The bots have arrived and they are HUGE...

[oldsman496]

I'm too dumb to get that damn embed to work..... so here's the link..

Hey Randall - you won't have to worry about a driver scaping a fender with these.
And Brian - is it still heaven if you can't drive one?

[Brian Lohnes]

Mike, I am actually going to say yes. I'd set up a chair and have a cooler with a couple ham sandwiches and beer for the day to just watch those big guys work. It's a spectator sport at that size for me!

[silver_bullet]

Been there done that...they were not remote controlled, but, Dad was a Heavy equipment operator and took the family to a central Illinois strip mine back when I was about 9...had a picnic on the rim of the dig...Too Cool!!

[TheSilverBuick]

The autonomous stuff has been out for a while. They are so precise that they have to build driving variances into the software to keep the roads from rutting and keep even level wear on the roads. All the steering and pedal controls on any modern haul truck is simple remote control. It's cake for software to control it.

Oh, and I think those are small trucks in the video, looks like 180 tonner's

[BOOOGHAR]

CAT was using a system like that a few years ago, they were in limbo about switching over to it, the mining company was saying they would make more money in the long run due to the fact the operators tear up the trucks by not driving them properly

[TheSilverBuick]

CAT was using a system like that a few years ago, they were in limbo about switching over to it, the mining company was saying they would make more money in the long run due to the fact the operators tear up the trucks by not driving them properly

With out a doubt. There is probably one operator in five that treats the equipment decently. The autonomous software detects if the road condition has changed or rutted causing the truck to bounce, and will adjust the speed to slow down, etc every time it gets to that part of the road. Probably communicates that info to the other trucks as well.

[Barry Donovan]

amazing stuff.
I saw a show bout the squashy bitumen in canada.. I could guess the hard mines go autonomous, but some will need to stay as dynamical as human.
the rut factor.

[oldsman496]

Yeah - I think its pretty amazing that stuff so big can be without a human driver....

I don't wanna stand out in front of one, no matter how good the software is.....

[BOOOGHAR]

this is whats left of a school bus that got in the way of one of those trucks, I snapped this pic as it was passing the shop i was working in

[Monk]

Can't imagine doing an oil change on one them rigs.

[Deaf Bob]

Can't imagine doing an oil change on one them rigs.

Instead of 5 qts, 5-55 gal drums?

[Leadsledcaprice]

Those are some big azz r/c cars!

[Beagle]

I differ from Squirrel here - he likes Bots. I like dogs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/dogs-driving-cars-new-zealand-spca_n_2244476.html

This is a really long vid, go out to 6:20 or so and you'll see it. A DOG! I was thinking about BBR's gocam solution to the beer store issue, now I wonder if I can train a DOG! to do this!!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1684488550001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAB_xxUcE~,TkK9U83iSSrCnG8aAPNzGeVPNO5Ldu-W&bctid=2010083971001

[BBR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d96N3dVqg4s&feature=youtu.be

I'm too dumb to get that damn embed to work..... so here's the link..

Hey Randall - you won't have to worry about a driver scaping a fender with these.
And Brian - is it still heaven if you can't drive one?[/QUOTE]

Quoting to retrieve the link! My phone won't imbed!