JCB Chairman Lord Bamford with JCB’s prototype hydrogen-powered telehandler.
JCB
Hydrogen-fueled equipment to come in 2022
JCB is investing $138 million on a project to produce carbon-free hydrogen engines, the company announced last month. The first hydrogen-fueled machines will be ready for customers by the end of 2022.
According to JCB Chairman Lord Bamford, the company is investing in hydrogen because electric power has limits and is not an all-around solution, especially when it comes to larger machines. “We will carry on making engines, but they will be super-efficient, affordable, high-tech hydrogen motors with zero CO2 emissions, which can be brought to market quickly using our existing supply base,” says Bamford.
The company has already shown a prototype hydrogen-powered JCB backhoe loader. A second JCB machine – a Loadall telescopic handler – was unveiled October 19 at an event in London attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Two leaders in the world of drone applications for the construction, mining and aggregate industries have joined forces. The combination of Firmatek’s drone-data processing and engineering services with Kespry’s drone-based mapping intelligence platforms will create new opportunities to deliver a vertical SaaS platform for drone-based analytics.
The acquisition will accelerate the use of artificial intelligence technologies and deep-learning frameworks to analyze and process topographic analysis of mining and aggregate worksites, increase data accuracy, improve site safety and eliminate potential risks.
“By combining Firmatek’s resources with Kespry’s expertise and leadership in AI-driven, SaaS software, we can provide better outcomes for our customers,” says Lauren Elmore, Firmatek’s chief executive officer.
Equipment World has reported on Kespry’s offerings several times in the last few years. To learn more about its technology, check out the links below.
Tag tools and attachments with the Kin asset tracking system and you’ll always know where they are.TrackunitIf you can’t find a tool, try checking your Kin
Everybody knows that workers waste significant amounts of time searching for lost equipment. And according to Trackunit, only one out of five lost tools are ever found. One solution, announced at the ARA show in Las Vegas, is Trackunit’s new Kin Asset Utilization, which collects movement data from tagged assets and shows you in real time if the equipment is being used.
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The Kin ecosystem resides within a platform to greatly increase the scope of data available to users and organizations and continues to enhance solutions in an ever more data-led construction market.
The Kin tags leverage the company’s mesh network and connect to the company’s Raw (TU600) installed network of devices via the Trackunit Manager and the Trackunit Go app. Each connected tag links to the TU600 network installed on machines around the globe, connecting the user and expanding the data available for business insights.
Couplers and work tools bearing this logo can work with any excavator from OEMs that are members of the Open-S Alliance.Open-S AllianceVolvo joins Open-S Alliance
Recently Volvo announced it has joined the Open-S Alliance. The alliance is a group of manufacturers that have agreed to design hydraulic attachments in such a way that their quick couplers and adaptors will work with any excavator regardless of the brand of the machine. This makes it easier for contractors to use different couplers, tiltrotators and work tool brands without being locked into a proprietary solution from one manufacturer.
The Open-S Alliance is a manufacturer-independent organization. There are three levels of membership: full, associate and supporting, depending on if Open-S products are developed, produced in-house or sourced. Since early 2021, Volvo CE has delivered quick couplers and adaptors directly from the factory and is now joining the Open-S Alliance as a supporting member.
Survey says data driving AEC transformation
More bricks than bytes, construction has been slow to adopt digital technology. But that is changing, according to a new report from Dodge Data & Analytics and Autodesk. The study finds the most frequently used BIM (building information modeling) technologies by architecture, engineering and construction firms are cloud computing (42%), model-based simulation (33%), virtual/augmented/mixed reality (28%), 3D printing (25%) and reality capture (25%).
The technologies best poised for growth, with a relatively high percentage of respondents who expect to adopt them in the next two to three years, include generative/outcome-based design (20%), 3D printing (19%), model-driven prefabrication (18%), model-driven simulation (18%), robotics/automated equipment (18%), reality capture (17%) and AI/machine learning (17%).
Firmatek acquired Kespry’s drone-based aerial intelligence platform.Buildwitt
Firmatek acquired Kespry’s drone-based aerial intelligence platform.Buildwitt
Tag tools and attachments with the Kin asset tracking system and you’ll always know where they are.Trackunit
Couplers and work tools bearing this logo can work with any excavator from OEMs that are members of the Open-S Alliance.Open-S Alliance
