Launch HN: Flywheel (YC S25) – Waymo for Excavators

Toyota's hybrids, at least, have valves in the hydraulic system. If everything is working, the driver's pedal is isolated from the physical pistons. Pressing the pedal instead moves a 'stroke simulator' (a cylinder with a spring in it), and the pressure is measured with a transducer. The Brake ECU tries to satisfy as much braking demand through regenerative braking as possible, applying the rear brakes to keep balance and front brakes if you brake too hard, requesting more braking than can be generated or the battery can absorb.

If there's a failure of the electrical supply to the brake ECU, or another fault condition occurs, various valves then revert to their normally-open or normally-closed positions to allow hydraulic pressure from the pedal through to the brake cylinders, and isolate the stroke simulator.

Because the engine isn't constantly running and providing a vacuum that can be used to assist with brake force, the system also includes a 'brake accumulator' and pump to boost the brake pressure.

Reference: https://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/blue-prints-insight-into-t...

I don't know for certain, but I would assume that other hybrids and EVs have similar systems to maximise regenerative braking.

I can't wait for you to realize that this makes no financial sense, and you pivot to the real money maker: charging people on the internet to remotely dig holes.

I'd never thought anyone even attempting such a feat, interesting that you went all the way to mechanically actuate levers. Nice job.

But... I assume you're intending to run on extremely large sites such as highway construction, open pit mines and the likes primarily? Because my experience (if a bit dated cough) is running small 750kg baby excavators under sometimes extreme space constraints - digging trenches for telco in urban and rural areas, which often enough meant having to work with 5-10 cm distance to walls, lighting posts or other infrastructure, and directly next to workers shoving soil into the bucket. Will you add stuff like 360° camera vision, LIDAR etc. to make that safe and help a remote/AI operator, or are you planning on large sites with less danger potential only?

I think, you must be technical guy. As a technical guy I share your negativity:-) While mining is already automated, the regular construction sites are too small, not scalable and retrofit costs are huge. Autonomous excavator is functional safety nightmare… it can not only drive, but has a huge moving metal part. And can dig holes and fall into these holes.

And last but not least, my car can’t keep lane and can’t drive itself safely in autonomous mode for 50 miles straight on clear day on highway. That’s state of art vision only system in 2025.

The salary of the skilled guy is laughable compared to heavy machinery costs. I was in a quarry on Tuesday. Two guys were operating 7000000€ machinery there, their salary is rounding error in the whole operation. Fuel over the year costs more.

Not my industry at all.

I am curious if something like this is an opportunity for a whole new type of controls and feedback. Since the operator doesn’t have to be in the excavator physically they could take on any position: standing, sitting, lying down, etc. Instead of sending haptic feedback to the joystick it could be sent to a vibrating wrist band. You could hook up the equivalent of a Nintendo Power Glove to have the scoop operated by the operator simulating scooping action. Turning the excavator can be controlled by the operator turning their head and moving it around can be done by the operator walking on an infinite treadmill. Motor strain can be done via color of light or temperature rather than sound. You could have a VR helmet that can also show you a birds eye view from a companion drone, overlay blueprints, show power and water lines, measure depth, etc. I don’t know if it is possible but maybe you could even measure soil composition somehow to show large rocks, soft soil that is dangerous to drive over, inclination angles where the excavator is about to drive, etc.

I imagine skilled operators prefer familiar controls but perhaps there are interesting improvements unlocked by exploring alternatives. It might also fundamentally change how accessible it is for non-professionals to use these machines. I rented an excavator from Home Depot a few years ago to dig a foundation and the learning curve was not shallow. I wonder if a more “natural” interface would help keep people safer.