*Correspondingauthor.E-mailaddress:tateyamase.ritsumei.ac.jp(K.Tateyama).JournalofTerramechanics43(2006)341353/locate/jterraJournalofTerramechanics0022-4898/$20.00C2112005ISTVS.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.AbstractGeomechatronicsisatechnicalfieldinwhichGeotechniquesisfusedwithMecha-tronicsthatisthetechnicalfieldtopromotetheautomaticcontrolofmachinesbyusingtheelectronics.InthefieldofGeomechatronics,aconstructionmachine,whichtreatsgeo-technicalmaterialssuchassoilandrock,automaticallyevaluatesthepropertiesandcondi-tionsofthegroundanddeterminestheoptimumcontrollingmethodofitselfforthegroundwiththebaseofthemachinegroundinteraction.Someresearchesforpracticaluseinthefieldofgeomechatronicsareintroduced,andthentheprogressingviewofthisresearchandtechnicalfiledisexplainedinthispaper.C2112005ISTVS.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Geomechatronics；Constructionrobotics；Soilmachineinteraction；Groundevaluation；MachinecontrolGeomechatronicsInteractionbetweengroundandconstructionmachineryanditsapplicationtoconstructionroboticsK.Tateyamaa,*,S.Ashidaa,R.Fukagawaa,H.TakahashibaCollegeofScienceandEngineering,RitsumeikanUniversity,1-1-1,Nozi-higashi,Kusatsu,Shiga525-8577,JapanbDepartmentofEnvironmentalStudies,TohokuUniversity,6-6-20,Aoba,Aramaki,Aoba,Sendai980-8579,JapanReceived29September2004；receivedinrevisedform7April2005；accepted16May2005Availableonline27October2005doi:10.1016/j.jterra.2005.05.008andtheconstructionprocessinDJMmethod,respectively.Mixingbladesattachedtoasquaresteelpipearerotatedontheaxisofthepipeandaredrivenintothe342K.Tateyamaetal./JournalofTerramechanics43(2006)341353ground.Afterthebladesreachafirmsoillayer,theyarepulledoutoftheground.Achemicalagentisthensentdownthroughthepipewithhighlycompressedairandisinjectedintothesoftsoilduringeithertherotatingpenetrationintoortherotatingpulloutoftheground.Theinjectedagentismixedwiththesoftsoilandachemicalreactionbetweentheagentandthewaterinthegroundcreatesfirmcol-umnsintheground.Thismethodisoftenusednotonlyinsoilstabilization,butalsointheconstructionofvariousstructuralfoundations.IntheDJMmethod,itisrequiredtodevelopthesysteminwhichthemachinecontrolandtheamountofthechemicalagentareoptimizedaccordingtothegroundconditionsinordertocreateuniformimprovedcolumns,eectively.InthefieldofGeomechatronics,theauthorssuggestthesysteminwhichthegroundconditionsareevaluatedinrealtimeduringtheconstructionandtheresultiseectivelyappliedtothemachinecontrolortheoptimizationoftheconstruction.2.2.GroundevaluationinDJMmethodIntheDJMmethod,thegroundpropertycanbeevaluatedinreal-timefromthe1.IntroductionOperatorsofconstructionmachineswhichtreatgeotechnicalmaterialssuchassoil,gravel,rockandsoonastheirworkingobjects,generallyevaluatethegroundcondi-tionsanddeterminethemostsuitableoperatingmethodforthegroundconditions.Whenconstructionrobotsdothesamejobinconstructionfields,theyshouldhaveafunctiontoevaluatethegroundconditionsandthendeterminethebestmethodforcon-trollingthemselvesaccordingtothegroundconditions.Theevaluationofgroundcon-ditionsandtheapplicationoftheirresultstothecontrolofthemachinesareexpectedtobecomethemostimportantfunctionsthatconstructionrobotspossessinthefuture.TheauthorssuggestthetechnicalfieldGeomechatronics,inwhichGeotech-niquesisfusedwithMechatronicsthatisthetechnicalfieldtopromotetheauto-maticcontrolofmachinesusingelectronics.Inthefieldofgeomechatronics,theconstructionmachinesautomaticallyevaluatethepropertiesandconditionsofthegroundanddeterminetheoptimumcontrollingmethodofthemselvesforthegroundwiththebaseofthemachinegroundinteraction.Someresearchesforpracticaluseinthefieldofgeomechatronicsareintroducedinthispaper.2.GeomechatronicsinDJMmethod2.1.DryjetmixingmethodDryjetmixing(DJM)methodisarepresentativemethodusedtoimprovedeepsoftsoilinconstructionsites.Figs.1and2showthestructuresofthemachinemeasureddataofthemachineloadandthecontrollingparametersofthemachine.K.Tateyamaetal./JournalofTerramechanics43(2006)341353343Theformeristhemixingtorqueandthepenetratingresistancewhichactonthemix-ingblade,andthelatteristhepenetratingandmixingspeedoftheblade.Tocom-pletethegroundevaluatingsystem,therelationofthegroundtothemachineloadFig.1.MachineandconstructioninDJMmethod.Fig.2.ConstructionprocessinDJMmethod.andtheeectofthecontrollingparameterstotherelationmustbeunderstood.Therearetwoapproachescommonlyusedforthissubject.Inthefirstapproach,fuzzyreasoningisappliedtotheevaluationprocessinordertotreatthevariousobscuritiesbothinthegroundandintheinteractionbetweenthemachineandtheground1.Inthesecondapproach,atheoreticaldiscussioniscarriedoutwiththesoilcuttingtheorytostudytherelationshipbetweenthesoilpropertiesandthemix-ingtorque2.Inthispaper,thelattermethodwasexplained,wherethegroundpropertycantheoreticallybeevaluatedfromthemixingtorqueTandthepenetrat-ingspeedv.2.3.Soilcuttingwithablade344K.Tateyamaetal./JournalofTerramechanics43(2006)341353Fig.3givesasketchofthecuttingbladewhichcutsthesoilintheground.Hata3suggestedanempiricalrelationforthehorizontalcomponentofcuttingresistanceHa(N)bythefollowing:Ha1:82C1BC1t2C1RS10C0maBC1bC1tC1dtdxtand；1whereBisthewidthoftheblade(m),tistheheightoftheblade(m),xisthehor-izontalmovingdistanceoftheblade(m),RSisthespecificcuttingresistance(N/m3),aistherakeangleoftheblade(rad),bisthecoecientofthepenetratingresistance(N/m2),disthefrictionanglebetweensoilandblade(rad),mistheconstantdepend-ingonthesoilproperty.Thefirsttermintherightsideexpressesthecuttingresistanceactingonthebladewhenitcutsthesoilhorizontally,andthesecondtermistheresistanceactingonthetipofthebladewhenitpenetratesintotheground.ThespecificcuttingresistanceRSinEq.(1)expressesthest