AUTONOMOUS SURFACE MINING
Steering automation for small mines
A lot of innovation in autonomous haulage is happening around the world - another great example being Steer AS in Norway – and IM recently spoke to CEO Geir Ståle Kleppe . He commented : “ Where our technology is working now , the initiative was taken by the customer , haulage contractor , Romarheim AS at a 2 Mt / y quarry owned by DC Eikefet Aggregates AS . Romarheim fulfils a weekly tonnage total of rock into the crusher . They wanted to make the operation as efficient and safe as possible and had seen Steer ’ s track record in machinery remote control ; plus approached us at a time when we were already well into building our autonomous capability .”
Steer AS ’ s background dates back to a 2009 contract its construction company majority owner Gjermundshaug Group took on with the Norwegian military to clear an artillery range using remote control with a safety distance of 1 km . At that time there was not a lot of technology available to do this with good signal and low latency . Remote control excavators were filling remote control haul trucks which were remotely driven out of the site and along mountain roads out of the restricted area . As the area was highly controlled there were not the same requirements as in a mine for object detection systems . Steer AS was then spun off as a standalone company in 2018 .
The contract with Romarheim allowed Steer to build on this experience in mining , and to start trials in conjunction with further development towards a higher degree of automation . Kleppe adds : “ The truck operators have to date stayed in the truck cabs as part of what has been a semi-autonomous solution , providing continuous feedback and with the ability to switch from autonomous back to manual as needed . As an ODS has been refined this has also added an extra layer of safety .” However , an operator has only had to intervene once in the several years the trucks have now been running due to a software bug that was quickly resolved .
So how is the Romarheim operation currently controlled ? Similarly to the large AHS mines , the system is managed by the loader operator , in this case a Volvo 950 excavator , which has a control panel enabling the setting of the loading point , defined by the excavator bucket position . A wheel loader is also equipped with the system , and has been used until it was recently replaced by the excavator . The loader operator calls in the next truck in line to the defined point , loads the truck and then kick it out . Today , there are three Caterpillar 772G trucks running in the main quarry with the technology installed on a further two , which are going to another nearby quarry . Steer has enjoyed good working relations with the Norwegian Cat dealer Pon Power AS on digital interfacing – this allows any machine warning message to be transmitted to the loader operator . Each vehicle also has its own iPad for autnomous settings and control . The loader operator is having both an iPad and a button control panel .
The next step is having the trucks fully autonomous and this is imminent , possibly in September 2022 , as Steer ’ s ODS is now close to being fully operational – it comprises LiDAR sensors with Steer ’ s own software allowing system decision making . The main ODS challenge has been the climate , as the quarry in the Bergen area sees rainy conditions throughout the year . Of course as this is a live mine , the all autonomous trucks still have to maintain or exceed current production levels . The trucks have already been running at more consistent speeds with less queuing at the loader . Going to the next level without operators in the trucks will also allow them to run for more hours , upping productivity further – crucially it will allow the quarry to switch to two shifts . There will only be two haulage fleet workers – the loader operator and a second controller working from a control room on the site – this is already running for tests ahead of the fully autonomous switch . They will not have to stay in the room all the time , as the site has a camera-based system for recognition and push-warning in case of arrival of vehicle and personnel in to the autonomous operating zone ; so they will be able to also carry out other tasks such as managing road and vehicle maintenance as well as traffic management .
The mounting on the machines is currently done by Steer based on the interfaces of the particular models but long term Kleppe believes this may be subcontracted to distributors and dealers of the equipment OEMs . Even today it only takes a week . Further down the road , onsite service and maintenance may be taken care of by the mine ’ s own technical personnel or by service dealers from the OEM . Software and online support will be taken care of by Steer .
Kleppe concluded on the future : “ We are not restricting ourselves to the Norwegian market – we are looking to expand as soon as we have our autonomous haulage system fully proven . Our system has a lot of versatility and potential in smaller mines as it is simple and scalable – comprised of components that are readily available – but is run and importantly has been proven in a real mine using our own proprietary software .” As an example the quarry that will run two autonomous trucks only needs a 4G cell network and GNSS access to operate .
Steer has had visits to the quarry from major cement companies operating limestone mines as well as one of the leading global industrial minerals groups . Another focus is to widen the application of the AHS to other brands beyond Caterpillar – and the company has already had talks with Norwegian Komatsu dealer Hesselberg Maskin and is looking for a potential mining or contractor customer with Komatsu machines .
cooperation with our customers .” xtonomy says its modular technology platform enables differing levels of automation , from proximity detection and collision avoidance to full-fleet mixed autonomy . The technology platform leads to increased operator safety , machine availability and performance while reducing costs for clients . The systems are retrofittable to any vehicle and the solution can be progressively upgraded to meet new operational requirements .
CEO Christian Riedel : “ The modular architecture enables automation of all mobile machines in off-highway applications including their work functions . Besides haulage trucks or loaders in surface , underground or hybrid applications , the system enables automation of a great variety of machines , such as multi-service
vehicles in tunneling or utility vehicles . Based on + 15 years of experience in R & D robotic domains , xtonomy has developed and utilises a unique belief-aware reasoning-AI for a highly dynamic , adaptive and smart mission planning . The AI mimics the way a person would flexibly reason about his tasks , while being fully comprehensible and deterministic .”
He adds : “ Our verifiable risk-aware
70 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2022