Johnny Wang, Baraja, China, examines how automation can help mining operations boost employee safety, improve productivity time, and increase profit margins.
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n an industry that is challenged by extreme environments, countless hazards and a need for uninterrupted or continuous production, fully-autonomous machinery is a dream. Taking humans out of the driver’s seat will help drastically increase workplace safety and lead to improved productivity, reduction of errors, increased lifespan of machinery and overall cost savings. This vision is now becming a reality. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd, one of the world’s most well-known industrial machinery manufacturers, is partnering with Baraja, a global LiDAR technology company with headquarters in Australia, and putting automation for its ultra-large hydraulic excavators into practice at its Japan testing site, making it possible for miners to remotely
operate multiple machines all at the same time from the safety of a distant control room.
Mining automation in practice
Hitachi has begun developing and testing remote control and driving support systems for its ultra-large hydraulic excavators, helping to improve the safety and productivity of mines around the world, and launching the mining industry, as a whole, into the future of autonomy and virtually human-free excavations. This remote-control system enables machine operators to step away from the machine and control the massive mining equipment from a safe distance, by relying on a combination of LiDAR, radar, camera, GPS, radio, and a perception algorithm.
global mining review // May 2022
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