A research team from the University of Chile is using a Husky unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) for mine mapping in the country.
The university's Department of Electrical Engineering and the Advanced Mining Technology Center are using the UGV for solving registration problems with complex sensor data in the mines. Accurate and reliable sensing and automation will enable improved safety and efficiency for tele-operated and autonomous mining activities. The teams' overall mission is to minimise manpower in Chile's dangerous mining environments.
The project is titled Autonomous Rock Surface Modelling and Mapping in Mines. It was designed to collect motion characteristics from Husky and noise characteristics from Acumine 2D scanning millimetre wave radar, 3D Riegle scanning laser range finder and vision-based sensors to model open pit and underground mines.
A millimetre wave radar was used to penetrate dust, Speed-Up Robust Feature (SURF) detection was analysed to determine the applicability of information extraction from mapping and surface profiling in mines. Sensors were integrated using the Robot Operating System (ROS).
Martin Adams of the University of Chile, said: ‘Our project develops existing technologies so that terrain surface profile and mine mapping information can be extracted from noisy sensor data. Our Husky-based sensing system will contribute significantly to the success and efficiency in which future mining operations take place.’
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