Construction equipment on the moon - Komatsu lunar machine project

[@nabieladrian]

"What did you do?" "Doing remote jobs" "Cool, what is it?" "Heavy machine operator." "Uh... where is the machine?" "The moon."

[@goiterlanternbase]

"Who will service it?" "Uhm... radiation prove mutants🤓"

[@jgr7487]

Remote heavy machine operating is already a thing on Earth, so doing it on the Moon is the next step.

[@goiterlanternbase]

@ Well no. We have not the slightest experience on moving regolith. The closest thing, is what we do, when producing portland cement and all of this happens inside heavy steel machines and when you ever have asked, why concrete has this slightly yellow tint, it is this very steel, who got ground away. Moon is an unforgiving place😉

[@frommarkham424]

Yk by the time we put excavators on the moon ai will have gotten so advanced that we might as well juse use AI to operate the excavator😅

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

_"It can get stressful at times..."_ "Why's that?" _"There's a few seconds of delay between sending the commands and getting video back."_ "Can't you get a better internet connection to solve that?" _"No_ 🤣" "Wait, why's that funny...?" _"Because it's not a connection speed problem, it's a _*_physics_*_ problem."_ "Not enough bandwidth?" _"No, it's a matter of distance."_ "Distance?! Anywhere on Earth can be reached online in under half a second!" _"NOW you're getting it!"_ "Im really not... Where on Earth is the equipment, then??" _"It ISN'T, _*_that's_*_ the issue!"_ "Uhh 🤨" _"The machines are on _*_the Moon,_*_ dude._ ☝️😅" "🤯"

[@egooidios5061]

It's nice seeing KZbinrs uploading some fancy lunar mining renderings. But when you see established heavy machinery manufacturers starting to upload concepts for possible lunar operations, you know shit is getting real!

[@vmcprojects]

This is what I look forward to. It's good to see the public (not just space nerds) and companies alike thinking about space exploration.

[@masterbalay]

Hahaha. The Moon is not a hard surface, rather a luminous being. These renderings by this company is hilarious. Hahahahahahaha. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Cresign]

@masterbalay What the hell are you talking about 😭

[@Myexpectationsarerealistic]

Komatsu is a Construction equipment manufacturer in Japan.

[@JusticePreyHDM]

the moon is not alive. wake up. ​@@masterbalay

[@J3scribe]

Dust mitigation will be a much greater challenge than getting the machines up there in the first place.

[@comkey-Ninja]

why should they account for dust mitigation if the machines are electric?

[@akauppi2]

Lunar dust is static and binds to any joints etc. "Static electricity undusting" is what I'd add to the video. Then, almost done! 🌙

[@raykewin3608]

@@comkey-Ninja Its also highly abrasive.

[@Benn25]

@@comkey-Ninja He is right, this is a gigantic problem, this stuff is horrible, sticks to everything and is abrasive af. basically this is ultra sharp glass but powder size. One very promising way to get rid of it is by static electricity, to prevent it to stick to surfaces.

[@PaddyPatrone]

Can be solved by negative static charging of the vehicles outer skin.

[@Daddo22]

I am perplexed by the choice of using tracks, when we have established in the 60s that that is not a good idea. Seems like this is more of an artist rendition without serious engineering behind it, but hopefully there's someone in your company actually working on making the fundamental idea a reality and I can definitely cheer on that.

[@mpokoraa]

su mister know it all

[@OrionAerospaceKSP]

@@mpokoraa This person is correct. Tracks are not an ideal solution on the moon. I'm inclined to reflect your own statement back at you.

[@mpokoraa]

@OrionAerospaceKSP lol unsufferable know it all syndrome

[@Daddo22]

@@mpokoraa do you think that you are smarter than the top brass of aerospace engineers from USA, Soviet Union/Russia, Europe and China, who all agree on this matter?

[@rubenskiii]

@@mpokoraathink of how many moon rovers had or have tracks.

[@SARCASTICLES]

I worked for a Komatsu dealer in the 1980's, they had already built that amphibious bulldozer, and we sold a few of those excavators that could dig a trench parallel to the machine AND sit on a bridge and dig under itself. We used to joke that they'd probably be the first ones to make equipment for construction on the Moon.........

