Teleo, a company building autonomous technology for heavy construction equipment, announced it is expanding its strategic focus to deploy autonomous heavy machinery - such as wheel loaders, terminal tractors, excavators and more - into new industries beyond construction.
The news, which was announced at UP.Summit, includes Teleo securing new orders for 34 machines and nine new customer deals in the pulp and paper, logging, port logistics, munition clearing and agriculture industries.
Teleo is also targeting expansion into other industries such as airports, waste and recycling, logistics, warehousing and more. Additional orders have been placed that expand Teleo’s presence in the snow removal and construction industries, including the company’s entry into the Australian market.
Teleo creates large, heavy duty autonomous robots
Teleo converts any make, model and vintage of heavy equipment - such as bulldozers, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks and more - into autonomous robots. Teleo’s Supervised Autonomy keeps human operators involved, enabling one human to oversee multiple autonomous machines at once. The human operator acts as a supervisor with the ability to step in remotely to control the machine if needed.
Teleo is moving the operator out of the cab of the machine and away from the harsh job site environment, and into a remote central command center, making the operator's role safer, comfortable and more accessible. Teleo’s technology helps address the growing labor shortage that is currently plaguing many industries.
“From day one, we have been obsessed with building a platform - both hardware and software - that is universally applicable to any make and model of heavy machinery and use case, opening doors to new industries,” said Vinay Shet, co-founder and CEO, Teleo. “While construction remains a core industry for us, it's evident that our technology offers significant value across a broader range of sectors. Our machine-agnostic and industry-agnostic approach ensures quick and easy deployment, allowing us to launch at diverse job sites, from remote and bustling to large and small, and from indoor to outdoor environments.”
Teleo targets new industries and applications
A sample of the diverse range of customers representing new industries for Teleo include the following:
Munition clearing
Brice Environmental Services Corporation is an Alaskan-based company that removes munitions and explosives on Department of Defense sites nationwide. The company is outfitting a Liebherr 9150B excavator with Teleo’s technology for deployment on the western limits of the Aleutian Chain in Alaska. Teleo’s technology will allow Brice to remotely operate the excavator that is digging and repairing a shoreline historically known to potentially contain munitions of explosive concern. This ensures that humans are kept out of harm’s way as the shoreline is repaired. Deployment is expected to begin in 2025.
Pulp and paper
U.S.-based RYAM is a global leader in paper milling. The company has placed orders to outfit three Caterpillar wheel loaders of diverse vintage - a 988K, a 980M and a 988H - with Teleo Supervised Autonomy. This fall, RYAM will deploy the Teleo-equipped machines to haul bark and wood chips 24/7 at its pulp and paper mill in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
An operator remotely operates one wheel loader to load bark and then it is autonomously hauled by the machine to an incinerator that burns it to produce energy that powers the facility. A second wheel loader is operated remotely to load wood chips that are then autonomously hauled to a bin for processing for paper manufacturing. The third Teleo-equipped wheel loader will be rotated in as needed to ensure continuity of 24/7. Two of the three machines are deployed and beginning in late fall a single operator will oversee the machines from one of two command centers.
“Teleo’s incremental approach to autonomy enables us to integrate technology that improves our productivity and run our around-the-clock operations more efficiently,” said Daniel Porter, senior manager of process automation, RYAM. “The central command center also provides a more accessible and safer environment for our operators, who can oversee multiple machines from the comfort of an office.
Teleo global partner network dealer Dobbs Positioning Solutions was responsible for introducing the technology to RYAM and facilitating the deal between the companies.
Logging
Finland-based Fin-Terpuu Oy, one of Europe’s largest logging companies, has deployed Teleo’s Supervised Autonomy on a Volvo L350F wheel loader for operations. This is the world’s first logging yard with autonomous operations. The company is conducting autonomous tramming, or hauling of materials from one point to another, of logs from their arrival point to a processing yard. Pick-up and drop-off activities are remote operated.
Fin-Terpuu’s active logging sites are complex and harsh environments, with around-the-clock operations happening in snow and cold weather, and often complete darkness as the Finland site experiences three months with no sunlight. The company chose Teleo’s offering as a way to overcome an ongoing labor shortage and to improve overall operational safety. Teleo global dealer network partner Sumirai, formerly called SR-O Technology, facilitated the collaboration with Fin-Terpuu Oy.
Port logistics
Rauanheimo, a Finnish port logistics company, has outfitted a Volvo L350H wheel loader with Teleo Supervised Autonomy and is hauling bulk materials. Bulk cargo is transported in a loose manner, or within drums, crates or barrels. The Teleo-equipped wheel loader is moving materials such as iron, wood pellets or hazardous materials around the clock to and from ships using remote and autonomous operations at Kokkola Port in Finland. Sumirai also facilitated Teleo’s deployments with Rauanheimo.
In addition to the above industries, Teleo received machine orders from a customer in the agriculture industry.
Further growth in snow removal and construction
Following Teleo’s 2024 entry into the snow removal industry, the company has expanded its work in snow removal with an order from Alff Construction in Bentonville, Ark. Alff has outfitted a John Deere 333G compact track loader with Teleo Supervised Autonomy and will deploy it to remotely clear snow for multiple big box retailers beginning in winter 2024. An operator in a remote central location will control the machine for late-night snow removal, working around traditional retail business hours. The company is also utilizing the machine for site preparations, landscaping and grading. Alff is testing Teleo’s technology to evaluate its potential for a future expansion across the country. The collaboration between Alff and Teleo was advanced by Teleo dealer Ozark Laser.
Construction and mining company Black Cat Civil has tapped into Teleo’s construction background. Black Cat confirmed a contract for 10 Teleo Autonomous machines. This marks Teleo's customer expansion into Australia supported and deployed by Teleo’s Australian distributor Aptella (formerly Position Partners).
Black Cat will integrate Teleo Supervised Autonomy into 10 of its fleet of Caterpillar 740EJ articulated dump trucks (ADTs). This implementation will demonstrate the performance of the technology to prove suitability in Australian conditions.
Black Cat is integrating Teleo’s technology to remove the danger of machines working within hazardous areas and improving productivity challenges, as well as improving working conditions for its workforce with autonomous and remote operations. Currently, the company deploys operators to a wide range of worksites across Australia. Teleo Supervised Autonomy will also provide flexibility for operators, reduced planning for costly polluted air travel, accommodation and other related logistics. Once fitted with the Teleo system in Q1 of 2025, Black Cat will determine the sites where the machines will be deployed.
MS Park Construction, a construction company and wholly-owned subsidiary of PNK Group located in New York, has placed an order for 10 machines. Ten machines will be immediately equipped with Teleo’s technology on eight John Deere 410P ADTs and two 850L SmartGrade bulldozers by the end of this year to build a large logistics warehouse site located in the Atlanta, Georgia area. The articulated dump trucks will perform large scale earthmoving, and will autonomously move dirt across the construction site. The dozer will perform precision grading. The company plans to bring their vision of a fully remote and autonomous jobsite to fruition.
MS Park Construction is using Teleo’s technology to improve the safety and efficiency of its operations. This includes reducing idle machine time and truck bunching, which is when faster trucks are slowed by the presence of slower trucks, and results in production losses and increasing fuel consumptions and idle time. Additionally, the company is working closely with Teleo and Dobbs Positioning Solutions, a division of Dobbs Equipment, which is also facilitating the deployment with MS Park Construction, to create an operator training plan. The program will use Dobbs Positioning Solutions’ remote command center located at its Atlanta store, and Teleo’s testing site to train MS Park Construction’s operators to ensure they are well equipped to supervise the autonomous machines upon deployment.
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