As an innovation leader and co-founder of the NODIG technology, TRACTO has long been working on the automation of the drilling process, which not only significantly increases its efficiency, but also improves working conditions and safety on the construction site. Our long-term goal is autonomous drilling," says Elmar Koch, Head of Research and Development at TRACTO. With the development of an inliner HDD drill rod, TRACTO is taking a big step in this direction.
Construction sites are becoming increasingly digitalised in terms of planning, execution, monitoring and documentation. This is being driven by ever-increasing quality standards and a severe shortage of skilled labour in almost all areas of the construction industry. The consequences of this development are being mitigated by the increasing automation of many work operations, and trenchless construction is no exception. TRACTO's HDD rigs already use a variety of support systems to enable pipe installations to be carried out with less manpower. This makes drilling more efficient and safer, while at the same time providing the customer with valuable data on the job and the ground conditions.
When asked about the future of drilling, Elmar Koch explains that the long-term goal is to implement fully autonomous drilling in order to achieve greater overall safety, higher efficiency, more flexibility for contractors, more sustainability and complete documentation. The road to this goal involves several intermediate steps. In the future vision, only one operator will be needed for the drilling process, who will be able to monitor several machines simultaneously from a control centre.
According to Koch, this process is similar to the long development path to autonomous driving that the automotive industry has been following for years with various support systems such as cruise control, lane departure warning systems, distance control, parking systems and many more. Although the ultimate goal of autonomous driving lies in the future, these systems are already making driving more pleasant and stress-free – and this is exactly what TRACTO wants to offer users of its HDD systems.
Support systems make work more attractive and safer
In the long-term development of autonomous drilling, support systems are tested extensively so that errors can be eliminated at an early stage. Throughout the entire process, the productivity and quality of drilling will continue to increase as the operator‘s comfort as strenuous and monotonous tasks are reduced, allowing him to focus more on planning, monitoring and controlling the drilling process than on actually carrying it out. This development ensures that the operator's job will become more comfortable as working conditions continue to improve – an important measure against the shortage of skilled labour.
Sustainable developments in drilling technology
Every new support system changes the way drilling is done and the role of the operator: At present, the operator can still carry out the drilling process manually, but he can also choose between semi-automatic and fully automatic mode for various operations, such as rod changing. Cameras monitor the drilling process, GPS is used to digitally document the bore, sensors on the drill head provide information about the ground conditions, and other sensors measure distances around the machine and detect hazards. Comprehensive data analysis and evaluation is also carried out to help the machine operator assess and react to unexpected events during the drilling process. The new generation of GRUNDODRILL JCS/ACS drilling rigs offers the highest level of automation currently available on the market, setting new standards in its performance class in terms of productivity and comfort in HDD due to an intuitive operating concept combined with maximum performance. The design provides an ideal platform for future developments. These include alternative drive concepts, which TRACTO is already implementing with the first drill rig in the series with an electric drive, model JCS130E.
With the ORFEUS radar system, it will also be possible to use radar antennas in the drill head to detect unexpected obstacles, such as incorrectly mapped supply lines. This helps to avoid drilling aborts and damage, and speeds up the entire drilling process.
TRACTO customers can also use an increasing number of digital tools for HDD, such as for fleet management, bore planning and the storage of drilling data for the client. A variety of easy-to-use applications are available for these services. The TRACTO Future Community, where an intensive exchange between TRACTO's digital business team and customers takes place, ensures that these tools are developed with the users’ requirements in mind. Customer feedback, their needs and experiences, feeds directly into the work of the developers and also helps to ensure that this information can be used to develop further demand-driven support systems for the autonomous drilling process in future.
Innovation in inliner HDD drill rods
The future of HDD drilling technology in terms of automation, productivity and safety is inextricably linked to collecting and processing large amounts of data. A new drill rod with built-in data cables, developed by TRACTO and presented for the first time at bauma 2025, opens up many new possibilities here.
For the first time, the innovative inliner rods enable the high data and power transmission necessary to detect existing lines during the drilling process using drill head radar or to reliably locate the drill head at great depths when doing so-called cable-guided drilling. Until now, this process involved a lot of manual labour and machine downtime because the cable had to be threaded and connected manually into each individual drill rod. With the inliner rods, this process is faster, easier and more sustainable because the built-in coaxial cable is automatically connected when the rods are screwed together, and both the cable and the connector can be reused.