[@SARCASTICLES]

....and does anybody know what that funky excavator was called? It didn't get the factory yellow, it was blue and white mostly, with a wrist joint on the stick, and the boom was articulated.....it would tear the cab off with an untrained operator, we actually rebuilt one with armor after our customer ripped his SLAM OFF.

[@SARCASTICLES]

.........PLC55, PC55? It WAS 45 years ago. Fred Flintstone was rough on those Brontos...they needed new teeth every two months.

[@jamesburleson1916]

I would think a drag line bucket would be a much better choice for excavation than a more typical excavator. The abrasive regolith causes issues with bearings and joints, and locating all the critical bearings in one place inside a housing would be much more suitable for the conditions. A drag line could probably also be built much lighter, since the forces on the boom are much more manageable, and the counterweight can easily be a giant tub filled with regolith.

[@HalNordmann]

Doesn't a drag line also need a ton of joints in all the pulleys?

[@jamesburleson1916]

@HalNordmann It does need a few independent winches, but they can be located in one place, under a cover. The pulleys will definitely be a wear item, but they can be made easier to replace. The main thing is that you don't have a delicate servo at each joint of the arm that you need to protect from the dust. All your important stuff is well protected and far from the harmful stuff.

[@goiterlanternbase]

There is still the problem, that the regolith layer is only a few inches deep. Drill baby, drill😎

[@olawlor]

@@goiterlanternbase The lunar regolith is several meters deep almost everywhere, up to 10's of meters in the highlands. See Lunar Sourcebook chapter 7.

[@goiterlanternbase]

@ I got told🤦‍♀️ i know. Wrote the unit wrong.

[@jokerace8227]

Have to start somewhere with thinking about how to design effective construction machines for operating the Moon. I like that your company is at least thinking about that.

[@joaohenriqueneuhaus2023]

Haha! Now you conquered the hearts of many heavy machinery nuts around here. "I want to see my komatsu on the moon!"

[@Secretlyanothername]

This is beautiful, thank you Komatsu

[@EmilOsena]

Kinda curious on how they will maintain the charging ports clear of moon dust. I heard it was already a challenge to get rid of it in the Apollo days.

[@Flyingwigs]

They could keep a tank of high pressure gas onboard and give it little puffs to clear it

[@egooidios5061]

But where will you get the gas supply for this? I believe it would be best to have a circular connector designed, and occasionally give it a good spin and let centrifugal force knock the dust off

[@tomaszkarwik6357]

@@egooidios5061 The sublimation temperature of the regolith in the lunar vacum is pretty low. You could just sublimate some material and get the gas. Or just use the same process you would use for the metal extraction/purification to get the O2 out of the oxides

[@Arjava.]

Everything solid state and wireless charging pad, no ports of any type if possible. No treads, only wheels with enclosed joints

[@witext]

@@Arjava. yeah, def no treads, idk what they were thinking when I saw the treads in the video

[@danielmichalski94]

Fast idea - wanna grab lunar soil and not generate huge amounts of sharp dust that would kill your machines pretty fast? Watch Wall-E, see how he compresses the trash in his belly chamber, think about compressing lunar dirt too for avoiding some of the dust. When you grab it, put it in a bag of some sorts immidiately, compress it and close it. Less dust = longer life of equipment. I bet this comment will be read by some engineers working for Komatsu out there - guys, this project has huge potential, but make it simpler, avoid as many joints and moving parts as possible and think about getting rid of dust thrown around. Also, think closely about using composite materials containing outer layers made of only ceramics harder than lunar dust itself. It will lenghten the life of equipment significantely. I wish you good luck, cheers!

[@Kr0N05]

Ooh I like the idea of some regolith screening plant fairly far away putting the smaller sizes in a bag format and then lay the bags around your habitat. That sounds like a real good idea.

[@somewhereinagalaxyfarfaraway]

Oh boy the arm chair space engineers are out in full force here 😅

[@mode1charlie170]

Yes, dust seems to be a real problem with these people.

