AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
iVT International Off-Highway 2020 41
to enjoy the ‘comfort zone’ of a well-mastered job,
while considering new practices a challenge for
which a ‘change management’ attitude must first
to be adopted. The number of different
stakeholders and fragmentation of the supply
chain can lead to inertia towards innovation.
Lastly regional markets have intrinsic differences
including regulations, cost of materials, cost of
workforce and quality requirements for products.
At the same time every building can be
considered unique due to the many differences in
shape, materials, components used and locations.
“If we consider the field of earth-moving
machines, especially small machines, the main
issue is the lack of repetitive operations for which
robots generally provide their main
contributions,” says Niccolini. “Unlike larger
machines, small excavators are used for many
different tasks. In this context, new technologies
are required to fulfil many requirements. These
include being cheap compared to the price of an
existing machine, robust, flexible and smart as
they need to be able to adapt to different tasks
and environments.”
Due to the ongoing lack of robotics in
construction, most operations that require high
power and/or high accuracy are still manually
performed by humans using simple machines in
inefficient or even dangerous ways.
“It is not a coincidence that certain studies
suggest productivity in the construction industry
has been declining over the last decades and that
the conventional construction paradigm has
reached its performance limit,” says Niccolini. “It
is true that many jobs are designed for humans.
For example, bricks are made for the human
hand. The processes that are behind construction
are also designed to be done by humans. If you
want to introduce robots you need to change
both the components and the processes involved.”
Raison d’etre
Exciting though it may be, the eFuzion has been
developed purely as a demonstration vehicle and
is unlikely to go into general production. If this is
the case, why develop it at all?
“We could ask the same of the car industry;
why develop concept cars if we can’t find them on
WHY ROBOTICS? MARTA NICCOLINI, ROBOTIC
GROUP LEADER FOR YANMAR
“When I was a child, I was always curious about how things
worked. I used to disassemble a lot of my mother’s things such
as the vacuum cleaner. My mother would get annoyed because
when I tried to put them back together there were always some
parts left over. When I was a 15 or 16, I started developing some
electronics by myself and programming microcontrollers. That’s
what got me interested in robotics and mechatronics – to get
mechanical things to move but with some intelligence provided
by the electronics, the sensors and so on.
“At high school, I started to study to become a teacher.
I didn’t like studying but my parents forced me to at least do that
much. But then when I got older, I discovered that I liked math and physics much more than psychology
or philosophy. I decided to start computer engineering, and then specialized in control and robotics
engineering. I went on to do my PhD at the University of Pisa for three years, then switched to a doctoral
position in medical robotics at a research center. I decided to join Yanmar because it gave me with the
chance to continue doing research but in a more applied way, on real products. That’s why I decided to
change from an academic career to one based on working at a company. One has to follow the one’s
passion otherwise this could become hard work and stressful. But if you have passion, if you like what
you do, it feels like a hobby. I think you should always believe in what you do. Even if at first you think
something is impossible, it may become possible and you might be able to realize it if you believe in it.”