Komatsu Australia Corp and Skycatch Inc are partnering to boost the efficiency of construction, mining, and quarry sites across Oceania with the High Precision Package. The High Precision Package is also known as Komatsu’s Everyday Drone Solution, a key component to the Smart Construction workflow.The Everyday Drone contains the Explore1 high precision UAV, the Edge1 integrated GNSS base station and edge compute module, and the Viewer, an online data visualisation and analysis tool, all packaged into one, commercial grade kit. The Everyday Drone allows a user to experience industry-leading time to data without needing Ground Control Points (GCP), and the ability to seamlessly integrate precision aerial data into their Smart Construction Workflow.
In common construction workflows, the time to data using traditional surveying methods could take weeks until project stakeholders can view or analyse their job site data. With the Edge1, customers are able to leverage a seamless GCP free workflow that consistently delivers sub 50 mm accurate data, in arbitrary or local coordinate systems within 30 minutes, saving countless hours and labor costs.
“We are now using the Everyday Drone at the start of projects to collect whole site information for pre-tender and bidding capability, comparing against 3D design surface to provide fleet and project managers real, accurate information viewed in the Smart Construction Application. This allows them to work out their cut and fill volumes with accuracy from the beginning, and enables the project tender team to select the right machines for the project optimising fleet recommendation and empowering the team to make the right, data-based decisions from the start,” says Aaron Marsh National Technology Solution Expert Manager – Smart Centre at Komatsu Australia Pty Limited.
“Skycatch is proud to offer a better way of accessing precision data on-site. With traditional methods, the solutions are piecemeal, cumbersome, and time-consuming. Now, customers are able to make informed decisions about changes to what was planned and what is actually happening on site in near real-time, ultimately providing greater productivity, increased profit and reducing project risk from beginning to end,” says Christian Sanz, Skycatch Founder, and CEO.
Customers in Australia have already experienced the benefits of the Everyday Drone Solution, shared James Mackenzie, National Remote Support Manager at Komatsu Australia. They went out to test the receptiveness of a drone solution in the market, originally in civil construction and quickly expanded into quarry sites. Mackenzie was able to survey six quarries in five days for different customers, post-processed in the cloud, receiving the data back the next day. “Compared to a traditional survey, this is 100% more productive and efficient,” says Mackenzie. “By using the Everyday Drone, customers are no longer putting themselves in harm’s way, surveying around heavy machinery or climbing up unstable stockpiles at risk of twisting an ankle”. He also noted that customers immediately appreciated the fast turn-around-time, the ease of use, and the ruggedness of the products.
“Skycatch’s ability to provide near real-time data throughout the entire project is vital, and being able to deliver that to the customer, supervisor and give project teams the ability to make decisions throughout the project easily with usable, accurate data is key to the success of the project as a whole, not just in siloed environments is priceless,” says Marsh.