Machine control spreads its wings

Traditionally 3D machine control systems have been used on a relatively narrow band of equipment types: graders, dozers and excavators (if "tradition" can be applied to a technology that's only been around for less than two decades). But in the past few years, we've seen an accelerating trend to putting these systems on a wider range of equipment, as contractors and other end-users seek to extend the productivity, efficiency, materials saving and time-reduction benefits across their entire fleet.  Equipment that is now being successfully fitted with machine control technology includes:
. Front-end loaders
(both wheel and crawler)
. Backhoe/loaders
. Skidsteer loaders
. Rollers and compactors
(both soil and asphalt)
. Pavers
. Profilers and milling machines.

And as more and more equipment types are fitted with machine control, the day will surely come when an entire construction site is run by machine control-equipped plant, allowing unprecedented levels of project planning and jobsite communications.