Regional group · Central America + USA
Komatsu digital jobsite
Reduce the project's life-cycle cost through more efficient and safer processes, using technology. Drone survey, 3D design, the machine guided against that design and every m³ moved on record. On the machine you already own.
What it is
Smart Construction is Komatsu's digital transformation strategy, created with Sony Semiconductors, NTT Communication and Nomura Research Institute under the EARTHBRAIN entity. It digitizes and automates the processes of a complete earthmoving project: the survey, the design, the machine's work and the measurement of what was actually moved.
The project cycle
Stage 1
Less time and more safety: the on-foot survey is replaced by drone scanning — LiDAR or photogrammetry — and the terrain is recorded exactly as it was before the first machine moved.
Stage 2
Lower cost and time in planning, without driving to the site — and with the volume calculated you can adjust the rates you charge contractors.
Stage 3
Progress control against the Gantt chart, more productive operators, less day-to-day variability — and therefore lower project cost — plus operational continuity: no stopping the machine to survey or load designs.
Stage 4
Remote progress review, quality control and project close-out with fast data for payment certificates — and less over-excavation, which is dirt you pay to move twice.
The modules
You do not have to take it all at once. The usual start is wherever it hurts most — measuring volume or guiding one machine — and adding the rest as the project demands.
Your site's digital twin
The platform where drone surveys and machine records are loaded to track the site's progress. It is where the terrain stops being an impression and becomes a number: how much was moved, what is missing and what the remainder costs.
The machine you already own, guided
Control and guidance kits fitted onto conventional machines for precision work, with their in-cab display. You do not need a new factory-fitted machine to start: when the project ends, the kit comes off and goes onto another unit.
Support without driving to site
Remote connection to the machine-control monitor — any brand, it is agnostic — to transfer design files or interact with the screen and support the operator. The machine does not stop to load a design and nobody works from an outdated drawing.
Loading and hauling, measured
Haul-fleet management tied to the loading excavator: payload recorded at the bucket, real cycle times and truck routes. The truck does not need to be a Komatsu or a new one — it carries a device and a smartphone.
The kits
What separates one kit from another is where it gets its position reference — and that is what decides the accuracy and where it can work.
Simple two-dimensional surfaces, such as a sloped bank.
Position reference: A rotating laser emitter projects, in line of sight, onto a sensor mounted on the machine.
The full design is shown in 3D on the operator's panel, with all its shapes.
Position reference: Satellites plus a base station on site that corrects the satellite position. A single base can serve several machines; if you already own one, it is used.
Full 3D design at millimetre precision, on sites where satellites do not reach.
Position reference: A robotic laser total station tracks a prism mounted on the machine and feeds the position to the control box.
The control system regulates the cut: it drives the solenoid valves and moves the blade or grading tool on its own.
The operator moves the machine guided by the on-screen reference, the cut/fill indication and an audible alert as the target grade approaches.
By machine type
Komatsu 3D guidance (3DMG) with integrated weighing, or automatic 3D control
Komatsu's own retrofit kit: IMU sensors on boom, arm, bucket and body, GNSS antenna, controller and tablet. From PC30 to PC1250, with Payload Meter up to PC490. Accuracy of 1 to 5 cm. Two systems in one: it guides the operator and weighs the load.
The excavator implements the design on its own, as an experienced operator would, and the bucket is used to take survey points on site. It switches between GNSS guidance and a robotic total station as the ground allows.
Applications
Benefits
Automatic 3D GPS control, or 2D laser for a simple slope
GNSS antenna, in-cab control box, GNSS controller, slope sensor and hydraulic valve: the blade follows the design with position updates 100 times per second. Automatic mode can be reserved for the finishing pass only.
For simple sloped surfaces, with a rotating laser emitter and a receiver on the blade mast. The entry point when the project does not need 3D.
Applications
Benefits
3D GPS in the open, millimetre 3D LPS where satellites do not reach
GNSS antenna, solenoid valve, slope and rotation sensors and control box: centimetre accuracy and a blade governed by the design, with no stakes or string lines.
A robotic total station tracks the machine's prism and measures its position continuously. It goes from 20 mm down to 5 mm and needs no open sky: it works in tunnels, dense urban sites and anywhere with obstructions.
Applications
Benefits
SC Fleet: cycle times, routes and payload for hauling — with any brand of truck
The truck carries a fleet device and a smartphone; the loading excavator contributes the payload from its kit. The web app shows cycles, routes, traffic history and proximity and zone alerts.
Applications
Benefits
Machine control available — scope confirmed per model
The wheel loader is among the machines the ecosystem covers, alongside compactors, pavers and milling machines. What can be fitted to your model, and with which position reference, is defined during the technical visit.
Applications
Benefits
What Komatsu measured
Komatsu's own figures, from a job measured end to end: 29.50 hours the traditional way against 16.10 hours using the technology. These are factory references, not a result we have measured in Central America — what we can do is measure yours in the Dashboard from the very first drone flight.
Komatsu test — same surface
3.0 h → 1.1 h
Up to 63% efficiency across the full cycle, per Komatsu's test
| Stage | Conventional | Guided |
|---|---|---|
| Staking | 1.0 h | 0.1 h |
| Operation | 1.0 h | 0.4 h |
| Inspection | 1.0 h | 0.6 h |
Komatsu test comparing excavation and slope grading of the same surface, with and without machine guidance. Conventional staking and inspection take two people each.
Before you start
Required for the system to work on the ground. One base can connect several machines, and if you already own one it is used — no need to quote another.
The flight digitizes the working surface; it is the Dashboard's input. The post-processing that turns that flight into a digital twin is done by us.
Digital surveying know-how to commission the machine-control systems. The total station comes in only to calibrate the 3DMG: it is not part of the system.
SC Remote and SC Fleet run over the network: the working face needs signal to transfer designs and report cycles.
Frequently asked questions
No. The retrofit kit is fitted onto conventional machines already in your fleet, and when the project ends it comes off and goes onto another unit. That is the difference from a factory-fitted system: it does not require a new machine to start working with guidance.
3DMG is Komatsu's own development and goes on Komatsu excavators, from PC30 to PC1250. The rest does not: SC Remote is agnostic and connects to any brand's control monitor, and SC Fleet works with trucks of any brand and model. The Dashboard takes the drone flight regardless of who owns the machines.
With indicative guidance, the operator moves the machine supported by the screen, the cut/fill indication and an audible alert as the target grade approaches. With automatic control, the system drives the solenoid valves and regulates the cut itself. Komatsu's 3DMG for excavators is indicative 3D guidance, accurate to 1–5 cm.
3D GPS works at around 3 cm with a base station on site. Komatsu's 3DMG for excavators sits between 1 and 5 cm. LPS with a robotic total station goes from 20 mm down to 5 mm and is what you use where there are obstructions or no open sky — tunnels, dense urban sites, underground work.
Yes, the GNSS base station is required for the system to work on the ground. If you already have one, it is used — no need to quote another. And a single base can connect several machines at once.
Komatsu's deck places it in tailings ponds, mineral pipelines, mass movements, haul-road maintenance and construction, civil works, shrimp ponds, ducts and trenching — and underground, where LPS works without GPS coverage. It shows up most in high-volume projects with payment certificates per m³ moved.
Grupo ConstruMarket, the authorized Komatsu dealer in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. The conversation starts with a technical visit to the project to define which machines come in, with which position reference and what is needed on the site side.
We visit the site to see which machines come in, which position reference the ground allows and what is needed: base station, coverage, drone flight. That produces a proposal with a real scope, not a catalog. We are not starting from zero: we already have machines installed and running with Smart Construction in the region.
