SURFACE AUTOMATION from pit patrollers who help to manage the trucks in the field , to technical specialists who maintain the systems .
“ As we redefine the relationship between person and machine , we also need to create a future workforce quite different than the one we have had previously ,” says Andrew Harding , then Rio Tinto ’ s Chief Executive , Iron Ore .
“ Some core skills are still required , but with new automation technologies we need to apply them in new and different ways to deliver across our operations . For example , there will be a shift to a new form of highly skilled personnel at the core of our business , often with statistical reasoning as a strong suit .”
Harding says humans will continue to play an important role in the day-to-day running of the Pilbara operations . “ Despite the extraordinary advances in technology , for tasks that are more complex and require a high level of problem solving , we need a human touch .”
ASI offers measured implementation
IM spoke to Drew Larsen , Autonomous Solutions Inc ( ASI ) Director of Business Development about its continued progress in delivering autonomous solutions in mining . The company continues to focus on being the leading OEM agnostic autonomy provider . The field is fast moving , and like other OEM and non-OEM solutions , the challenge for ASI is to keep up with new technologies such as sensors , often from other industries , that can potentially be applied in mining autonomy . In terms of haul truck autonomy ongoing work , he says : “ Our biggest advancements are now being made in interoperability and scalability . We are concentrating on making systems more robust and better suited to the dynamic conditions encountered in mining as well as the difficult market conditions the industry is facing .”
As with other technology suppliers , ASI emphasises that it is not all about one size fits all full autonomy . The company has crafted solutions based on remote control , teleop , and semiautonomy as well as full autonomy . While the Tier 1 miners have done a lot of the pioneering work and have the financial resources to do so , the rest of the mining community has largely adopted a wait and see attitude or may even regard autonomy as too daunting , or too capital intensive , or both . Larsen says : “ We provide what we like to call a pathway to autonomy , meaning it is not just an all or nothing proposition . For non Tier 1 miners , we can implement autonomy in scalable , bite-sized pieces .”
ASI gives the examples that If a mine does not have the capital initially for full autonomy , they can start with something like teleop on a dozer . But once they realise those benefits and want to “ scale up ” their autonomous operations , such as introducing autonomous blasthole drilling or truck haulage , it will be very difficult unless it has been planned for . Thus they can be at risk of ending up with a series of separate autonomy projects using different technologies on command and control platforms that can ’ t be
ASI Mobius Command and Control allows integration of multiple autonomy elements
integrated .
“ We encourage mining clients to adopt an integrated platform ; linking all their smaller autonomy projects together using our Mobius Command and Control software , which can scale to control all autonomous projects ” Mobius is basically ASI ’ s OEM agnostic command and control software for all types of autonomous mining solutions .
In terms of ongoing work with large clients , there are large-scale Mobius based projects ongoing but that ASI cannot announce due to NDAs . The truck autonomy haulage program with Anglo American at a South African coal operation has already been referenced by IM . “ We have a variety of projects in development and others we believe will award later this year . Suffice to say , ASI continues to work with a number of mines at different stages of autonomy project development .”
ASI also offers solutions to equipment OEMs . ASI ’ s model is based on delivering both
SEPTEMBER 2016 | International Mining 121