COMMENT
Road to nowhere
O
ne of the main areas of focus in industry
today is ‘disruptive technology’ and
quarrying and related industries are not
going to remain unaffected. Afrimat CEO
Andries van Heerden singles out the combination of
drones and autonomous vehicles as areas to watch,
particularly as the possibility of automated passenger
vehicles draws closer.
“I can see drones – large, weight-bearing drones
that can carry passengers and cargo – could possibly
eliminate the need for roads in future,” says Van
Heerden. “If you have an autonomous drone that is
controlled by a supercomputer, a single road going into
a city like Cape Town could be replaced by 50 or 60 lanes
going through the air in three dimensions, you may
eliminate the need for road aggregates, for instance.”
And this possibility is not as futuristic or far off
as you might think. Dubai is preparing to launch
the world’s first passenger drone – an autonomous
aerial taxi – in July this year. Commuters will be able
to summon the EHang 184 from one of a number of
designated zones to transport them to a selected drop-
off zone.
A prototype of the drone, which has already
racked up over 200 test flights, was unveiled at the
2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The 106kW quadcopter weighs 200kg and can fly at
heights of up to 3 500m. Powered by eight propellers,
the four-legged, egg-shaped vehicle has room for a
single passenger weighing up to 100kg and a small
suitcase. Though the aerial taxi can reach speeds of up
to 160kph; Dubai’s transportation officials say it will
typically operate at about 100kph.
Once this is up and running, it is not a huge leap to
increase the scale of operation, and while it will be a
while before larger drones are both in production and
affordable, it is easy to see where the future could lead.
Another technology to watch is 3D printing. The
progress that has been made in the field of 3D printing
is already significant, and the impact it will have as its
foothold grows is almost impossible to envisage, let
alone calculate. We are already starting to visualise
how far its influence could extend, and experts across
a wide variety of fields predict that it will have a bigger
economic impact than the internet has had.
Its influence on the construction sector has already
been noted, and at the end of February, the Northern
European region’s first 3D construction printing
conference took place in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The aim of the conference was to discuss potential
disruption in the industry from a more prevalent
application of 3D technology.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 in March was another
industry conference that felt the impact of 3D printing.
This year’s theme was ‘Imagine what’s next’, and one of
the displays was Project AME (additive manufactured
excavator): the world’s first fully functional, 3D printed
excavator. While only a prototype, Project AME allows
us a glimpse of the potentially far-ranging impact of 3D
printing on industry.
And manufacturing is only one of the areas where
3D printing is having an impact on the construction
sector. Another is 3D concrete printing, which enables
companies to construct building components and, in
some cases even entire buildings, using 3D printing.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. It is virtually
impossible for us to foresee in how many ways this
technology will impact our lives in future, much as it
was impossible for us to predict just how much change
the internet would bring.
For instance, what will happen when products no
longer need to be shipped from the factory, but can be
sent electronically and then printed and/or assembled
on site, if the raw materials are available? How will this
affect the quarrying and road construction industry?
As is the case with weight-nearing drones, this might
eliminate – or at least drastically reduce – the need
for roads in future, and therefore the need for the
materials used in their construction and maintenance.
It is not to say that these changes, if they do come,
will happen overnight. But it is a good idea to keep an
eye on the trends, and think about the ramifications
they might have on the industry in future, even if it is a
long time coming.
Robyn Grimsley - Editor
[email protected]
QUARRY SA | MAY 2017 _ 1