We discuss our experiences in automating a very large mining machine, an electric walking dragline. Initially this appeared to be a very simple robotics problem and that it was “just a matter of scaling up” in terms of machine size. In actuality the robotics part of the problem was the easiest to solve. The more difficult problems were to do with issues like machine environment (dust, rain, insects), complex dynamic effects that are only manifested in the full scale machine, understanding the skills of human operators, and people (machine operators and management).
This paper briefly describes the major technical elements of this project, but more importantly tells how our thinking about the problem, and the solution, has changed over time.
Experiments and experiences in developing a large robot mining system
Lect Notes Control Inf Sci
2008-04-30
10 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English