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The geopolitics are interesting, of course, but this was really interesting to me: He now oversees a test project of driverless Komatsu trucks that cart out 30
by ryanwaggoner 16y ago
The geopolitics are interesting, of course, but this was really interesting to me:
He now oversees a test project of driverless Komatsu trucks that cart out 300 tons at a time, moving 80,000 tons over two 12-hour shifts. When the drilling is good, he says, they can shift 120,000 tons in 24 hours. Without drivers, the trucks are more reliable, with radar sensors stopping them from crashing. They roll 24 hours a day.
- teyc 16y agosome drill rigs are semiautonomous, with GPS. The control systems were priced around $120k the last time I looked about 10 years ago. Any HN'ers want to disrupt this? I know some drillers out this way.
- nl 16y agoThey have similar technology for farming, too. If you wanted to disrupt this, I suspect you don't want to make it cheaper (the mining companies have plenty of money), but to do a better job somehow. (Where are you?)
- CamperBob 16y agoI assumed that 'disrupt' meant 'jam the GPS and watch the carnage.' Thought it was an odd choice of wording at best.
- jamesbritt 16y agoWhat's the insurance liability for somewhere like that?
- w00pla2 16y ago> They have similar technology for farming, too. This is called "Precision agriculture". Tractors and equipment enabled with this can throw the precise amount of fertilizer/seeds at specific points. Probably quite a hot topic in farming... Go to any farming show and you will see this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_agriculture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_agriculture
- Hexstream 16y agoI can only guess $120k is less than pocket-change for an operation like this.