The autonomic crust-piercer was a huge machine used by deep core mining operations for piercing a planet's crust to get at the ore. Trhin Voss'on't turned on this machine as a last attempt to escape from Boba Fett and Bossk, who were after him. Bossk was caught on top of its pole and after the machine emerged from the ground still running, it tilted and fell down almost killing both bounty hunters.