Collaboration between Leica Geosystems and Doosan has brought the release of a new Leica-ready factory kit that gives semi-automated functionality to the Doosan DX255LC-5 excavator.

With the new kit, Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, and Doosan, a global manufacturer of compact and heavy construction equipment, aim to increase productivity, accuracy and decrease operator fatigue and fuel consumption.

The new kit includes all the components needed to install the semi-automatic functionality for the DX255LC-5 excavator directly from Doosan鈥檚 factory through Doosan Smart Solutions.

Customers can also order Doosan鈥檚 wheeled and crawler excavators pre-configured to be ready for the installation of Leica 2D and 3D machine control systems.

鈥淭he automation journey into several areas in earthmoving equipment has been an active area of research and development over the past three decades in the industry,鈥� said Magnus Thibblin, president of Leica Geosystems Machine Control.

鈥漇tarting with the world鈥檚 first string-less paving solution, to 3D GNSS automatic dozer solutions, Leica Geosystems has been driving the change in the heavy construction industry,鈥� he said.

Leica Geosystems introduced semi-automatic functionality for excavators which offers part or full automation of the boom, bucket, tilt bucket or tilt rotator. Together with other automated features such as iXE CoPilot and Automatic Tool Recognition, operators should be able to work with less fatigue and higher working comfort which can minimise over digging and reduce operational costs.

To meet the increasing demand for machine guidance systems from excavator customers, Doosan is introducing a new ready kit for the and , which enables tilt bucket or tilt rotator automation for Doosan鈥檚 DX255LC-5 25.5 tonne crawler excavator.

鈥淯nder our motto of 鈥楶owered by Innovation鈥�, Doosan is keen on expanding our smart solution offerings. I am glad that our close partnership with Leica Geosystems resulted in the new ready kit for the Leica 2D and 3D machine control systems, which surely will help our customers achieve better productivity and job efficiency,鈥� says Charlie Hyunchul Park, Doosan Europe CEO.

The kits include all the components (main brackets, wires and sensors) required to make sure equipment is ready for the installation of the machine control solution and the semi-auto functionality, which gives customers the flexibility to install the complete system at a later date.