AI exposure: Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul mobile mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic equipment, such as cranes, bulldozers, graders, and conveyors, used in construction, logging, and mining.
Reading this score
computedAt 12.5% of weighted task load, Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines sits at the 20th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 80.0% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 2.48 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Schedule maintenance for industrial machines and equipment, and keep equipment service records, at 76.7%. The least is Fabricate needed parts or items from sheet metal, at 0.0%. A gap of 76.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 13.8% across the group's 50 roles, with 26 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 16 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.84 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.48 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.47 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.88 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.37 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.30 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule maintenance for industrial machines and equipment, and keep equipment service records. | 76.7% | 23.3% | 0.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Read and understand operating manuals, blueprints, and technical drawings. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Research, order, and maintain parts inventory for services and repairs. | 52.5% | 22.5% | 25.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Diagnose faults or malfunctions to determine required repairs, using engine diagnostic equipment such as computerized test equipment and calibration devices. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.17 | assisted |
| Direct workers who are assembling or disassembling equipment or cleaning parts. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.36 | untouched |
| Examine parts for damage or excessive wear, using micrometers and gauges. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Test mechanical products and equipment after repair or assembly to ensure proper performance and compliance with manufacturers' specifications. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Adjust and maintain industrial machinery, using control and regulating devices. | 7.5% | 5.0% | 87.5% | 3.68 | untouched |
| Overhaul and test machines or equipment to ensure operating efficiency. | 7.1% | 5.4% | 87.5% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Adjust, maintain, and repair or replace subassemblies, such as transmissions and crawler heads, using hand tools, jacks, and cranes. | 4.8% | 3.5% | 91.7% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Operate and inspect machines or heavy equipment to diagnose defects. | 4.6% | 7.9% | 87.5% | 4.36 | untouched |
| Repair and replace damaged or worn parts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Dismantle and reassemble heavy equipment using hoists and hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Repair, rewire, and troubleshoot electrical systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Weld or solder broken parts and structural members, using electric or gas welders and soldering tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Fit bearings to adjust, repair, or overhaul mobile mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Clean, lubricate, and perform other routine maintenance work on equipment and vehicles. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.91 | untouched |
| Assemble gear systems, and align frames and gears. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.87 | untouched |
| Clean parts by spraying them with grease solvent or immersing them in tanks of solvent. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.77 | untouched |
| Fabricate needed parts or items from sheet metal. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.52 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.