A lot of construction equipment is stolen from construction sites every year. Some are looking to sell it or a quick buck, but others are just looking to take it on a joy ride and cause mayhem in the streets. Earlier this year, a teen stole a bulldozer, ran over a police car, and lead officers on a 3 hour long chase in Illinois. Last year, a man in Florida stole a backhoe and also led police on a 3 hour long slow speed chase, dragging the hammer attachment and sending sparks flying over the road the entire time.
Just last week, another police chase ensued when a 29-year-old man stole a SkyTrak telehander, similar a Lull, in Central Texas. Travelling around 20 miles per hour, the man refused the stop when police officers attempted to pull him over.
After backup was called, officers were able to subdue him with a non-lethal projectile and pull him out of the machine. According to the Lorena Police Department, he was medically cleared, transported to the nearby county jail, and charged with two third degree felonies: theft of more than $30,000/under $150,000 and evading arrest while in a vehicle.
For contractors, the lesson is to secure your equipment, so you can save the police and yourself a lot of time.
The video below was shared by the Lorena Police Department on Facebook.
While still new in the construction industries, robots are typically designed to perform a specific task in a highly precise and efficient way, like the rebar tying robot, Tybot or the brick-laying robot Hadrian X. More recently, though, robots are being imagined as platforms for 3rd party companies to develop hardware and accessories to attach to the base robot, like the Boston Dynamics robotic dog, Spot. I recently came across a new robot, called Baubot, which hopes to one day perform tasks using every tool on a typical jobsite.