I wondered if they could just use a high pressure water cutter, instead of a TBM machine.

This would results in no actual contact with the rock, so no wearing and tearing of the blades on the TBM.

Then, they can build out a robotic arm that will maneuver the water cutter.

Then, they can add Artificial Intelligence to the mix. The AI will sense where to cut the rock face at the correct angles, to allow for continuous collection. The rock pieces are carried away by a conveyor belt. And the water is recycled.

The human operator just has to sit there and babysit the machine. And if it encounters an edge case, that the robot cannot handle, then he can manually maneuver the robotic arm himself.

Something like video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmlUzUl-h5c