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The Excavator Lifted 6.52 Kilograms Per Cycle

A scaled hydraulic machine combined LiDAR target selection with learned approach, digging and lifting policies.

Published Updated Story ID: mp-2026-09-25-010
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Summary

A scaled hydraulic machine combined LiDAR target selection with learned approach, digging and lifting policies.

A learning-based excavation stack selected targets from LiDAR elevation maps, used reinforcement learning for approach and loaded transport, and used imitation learning for vision-based digging and lifting. On a scaled hydraulic excavator, the learned digging policy averaged 6.52 kilograms per completed cycle versus 2.68 kilograms for a fixed-dig baseline. Three five-scoop runs demonstrated consecutive operation as the pile changed, but the evidence remains a scaled experimental system rather than full-size field deployment.

Why it matters

A scaled hydraulic machine combined LiDAR target selection with learned approach, digging and lifting policies.

Limits and context

No additional limitation was separately recorded.

Key claims

  1. A scaled hydraulic machine combined LiDAR target selection with learned approach, digging and lifting policies.

    Evidence: source-2026-09-25-010

Sources

  1. arXiv preprint 2609.29750arXiv · primary research

Corrections

No corrections have been recorded for this story.