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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."
Why do I think labor groups will be unhappy about this?
Peace and love, y'all
Man, construction unions are unstoppable.
In Soviet Russia, all our base are belong to you!
Can someone direct one of these to SCO Headquarters?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I'd like to attach this machine to my CPU. Wouldn't have any overheating problems then!
"How about a splash of water on this hot summer day?"
"YayyyyAAIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Does it recycle the water? seems like alot of water to be wasting. But since its the City or State that would be using, its ok to waste water. Altho there will still be 15 people standing around to "supervise" the two people required to run this machine.
Mrs. Everitt said the hydrodemolition robot helps the DOT because it removes faulty concrete but leaves good concrete behind.
So it's a robot that plays God then? I cast you, bad concrete, into the abys from where you shall never return!
Just as long as it doesn't start running wild and judging humans, or there might be a significant oversupply of liquified lawyers.
Beep beep.
Folks who've never lived in a desert don't seem to understand how valuable water is in some parts of the country. While the article mentions that they water is reclaimed later by workers, in someplace like Utah or Arizona, I'm sure thousands of gallons are lost through evaporation before that can happen.
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I know that the stream of water isn't going to be vibrating the road as a jackhammer would, but wouldn't 4 times as much power causes fractures of another sort? What if it is causing problems yet unseen?
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
"Requires only about two workers to supervise it instead of 15 jackhammer workers." - Source: Georgia Department of Transportation.
I remember way back when I heard of something very similar, except it was a type of "saw" where extreme water pressure was used to cut wood (and possibly other objects) nicely in half. Apparently it can be quite a nice cut, without the friction-burn of metal blades.
However, that is in an environment where the water can be recycled to a good extent as the machine runs... where does this machine get water from, and how many PSI is it dishing out? I'd assume that it requires close proximity to a good source of water, either a fire hydrant or (preferably), a lake/river/etc - as it probably shoots out a lot of water in order to achieve the correct pressure.
I was going to re-read the article and double-check, but the blink tag at the end of the linked tech review just about blinded me.
I saw a report a few years ago about the advantages of using a high-pressure water 'gun' for cutting metal. Some of the advantages was that the cooling was already taken care of, the material was recyclable with a filter, and the edges were already smoothed.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Road-tested hydro-cleaning power from Georgia is coming straight from the street to your dentist's office! Call 1-800-OWW-SHIT for details!
What do we do with the poeple who are replced with automation?
The normal response is there will be 15 people working for the company that makes the automated product, but thats not true.
If I created a device that flips burgers, and cost less then maintaining a staff, people will buy it, and it will replaces millions of workes, far more then it would take to build the things.
I'm not saying we shouldn't automate, I'm just asking what do we do as our jobs per person keeps declining?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You'd think they would have come up with a better way to break up asphalt than hitting it really hard by now. I mean, look at all the advances in advertising, military technology, and other things that are bad for the general public, and how little improvement there has been in fixing potential safety hazards.
-Amalcon
Last decade, in Washington State, hydrodemolition was used to "resurface" the Eastbound lanes of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, a couple of miles from the Western end of Interstate 90.
Due to a chain of snafus, the "floating" bridge sunk one Thanksgiving day. Very nearly sunk the brand new Westbound floating bridge right next to it. (Part of the root cause was the storage of hydrodemolition wastewater in the flotation cells of the bridge.)
Some years later, the records of liability were sealed in a court settlement between the state and the contractor.
Very good point. Here in Colorado we've been in mild-to-severe drought for several years, but this spring/summer seems to be returning to normal.
There is nothing like driving by an empty lake bed, or not seeing a blue sky for 2 months through all the smoke of forrest fires, that makes you truly appriciate water.
On the subject, in the dorms there were always people who would go turn on the shower and then go take a 10 minute crap while the water was running... or leave the sink full blast while brushing their teeth. I wanted to kill them.