[@mennol3885]

LOL, yes. It attracts nerdy people like me, but all we get is a investor pitch type of rendering with almost no technical rigor. Hard vacuum, static electricity and sharp dust are a fun combination of working conditions.

[@combatjeyj6234]

the render looks really good but given moon conditions what you want is cable operated because of the fact that moon regolith is ridiclously abrasive and fine so any join will worn out super fast

[@TheRedstar91]

And how are cables more abrasion resistant than wireless communication?

[@mememaster147]

@@TheRedstar91 I think he means using something like a drag-line excavator instead of a backhoe.

[@TheRedstar91]

@@mememaster147 ah, okay.

[@polfb2930]

There is a youtube video that explains that hidraulics suffer a lot in moon conditions, thus the more simple machines operated by cables are much more resistent and less prone to braking, and in the moon you don't want anything braking and needing service

[@effervescentrelief]

@@polfb2930 They'd have to use electric motors, luckily with the low gravity loads won't be as high, but I can't see hydraulics working very well for long with the dust on the seals, unless you kept everything internal, which would only add complexity. Plus since these would be remote operated motors would be far more reliable.

[@yukihironus]

積載したダンプをブルドーザーにするのが面白い。

[@AspiringD3v]

Caterpillar been real quiet since this dropped. But seriously, it's nice to see companies like Komatsu thinking for the future when we do colonize the moon

[@urbanstrencan]

This project is just amazing ❤❤❤ Love that you are thinking so far into the future

[@Chris.Davies]

The people who created this stuff obviously know absolutely nothing about: A) The moon (and it's environment) B) The cost per KG to the moon C) What machines will be needed on the moon D) How machines will Get Rekt by the moon.

[@battonfive]

Some great input in these comments, well worth having a read Komatsu and taking them on board. I like the concept but it would be great to see the well considered reality. Good luck guys.

[@Richard-sg8lr]

Excellent! I worked for Komatsu in Chattanooga. Tn.

[@umurkaragoz]

Super exciting to see a construction equipment manufacturer has moon as a consideration! Otherwise can't help not to mention that the outro was super nice, but the rest of the CGI was from the previous decade NGL.

[@gamakris3238]

I loved my Komatsu forklift in 1991.

[@GadreelAdvocat]

You see how they rendered that equipment for mining and excavating on the moon. You know what it should look like. Ya. Nothing like what they've shown here. Better to have a different design. Shielded and that can be worked on out in the field if needed. What can be used for the "box" of it could offer shielding if needed, with some design changes.

[@martonlerant5672]

People pointing out lots of issues but avoiding the main one. Low gravity means its a dicey proposition to utilize the vehicle weight to break up surface.

[@smorrow]

Works on Mars. The rovers press down with their arm. The wheels don't leave the ground, but the body does pitch up.

[@SudheerKumarReddy-t7p]

Can they use vibrating bucket to break the soil? Will that solve the problem?

[@FarmerDrew]

They can dig in with the front blade.

[@AndoVinci]

I wonder how long these tracks would last working on regolite

[@jamesbizs]

Not long at all, because it’s dumb? Lol.

[@techman8817]

Doesn’t look like serious engineering consider went into it. At least no exposed hydraulics though. I think they want big wheels and small buckets, and move very slowly. Since there is no atmosphere, they could even consider a radical concept of literally throwing buckets of dust to the side, since the material would only be influenced by gravity, not turbulence. But such concepts would look too weird to show here. Average komatsu buyer is not a physicist or engineer who would understand.

[@AndoVinci]

@@techman8817 I agree. I fail to see the point of this video tbh, it’s a PR stunt but who’s gonna buy a komatsu vehicle based on this video lmfao

[@NoPegs]

Just commenting to prove that I was here BEFORE this became a meme.

[@ianreid5389]

@Anthrofuturism

[@canaancopeland5059]

same thought lol

[@Ionut-bg6vw]

Lol yeah

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Progress...?

[@spacechild7452]

Same

[@jamesbizs]

I’ll be honest. I was a little upset when I clicked this video, to realize that it wasn’t actually a new one from Him… but tracks on the moon??? Come on man!

