What are your thoughts of future equipment in regards to what you would want or what will be mandated? I remember reading something like OSHA was going to require enclosed cabs with air filtrations systems. That was a while back and was supposed to be here by now. Create comforts or safety improvments of the future are? What things will be changed to increase work capabilites of machines? Hope you get my drift by my ranting:beatsme Thanks! For my type of equipment telehandlers I would like better vision going backwards and up on the boom when lifting up high. Nicer seats which I guess they have now. I also would like a very quite machine to hear my surroundings better and people talking while I am on the machine.
I would like to see a degree of automation, so the machine will do most of the work itself. Whilst the operator is surfing the internet Ooooh I forgot to add..........mind control, instead of using your hands you just think what you want the machine to do. Of course the machine of tomorrow will be nuclear powered, able to fly from job to job and most importantly will have a hot beverage dispenser, this will be called the cappuccino model
I perfer a COLD beverage dispenser myself :drinkup
As for as changes that are mandated? That one's easy; emissions. Yeah, whatever!!! As for comfort and production changes, I think the competition between the mfgs does this anyway. Each manufacturer is constantly developing something that will make their machine more attractive than their competition and increase their sales. As for what changes/improvements "you" would want...add a mechanic robot to your list so YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIX THE DARN THINGS!
I believe this was started by MSHA, aka Mine Safety and Health Administration. In all reality, the reason we are seeing nicer cabs is due to emission standards. New engines require a computer to operate, and in order to keep that computer functional, they need to be out of the dust. At least this is what I have had many mechanics tell me.
In the near future: The smoke police will be armed and given the freedom to fire upon any operator whose machine produces anything less than better air out of the exhaust than what air is taken in. In the not too distant future: Machines without human operators. Operator's cabs will disappear from machines. The job sites will be marked out with GPS coordinates and programmed into the construction site computer with instructions down loaded continuously to machines on site. Computers will optomize performance, fuel economy and safety on the job site. People will be locked out of job sites as machines will not tolerate interference. The information stream will be two way with the maintenance and repair figured out by each machine internally and sent to the server for scheduling and location of where to send the maintenance crew. The only person an operational machine will deal with is the low boy driver. On board computers will tell coded personnel what is wrong and how it needs to be repaired. The machine itself will run the maintenance or repair job with verbal commands to the assigned personnel. Talk about a nagging boss. It will also report back if the repair personnel are taking too long to accomplish the repair. Slackers will be a thing of the past. So you thought the Terminator was a movie, it's actually a business plan!!!
I am eager to see a new way to move dirt or lift a load in the future. We have computers & GPS systems on equipment now, but if you look at the overall design of most equipment it has not changed from day one. As far as dirt moving equipment, a bulldozer still uses a blade, a scraper uses a bowl, draglines excavators & backhoes use a bucket, trenchers use a chain,trucks use a dump bed & so on. As far as lifting a load, cranes & wreckers still use a boom & cable. There has been alot of progress in the last century lifting loads with airplanes, helicopters, rockets, & a space shuttle. I understand the space shuttle has a payload capacity of 50,000 lbs. I can't imagine hauling a dozer or excavator to the moon, but it may happen someday. The design on the hand shovel has not changed in many century's.
yeah, surfing the net while the machine do the work, and I think it will not be far from now because there are already gadgets and computer games made to do this..:bouncegri www.komatpillar.com
John C, Sadly, I think you may have nailed this one. But..."I don't want to grow up...".
I want to see that CAT loader that you wear like an exoskelaton from the movie Aliens.
So you want an R2-D2 unit on the machine?
CAT Loader yeah, now we're talkin'
Yeah, but then you'll have to go to the Cat service desk for something and the guy will tell you "these aren't the droid parts you're looking for... you need to go to the Deere/Komatsu/Volvo/etc dealer ":drinkup:Banghead:bash I think along with emissions in the near future we'll see a lot more handrails, cameras and motion/proximity detectors on equipment for our safety...
let's all gather our experience a bunch of our favorite beverages and get together some weekend and build one. I always wanted to be the first kid on my block with one. Sad part is I am totally serious about that. If I had the dough I'd build one today and walk back and forth picking stuff up and putting them down.
