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As recently as
five years ago, many of us would have scoffed at the idea
that joysticks and computers would replace levers and mechanical
linkages or that we would find ourselves relying more and
more on space-age wizardry to do jobs that only a lifetime
of experience would allow us to approach with total confidence.
Today,
however, we watch as relative neophytes climb aboard modern
machines, fire up, check information relayed to a video display,
adjust the volume on the tape deck, and then trundle off to
do a day's work with speed and precision heretofore the province
of the "old pros." Does this mean an end to the need for excellence?
No way, but it does open up some exciting possibilities.
In
an industry certainly more noted for its conservatism than
for its forays into the ragged edge of the technological envelope,
you have to wonder what got into the equipment designers'
Thermos bottles as the last century drew to a close and when
all of this change will slow down and allow us to catch up.
I suggest not holding your breath.
We
Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
Look at it as you
would an aircraft taxiing onto the runway and adding power
for takeoff, where the really hard part is overcoming inertia
and gaining enough speed for liftoff. That's when things begin
to get moving, and that's where we are today with technology:
off the ground, gears and flaps up, and headed off on course...but
bound for where?
This
is an especially interesting question when you realize its
full implications in the context of construction where the
limitations are no longer so much in the tools we use as in
our imagination and desire to wring every last morsel of potential
from newfound capabilities we have only just begun to explore.
The
moment the equipment manufacturers dipped into their grab
bag of tricks and emerged with digital replacements for their
timeworn, analog mechanical systems, we crossed a magical
threshold and stepped into a realm of incredible - I'm tempted
to say infinite - possibilities bound only by our ties to the past.
Ponder
this if you will: The astronauts who went to and walked on
the moon did so with orders of magnitude with less computing
power than we carry in our cell phones. Until three decades
ago, the ability to determine your location in three-dimensional
space was a laborious process that could take hours, and even
when global positioning system [GPS] units became available
to the public, another decade passed before the government
stopped dithering the signal and allowed us access to really
useful levels of precision. Today you can go down to your
local shopping center and buy a computer, software, and peripheral
equipment that would rival the best on the planet when the
Berlin Wall came down, and you have
in the bare bones of your grader, excavator, dozer, or loader
more intelligence than the Boeing 747 had when it came into
service.
What Do
You Want To Do Today?
How
about seeing not only where you are but also where you plan
to be when the job is done? Watch any TV show on modern fighter
aircraft and see what magic resides in the systems at the
pilot's fingertips and in some cases even beyond his conscious
control. Look at the wealth of information available for call-up
on a multifunction display or even on the aircraft's windscreen
or canopy. While the aircraft is waffling around in the dark
of night or plunging through fog and clouds, sensors of various
kinds are able to acquire detailed images in near-daylight
clarity and display them in any of several ways that allow
the pilot to perform the mission with confidence and precision.
If this isn't enough, the pilot can access data from the aircraft's
radar or threat-warning sensors and project them as overlays
to visually enhanced imagery to aid in the solution of complex
tactical problems. Do these capabilities seem too far-fetched
for dirtmoving activities? They're not. In fact, they are
very much within the capabilities of equipment and technologies
in use right now.
An
increasing number of operators are making use of laser and
GPS systems to guide or actually control blades, buckets,
or the movement of entire machines, and typically these actions
or guidance cues are displayed symbolically on a dash-panel
monitor. That's pretty neat, but the same information could
be placed on the windshield, presenting the operator with
a superimposed view of where to go and what to do to achieve
whatever the plan calls for. How much more difficult is it
to imagine the potential advantages of adding video or infrared
imagery to aid operators in confined or low-visibility situations?
Most
of us gulp at the thought of remote-control equipment running
around a job site, but do you doubt that this is possible
and in certain applications desirable if not downright necessary?
Already we see this happening in farming operations where
tractors grind their way over hundreds or even thousands of
acres under GPS control, making furrows or laying down seed.
Closer to our activities are a variety of remote-control robots
used to work with dangerous materials or in lethally contaminated
areas, so how much sense does it make for us to put operators
at even a slight risk by having them work in contaminated
soils when we have the ability to accomplish these tasks remotely
or even robotically?
The Moon,
Mars, and Beyond
Several years ago
when I visited a mining site in eastern Arizona to watch dozers
cutting haul roads using GPS instead of stakes for grade control,
I found myself captivated by a bumper sticker on the back
of a pickup truck that read, "Mine Earth First...Then the
Universe." This past month when we all saw those little buggies
bopping along over the surface of Mars and heard President
Bush issue the challenge of space exploration to the nation,
the applicability of our emerging technology to what that
bumper sticker said came back to me in bold relief. If we
are to send explorers to work and live on Mars, our first
challenge will be to construct and operate a way station on
the Moon. Can you guess what it will take to build that Moon
base and then the one on Mars? Can you dig it?
Send
John an Email
GEC
- March/April 2004
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