Telerobotic shrinkage mining
AssigneePenguin Automated Systems Inc.
InventorGregory Baiden
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is a telerobotic mining device for underground mining, and specifically for stope mining, as well as a method of mining using such a device. The telerobitic mining device is capable of remotely moving about a mine and utilizing drill arms to drill a hole within a chosen rock bed. Explosive placement arms on the telerobot may be utilized to place an explosive within the drilled hole to blast away rock. Control over the device is achieved by way of operational commands that may be wirelessly sent to the device from a command centre located outside the mine.
Claims14
A telerobotic mining device for stoping, comprising,
- a body;
- wheels extending from the body;
- at least one drill arm extending from the body;
- at least one explosive placement arm extending from the body, and
- a microcontroller including with the body containing a programmable memory within which is stored a set of operational commands that when executed control:
- the wheels to move the telerobotic mining device within a mine;
- the at least one drill arm to drill a hole into a rock wall of the mine;
- and,
- the at least one explosive placement arm to place an explosive into the hole.
A method of stoping comprising,
- executing a set of operational commands stored in a programmable memory of a microcontroller on a telerobotic mining device to:
- move the telerobotic mining device into a mine through a mine tunnel and to a rock wall within the mine to be blasted,
- cause at least one drill arm extending from the telerobotic mining device to drill a hole into the rock wall, and
- cause at least one explosive placement arm extending from the telerobotic mining device to insert an explosive in the hole drilled in the rock wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.