Real-Time 3D Positioning and Visualization of Articulated Construction Equipment: Case of Backhoe Excavators

Abstract

Construction equipment generally consists of a set of rigid bodies connected by joints, which is termed as a kinematic chain. The relative motion and constraints between successive bodies of the chain make the real-time 3D visualization a challenge, which requires minimizing the number of sensors as needed by practical applications in construction. In this paper, we investigate a methodology for efficient real-time 3D visualization of articulated construction equipment. The Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) technique which has been widely used in robotics research is introduced and adapted for computing relative motions of various components in the articulated equipment system based on a minimal quantity of input parameters. The 3D position of articulated construction equipment can be analytically fixed by analyzing point coordinates and joint movement parameters. This analytical method is validated by simulating a backhoe excavator in a computer environment, where the absolute location of the backhoe’ tracks is computed by tracking three control points, and the relative positioning states of the cabin, boom, stick and bucket are deduced by using the DH technique.