Being in the software industry, and just generally nerdy, I know how many of the tasks you outlined we ALREADY have machines doing. Finding a specific location is easy the Death Valley test hasn’t been passed but the attempts to pass it could easily navigate a cemetery. Removing obstructions and getting the stone out, most of the strip mines in the country are doing that right now, with things much bigger and heavier than your 1200 pounds. Assessing free space on the stone with regard to adding content and adjusting to fit, the computer you’re sitting at right now has software that can do that. Making the template, cleaning the stone, afixing the template and carving is something every custom bike shop in the world has equipment to do.
It’s just a matter of putting it all together, and that’s not that tough. The only thing slowing it down is that it would be more expensive than you so it’s not worth the expense. But eventually your wages will climb and the cost of the machine will fall. The weight is the least of the problem, the key there is big wheels (like mars rovers), spread the weight over a larger area, less crushing.
We’re really looking at 5 to 10 years. The equipment exists, they just need to adjust the cost and have a reason to do it.
Never happen for so many reasons it’s hard to know where to start. You are dead wrong on all counts and your software experience confers zero authority on you in this matter.
NONE of the jobs you say can already be done by machines could possibly be done in the cramped confines of a NY/NJ cemetery. Forget moving the stones mechanically because there are OTHER stones flush against their backs. Chip a stone and you’ve bought it.
Forget driving on the graves FORGET IT! Not gonna happen. It is unsafe in terms of grave collapse (I have sunk to my hips in a recently backfilled grave)> AND IT WILL REALLY PISS OFF ALL THE PEOPLE WHOSE GRAVES AND ORNAMENTS YOU CRUSH. Some stones are 500 feet from any road. This monster machine would be off roading on unstable ground.
I don’t care what bike shops have it will not transfer to a cemetery and stone. “Lifting” of the template is a constant problem due to the roughness and contamination of the surfaces. Remediation of this constant problem requires a control so fine and specific NO machine could do it in the field or even in a factory for that matter. But really, putting ALL of the hardware into one unit to do the job would result in a monstrosity that no cemetery would ever let on the property even if it could magically do the job properly.