John c is right, but if you can automate a job site then you can auromate the highways. Cars will no longer be permitted to have drivers. gps will sense position, and will communicate with other vehicles for following distance, stopped vehicles and such... So a computerized lowboy is not too far out. Chaining down will require human interaction until they make universal attaching points. As for as when it could be available, I think it already is, it just isnt being implimented. We have auto pilot for farm tractors, gps controlled equipment, remote controlled drones, computer mine simulation, all it takes is application, the technology is there.
Went off to look in a publication from years ago called 2000ad to see some of the equipment drawn there which included some items mentioned here but to no avail but I did find these, Sydney-Melbourne Conurb - in southeastern Australia, now called Oz; one of the more relaxed and peaceful Mega-Cities. Murphyville - Mega-City of the Emerald Isle (Ireland), which has been turned into a theme-park and is under partial Brit-Cit jurisdiction. Its most famous Judge is Charlie Joyce, who was supposed to be part of the Judgement Day team but was knocked unconscious and replaced by Johnny Alpha. The Judges wear uniforms based on the Irish flag and have a much more laid back approach to their jobs, similar to traditional police forces.
If most of the work will be automated and done by remote-controlled or gps-powered machines, these would require less manpower.. and would mean less jobs for people. If this time will come, maybe a lot will be laid-off from construction companies, unless he is self-employed.. A human may still control and manage the work of course, but other jobs that are done by a lot of humans before no longer needs human touch, as they say.. and are already controlled by machines programmed to do it.. :beatsme what do you think??? www.komatpillar.com
A guy I worked with once , he was new to operating he really struggled with a backhoe , he said "it would be so easy if they mounted a scale model of the machine you are running where the levers are , that way you could make the scale model do waht you want the machine to do "
would you be better operating the equipment like a military drone from the outside so you could change your view or see multiply views?
I'd like to see more versitility in a backhoe. I've added skid steer quick attach to mine and it's now ten times the machine it was before. I can take off my bucket and put on pallet forks or my grapple in a few minutes, then do work with it that was impossible before. I'm thinking of a way to do the same with my rear bucket so that I can swap it for a post hole digger or add a thumb that is easily removable. They are both doable and easy enough with a little time and money, but I'd really like to have a machine designed already to do these things and more. Another feature would be a dedicated way to skid logs that are too long or heavy for the grapple. I spend just as much time clearing timber with mine as I do digging dirt. It's plenty powerful for what I'm doing, but I'd love to have an option to wraping a chain around them, then unrapping it when I get to where I'm going. I read an article that said they manufacturers are looking into ways to improve backhoe sales by making them more like skid steers, but from what I've seen, which isn't much, this hasn't really happened yet. I think the backhoe is just about the single most handy piece of do everything equipment out there, but for some reason, it's not built to it's full potential. Eddie
Equipment is headed in 2 directions. Increased operator comfort and increased ease of operation...lazer, gps, depth finder, integrated depth control. The other direction is remote controlled machines. We see this in the ultra mini machines used in low clearance applications and trench compactors. GPS and integrated machine control refinements could lead towards the capability of having an 'auto dig' feature. Kind of like auto pilot. While this sounds cool, it would open the operators cabin to just about anybody. Operators could be replaced by people who simply monitor the machine.
An Xbox 360 and PS3!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ183Dq2sts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ZkgBcJRB0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r95Oz2SrOFA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BoAtlIPiAQ
I am still trying to realize what i have just saw....but.... my mouth is still opened...!!!
for five bucks per hour
really cool and it will happen just not sure how long it will take.
But they said they were going to be quite . I mean I don't like wikked overly loud but I like the roar heavy equipment makes.
I am not going to be wearing a blue body hugging lycra suit or listen to elevator music.