Some years ago, a friend of mine told me about a twin boom excavator he had seen at a construction equipment exhibition in China.
Having first established that this wasn’t a prank of some kind, I went in search of the machine and found that it did, in fact, exist. More than that, there were at least two construction equipment manufacturers that had devised much the same solution.
A solution to what, I hear you ask? Well, both firms said their machines were designed to work in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake or other natural disaster. One of the machine’s twin booms would be fitted with a grab or grapple for holding beams, columns and slabs in place, while the second boom was equipped with a cutting, crushing or pulverising attachment. Working in unison, the two booms could remove large chunks of fallen concrete and steel without causing a further collapse.
At the time, I remember thinking that operating such a machine would be like attempting to pat yourself on the head whilst rubbing your belly in a circular motion. I also dismissed the machine as a novelty with limited appeal outside of quake-prone Asia.
Now, I am not so sure.
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