Abstract: Shield machine is a kind of special engineering equipment which is used for underground construction such as tunnel excavation. Because of the uncertainties of geological and working conditions and the high complexity of the tunneling equipment, the construction security problem is still an international major technical challenge. To prevent the disastrous accident such as ground collapse, and make shield tunneling secure and highly efficient, fully automated and intellectualized construction process is the inevitable trend of shield technology development. The shield development status is briefly introduced, and then the research progress and current status of the automatic control technology for tunneling system as well as shield postures are discussed in detail. Combining with project practice and future development trend, the problems concerning control model and control strategy, dynamic programming of motion trajectory and posture control, integration and optimization of control system are analyzed, and improvement suggestions are given. Especially, for the multiple subsystems control with respect to cutter head system, thrust system and screw conveyor system, a cooperative control strategy is proposed.

Key words: Cooperative control, Earth pressure balance, Posture, Shield machine, Tunneling system