The heads-up display in his machine flashes electric blue. Welcome trainee Riley – session one.
Riley is 19 years old. He holds an old-school competence card that proves he passed the test at college. But here on site, he is a newbie. A rookie. Unqualified.
He slides into the seat, adjusting it along with position of his joysticks. Everything about the machine’s interior feels at once familiar and welcoming, yet alien and even menacing.
As he puts on his headset, the heads-up display changes. Instead of his name, the display scrolls through machine functions, analysing every component, every action. The display settles on a display that is alive with data streams: power consumption; wear index boom; wear index undercarriage; wear index attachment. These readings rise and fall like sound waves before setting to their current state. A red LED flashes, showing that the in-cab camera is working and that he is being watched. Unbeknown to Riley, the in-cab air filtration system has already analysed his breath for the presence of alcohol.
A voice crackles in the headset, crisp but impersonal: Trainee Riley, your telemetry is online. Let us begin.
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