The ‘smart’ rods are also pioneering in terms of documentation and safety. The high data transfer rate will enable the integration of various measurement and control technologies via sensors in the drill head, which will serve to provide more comprehensive documentation. In addition, the collection of large amounts of data creates the basis for the development and use of new assistance systems.
Construction sites are becoming increasingly digitalised in terms of planning, execution, monitoring and documentation. This is being driven by ever-increasing quality standards and a severe shortage of skilled labour in almost all areas of the construction industry. The consequences of this development are being mitigated by the increasing automation of many work operations, and trenchless construction is no exception. TRACTO's HDD rigs already use a variety of support systems to enable pipe installations to be carried out with less manpower. This makes drilling more efficient and safer, while at the same time providing the customer with valuable data on the job and the ground conditions.
When asked about the future of drilling, Elmar Koch explains that the long-term goal is to implement fully autonomous drilling in order to achieve greater overall safety, higher efficiency, more flexibility for contractors, more sustainability and complete documentation. The road to this goal involves several intermediate steps. In the future vision, only one operator will be needed for the drilling process, who will be able to monitor several machines simultaneously from a control centre.
According to Koch, this process is similar to the long development path to autonomous driving that the automotive industry has been following for years with various support systems such as cruise control, lane departure warning systems, distance control, parking systems and many more. Although the ultimate goal of autonomous driving lies in the future, these systems are already making driving more pleasant and stress-free – and this is exactly what TRACTO wants to offer users of its HDD systems.
Support systems make work more attractive and safer
In the long-term development of autonomous drilling, support systems are tested extensively so that errors can be eliminated at an early stage. Throughout the entire process, the productivity and quality of drilling will continue to increase as the operator‘s comfort as strenuous and monotonous tasks are reduced, allowing him to focus more on planning, monitoring and controlling the drilling process than on actually carrying it out. This development ensures that the operator's job will become more comfortable as working conditions continue to improve – an important measure against the shortage of skilled labour.
Sustainable developments in drilling technology
Every new support system changes the way drilling is done and the role of the operator: At present, the operator can still carry out the drilling process manually, but he can also choose between semi-automatic and fully automatic mode for various operations, such as rod changing. Cameras monitor the drilling process, GPS is used to digitally document the bore, sensors on the drill head provide information about the ground conditions, and other sensors measure distances around the machine and detect hazards. Comprehensive data analysis and evaluation is also carried out to help the machine operator assess and react to unexpected events during the drilling process. The new generation of GRUNDODRILL JCS/ACS drilling rigs offers the highest level of automation currently available on the market, setting new standards in its performance class in terms of productivity and comfort in HDD due to an intuitive operating concept combined with maximum performance. The design provides an ideal platform for future developments. These include alternative drive concepts, which TRACTO is already implementing with the first drill rig in the series with an electric drive, model JCS130E.
With the ORFEUS radar system, it will also be possible to use radar antennas in the drill head to detect unexpected obstacles, such as incorrectly mapped supply lines. This helps to avoid drilling aborts and damage, and speeds up the entire drilling process.
TRACTO customers can also use an increasing number of digital tools for HDD, such as for fleet management, bore planning and the storage of drilling data for the client. A variety of easy-to-use applications are available for these services. The TRACTO Future Community, where an intensive exchange between TRACTO's digital business team and customers takes place, ensures that these tools are developed with the users’ requirements in mind. Customer feedback, their needs and experiences, feeds directly into the work of the developers and also helps to ensure that this information can be used to develop further demand-driven support systems for the autonomous drilling process in future.
Innovation in inliner HDD drill rods
The future of HDD drilling technology in terms of automation, productivity and safety is inextricably linked to collecting and processing large amounts of data. A new drill rod with built-in data cables, developed by TRACTO and presented for the first time at bauma 2025, opens up many new possibilities here.
For the first time, the innovative inliner rods enable the high data and power transmission necessary to detect existing lines during the drilling process using drill head radar or to reliably locate the drill head at great depths when doing so-called cable-guided drilling. Until now, this process involved a lot of manual labour and machine downtime because the cable had to be threaded and connected manually into each individual drill rod. With the inliner rods, this process is faster, easier and more sustainable because the built-in coaxial cable is automatically connected when the rods are screwed together, and both the cable and the connector can be reused.
The ‘smart’ rods are also pioneering in terms of documentation and safety. The high data transfer rate will enable the integration of various measurement and control technologies via sensors in the drill head, which will serve to provide more comprehensive documentation. In addition, the collection of large amounts of data creates the basis for the development and use of new assistance systems.
