FINNING UK & Ireland has teamed up with Flannery Plant Hire to trial a smart detection system capable of alerting operators if someone is too close to their machine.
Flannery has completed a two-year product development trial of Cat Personnel Detection, the latest system launched from the Cat Vision range. The system is designed to reduce the risk of injury to personnel working around machinery by alerting an operator based on the person’s proximity to the machine.
The product development trial involved the smart camera system being fitted to eight machines – a mix of excavators and dozers – involved on HS2 sites. Feedback was collated by Finning and passed onto the product team at Cat to support its further development.
Patrick Flannery, director at Flannery Plant Hire, said, “We were delighted to be approached by Cat to be a test bed for this new product thanks to our relationship with Finning. Keeping people safe on and around sites where our machines are working is something we factor into every company decision.
“Health and safety first is an approach that everyone at Flannery Plant Hire is expected to take. So any product innovation which helps our employees, and our client base, to do this effectively is something we always consider seriously.
“We found the Cat Vision Personnel Detect system to be a robust piece of kit which has clearly been manufactured to a high standard, and smart detection systems like this are likely to become standard soon so are something our sector will have to invest in.”
The system, which can be installed on most medium-size machines including non-Cat wheel loaders, graders, tractors, and track loaders, includes a single rear facing camera together with a 10-inch-high resolution touchscreen display with smart detection.
It allows an operator to zoom in and has a 170-degree field of vision with target areas set at 20, 10 and five metres which relate to three colour zones. Yellow is low risk so while the system will detect the person there is no audible alert, but if they step closer into the Orange zone this triggers an intermittent alarm, then there is a non-stop solid alarm for someone detected in the Red zone.
Chris Phillips, product manager and quality engineer for Finning, added, “While many machines come with cab cameras fitted, where Cat Personnel Detection differs is that it can specifically identify people from objects and will trigger an operator response because it sounds either an intermittent or solid alarm depending on how close they are to the machine.
“The system creates a boundary box around the person making them easy to spot, but if they step out of the field of view of the screen the system can still detect them and will give the operator a red or orange bar or ‘bumper’ on-screen depending on how close they are.
“It can be physically fitted to machines with a minimum height of 1.75m, up to maximum of 3.5m, so is suitable for typically mid-range machines. There are plans to expand it to a greater range of machines in the future, including articulated trucks. The algorithm and the capability of the system is also being developed so it will be able to offer recording capability as well.”
