As robots are quickly infiltrating the construction job site in order to increase efficiency and combat the shrinking labor workforce, so too have autonomous, self-driving vehicles.
We recently wrote about an autonomous attenuator truck that is set to hit US streets this year. That truck is equipped with a “leader-follow” system, which is designed to stay a safe distance away from and follow a leader car, which would be driven by a human. Attenuator trucks are designed to absorb impact of cars when struck to protect roadside workers.
This time, we’re talking about a 320 Ton Hauling machine with a highly sophisticated GPS system and sensors that allow the truck to operate 24/7/365 without a human driving in or near it. In the video below, you’ll see the Komatsu 930E-4 Autonomous Vehicle drive though rugged terrain in for the mining industry. Some of the areas that mining companies have to work in are in hostile or extremely remote conditions, making it difficult to find qualified professionals to fill the jobs. The self-driving system also increases productivity by approximately 12%, as it is not required to take occasional breaks and can’t call in sick to work.
Currently, Australian mining company Rio Tinto is using a fleet of Autonomous mega machines and they control them from over a thousand miles away at their control center in Perth, which is located in Western Australia. In total, Rio Tinto employs 53 autonomous vehicles for their mining activities.
Video by AutonomouStuff
Hurricane Irma ripped through the Caribbean and landed in South Florida a little over a week ago, sadly killing at least 50 people in Florida and causing plenty of property damage. High winds that accompanied the storm also caused the collapse of 3 construction cranes – two in Miami and one more in Fort Lauderdale. The crane in Fort Lauderdale was recently dismantled and the action was caught on video.
As if the high winds and heavy rains weren’t enough of a safety hazard for the people of Florida, citizens who are staying in the area also need to be concerned about the dozens of tower cranes that are still erected throughout downtown.
New demolition videos are always fun to watch. You know what’s even better, though? A bunch of demolitions all at once.
While being prepared for demolition, the Grand Avenue Bridge in Glenwood Springs, Colorado unexpectedly collapsed to the railroad tracks below. Thankfully, no injuries were reported, but the local police chief said that workers had to flee the scene once the bridge section started to fall.
If this video of construction worker’s chasing down an alleged tool thief and hanging onto the hood of his car wasn’t enough to convince you to not mess with construction worker’s things, then maybe this new video will be. Construction worker’s tools and trucks are their livelihoods, and they don’t take too kindly to people who don’t understand that.
Directional boring, or horizontal directional drilling, is a common method for installing underground pipe and conduits, among others. Its main benefit is that it minimally disturbs the areas around where your pipe or cable needs to be installed. Instead of cutting concrete, asphalt, or ripping up landscaping, the boring machine digs a tunnel underground and the installing material slides in after it’s complete.
That’s what it’s SUPPOSED to do anyway.
You may remember a story we shared at the end of June about a rescue of a construction worker who was dangling from a suspended scaffold 15 stories in the air. The Sarasota County Fire Department completed a very skilled rescue, in which one firefighter scaled down the side of the building to the trapped worker, attached him to a harness, and both men were hoisted back up to the roof. The cause of that failure was a snapped line. At that time, the fire chief mentioned that he rarely sees events like this and that only 5 or 6 rescues like this have happened in his 29 year career.
Smoke stack demolitions are always fun to watch because they typically stand much taller than the buildings surrounding them, giving cameras great views of the carnage. They don’t always go well, like when a 2.6 million pound brick stack fell directly on top of an excavator (the operator was fine, by the way), but they’re always dramatic.
Buildings are demolished all the time in order to make way for new construction. The buildings that are demolished have usually lived out their useful life and are no longer functional. Recently a demolition video resurfaced, which shows a 27 story building in China being imploded. The strange thing is that, since it was finished in 1999, the building had never even been used.