Recognition of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration variations over time is critical for tracing the future changes in climate both globally and regionally. In this study, a time series analysis of atmospheric CO₂ concentration and its relationship with precipitation, relative humidity (RH), and vegetation is investigated over Oman. The daily XCO₂ data from OCO-2 satellite was obtained from September 2014 to March 2019. The daily RH and precipitation data were also collected from the ground weather stations, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was obtained from MODIS. Oman was studied in four distinct regions where the main emphasis was on the Monsoon Region in the far south. The CO₂ concentration time series indicated a significant upward trend over different regions for the study period, with annual cycles being the same for all regions except the Monsoon Region. This is indicative of RH, precipitation, and consequently vegetation cover impact on atmospheric CO₂ concentration, resulting in an overall lower annual growth in the Monsoon Region. Simple and multiple correlation analyses of CO₂ concentration with mentioned parameters were performed in zero to three-month lags over Oman. They showed high correlations mainly during the rainfall period in the Monsoon Region.

Digital management of excavators has seen limited progress due to challenges in artificial intelligence (AI) training. The AI required for digital twinning of excavators necessitates a large volume of diverse imagery data, currently scarce in the construction domain. Moreover, the absence of deployable robot agents hinders reinforcement learning, impeding task-oriented AI development. In response, we introduce an innovative approach utilizing a miniature-scale, radio-controlled excavator (RC-excavator). This presents a cost-effective method for automated data collection and labeling, as well as interactive reinforcement learning. The RC-excavator’s electric circuit was modified, its motion dynamics were modeled, and it was fully robotized for precise computer-directed motion control. Statistical validation of its motions achieved a Normalized Range Adjusted Accuracy (NRAA) of 99.14% for the bucket, 97.97% for the main arm, and 98.63% for the cabin. This confirms its adequacy for image labeling and task-oriented automation research.