At the SME 2014 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City at the end of February, members of ASI’s mining team, as well as sales and marketing staff participated in the exhibit hall and technical sessions, including a session dedicated to the Bingham Canyon mine cleanup efforts. Kennecott operators have been using ASI automated excavators since about June 2013 to remove debris from the most dangerous locations on the slide area.
Visitors to ASI’s exhibit booth found a miniaturised display of a load/dump cycle that is being developed for mines internationally. The miniature trucks, controlled by ASI’s Mobius command and control software, rolled around a small track to demonstrate how robotic mining equipment can perform complex tasks and interact with other automated vehicles. ASI’s booth featured the Forecast® 3D laser and the miniature haul truck demo.
“It’s difficult to give people at an expo the immersive experience they need to see how our software works, and sometimes video just doesn’t do it justice,” said Dru Brown, Marketing Manager and Event Coordinator for the SME meeting. “We wanted to give people something a little more tangible; something that would help them draw the connection to what this system looks like and how it works in an authentic mining environment.”
With the risk of falling debris, landslides, and other large equipment, safety remains a major issue. To combat these challenges, every vehicle that ASI automates is equipped with several safety layers from sensors to software. Those attending ASI’s booth at SME were able to explore one of these safety layers in the Forecast® 3D laser, a main component in ASI’s Vantage® obstacle detection and avoidance system. The vertically spinning LiDAR sensor enables robotic vehicles to identify the size and shape of potential hazards ahead and react accordingly. “Our technology has a lot of promise in the mining industry,” said Brown. “The mine operators and managers we talk to immediately see the safety and productivity value adds that are possible with robotics.
