Robotic hang-up assessment and removal of rock blockages in mining operations using virtual reality for safety.

Penguin Automated Systems, Ontario, Canada, has developed a robotic system for the safe removal of rock blockages based on telerobotics technology with 3D scanning and underground geospatial positioning. The inside of the hang up is scanned to rapidly develop a geospatially placed 3D model for the operator to employ. The model is detailed enough for the operator to attempt to pick the ‘keystone’, and a blasting engineer or the operator can then determine the exact position where the explosive charge should be placed in the 3D model and therefore in the hang up. The operator controlling the robotic arm uses the 3D virtual reality of the robot system and the actual drawpoint information to display the location information and the arm then reaches into the hang up to position the charge using the kinematic model of the robot system. The process allows the charge to be placed from a long distance away. The end of the arm drills the rock and precisely loads the explosives, and the robot then returns the blasting cable to the command station located in a truck at a safe distance from the blockage. The system was tested and commissioned at a test mine in Ontario.
Penguin Automated Systems, Ontario, Canada, has developed a robotic system for the safe removal of rock blockages based on telerobotics technology with 3D scanning and underground geospatial positioning. The inside of the hang up is scanned to rapidly develop a geospatially placed 3D model for the operator to employ. The model is detailed enough for the operator to attempt to pick the ‘keystone’, and a blasting engineer or the operator can then determine the exact position where the explosive charge should be placed in the 3D model and therefore in the hang up. The operator controlling the robotic arm uses the 3D virtual reality of the robot system and the actual drawpoint information to display the location information and the arm then reaches into the hang up to position the charge using the kinematic model of the robot system. The process allows the charge to be placed from a long distance away. The end of the arm drills the rock and precisely loads the explosives, and the robot then returns the blasting cable to the command station located in a truck at a safe distance from the blockage. The system was tested and commissioned at a test mine in Ontario.