This New Plasma Boring Robot Can Dig Tunnels 100 Times Faster And 98% Cheaper

San Francisco-based startup Earthgrid is developing a plasma boring robot that can dig tunnels 100 times faster, and up to 98 percent cheaper than existing boring systems, a report from New Atlas reveals. The company aims to employ its technology to re-wire energy, internet, and utility grids in the U.S. Unlike conventional boring machines, which typically use massive cutting wheels to slowly excavate tunnels, Earthgrid’s robot blasts rocks with high temperatures to break and even vaporize them via a process called spallation. Earthgrid is currently operating on pre-seed funding, and it is developing its “Rapid Burrowing Robot (RBR)”, a spallation boring robot with several 48,600 °F (27,000 °C) plasma torches mounted on large discs. Read more >>