Will Heavy Equipment Ever Become Completely Automated?

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Companies and scientists are constantly creating new technological advancements to apply to all aspects of our everyday lives. The invention of new technology has been and always will be about more efficiency, and the realm of new heavy equipment is no different than any other new field of innovation. In factories, we already see heavy machinery at its most precise, manufacturing millions of assorted goods per day globally in automated fashion. As factory jobs have been steadily declining over the past few decades as new technology is created, the same trend may end up happening in some other fields of work where heavy equipment is used, like construction and farming.

Today…and in the future.

Heavy equipment of all kinds may eventually begin to move in the direction of artificial intelligence, as we usher in a new era of technology. Recently we have seen much advancement in precision agriculture technology, most recently in the impressive highly automated BoniRob field robotics platform from Bosch. Soon advances in robotics may find robotic bulldozers that can operate themselves independent of a human driver may become an common thing at construction sites of the future. This potential shift in machinery usage would not completely eliminate a need for workers on the site by any means, but it could reduce the amount of available jobs for the work force. However, machines pre-programmed to complete a task may eliminate some of the dangers associated with human operation, as there could possibly be less risk to the safety of workers at the site. Futuristic construction machinery equipped with sensors that could detect unforeseen circumstances at build locations may yield advantages over traditional manually-operated equipment. This is because heightened, computerized senses tend to be more alert than those of a human. Recent advancements in self-driving or assisted driving cars are a good modern day example of this, in that sensors built in to vehicles of this nature can detect, realize and electronically react in real time to perceived danger faster than a human driver can, in most cases. While there is virtually no way to prevent 100 percent of accidents on the road even if every person owned an autopilot car, the number of accidents would likely decrease dramatically. The same goes for a construction site, if heavy equipment of the future indeed does go the artificial intelligence route.

While full fledged, conscious robots may be nothing but a fictional stereotype, the onset of artificial intelligence has already crept in to today’s society in many different ways. We may in fact witness our heavy equipment of the future allow this type of technology to permeate its core eventually, but for now, bulldozers and tractors will still require human operation for basic functionality. This notion that the future is already robotics bound may have significant impact on the way we get work done in fifty to one hundred years, and could even yield better end results in some cases.

As a used equipment marketplace, Mascus realizes that as heavy equipment technologies improve and are adopted, we will always have folks in need of quality used equipment. If you are not yet ready to place your project or your farm fully in the hands of an unfeeling metallic creation with an Austrian accent, come to Mascus and find all manner of human controlled and powered machines.

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