28 June 2014 Better Roads
By Tina Grady Barbaccia
The Last Word
For more blogs from Better Roads,
visit betterroads.com.
THE ROADOLOGIST BLOG
Material Handler Tries to Destroy B15 Smartphone
Watching the video of Caterpillar's B15 smartphone put through tests – such as a 35-foot drop –
made me feel like I was watching me put my iPhone through daily "tests."
Between my two kids handling my phone and my own, uh, "agility," I managed to crack the
screen on my phone not once but twice last month. I managed to break my phone even with a
special screen protector on it when the phone landed face down on the concrete sidewalk. I some-
how also managed to drop my phone in water. Thank goodness for the screen repair shops that
are able to fi x phones. Although still pricey, it's still a heck of a lot better than the full cost of a
repair at the Apple store.
The video opens with a Cat MH3049 material handler holding a single B15 in its grapple and
hoisting the phone about 35-feet above ground level. The operator then releases the heavy equip-
ment's grip on the phone, which plummets in a free fall into a pool of deep water. After rescuing
the submerged phone from the water, the operator takes the phone – which still works even after
its profound dousing – and places it on the ground within a group of 599 more B15s, making
600 total.
The true test shouldn't be whether the phone would survive everything shown in the video but
whether the phone would be able to survive me handling it for a week! (My husband likes to joke – at least he says he is joking —
that when something is claimed to be unbreakable, the true determiner is whether it is "Tina proof.")
Interesting facts from Caterpillar on the making of the "Gravity" video:
• Before fi lming the action, a few in the production crew were skeptical about whether or not the B15 smartphones would sur-
vive the punishment they were about to endure.
• The number of B15 smartphones run over by the massive 277D was 600.
• The retail value of all the B15s used in the fi lm was approximately $216,000.
• Lighting the set took more power than the site had available, so a 175,000-watt Cat Generator was brought in to supply the re-
quired power.
• To capture footage from all angles required three primary cameras and 12 Go Pro cameras.
Check out the video to watch the MH3049 handler put the B15 phones to the test at betterroads.com/video-material-handler-tries-to-de-
stroy-b15-smartphone.
Millions of Bees on the Loose after Truck Crashes
Wow. Talk about a swarm. After a truck carrying as many as 20 million honey bees overturned on a highway in Delaware, the insects
were released and swarming in droves. Beekeepers had to relocate the bees and hives before the truck could be moved. CNN reports
this was the fi rst time in 14 years the local police department has used its bee swarm removal plan. CNN has a video showing the
crash and the fi rst responders swatting at the bees. To see the video, go to cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/05/21/dnt-kyw-bee-truck-
crash.kyw.html.
In 2010, CNN also showed footage of fi refi ghters trying to keep swarms of bees at bay with water hoses after a similar incident. To
see the video about a bee-hauling truck that wrecked on a Canadian highway, go to cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/05/24/von.
bee.truck.crash.kare.html. It's a good thing this wasn't the same highway as the truck that overturned and spilled 42,000 pounds of honey
earlier this year. (To see this report, go to betterroads.com/thats-a-sweet-road-trip-honey.) Now that would be a sticky situation that got a lot
of buzz. (Sorry, I had to try to make a pun – and a very bad one – out of it.) betterroads.com/millions-of-bees-on-the-loose-after-truck-crashes/
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