Robotic mapping of underground mine passageways

Abstract

The ability to determine the position and orientation of vehicles in real time is a key enabling technology for automation, traffic management, and to ensure safety in the presence of multiple operating vehicles. As explained in this paper, despite some misguided advertising within the mining community, a technology comparable to the satellite based global positioning system (GPS), does not yet exist for underground operations. This paper reports on the preliminary results of a study to develop a relatively low cost and robust method for obtaining globally consistent maps of underground mine environments, the purpose of which is to support the creation of a map based underground positioning technology. The described mapping technique is based on an approach from the mobile robotics research literature and is demonstrated by using data acquired with a load–haul–dump (LHD) machine at two Nordic mines.