04/08/2026
Remember the planet in the movie Interstellar where one hour there was the equivalent of seven years on earth?
Now Liebherr Earthmoving Equipment has commissioned the equivalent for excavators in France: A new test bench for excavators where one hour of testing corresponds to 17 hours of work on a construction site.
Liebherr France has commissioned the new test bench, backed by an investment of nearly €2.5 million, to speed up the development and validation of crawler excavators.
It will allow engineers to reproduce construction site conditions in a controlled environment.
Liebherr said the test bench is designed to identify potential structural weaknesses earlier in the development process and reduce the time between finding a problem and implementing a solution.
The system reproduces site stresses including vibrations, torsional forces, impacts and bending. Test procedures are based on data gathered during real-world operations at customer sites and across a range of applications.
The test bench includes a test track and trench inside an enclosed hall. A concrete wall with 6m-high noise barriers has also been installed to meet noise protection requirements at the industrial site.
The facility will also support Liebherr’s work on autonomous machines. Excavators used on the test bench are equipped to operate autonomously, with test procedures controlled and monitored remotely from an external control room.
A camera system gives technicians continuous visual monitoring of the machines, while safety systems include secured areas, gate systems, sensors, door contacts, laser sensors and GPS tracking to prevent machines leaving the test area without authorisation.
(Image courtesy of Liebherr)
