Slashdot Mirror
Hydrodemolition Robot Crushes With Water
Roland Piquepaille writes "In 'Robot pummels roads with water', the Augusta Chronicle says that a hydrodemolition robot is going to restore seven bridges in Georgia. "It's a robot that destroys everything in its path with a crushing stream of water 15 times more powerful than a jackhammer. The robot looks like a street cleaner machine on steroids and is expected to begin use August 1 to resurface seven bridges on Gordon Highway from Walton Way to the bridge at the South Carolina state line." This kind of robot needs only two workers to operate it, instead of 15 workers for a jackhammer, is less noisy and more gentle for the foundations. You'll find more details in this summary."
You'd think they would have come up with a better way to break up asphalt than hitting it really hard by now.
What better technology? Dropping acid on it? Genetically engineering bacteria to eat it? What, do you want nanomachines to tear it apart? That would be slow and quite wasteful of energy.
Short of creating a robot to completely automate the human away, there's just no better way to remove concrete. Nothing can compete with this technique (physically whacking on the concrete), which produces no meaningful pollution, wastes little resources beyond the manufacturing of the equipment, and is absurdly efficient.
You seem to be falling prey to sci-fi-induced misconceptions about technology, such as those promulgated by Star Trek. I suggest learning more about real engineering to repair your brain before you are rendered incapable of thinking about the real world meaningfully, if it's not already too late.