I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 590 - 488 Reducing Costs While Improving Efficiency

Is the standard Titan good? Of course, it’s good!

In the previous earthquake relief operations in the Southwest Region, the excellent performance of Titans had already demonstrated the superiority of these large humanoid mechanical vehicles.

They are sturdy and durable, flexible and convenient, almost able to adapt to various positions and environments like humans.

Moreover, the various models of Titans make them applicable to almost all occasions, whether military or civilian, they hold extremely high value.

This is why even though the standard Titan is expensive, the country still plans to mass-produce it.

But the cost of these things is indeed not cheap.

The cost of a standard Titan, even when streamlined, is almost equivalent to a latest-model fighter jet before the disaster. The country didn’t lack money before the disaster, but under the current circumstances, it can only grit its teeth and produce a small batch for now.

Mass-producing Titans is truly unaffordable for the country.

Even if Chen Xin streamlined it, compressing the cost to the price of a main battle tank, it is still not feasible for large-scale mass production.

This is also why, even though Chen Xin provided the country with a lot of high-tech and great stuff, the country mostly opts to modify and reuse the old stuff.

It’s not that they are unwilling to use good things, it’s just genuinely unaffordable.

So in the mining Titan project, the design team adhered to only one basic principle, which is cheap and scalable production.

The originally enclosed buffer cockpit for the pilot was removed, replaced with the user being entirely exposed, with protection only from the Exoskeleton helmet and metal frame.

The driving mode was also changed from a human-machine interaction operation with computer program assistance to a more basic force feedback operation.

Just these two modifications downgraded the mining Titan from a standard Titan to a mechanical frame only slightly better than an Exoskeleton.

Of course, what was also lowered was the originally high cost.

The Titan’s price is expensive, naturally having a lot to do with its driving mode.

After all, this is a metal creation weighing several tons, and even though there are various auxiliary mechanisms inside to move this colossal object, it’s not something that can be manually dragged by the driver.

This is akin to an aircraft control stick; old planes used steel wire to connect it to the wings. So back then, flying an airplane relied entirely on the brute force of pilots pulling hard, which is why those scenes in cartoons of control sticks breaking aren’t pure fiction—sometimes pulling too hard really could lead to breaking.

But modern airplane control sticks have hydraulic or electronic assistance, and the larger the plane, the more complex this system, which naturally incurs higher costs.

Titans are similar; to get these multi-ton giants moving, complicated control programs must be written to enable the computer installed in the cockpit to accurately recognize pilot instructions and respond promptly. This requires a significant amount of labor and designing a rather complex operating system.

Not referring to the computer’s software, but the system operating the entire Titan.

This system is the major cost, as each electronic component, circuit, mechanical transmission structure, and the like, costs money.

However, switching to an Exoskeleton model simplifies things with mere metal hydraulic rods and a force sensing feedback module, and the job is done.

Compared to a standard Titan, the entire cost of a mining Titan is less than the cost of a standard Titan’s cockpit.

But this is also its advantage.

The purpose of designing this thing is to enhance mining efficiency, meaning making miners able to extract more ore within a unit time.

That eight-legged mining Titan prototype is indeed efficient, with twice the work efficiency of a finalized mining Titan, but this is based on five times the manufacturing cost and requires a professional Titan Driver.

Even though professional Titan Drivers are continuously being trained, and a training base has even been established near the Research Center, the number is limited, just slightly more than the number of Titans manufactured so far.

Under such circumstances, it’s evidently impossible to use precious Titan Drivers for mining work.

The optimal solution should be to directly allocate mining Titans to grassroots miners, directly boosting their work efficiency.

So, comparing the two, it’s easy to understand why the mining Titan ended up as such a basic version. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

However, Chen Xin is somewhat dissatisfied, not with the design approach of the mining Titan, but thinking it could still be improved.

He asked a Researcher for a mining Titan undergoing testing, climbed up, and tried operating it, comparing it to the prototype he had driven before.

The contrast was indeed stark, the comfort of driving was worlds apart.

Overall, the mining Titan is still adequate, although the cockpit...no, it can only be called a driver seat, for the driver being fully exposed cannot be considered a "cockpit".

Although the comfort of the driver seat is insufficient, and it is entirely exposed, considering the miner’s working environment is several hundred meters underground, such a simplistic design poses no significant issue. Even in open-pit mining, as long as workers wear a Protective Suit, there should be no problem.

The simple Exoskeleton is also easy to operate, with just a day or two of training to fully master its usage.

But regarding this thing’s mining efficiency, Chen Xin felt there was room for improvement.

With only one jackhammer, the efficiency is not significantly better than manual mining.

"Contact the mining department, have them prepare a mine shaft. We need to take this mining Titan to the site for some testing. I feel there are still areas where it can be improved," said Chen Xin, stepping down from the mining Titan to the Researcher beside him.

However, upon hearing his words, the nearby Researcher curiously asked, "Academician, where do you think improvements can be made? The current setup seems most suitable, doesn’t it? We’ve simplified it following the lowest manufacturing cost guidelines."

"No, no, no, I’m not looking to simplify its manufacturing cost further but to enhance its work efficiency," Chen Xin shook his head, patting the mining Titan to explain to the Researcher. "Your simplification was well done, indeed effectively reducing the cost, but the mining efficiency also decreased, didn’t it? While reducing costs is correct and necessary, if the efficiency is too low, it still lacks practical significance.

So I plan to take it to the mine for a real environment test to see how this mining Titan’s work efficiency truly is."