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."

Unions

[whig]

Why do I think labor groups will be unhappy about this?

15 workers for a jackhammer?!?

[tigersaw]

Man, construction unions are unstoppable.

Re:Unions

[NanoGator]

"Why do I think labor groups will be unhappy about this?"

Because their beer gut that was formerly helpful in keeping the Jackhammer under control now gets in the way of the steering wheel?

Send it to SCO

[Nom du Keyboard]

Can someone direct one of these to SCO Headquarters?

Cooling power!

[loom_weaver]

I'd like to attach this machine to my CPU. Wouldn't have any overheating problems then!

"Hey kids!"

[Atario]

"How about a splash of water on this hot summer day?"

"YayyyyAAIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

I am your robot God

[Realistic_Dragon]

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.

Re:15 workers for a jackhammer?!?

[Dr Caleb]

construction unions are unstoppable.

I don't think the robots are unionized...yet.

Re:Unions

[Verteiron]

Nah, they can just move the extras to the $30/hour "Holding the 'Slow/Stop' sign" position.

Coming soon to your dental office...

[macshune]

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!

Re:15 workers for a jackhammer?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does this sound like a joke?

How many [fill in target group here] workers does it take to use a jackhammer?

1 to hold the jack, 14 to move the roadway up and down.

-T

Ask Slashdot: Robotic Road Removal

[Anonymous Coward]

This is one totally cool unit and I have a lot of roads that I need to demolish. These roads do not appear on my cars GPS navigation system and are a hazard to navigation that must be removed. But, this beauty costs like a bazillion dollars. Is there an open source, read free, alternative to this machine? I Googled quite a bit but, all of the projects that I found seem to no longer be active. I am especially interested in hearing from anyone that has used such an open source alternative solution and would like to hear details of their success/failures.

Re:Unions

[maeka]

(Emphasis mine)

The machine also produces less noise and dust than a jackhammer, is more powerful than a jackhammer and requires only about two people to supervise it

([instead of 15 workers for a jackhammer.]

15 workers for a jackhammer? How do they do that?
1 guy on the hammer,
1 guy on the compressor,
2 guys flagging traffic,
1 guarding the water cooler,
1 observer from the Local,
1 QC inspector,
1 caterer,
1 Foley Grip,
1 Best Boy,
1 Personal Assistant to Mr. Hammer Operator,
1 Stunt Double,
1 Foreman,
1 Orange cone supervisor,
and that's only 14!

Eat em

[Anonymous Coward]

McDonalds introduces Soylent McTeens 2 for $3. Limited time offer, while supplies last.

It takes 2 workers to operate?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that because you have to pee by the time the other guy gets back from the port-o-potty?

Re:Good for water-rich areas, not for deserts

[demonbug]

Folks who've never lived in a desert don't seem to understand how valuable water is in some parts of the country.

Yeah. In Las Vegas, for example, you aren't allowed to recreate more than one ocean per casino. Any more would just be wasteful.

pr0n

[Anonymous Coward]

...crushing stream of water 15 times more powerful than a jackhammer...

...street ... machine on steroids...
...built by Aquajet Systems AB from Sweden...
The robot travels where it is programmed to go and shoots a stream of water ... at about 40 to 60 gallons per minute.
Mr. Carvajales said the strong, steady stream of water causes a "hydraulic explosion" ... rather than vibrating
it doesn't get tired

Until someone finds a way to use this for porn, I don't see it taking off.

Re:How many workers?

[mcpkaaos]

When I was 17 I worked construction back up in the NW. In union terms, 'about two' translates roughly, in human terms, to 15 laborers, 4 foremen, 7 union representatives, and 3 strippers (to be brought on site for birthdays, mondays, tuesdays, etc.)

To give you context, compare that to the software world, where 'about two' translates to just you, 4 weeks out of the 20 week projection, a pissed off laptop, and a boss that lives and dies by metrics.

--
mcp.kaaos

Re:I am your robot God

[Anonymous Coward]

Just as long as it doesn't start running wild and judging humans, or there might be a significant oversupply of liquified lawyers

And this is a problem WHY?

Re:recycle water?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean 13 people. (13 + 2 = 15)

No, you obviously don't understand how unions work.

Re:"Hey kids!"

[Equuleus42]

You get to drink from... the fire hose [geocities.com]!!!

(For those of you out of the loop, please watch this [imdb.com] movie)

Re:Unions

[Anonvmous Coward]

" 15 workers for a jackhammer? How do they do that?"

Don't you pay attention? Whenever you have contstruction work going on, you always need 3 or 4 guys on a break. If you don't have 15 workers, you can't keep that many people on the break. It's called rotation!

What I want to know is where the other 11 guys are hiding whenever those 4 guys are on a break.

Re:Slashdotted...karma free text

[Ledora]

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.

Wow, I am enlightened

[shazbotus]

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!

Re:40 to 60 gallons/minute

[geekoid]

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. ;)

Ah, the memories...

[morganjharvey]

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...

Re:Send it to SCO

[pmz]

Shhhh... (whispers) The reason IBM seemed to stall so long in replying to SCO is that these things are damn slow. Just wait one more week...

Finally!

[The_dev0]

Just the thing to get the dried out coke and cigarette ash off my keyboard. I just hope it's powerful enough!

Hmm...

[The_dev0]

I always thought that paper beats rock? Wait, but scissors beats paper. Kiff, we have a conundrum!

Re:Unions

[RajivSLK]

You think its bad in the usa.

When I was in Japan I saw 5 guys "operating" a wheel-barrow in a train station.

1 person to direct peadestrians out of the way.
1 person to direct the wheel-barrow.
1 person to actually push the wheel-barrow.
1 person to walk 10 feet behind the wheel-barrow.
and 1 person to stand at a distance of 15 feet and supervise.

To top if off the wheel-barrow was empty.