

Reports at the instructor's console

• Date.
• Starting and ending time.
• Time length.
• Finished exercises.
• Control handling log.
• Velocity log.
• Collision log.
• Dangerous maneuvers log.