[@Kr0N05]

Good to see Komatsu is at least thinking about it. Yes an excavator and dump truck are crucial ...... and then some cranes (If the excavator arms are not long enough.). And then you would want to set up a regolith screening plant relatively far away. :) Putting the smaller sized regolith in bags which then are placed around the habitat. And of course everything breaks down, so you will need a couple of repair hangers for the heavy equipment.

[@shykj8892]

Like the fancy futuristic & partially realistic designs. Aim for the stars!

[@OneBiasedOpinion]

I’m curious to know how these machines will be built to withstand the insane conditions on the Moon. Especially since they’re autonomous. Obviously the interiors will be sealed outside of maintenance procedures, but you’ve still got the constant risk of cosmic bombardment and the static dust that can cut through just about anything with relative ease.

[@maxwarboy3625]

kool... Komazzu looking forwards and onwards!

[@jimchik]

Nice pictures. So many questions…

[@ramilv739]

I've been studying lunar excavation for 5 years+ now. The dust will bind and grind every joint to shreds. BUT it's possible to mitigate with electrostatic shrouds that will also act as thermal protection. Don't know if electric joints be enough or will we need liquid pistons. The biggest challenge however is the weight balance of the vehicle. Lightweight to goto the moon vs heavy to be able to excavate. Overall, we wouldn't know until we send a scaled down version for research.

[@johngalt969]

Their advert unironically is the best video game in the last 10 years. There's no black women in wheelchairs fighting on the beaches of Normandy, no degenerate crap, just fun! Please, please, please let our future dystopia be hive cities where we operate heavy machinery on other planets. :(

[@thebeef1278]

We need things like this to fill media, it needs to be a concept of daily life. As media goes culture will follow

[@alexanderkenway]

Cool concepts. Hope to see these transported on an HLS Starship one day.

[@joshuahansen5486]

You guys might want to also try to design a good tunnel boring machine that would be a pretty efficient way of making structures you get both a tunnel and then can use the aggregate from it to build the structure I think you should consider different energy generating methods maybe put micro nuclear in these vehicles and remember as long as you've got a compressed bottle of oxygen you could also run a standard diesel out in space

[@plixplop]

Gotta ship that diesel fuel to the Moon... the cost would be staggering. Better to use solar or nuclear power.

[@joshuahansen5486]

@@plixplop solar does not have the energy output and batteries don't have a high enough energy density and there are also very heavy as well so we're basically left with the nuclear option though a long supply chain of oxidizers and fuels wouldn't be an impossible feet

[@Martin-117]

Every big machine manufacturer better start working on concepts for lunar, astroid, and Mars mining equipment if they want a piece of the future.

[@thisisntgood71]

Yeah. Should be no problem. Shouldn't be any mechanical issues with any of that just like here on earth 😃

[@gyrateful]

A little suspension of disbelief is required here. Obviously, the equipment will be totally different from what is used on Earth, but it does illustrate that some type of equipment will be used. My take-away is that regolith may be a good source of protection until horizontal boring machines can be used. Komatsu seems to be saying they will be a construction tech leader.

[@MrRockrespect]

Maintenance will be a nightmare

[@ferdymacleod5675]

Hell yeah, coolest remote workers ever

[@CausticLemons7]

I want these but at lawnmower scale, so I can do earthworks in my backyard without a permit.

[@MistSoalar]

I heard regolith are pretty much static charged like glitters but with sharp edges. I wonder if they have a solution to clean the machines.

[@SOR-05]

The new spacesuits are designed to electromagnetically repel the dust.

[@effervescentrelief]

Probably some impressed current across the vehicle.

[@Arational]

As Komatsu must be aware of, the mass of the machine is an important factor in earth moving equipment. The extra track arrangement seems to indicate this. The problem is how to deliver high mass machinery to the lunar surface. Starship lunar has a high mounted cargo bay. A significant change in center of mass will occur when a 30+ ton piece of equipment goes out the side to be craned down from a hundred meters up. There will be no prepared landing pad to start with and stability of the regolith cannot be assured. To create a perpetual human presence on the moon, a vehicle must be developed to deliver high mass payloads from lunar orbit to the surface.

