Cat teams up with Seeing Machines for operator safety boost

staying sharp

Caterpillar has entered into an agreement with Seeing Machines to deliver and support light vehicle and on-highway driver fatigue and distraction monitoring technology through Cat dealers

Seeing Machines’ Guardian 2 system is an advanced, non-intrusive system that senses operator movements and analyses them for symptoms of fatigue or distraction in light vehicle applications. Seat vibration and audio alarms alert operators when a micro-sleep or distraction event is detected to effectively reduce dangerous and costly incidents.

Guardian 2 joins the Driver Safety System (DSS), which monitors fatigue and distraction in off-highway vehicles, as part of the Cat MineStar Detect portfolio of safety technologies and services.

The system employs an improved sensor for enhanced resolution and an expanded field of view inside the cab.

“The Guardian 2 system reduces the likelihood of safety incidents by alerting operators and keeping them focused on the job at hand,” MineStar Detect products commercial manager Mindy Elsasser says. “The monitoring services also provide near real-time alerts that inform supervisors of fatigue and distraction events, allowing them to respond quickly to help prevent further incidents,” she says.

Additionally, the system provides reports and analytics, which enable site leaders to track patterns and determine if operators are having repeated fatigue or distraction events. Reports give managers visibility to the full impact of fatigue and distraction on safety and performance.

ahead of the game

Screenmasters’ new

heavy duty rock

trammel can handle larger rocks and clay rich material for better screening

Above: Designs for the SMA600 heavy duty rock trommel - expected to arrive in Australia in early 2021 Left: Seeing Machines’ Guardian 2 enables site leaders to track patterns and determine if operators are having repeated fatigue or distraction events

Screenmasters is adding to its range of trommels and scalping screens with the new SMA600 heavy duty rock trommel, set to arrive early next year.

Ciaran Lagan, the company’s NSW sales director, tells Earthmovers & Excavators that the new machine, currently under construction, will be able to handle rocks of up to 800mm in diameter.

“The traditional scalping screen can’t accept those bigger feed sizes, so one of the benefits of a rock trommel is that it is more robust,” he says.

“It is also good for clearing up clay rich material – it has a drum cleaner on it, so any clay rich material that would normally block up a screen is broken down and pushed through, so you can separate the rock from the clay.”

Lagan says the machine will have a number of new features designed specifically for Australia, including larger oil coolers and heavy-duty gearboxes to help the unit conveyors handle the larger rocks.

“We did a push pull feeder – it is just more robust when you are dropping larger rocks onto the feeder, and other little changes like that,” he says.

Screenmasters plans to get one larger and one smaller model for the company’s Sydney base – delivering from there to all over Australia’s east coast, Lagan says.

The SMA600 will join Screenmasters’ Australia’s new product range of crushers, screens and stackers all built and designed for the Australian market.