Normally, to lay pipes or cables, construction workers have to dig trenches, place the pipes or cables inside, and then cover the trenches up again. Existing underground excavation equipment is expensive and can, for the most part, only dig in a straight line, rather than being able to create a winding network of tunnels. Furthermore, they can't navigate around obstacles such as rocks and roots. The robot being designed by the European Union's BADGER project, on the other hand, can burrow underground, map its environment and autonomously navigate around obstacles thanks to advanced sensing capabilities. It can actually make its own decisions about how best to reach its end goals as it pushes its way through the rock and soil. The robotic excavator will consist of a combination of rotary and impact drilling technology along with an ultrasonic drill that pulverizes rock, and it even has a 3D printer module that prints the walls of the bore and constructs wall support using a 3D printing material such as resin. Learn more at 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/182626/badger-project-robots/