FLEET AUTOMATION
Expert integrators
IM Editorial Director recently sat down with Phil Goode , RCT Chief Commercial Officer , to talk about its core offering , synergies with new owner Epiroc and an exciting future for autonomy in mining
Q RCT is now within the Epiroc group – how does your open autonomy and OEM agnostic solution complement both their OEM solution and that of ASI Mining ? A There are many potential drivers that will direct the extent to which RCT will get involved – sometimes it could be a mixed fleet scenario , older equipment or a combination of those - even a situation where the connectivity piece in challenging . The strategy is still forming post acquisition and we are looking at what we can do regarding production standardisation and any overlap which will evolve over the next few years . But immediately an obvious distinction is if the customer is running all Epiroc equipment and is already on that track with Epiroc ’ s RCS based solutions , they should probably keep doing that as it is well developed and well supported and can be automated by an in-house solution with less effort along with providing the best fleet performance . But where they have other machine makes and types , that ’ s where we can fit in right away . Equally you could have a site that has automated Epiroc machines but has other machines they want to automate but run all the machines off of one command and control platform . We have a customer in Chile that has had very separate autonomy solutions from various OEMs – they still want to use all of these machines but they now want a single overarching interoperable solution that RCT will provide . The customer is driving that decision as they want an agnostic approach to the autonomy but we will interface with their own platform . Another customer in Brazil is working on similar lines . We do the interface and the interoperability – these systems are often described as “ open ” but in reality aren ’ t - RCT has the expertise to integrate all of these technologies into their systems – and that ’ s a big part of our skill set that we have built up over 50 years ..
Q RCT is world renowned for underground automation across all makes and models ; but you have also carried out some notable surface projects , including haul truck automation and shovel remote control . ASI Mining is 34 % held by Epiroc and is surface focused – what are the synergies between RCT and ASI Mining ? A Definitely there are synergies – they are focused on AHS but they can also do other things with Mobius , but their primary business model is not to be an integrator – we are . Every time they automate a new machine , especially one that is not a truck , it needs to be integrated with Mobius or whatever platform is being used , and that is where we can come in . We are all now together in Epiroc ’ s Digital Solutions Division ( DSD ) – along with Mobilaris , Mernok , Certiq and MineRP as well as Radlink , 3D-P and CR Mining . That strategy is forming and hardening now and again , the benefit of RCT is being an integrator and being able to bring a lot of this together – it doesn ’ t even have to involve our own technology , we can still help integrate it . We have worked with all the machine types and brands that are out there in mining and that ’ s what makes us unique . Some of the
Phil Goode , RCT Chief Commercial Officer at Epiroc ' s 2023 World Expo
world ’ s largest underground miners and contractors use mainly Sandvik or Caterpillar fleets but use our autonomous technologies and solutions instead of the OEM solution .
Q So how will the market evolve – will the majority of mines going forward seek out an OEM-agnostic solution ? A Great question – yes I think so . All mines need a more standardised form of connectivity between their machines and systems . We want to get to a point where you just take a machine , put it in the autonomous mine fleet , and it will work . There will be challenges as every mine is a little bit different – but I really believe it will end up being like WiFi for mining . The barrier is often not the connectivity itself but the IT systems including a lot of legacy systems . Wherever RCT goes we take our own comms systems with us as we know ours will work even if theirs doesn ’ t . Plus we have assets like Radlink and 3D-P that we can call upon now if we need to .
Q Collision avoidance up to Level 9 is becoming more common in the industry – how will you work together with Mernok going forward ? A Again , Mernok supply the collision avoidance technology but aren ’ t specialists like us in the machine integration at the customer site – including the vehicle interface . CAS and PDS are challenging as they aren ’ t closed loop – they work well but often not all of the time . RCT can enhance the system so that it involves a more sophisticated control of the machine so that it will always work . And a lot of that embedded interfacing capability is the core of our IP . I would say it is not an exaggeration to argue RCT has more knowledge of machine control in mining than anyone else in the world , including all of the OEMs . Now we are part of a major OEM , Epiroc , we can bring our expertise both to their customers but also continue to serve customers with non Epiroc machines – and that is great for us .
operate 24 / 7 without worrying about operator intervention during mucking once the profiles have been created . This new feature will help our customers see a direct improvement in their production and cycle time reliability .”
Extensive field tests with customers in Europe and North America have demonstrated that the new technology results in faster loading cycle times and consistent bucket fill factors , with an 8 % increase in tons loaded per hour and 19 % cycle time improvement .
“ We are introducing new technologies and features to our existing platform to support our customers as they advance their AutoMine ® operations ,” said Ty Osborne , Acting Director Global Automation Product Line and Projects , Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions . “ We are confident that this development will enhance customer productivity by enabling fully autonomous production loader cycles while maintaining our industry-leading safety standards .” Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is also introducing AutoMine ® Flexible Safety Zone , a new feature for its AutoMine underground system for autonomous mining operations .
The new capability is , Sandvik says , designed to improve productivity and increase flexibility by enabling alternating safety zone states between autonomous and manual operation .
With the AutoMine Flexible Safety Zone , autonomous mining equipment can operate continuously in the automated area while allowing for intersections with manual
64 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2023