[@nitroxide17]

I can’t wait to be a Lunar hillbilly ✨

[@kirkwilson5905]

Getting heavy machinery to the moon will be out of the range of the world budget combined. Even magnesium components in sufficient design strength would cost crazy amounts. Maybe sending lightweight "shells" that can be site filled with expanding structural foam?

[@joependleton6293]

Excellent animation 🌿 great concept *🌛

[@m_disulphide]

Hell yeah lunar Tonka truck

[@Da__goat]

Drone mining equipment controlled from the earth to harvest iron on the moon was not on my bucket list but I’m ready for it. Can’t wait for the hydrogen fuel processing facilities

[@envitech02]

Beautiful rendering and concept. But who's going to perform maintenance on these machines??

[@n1kryb_914]

Hope we'll see a real footage like this from actual lunar construction work

[@effervescentrelief]

The only reason these kinds of proposals are even being discussed is because of SpaceX's Starship. Once Starship is fully operational and the orbital refueling thing is figured out, sending construction equipment to the moon will become a reality.

[@Juurus]

In this age you need to become an astronaut to be a blue collar worker on the moon.

[@jamfork3871]

It's like with William Shatner being 90 and going into low orbit or like Armageddon, we just have to survive the trip! Lol

[@Michaelonyoutub]

The education requirements for a simple backhoe job have sky rocketed for our generation, now you need to be a fully fledged astronaut /sarcasm It will be insane though when simple jobs like this will require actual highly, almost overqualified, people to complete. Some of it can be done remotely, like controlling everything, but you are still going to want a human mechanic up there to problem solve any problems that pop up.

[@mikakettunen7939]

Reminds me of film Independence Day 2 where they do hard shifts blue collar style at Moon with highly advanced alien reverse engineered technology - if minus alien tech that scenario is quite on spot to my opinion

[@darrendempsey3190]

- too much silt without moisture will be difficult to dig. - No tracks, aggressive sand style tires better. - larger solar charging panels. - Not sure about dozing down in a silt pit without shoring?

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

The funny thing is... this will no longer be "Heavy Machinery"! Not only will they have to be lightweight for transport _(I mean, sorta, given Starship's payload limit is a LOT),_ the low gravity means the regolith won't weigh anything! At least for the excavator... the haulers will need to be more robust. Carbon Fiber alone might be sufficient for most of it, with the majority of the weight being the motors, electrical wiring, and batteries. Though, I suspect it'll need high Abrasion Resistant plating on joints, given how abrasive Lunar regolith is. (hopefully AR600 will be sufficient) As such, I feel like tracked mobility would be a total no-go, given all the track link joints being individual wear points that are in constant contact with the regolith. Wheels win the day here, particularly given the lack of machine weight won't need the footprint (surface area) tracks provide like we need here on Earth. All armchair speculation on my part, though... 😅

[@Gumbatron01]

There are going to be some serious challenges to designing and operating machinery in a Lunar environment. As many others have mentioned, dust. Lunar regolith is not like normal dust on Earth as there is no water or wind erosion, so the dust particles are extremely sharp and abrasive. Added to that is that the ionizing radiation from Space will make the surface dust statically charged, so it will stick to everything. Tracks in such an environment are basically a non-starter. You could try rubber tracks, but then you have the next challenge, temperature extremes. In the Sun light, surfaces will get very hot, with no way other than radiation of IR light to release the energy, or conduction to the surface. In the shade, you have the opposite problem with extreme cold. Designing a flexible track that would work in such an environmental envelope would be a serious challenge (the materials for such do not yet exist). Metal tracks would wear out very rapidly due to dust incursion causing abrasive wear. You would also want to shield all joints of the equipment from dust as far as possible, with flexible "boots" around non-rotating joints. Holding the equipment in place while it works will also be a challenge due to the lower gravity. The machines will not be able to be exceedingly heavy due to transportation requirements. Although, you could use "ballast tanks" of regolith to weigh down machinery, or anchor them to the ground in other ways. Doing this entirely autonomously and remotely will be difficult though. It's encouraging that people are thinking about these sort of far off projects, but the thinking might need to go further outside the box. Identifying the constraints and limits within which the solution must be found, then working within those limits to create tools that can accomplish the required goals, even though they may bear almost no resemblance to their Earthly equivalents.

