AUTONOMOUS mining is a hot topic in industry circles as mine operators press ahead with adopting new technologies that allow them to achieve increased productivity and safety combined with reduced overheads and time savings.
A sometimes overlooked benefit of automation is the opportunity it offers mine workers for job enrichment, as all mine-site staff need to be trained up to operate safely in an environment of autonomous vehicles and excavators.
For example, a maintenance operator carrying out scheduled maintenance on autonomous trucks may have to manually drive autonomous vehicles out of the inspection bay and back to the mine.
Though not directly involved in the operation of autonomous equipment, these maintenance operators need to be trained in how to work with autonomous vehicles which involves them acquiring extra skills.
Immersive Technologies product manager Ravitha Sukumaran said a holistic approach is therefore needed to mine-site automation to ensure all workers are safely protected.
“One man’s mistake in an autonomous system can have a huge impact, as opposed to in manned operation,” she said.
“If one man makes a mistake, it can negatively impact the performance of that entire shift or day.”
Immersive Technologies plays a key role in providing training to operators and on-site mining staff to enable them to make the transition to autonomous operations.
The company’s exclusive focus in terms of its training is currently on mine-site workers, for example loader-operators and machine operators, and not office-based roles.
Operators interacting with the autonomous vehicles need to be trained to manage the step-up from working within manned operations.
Misconception about automation
Mrs Sukumaran said there is a common misunderstanding about the automation of mine sites.
“A lot of people have the misconception that autonomous systems eliminate people,” she said.
“It does for some roles – say truck operator roles, but for the remaining operating roles they need to be trained to a higher level of proficiency as compared to similar roles in manned operations, otherwise productivity is quickly diminished.”
Also, there can be a lack of preparedness on the part of some industry players in terms of anticipating some of the challenges of mine-site automation for their personnel.
“Selecting the right people to do the right roles, effective training and suitable upskilling strategies are key to ensuring a highly proficient workforce,” Ms Sukumaran said.
“If personnel in an autonomous environment have a poor understanding of the autonomous system used, or if they incorrectly interact with autonomous trucks, they can easily pose safety issues and reduce operational efficiency.”
Range of services
Immersive Technologies has expanded its repertoire of services from providing technology products to clients to offering consultancy and training services for mine-site workers.
“Our services are not just providing the technology, which is core to what we do,” Mrs Sukumaran said.
“We are in the business of delivering real results to our customers, so for anything that challenges the industry, we develop solutions to tackle the challenge.”
Technology is applied to client problems in a targeted way to ensure they receive a tailor-made solution to their autonomous operations issues.
Immersive Technologies has virtual reality-based machine inspection products and autonomous equipment simulators used to train mine workers.
The company sells or leases its simulators to mining companies and these are used to train operators on autonomous equipment.
Mining industry professionals are exposed to Immersive Technologies’ solutions at its experience centres which are located at five of its offices around the world.
Mining companies can lease additional simulators from the company for periods of high training demand and then return the technology.
The company’s simulators are a platform into which different machine modules are plugged to provide training on specific OEM machine make and model for operators.
“You can buy or lease a single simulator base platform and you can fit in different machine models, a bulldozer, shovel or grader,” Mrs Sukumaran said.
This modular solution enables clients to select the training module that suits them best.
Immersive Technologies regularly updates its training and technology on a world-wide basis, to ensure clients receive the latest tried-and-tested solutions that have been applied in a practical way.
By regularly updating its simulator software, the company ensures the technology on its simulators stays up-to-date and current with industry standards.
This approach is one of the ways in which Immersive Technologies differentiates its product offering to stand out from its competitors, and at the same time its approach saves clients’ money.
“For example, there are 20-plus-year-old Immersive Technologies simulator platforms in North America that are running machine modules with current software to solve current industry problems,” Mrs Sukumaran said.
The company currently supports 149 different machine models.
Immersive Technologies has diversified from simply selling products to clients to providing value-adding services that help deliver results in both manned and autonomous operations.
Many of these new products and services originated from customer needs and feedback.
Data analytics
Operator Performance Analytics is the one of the latest services provided to clients, that has been developed in the past two years.
This involves the company analysing data from clients on the operation of their vehicle and equipment fleets to identify problems down to the level of individual equipment operator.
“We are in the business of looking at data from any fleet management system that the customer can provide, so we can look at problem areas and provide tailored training to address these,” Mrs Sukumaran said.
For example, one or two trucks in a client’s fleet may be breaking down frequently. Immersive Technologies can diagnose the human causes and suggest a solution.
“The way we present that data is intuitive. We provide a dashboard to the customer so they can identify specifically who requires what training interventions,” she said.
The company makes available to its clients best practice experiences sourced from case studies gathered from its network of global offices.
“Miners who are now considering moving to an autonomous haulage system commonly engage with Immersive Technologies early in their purchasing process, because we have worked with a great diversity of autonomous and manned operations around the world,” Mrs Sukumaran said.
“They ask ‘what are the challenges’ and ‘how can we prepare ourselves’”.
The company can advise clients on suitable approaches to training their workforces for automation.
Ms Sukumaran said there were several benefits of moving over to an autonomous mining system.
They include increased safety productivity and profitability, reduction of human-related errors in truck operations, and job enrichment for mine workers.
“Productivity is increased because trucks can run 24-7 with no breaks, and less variance introduced by human proficiency levels and behaviours” Ms Sukumaran said.
“An autonomous circuit is generally more predictable because all the human elements that come into play during truck operations are reduced.”
Unscheduled maintenance on trucks are reduced under autonomous haulage systems, as equipment is operated in a standardised way compared with the wear and tear from varying driving styles of different human operators.
Meanwhile, human operators can gain from acquiring new skills in automation, leading to potentially greater earnings.
More information: Immersive Technologies
Phone number: 08 9347 9000
Email: [email protected]
www.immersivetechnologies.com
