OffWorld
Automation & robotics
Automation & robotics
Calm before
iners have always relied on collaboration. You can glimpse it in a hundred ways, from union solidarity to the importance of teamwork in emergencies. In 2010, to give one example, the 33 miners saved from a collapse in Chile only survived thanks to spectacular cross- industry support, with engineers, geologists, drilling specialists and other experts all lending a hand. You can even see it in music, in the old mining songs once sung in collieries from Durham to West Virginia. “My daddy was a miner, he’s now in the air and sun,” goes one of the most moving, composed in 1931 and later immortalised by Pete Seeger. “He’ll be with you fellow workers, until the battle’s won.”
M 12
the swarm
People have always been central to the mining industry – but with the rise of so-called ‘swarm robotic mining’, could a human-free sector be shuffl ing into view? Andrea Valentino catches up with Jim Keravala, co-founder and CEO of OffWorld, and Jekan Thanga, associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, University of Arizona, to discover the benefi ts that swarm robotic mining can provide everywhere from surveying to extraction, along the way exploring the technical barriers to full mining automation.
Now, imagine a mine just as steeped in fellowship as the pits of old – but remove the actual miners from the scene. When you first hear it, this simply sounds impossible. But if you speak to insiders, you may be convinced otherwise. After all, they’re building a world where human labourers are replaced by robots, drones that can learn, adapt and cooperate just as effectively as their flesh-and-blood forebears. The consequences here, it goes without saying, are truly revolutionary, with so-called ‘swarm robotic mining’ potentially offering safe, sustainable operations everywhere from extraction to collection to hauling. Yet, if MarketsandMarkets has found that swarm robotic mining could become a $3bn sector by 2028,
World Mining Frontiers /
www.nsenergybusiness.com
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