The problem is even worse in rural/flat areas where water is taken from pumps. The water table is very easily depleted and will take decades to replenish.
no comment
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Has anyone even asked the Robot if he wants to do this act of destruction? How long will we be the faceless exploiters of our mechanical brothers? My heavens, forced to spray water from its orifices until the very ground below it dissolves!
You! Get your filthy hands off my Aibo!
Windows XP SP2 told me to install third-party software that prevents viruses and protects stability... I chose Ubuntu
Google Search on high pressure water cutting
A simple search and you will see many different machines that use high pressure water to do their deed. Many years ago I remember watching Beyond2000 discuss a tool used to cut wood - each cut was smooth and precise.
All those guys standing around at road construction sites have a lot to do with OSHA and very little to do with unions.
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It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Why does the parent mention Mr. Carvajales said the robot is powered by diesel fuel and has water fed to it from a pressurized pump. The robot travels where it is programmed to go and shoots a stream of semen onto pavement at about 40 to 60 gallons per minute.
I was astounded by the fact that the newspaper's picture has details about the robot. The picture describes the robot as having a water PUMP that brings water to the robot. It's ingenious. Finally, a method by which we can transfer water. I mean I would have thought that maybe a Cadre of Trained Monkeys would have brought water little by little to the robot, but NO, a pump has now replaced their job. Its pure genius. Finally, a newspaper that publishes that facts that we want to know about and NEED to know about. I'm subscribing to this one!
I can se it now, a house is on fire. they turn on the pump, and 10 seconds later the house is a big pile of soggy wood..in the neighbors yard.
;)
but at least the fire would be out.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If they could figure out a way to use the old concrete with the waste water to immediatly make new concrete it would be like a Zamboni for the highway.
This story reminded me of how when I was a kid (about 6 - 14 or so) I would take the garden hose and one of those gun-shaped attachments to my mom's garden and explore the excavatory power of water.
At one point I had a very large system of trenches about a half foot deep dug through the flowers that went on for quite a distance.
Needless to say, the local authorities (mom) weren't thrilled with this "science." They all said I was mad. They called me crazy. er...
I think one day being employed is gonna feel like a scramble to stay ahead of some impending hyper-mechanization boom. yeah, it's been happening for at least a hundred or so years with basic, non-skilled labor, but what about highly skilled labor? what's going to happen with a robot can take orders from management to design applications faster and better than a human?
Whoever posted the article seems to have misinterpreted what the article said. The article says:
"One hydrodemolition robot does the work of 15 jackhammers." "Requires only about two workers to supervise it instead of 15 jackhammer workers."
Specifically, since the robot can do the work of 15 jackhammers, you don't need those 15 jackhammer workers operating the 15 jackhammers (i.e., one worker per jackhammer), and can instead rely on the (about) two robot supervisors.
The statement on slashdot: "This kind of robot needs only two workers to operate it, instead of 15 workers for a jackhammer" incorrectly states that 15 workers are for *a* jackhammer. It could more accurately state: "This kind of robot needs only two workers to operate it, instead of 15 workers for *15* jackhammer*s whose work is performed by the one robot*"
Just the thing to get the dried out coke and cigarette ash off my keyboard. I just hope it's powerful enough!
Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
Perhaps I am one of the few Civil Engineers who find myself reading /. So +karma to the editors for bringing this article.
I still would like to know how it removes the concret and doesn't dammage the rebar. When you start getting aligator cracking in concrete roads, water has more than likely reached the rebar, rusting it.
Some newer road specs require that the rebar be coated with epoxy. This cuts down on rust, and may allow for rebar reuse in the case stated with the article.
--C. Alan, PE
I always thought that paper beats rock? Wait, but scissors beats paper. Kiff, we have a conundrum!
Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
Alright, I'm sure someone has the answer to this... what makes this thing a 'robot' as opposed to say... just a big fscking tool?
I mean, it still takes to people to operate it, so it's by no means autonomous.
As0k
Self improvement is masturbation... therefore masturbation is self improvement...*zip*