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This Terrifying Mobile Tree-Harvesting Machine is Like a Robot Koala Bear with Chainsaw Limbs

For more terror, they've also made it scorpion-like

By Rain Noe - October 16, 2015

in Tech

Earlier we saw that loading logs into containers is still a primitive process. But thanks to Finnish forest machinery company Ponsse, the process of creating those logs is super high-tech.

Ponsse's Scorpion King is an eight-wheeled monster designed to "endure tropical heat and arctic cold, travel without destroying the terrain and briskly climb the steepest slopes." That's because it's designed to get to and cut down trees down in tricky areas. And Ponsse has developed a "cut-to-length" method whereby the trees are stripped of their branches and cut into logs of precise length on the spot.

To achieve this, they designed a fairly terrifying saw-wielding robot koala bear suspended from the end of a massive boom arm. Watch as it outstretches its greedy little arms, eagerly embracing and mutilating one arboreal victim after another:

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Ponsse's official product video for the machine, below, gives you a better idea of the design work that went into it. The hydraulically-balanced cabin self-levels, and the articulated chassis can handle challenging terrain. Especially cool are the in-cabin shots, where you can clearly see how well the machine has been designed for panoramic visibility and see the digital readouts used by the operator. It's also amusing that, from the operator's perspective, it kind of looks like the koala bear is defecating, well, logs:

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Noodle Time

9 years ago

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awesome machine... i wonder if there is a safety mechanism (other than training) to prevent the operator from jamming a log through the operator compartment.

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Elshan Amrahov

8 years ago

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Instead of inventing new materials they invent machines that destroy our planet. Perfect keep going like that......

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- Aleksi Koikkalainen
  
  Elshan Amrahov
  
  8 years ago
  
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  Oh wow, that's pretty ignorant.
  
  You see, Finnish people do appreciate their forests and nature so much, that they are trying to develope better ways to harvest wood without destroying the planet.
  
  Over 70% of Finland's surface is forest. Without forestry it would be a horrible mess. How we would then get resources for paper, furniture industry etc?
  
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