Engineering + AI solution to potholes

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amorphos_b
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TL;DR
this is a basic summary of the idea, for anyone to use.
Engineering + AI solution to potholes

build a heavy but small truck with pneumatic machines driven by AI. Position the truck using AI over the pothole, then lower the first cutting device over the hole. Use pneumatic pressure rather than a hammering motion so it makes little noise when pushing into the road [so it can be used 24/7]. then place a second suction device to pull the released material out of the made hole. Then position a third device to put hot tarmac and other fill [e.g. if you need to bore into the foundations] into the hole. Job done – save costs and do the job properly!
 
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btw i kept it short to just relay the idea concisely, i am not going to reinvent the wheel - everything they need already exists.
 
amorphos_b said:
TL;DR: this is a basic summary of the idea, for anyone to use.

ob done – save costs and do the job properly!
Just wondering...
Are people ready for an autonomous robot pothole machine on their street?
They might be wary of a road machine wandering around in its own and demand a human supervisor as a safety precaution, so that some curious kid doesn't get too close and end up as pavement.
Any liability for the city if an accident does happen?
Employees, union or not, might feel a bit put out losing a job. Sabatoge?

there are already one man machines.
Probably sized for an 8 hour shift with bin size enough to hold asphalt, water, and refuse collector to stay out all day. Guessing though, perhaps they make several trips to the depot during the day.
 
Here an Artistic Ingenuity solution:

screenshot-2026-08-01-at-9-59-38-am-webp.webp

From this thread:
 
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amorphos_b said:
TL;DR: this is a basic summary of the idea, for anyone to use.

Use pneumatic pressure rather than a hammering motion
A hammer device (of appropriate mass and speed) is a lot more effective for many jobs. It would be one of the last tools I would be prepared to chuck away - for good reason. The sort of machine you are hinting at would need to be extremely massive and expensive and the only thing in its favour would be low noise.

If you want to convince me, you would need to point at such a system and show how it could work in the road in front of your house.

Keep inventing with your mind, though; it's fun and even monkeys and typewriters manage short bursts of good stuff. I have an 'if only' list, myself.
 
Near here, a local council road inspector walked a street, marking the potholes that were open. He ignored the ones that were only cracks in the surface, but not open yet. A local resident walked the street that evening with an identical spray can and marked the cracks in the same style. Next day, the contractor had to go back for more material, and the council inspector could not understand how he got the estimate of the volume so wrong.