[maCDzP]

This looks cool. So this is extending the tech from Trimble/Topcon with LiDAR in order to have a fully autonomous excavator?

How would I handle faulty geotechnical surveys? It has happened several times that the trench caved in and the operator saved a persons life.

[kevinmpeterson]

We don't have any relationship with Trimble or Topcon, but yes much more advanced capabilities on the machine. On caving/shoring - ideally we avoid having people in at least some of the trenches... if you can dig a trench and lay a pipe down without manipulating it by (human) hand, then trench collapse is less of an issue. Obviously doesn't work for everything, but we have LIDAR on board, so we can handle surveying remotely without someone standing in a cut with a stick.

Faulty geotechnical - I'd be interested in understanding how the operator helped here. Will take time, but anything the operator is doing (watching subsidance, feeling the ground, watching a wall collapse, confirming that the ground is actually what you think it is), will be doable with the sensors we have on board. The operator we're building will have many lifetimes of experience, so will be able to learn things that even the best operators can't. We saw this at Waymo (now at 100 million miles!!!!) - it seems like magic, but if you had 1000 lifetimes of experience, you'd be incredibly good at very subtle things like this.