Can you really drive a mining machine from a chair

Underground remote control mining live from Las Vegas 

At Hexagon Live Peter Haddock had the chance to experience the TeleOp from Hexagon Mining with expert Elio Suazo from the comfort of its operator station.

He walked Peter through how TeleOp works and including its advanced assist and auto features that support operators in both underground and surface mining applications using a whole range of OEM equipment.

Elio: “We have designed TeleOp to be an easy to use system that can be installed to existing equipment using a variety of connectivity solutions from WIFI to LTE and even Starlink for surface environments.

“By installing sensors on the machine it can scan its surroundings in real time and through our assist feature this can help and operator from hitting obstacles or the walls of an underground mine. 

“We have also created an auto mode that uses 3D SLAM, simultaneous localisation and mapping technology to help navigate complex and dynamic environments allowing a machine to operate autonomously.

“For example, an operator can load a machine and then let it drive directly to the tipping point itself. The TeleOp also allows a single operator to connect into a number of machines throughout the day.”

And this is already happening across the world as Elio added: “You can switch between surface and underground mining as you wish and customers are already seeing the benefits using the technology in mines from South America to the US, Canada, Spain, and Australia.”