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Mining Robotics

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Springer Handbook of Robotics

Abstract

Mining is the process of extracting mineral resources from the Earth for commercial value. It is an ancient human activity which can be traced back to Palaeolithic times (43000 years ago), where for example the mineral hematite was mined to produce the red pigment ochre. The importance of many mined minerals is reflected in the names of the major milestones in human civilizations: the stone, copper, bronze, and iron ages. Much later coal provided the energy that was critical to the industrial revolution and still underpins modern society, creating 38% of world energy generation today. Ancient mines used human and later animal labor and broke rock using stone tools, heat, and water, and later iron tools. Todayʼs mines are heavily mechanized with large diesel and electrically powered vehicles, and rock is broken with explosives or rock cutting machines (Fig. 49.1).

Evolution of mining technology

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Abbreviations

AM:

actuators for manipulation

CSIRO:

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization

DARPA:

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DOF:

degree of freedom

GPS:

global positioning system

NIOSH:

National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety

PLC:

programmable logic controller

RFID:

radiofrequency identification

US:

ultrasound

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICT Centre, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), PO Box 883, 4069, Kenmore, QLD, Australia

    Peter Corke

  2. ICT Centre, Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), P.O. Box 883, 4069, Kenmore, QLD, Australia

    Jonathan Roberts PhD

  3. Division of Exploration and Mining, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), PO Box 883, 4069, Kenmore, QLD, Australia

    Jock Cunningham

  4. Division of Exploration and Mining, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), PO Box 883, 4069, Kenmore, QLD, Australia

    David Hainsworth PhD

Authors
  1. Peter Corke
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  2. Jonathan Roberts PhD
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  3. Jock Cunningham
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  4. David Hainsworth PhD
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Peter Corke , Jonathan Roberts PhD , Jock Cunningham or David Hainsworth PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. PRISMA Lab, Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80125, Napoli, Italy, Via Claudio 21

    Bruno Siciliano Prof.

  2. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, 94305-9010, Stanford, CA, USA

    Oussama Khatib Prof.

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag

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Corke, P., Roberts, J., Cunningham, J., Hainsworth, D. (2008). Mining Robotics. In: Siciliano, B., Khatib, O. (eds) Springer Handbook of Robotics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30301-5_50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30301-5_50

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-23957-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30301-5

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