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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.
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.
This type of do-it-yourself story is what we like to see on slashdot. Inspiring, nerdy, and a bit over the top.
Radio controlled equipment is already used in construction. Working in trenches is dangerous and required elaborate and expensive safety precautions. To avoid this, contractors use methods that avoid putting people in trenches. This usually involves equipment with long arms to manipulate things (like a robotic pipelayer) but some equipment is remote controlled. Like this compactor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc18eKDyMlc Radio control of large pieces of equipment like concrete pumps is also common, but for the opposite reason. It allows the operator to be at the location where the action is happening rather than in a cab far away.
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
I give it about 10 minutes before your excavation project is turned into Robot Wars.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...