Komatsu Ltd has announced that it and Anglo American Minas–Rio have signed a memorandum of understanding through Komatsu Brazil International Ltda, a wholly owned subsidiary of Komatsu, to carry out a trial of a large ICT mining bulldozer with remote control functionality. The companies intend to trial a D375Ai–8 teleremote control bulldozer at the Minas–Rio iron ore mine owned by Anglo American in Brazil. Through this trial, to be conducted this calendar year, the two companies “will aim to establish a new solution that advances safety and productivity at minesites.”
Komatsu has been developing teleremote control large bulldozers for mines with the aim of mass production by the end of FY2022 by integrating the technologies and know–how that the Komatsu Group has cultivated until today. In addition to advancing safety and productivity, the new machine aims to assist customers who have a hard time securing human resources due to a shortage of skilled operators.
Leveraging multiple high–quality cameras installed around the vehicle body and work equipment and low–delay video transmission technology, the operator is provided with an operating environment that is close to the actual operation, even though the operation room is several kilometres away from the vehicle. This remote–control system is equipped with auto blade control that eliminates the need for detailed blade operations during excavation and levelling processes (Intelligent Machine Control) with the combination of the machine guidance system “ProVision” from Modular Mining Systems, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Komatsu.
Komatsu stated: “It was difficult to apply the conventional remote–control system to work that requires delicate operability such as levelling due to the influence of delay, but by utilising this automatic blade control, production close to boarding operation is possible. It will be possible to achieve productivity, and even operators with little driving experience will be able to achieve high–quality work.“
“We think that this is very important strategic project between Anglo and Komatsu for cutting edge mining technology implementation at actual mine sites. Anglo Minas–Rio expects to improve the mining dozer operational safety and the optimisation of iron ore production process,” said Agnus Dei Delgado, Mine Service Manager, Minas–Rio mine, Anglo American.
Komatsu started developing teleremote dozer technology in the 1960s, and in that time has worked to pursued safety at polar work sites, such as underwater remote–control bulldozers. The company is currently developing methods to target the soil removal process at mines, and plans to conduct demonstration experiments at customers’ sites by the end of FY2022.
“It is a great pleasure for Komatsu to implement our latest teleremote dozer at Minas–Rio mine to contribute to the enhancement of operational safety, leveraging technology,” said Norihisa Matsumoto, Fellow, Development Division, Komatsu Ltd. In addition to the Minas–Rio iron mine, Komatsu is looking at the potential for an additional remote–control trial at a customer site. Furthermore, Komatsu is currently developing Automatic operation of large bulldozers for mines, targeting the soil removal process, and planning to conduct demonstration experiments at a customer site in this year.
