To find out more, Peter Haddock met with Richard Clement at the Komatsu UK Ltd factory proving ground to learn how the retrofit system works. Richard: "We brought Smart Construction to the European market in 2020, and as part of its rollout, we recognised the need to make it fully accessible to mixed fleet owners. "To do this, we developed a new machine guidance retrofit solution that could make a standard excavator smarter. We already equip some of our machines with Intelligent 3D Machine Control 2.0 (iMC 2.0), but now we can use this solution to create a data feed into our Smart Construction dashboard." This retrofit solution in this video was fitted to a PC210 LC Dash 11 excavator straight from the factory. The kit itself includes sensors mounted on the boom, stick and bucket links so it can determine the position of the machine against site design data. The PC210 then connects to the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) through two antennas mounted on the safety rails at the back of the machine. And for Komatsu machines, the system can also connect with an IMU sensor in the chassis, enabling it to report on the payload in each bucket, linking this into the overall material journey from excavator to ADT to stockpile or site placement. But unlike other solutions, the end user does not need a specialist tablet, just one that operates on the android platform. In this case, a Samsung tablet was used to access the Komatsu app. It connects to the main controller hidden inside the machine through Wifi and therefore doesn't require additional wiring inside the cab. It also means that a site manager can connect to the machine and access information from outside the cab. Richard: "By designing the app and field testing it with operators, we have made it intuitive and simple to use with Wifi connecting the tablet to our controller. "We have even developed different visibility options so that the guidance information can be delivered in a way that is preferable to the operator from looking at a 3D or 2D model, for example." Want to know more? You can read an article on Smart Construction in the November 2022 edition of Earthmovers Magazine.