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DECATUR — There's something futuristic about watching a two-story tall mining truck drive itself.
The 794 large mining truck, much like the one parked in front of Caterpillar Inc.'s Decatur plant, can be outfitted to operate autonomously, as shown in CAT Trials 12: No Hands, a video released by CAT on Tuesday. The truck, made in Decatur, is used in nine countries over four continents primarily for copper, iron ore, coal and platinum mining.
CAT does a video series called “The CAT Trials,” said Archie Lyons, Caterpillar creative director and senior market professional.
“When we first started trials, it was all about testing our machines and their prowess,” Lyons said. “Then we realized they could help us test marketing as well.”
When they create a trial video, they focus on a product, service or technology offered by Caterpillar and partner it with a business need of customers. To that, they add a bit of pop culture for fun, and in past videos have demonstrated CAT products with the a giant game of Jenga, built the world's largest sand castle, and played tug of war and Pac-Man.
In the latest video, soccer star DaMarcus Beasley dribbles a ball through a maze of tables filled with fine china and glass stemware, while the 794 truck rolls along under its autonomous power alongside similar tables. In the end, Beasley kicks the ball into the bed of the dump truck while a CAT 299 compact track loader, also under its own power, pushes a soccer goal into place so the mining truck can lift its bed and drop the ball neatly into the net.
Autonomous products, Lyons said, are driven by a computer, and the video shows the high level of safety and productivity possible with that technology, created by Caterpillar's own staff. In CAT Trial 3, they drove an excavator through a china shop filled with $40,000 of merchandise, and that video inspired this one.
“We said if we can do that with a small machine, can we do it with a large machine?” Lyons said. They chose soccer for the pop culture feature of the video because players like Beasley are nimble and agile, he said, and also not allowed to use their hands to touch the ball, and an autonomous machine like the 794 runs with “no hands” as well, which is where they got the name for the video.
Customers are always interested in two things, said Fred Rio, Caterpillar construction digital and technology product manager. They want to improve productivity and safety.
“An autonomous solution does just that,” Rio said. “It allows our customers to have an operation that is a lot more productive and a lot safer. There's a lot more precision in the operation of the equipment and the site overall. It's safer because what we're doing is, instead of having people in the machines, operating the machines, the people are in an office environment and instead of being in the line of fire, they're removed from the site itself and in an office programming the machines to do the work in a most optimal way.”
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Caterpillar Inc. employees participate in the company's first "Decatur Pillar 500" event, in which teams of four ride drifting tricycles in a relay race around the circle drive in front of the facility on North 27th Street in Decatur. The race served as a fundraiser benefiting United Way of Decatur and Mid Illinois.
Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter
• Its rated gross machine weight (total operating weight when loaded with material) is 1.15 million pounds
• Operating in nine countries over four continents
• More than 800,000 operating hours in the field
• Primarily used in copper, iron ore, coal, and platinum mines
• Height (to the top of the canopy when body is lowered) 25 feet, 8 inches. That’s about the same as a two-story house
• Tires are 12 feet, 6 inches tall
View the Hands off video at cat.com/trial12
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