[@proto_arkbit3100]

Beautiful!!

[@jomima-c1q]

Thank you!!!! Wonderful

[@feraldegenerate1743]

Marvin would be proud.

[@Meyer-gp7nq]

Ah yes the comment I was looking for. God has a plan for the moon too 🫡

[@jamesbizs]

This is awful tho lol. The designs they show, with tracks and hydraulics?

[@oriontheraptor8119]

This would be so surreal to see in real life honestly construct on the moon imagine nasa having a live stream of the first couple weeks or months of a irl operation

[@Howitz759]

You'll probably need to drill anchor the excavator into the ground due to the lower gravity so it doesn't move itself by trying to dig with the bucket which would result in sufficient force applied on the ground to lift the entire excavator. Since sensing it to the moon will require it to be extremely light in the first place, this will make it even more vulnerable to lifting itself instead of digging into the ground unless it's safely anchored in the ground.

[@Spaceman0025]

It could just go slow, there's no reason to go as fast as you can

[@techman8817]

I don’t think moon soil is compacted enough to be an issue, because low gravity and no rain to bind things together. Like a dust ball. There are always jackhammers as well, for deeper holes.

[@meldroc]

You might add a ballast container to the excavator - send it up empty, just fill it with regolith for weight.

[@TeslaElonSpaceXFan]

❤❤

[@aowi7280]

Done it on earth yet?

[@effervescentrelief]

I would think this would be an excellent case for RTGs to help power things. Since the vehicles will not be manned, there's no reason to overly worry about radiation exposure potential. Granted RTGs are low in power output, so perhaps small ones for trickle charging (in case the vehicle can't make it to the base station) as well as for keeping systems warm. Just some thoughts.

[@tonyug113]

yeah, rtgs to keep stuff warm during the lunar night, ans a solar farm/ specific solar vehicle to get power in first place -= though i klelieve KRYUSTY can generate a few kw (unlikely enough for big machinery though)

[@dphuntsman]

Komatsu, I’m giving this concept piece a Thumbs Up that you’re even thinking about these things; BUT….from here, it is important that the company does more than just computer graphics, ok? For example, it needs to do real work on determining which type of regolith manipulation equipment et al the company thinks will be most important early on- and then, start preliminary testing to actually verify early design concepts, including: tracks vs wheels vs specific types, etc. This can be done with on a test bed with the right type of lunar simulant; the best (in the US) is problem at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. But, that’s only on ‘simulant’. After that, the next step would be to send a small rover- either as a payload on a NASA CLPS mission, or, a Japanese equivalent- to test out a particular configuration at a (relatively) low cost. - Dave Huntsman

[@jamesbizs]

Most of this research has already been done. This video was just a cool concept with I think zero actual thought put into implementation. Lol. Just some graphics designer having fun with zero engineering input.

[@kellymoses8566]

Lunar dust is very fine and charged from the solar wind so it sticks to everything and is very abrasive. Any bearings would have to be ceramic.

[@UnwrappingByMimiKoteng]

Amazing

[@ZobrAz]

This is all nice and dandy but how all this machines will deal with high abrasive and static charged (which makes it sticky) regolith?

[@pihermoso11]

The most important equipment to colonize the moon or mars is a tunnel borer machine, like the one used in Japan where it digs tunnel on the front while the back puts up the concrete walls at the same time The moon doesn't have an atmosphere and Mars barely has any, because there's no protection like the earth's atmosphere, the station has to be built underneath the surface

[@mattroyle1087]

Ive been thinking about shaping the metals found into shapes that can be control dropped onto an Antarctic snow plain where they can safely reach the ground and be recovered

[@INWMI]

have you considered the dust?

[@jayk8594]

komatsu should submit bids for building martian rovers and such. with starship's inevitable launch capacity there's no reason to send ultra lightweight JPL contraptions when we can send real heavy machinery.

