There is something in our DNA that makes us salivate over massive machines. Today there are exhibitions around the world showing off the biggest and best toys and machines. The bigger they come the more they appeal. We wanted to highlight some of our favorite massive machines.
The exoskeleton
Let’s start with the smallest machine on the list. The exoskeleton has to be brought up because it has appeared in some shape or form in Hollywood movies since robocop. Yet the exoskeleton is now real. Designed by Sarcos Robotics the Guardian XO machine is designed to be worn and will make the wearer able to lift things that are incredibly heavy without risk of injury. This machine makes you almost indestructible and while it is designed for manual labor tasks like lifting missiles. We imagine that it won’t be long before it is properly weaponized.
The tree spade
The tree spade is an example of massive machinery at its finest. To come up with an idea of a massive version of an arcade claw machine that allows you to pick up entire trees and their roots instead of soft toys is fascinating. The Curved Blade 100 is the best example. It is so large it has to be transported on a full truck and can move trees that have a base of 31 cm in diameter.
The super dozer
Bulldozers are big we all know that. But the biggest dozer of them all is the ACCO Super Dozer. It is more than forty feet long and weighs 183 tons. It is powered by two engines both running 675 horsepower. These numbers are almost impossible to consider so as to provide a reference, the largest bulldozer that Caterpillar offers weighs in at 115 tons. The blade alone is 23 feet wide and 9 feet high.
The super dump truck
The world’s largest dump truck boggles the mind to look at. It looks like a truck but it is bigger than most buildings. It weighs a shocking 360 tonnes and can carry 450 tonnes! If you fancy landing one of these machines it will only cost you $6 million.
Nothing boring about Bertha
A boring machine is far more exciting than the name suggests. It bores a large hole in a mountain big enough to build a tunnel from. The largest boring machine in the world is named Bertha. It is 300 feet long and 5 stories high. The machine was made in Japan but built for the purpose of the US market. It is the main tool used in a large Viaduct project built in Seattle. The tunnel is two miles long and was completed in February 2019. The machine weighs around 7,000 tonnes making it the heaviest machine on our list.
The Overburden Bridge F60
Bertha was the heaviest machine on our list until we came across the Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60 that weighs in at 13,600 tonnes. The machine is the largest movable technical industrial machine in the world. It is used in opencast mining in German coalfields. The first of its kind was built as far back as 1969 and still holds the record of the longest and biggest vehicle ever built.
These machines are incredible and simply awe-inspiring. It is amazing to see on a list of the biggest machines in the world something so future proof and technologically advanced as the exoskeleton and something as outrageous as the overburden bridge. To think that one is currently being finished in 2020 while one was first made in 1969 shows that man has been addicted to making massive machines for a long time.