ORALS

Industrial systems such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing operations have be through several revolutions in history. These have included: human and animal powered, mechanization, automation and now are moving to smart/intelligent systems. This new revolution has been characterized as Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 in turn is powered by the Internet of Things through new technologies such as networking, smart sensors, robots and artificial intelligence. The integration of these technologies together will result in a new style of industrial operation based on data models of the physical process being operated. For example, precise geo-representative information that digitally twins reality will allow a “virtual” machine operator to run very dangerous real processes within meta-models that create a virtual world without exposure to the hazard to the operator. The teleoperation and automation of mobile mining machines and systems was experimented with at INCO Limited as early as 1986 with the Future ORE Manufacturing (FOREMAN) project. This was further advanced in the 1990 and 2000s with the “Mine Automation Program” or MAP in Canada and the “Intelligent Mine Program” in Scandinavia. The concept of these projects was the total operation of the mine from a surface control room. The objectives of these projects were to remove humans from the potentially dangerous mining environment to improve safety. To accomplish this goal: no equipment operators should travel into the underground environment. Secondary goals were the elimination of travel time and increased productivity. One machine operator running from a surface control room and subsequently one operator running several machines was further accomplished. The MAP work done included a pilot scale mine, 175 Orebody, with robotized mining equipment and consumables (such as explosives, drill bits and more) tailored to the accomplishment of the process. At the core of the work, each piece of mobile equipment was fitted with computer controllers, sensors, actuators, networking equipment to robotize it. A broadband radio network was developed and installed throughout the mine that was linked to control stations that emulated cockpits of the mining machines. Machine control being transferred over the network. The accomplishment of this scenario was due to meeting the critical objectives of: large scale data transfer capacity and the near zero latency of the information transfer. The unique radio characteristics of being underground created the ability to use wireless control systems that consumed the entire radio frequency spectrum. The first steps included the teleoperation of mining equipment using radio modems, then moving to large scale Ethernet networks based on broadband radio networking using a system equivalent to today’s 5G. As mining automation continues to evolve towards full industrial application in mining, the next technology steps of Meta-Mining began. In 2012, the extremely challenging problem of removing humans from the task of rock blockage removal was started. These systems required the full implementation of Industry 4.0 technology with virtual operation using meta models of the mining problem to keep operators safe. The Robotic Hang-up Assessment and Removal System (ROAR) was conceived and developed. ROAR was to provide a human/machine system to assess and remove potentially dangerous rocks that currently threaten the life of a miner in its removal process. ROAR required the use of most advanced technologies, Industry 4.0, available. These included advanced newly patented optical communication, IoT, cloud computing utilizing gaming software, precision positioning, robotics and artificial intelligence. The ROAR platform and infrastructure now exists and has been developed and implemented. This paper discusses the design, building and implementation of ROAR as the first Industry 4.0 device for mining, the implications of ROAR for Mining and Agriculture and future applications. The accomplishment of ROAR will have implications for the current technical and operational thinking in the future of Industry 4.0 that include operational strategies that will use Virtual Reality to enhance situational awareness in future META-Mining and META-Agricultural implementations terrestrially and in space.