[@raptorking7479]

Government During 2021: Please work from home! Construction Workers:

[@sergeyskutin1863]

Are you sure that you are fully utilizing the advantages of low gravity in your design? This alone should change the approach to earthworks. Or not? Looks like futuristic technology for the earth. Cool video by the way)

[@HTtwentyten]

Please let this happen. Life is destined for so much more than to wither away on a vulnerable little nursery planet. Earth is precious, but our destiny calls us and challenges us from across the stars.

[@mikechristiansen2000]

This video has all the detail one would expect in a sixth grade science fair project.

[@Chris.Davies]

That's generous.

[@stimpyfeelinit]

yeah nice thanks komatsu, can't wait for megacorps to put advertisement displays on the moon using your equipment

[@plixplop]

I really wonder how people would react to seeing visible construction change the appearance of the Moon... likely not very positive. One of the few things that every culture on Earth has gazed upon since the dawn of Man and has remained completely unchanged for millennia. I could easily imagine some regulation that heavy construction must be restricted to the far side.

[@johnlucas6683]

Wow, I am looking forward to the beginning of starting to make the moon an outpost. But it never occured to me that heavy equipment would have an ad for such endeavors. Haha What a future! Interesting concept.

[@joeloiacono8850]

The reality of dust, all kinds of particles, and space radiation is going to make this much harder than it looks. Komatsu, how will these things communicate when they are completely engulfed in regolith and can't use line of sight, lidar, or even radar?

[@Myob2545]

That lunar dust is your number one enemy when it comes to remote lunar machines. That stuff will get in everywhere especially the gearing, I think it has a bit of a electric static to it, so it’ll stick to whatever it’s like metallica or whatever

[@mikakettunen7939]

Sad but true - yes - pun intended \,,/

[@Blunthammer]

Its all fun and games intill you need to replace a hinge pin, which is pretty often in the grand scheme of things.

[@TroyRubert]

I can't wait to see these off-loaded off a starship.

[@TheMMAHawk]

great job Japan!

[@joelvanwinkle5976]

Imagine someone asks you what you do for a living and you say you’re a remote excavator operator.

[@philorkill]

How is vehicle to vehicle wireless charging supposed to work?

[@tonyug113]

and not that necessary -- you just need a central thing things charge from

[@sadsausage2224]

very cool

[@pauljensen5699]

Please do this. 1969 was too long ago.

[@troyt6532]

I like how they basically copy pasted an excavator arm designed for hydraulics and slapped servos on it. This reminds me of that animation where a semi transforms and takes out an entire army. “I depicted it working, therefore it works.”

[@tristan7216]

That's a big septic tank!

[@matthuber9936]

Is this music included in the Moon Rave Construction package?

[@slevinshafel9395]

also can be made belt machine to transpor the regolit out.

[@KogureDevilchan]

Will the visual sensors acomodate for the extra dusty conditions it might create when at work? If it's even a problem...

[@widdly-scuds]

Anybody who runs equipment in silt environments knows these things are going to need some serious new engineering or pins and bushing are going to be the main freight shipped there for constant repairs. Moon dust is extremely abrasive

[@kingsYanu144]

Wow Komatsu is expanding its business wings and transacting with aliens.

[@kingsYanu144]

😅😅😆

[@goiterlanternbase]

How do you deal with the gasket problem? Still lot of moving parts🤔

[@supernalbjj]

nice, how much per unit for the excavator? what are its dimensions? how much does it weigh? and what is the moq? I am going to need a bunch of them.

[@skyeroy29]

hope there’s a fun-gineering degree involved with this. all i can think about is futurama. 🎶we’re whalers on the moon. We carry a harpoon. But there ain’t no whales so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune.🎶

[@YellowRambler]

Nice video on a subject that’s receives little coverage, if there was narrator later in video I missed it, as I had to turn off the sound because of annoying thumping music. You should have showed a Retired StarShip being buried for a conversion to a moon base. Could not see where you put the moon dirt that would act as counterweight on the JCB.

[@poljoprivreda1970]

So a machine city on the moon, a robots retirement dream location.

[@DoNotPushHere]

How did they solve lunar dust erosion on any bearing, swivel, and joint?