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Man Digs Out Basement Using Radio Controlled Toy Tractors
Phurge pointed out a story about a man with a fleet of remote control toys and a lot of patience. "Excavating a basement using professional machinery is nothing new but doing it with radio controlled (RC) scaled models is something unheard of. Welcome to the little big world of Joe, from Saskatchewan, Canada. For the past 7 years, Joe has been digging out his basement at an average annual rate of 8 to 9 cubic feet using nothing more than RC tractors and trucks. And we're talking about the whole nine yards here — he starts by transporting the excavator on an RC truck to the basement, unloads it, digs and uses other trucks to transfer the dirt up to the ground through a spiral ramp! He even has a miniature rock crusher! 'I feel quite fortunate to have stumbled onto this basement excavation idea, it's been a great past time to date dreaming up new ideas to tackle different projects along the way,' Joe wrote on the Scale4x4rc forums where he also posted pictures and videos of his feat."
Joe says that he plans to have his house built within the next 18 months, at which point his mother will move in upstairs and he will take up residence in the basement with his computer.
Well, at least now he'll be able to move out of his parents' basement.
A few RC trucks with front-mounted blowers could be fun :-)
Wish I had a basement now. /nerdgasm
Seriously, build small equipment the size of a riding lawn mower, but then use RC (wifi or bluetooth) to control them. With being small and cheap, it would be possible to dig out multiple parts of an area.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
if he could have automated the control with a camera and PC handling the RC control stuff it would have been a cool project. instead he coulda used a shovel and been done in a coupla weeks.
Next week, Joe plans to hold a conference with his star wars figurines to discuss possible reasons for his inability to attract a girl friend.
Average rate of 9 cubic feet per year X 7 years = 63 cubic feet.
That's a cube of dirt 4' x 4' x 4'.
Hardly sounds like 'excavating a basement'.
I'm guessing that the 9 cubic feet number is wrong. Maybe 9 square feet (with an undisclosed height of about 8'-10') for an annual average of 72-90 cubic feet and a final excavation of a room about 8' x 8'?
This type of do-it-yourself story is what we like to see on slashdot. Inspiring, nerdy, and a bit over the top.
... this man should have been a bit more geeky and lazy at the same time by putting the camera and the RC controls on the Internet, then having remote volunteers run the RC toys to dig out his basement.
This gets me thinking I can probably get the internet to excavate and build me a large swimming pool, given about 50 RC bulldozers and a month of use of my web-server.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
Watch a bit longer. The boredom will pass. Oh that's terrible, I'm sorry.
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Security Scan and Virus Detection do not work with your operating system.
The headline of this article is a good example of why it is important to hyphenate adjective phrases.
Sincerely,
Your Third Grade Teacher
My first thought was that he should have spent the first two years making this an automated robotics project, and then started digging. He may have completed sooner.
My second thought was that this guy will be fist in line to operate remote manipulators on the moon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_manipulator
My third thought was that we could have used this guy and some bigger RCs at Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Another method would be controls that work over the internet, then out-source all the hours to dig it out. I hear they got bots that grind gold on WOW, this is another avenue of profit. Its a lot safer then making another Skynet.
well if you could automate it - then you could build them, program them, and let them do their work.. over time that you don't have to do it have a new basement extension carved out.. think of them less of RC toys at that point but rather automated excavation robots..
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
He should set up a website with some sort of interface control for the machines and live streaming video, then charge people to play with the toys remotely.
Oh Crap, I'm an optimist.....
This is absolutely not about digging a basement.
The man simply likes playing with R/C earthmovers. And this is a way for him to keep on doing it during the five-month Canadian Winter, when everything is covered in snow. I doubt if he would care if it took 20 years to finish.
that is 2.3 cubic meter. Or 3.5 tonnes of earth per year. Wonder how many batteries he burns through..
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
Dear Mr Joe,
Our company is looking for talented remote-control specialists.
We need dedicated operators for a long term commitment in R-C cleaning on large areas of confined space.
You are likely to have all qualifications required to join the main R-C team at our Fukushima-Daichi facility.
We're looking forward to hearing from you,
Tepco Director
(my emphasis)
The next step is to rather than human control them, built in the logic to for self control. It would have to be coordinated between different machine types and job types, a sort of swarm communication. Then scale them up a bit, allow for remote repair of components seen to commonly ware out. Load them on a rocket, shoot to moon, and get building that moon base already! :)