Robot Designed to Tunnel Through the Earth Incredibly Fast Using Plasma

If Cali-based startup EarthGrid has its way, downed power lines and faulty electric transformers may soon be a problem of the past. Science and tech pub New Atlas explained the company’s patent-pending process on Thursday and said the plasma boring robot it’s developing can dig underground tunnels as much as 100 times faster than the competition, all while costing about 98 percent less. “Imagine a robot with ten light sabers on the front, vaporizing through rock and soil,” founder Troy Helming said in a short video that shows off the bot’s plasma-boring capabilities. The back end of the bot spits out “cornflake-size” bits of rock. New Atlas said the bot can do its job without touching tunnel walls as it bores through the ground, meaning it can complete jobs without stopping if necessary. Read more >>