Concrete breaking beetle

This tiny tick-shaped robot ledges itself into concrete, then expands, making a crack, and then advances deeper, to start over. A swarm of them in line can silently break up the concrete without manually drilling or using explosives.

To get it started, it may have to be assisted at first by a woodpecker-like robot.

To expand, either it uses mechanical energy or one of the following techniques (see links)

1. Waterjet concrete cutting technique

2. Aligned wedge and feathers concrete cutting.

3. Concrete busting-powder technique.

4. Tick's quick energy release for jumping.

5. Using bullets to break up rock.

6. The woodpecker

In the case of waterjet or powder, it may have to pull behind it a storage bag or a hose supply of the material.