Construction projects keep growing while the spaces they happen in keep shrinking. For excavation work that means the margin for error is gone: a bucket 10 centimetres too deep costs material, time and sometimes a cable. 3D GPS machine control removes the guesswork by showing the operator, live in the cabin, where the bucket is relative to the design.
How 3D GPS machine control works
UNI-Machine combines our RTK GNSS technology with machine sensors from Nijhuis Engineering. One UNI-GR2 sits on the machine and a second one acts as the base station. Together with sensors on boom, stick and bucket they feed a 3D visualisation in the cabin: the bucket position against the design, centimetre-accurate, from multiple viewing angles in a 2D or 3D interface.
The operator loads the design as LandXML, DWG or DXF and digs straight on it. Depth, distance and excavation limits are on the screen, so grade checks with a staff and a second man on the edge of the trench disappear from the routine. Dutch KLIC utility data imports too, so the registered cables and pipes are visible from the seat, before the bucket gets near them.
It installs on any excavator type, from mini to long-reach, wheeled or tracked, and supports all coordinate reference systems.
The site around the machine
Machine control is not sealed off from the rest of the project. The operator adjusts or creates 3D models and polygons on site, using the bucket or a marXact GNSS survey pole, and the changes sync to UNI-Cloud in real time, visible in the office the moment you save. The surveying the crew does with UNI-Collect lives in the same environment.
As our co-founder Tommy van der Heijden put it: “By joining forces with Nijhuis, a leading authority in machine sensor control and safety systems, we’ve created a solution that truly meets the market’s needs.”
What it replaces
The traditional rhythm of machine work is waiting: waiting for the surveyor to stake out, waiting for a grade check, waiting for the as-built. With the design in the cabin, the operator digs when the work is ready, not when the schedule of a specialist allows it. Stakes that get driven over on day one stop being the site’s running joke.
A concrete example
A contractor digs the cunet for a new residential street. The design is loaded in the cabin, the operator follows depth and slopes on the screen, and the foreman spot-checks with the survey pole. The sand supplier delivers against measured volumes, and when the street is handed over, the as-built documentation already sits in UNI-Cloud.
Van start gaan
UNI-Machine works with UNI-Cloud and UNI-Collect, and hardware installation runs through Nijhuis Engineering. Curious what it looks like on your machine? Vraag een demo aan and we will show you, on your own project if you like.