Virtual environments for surface mining operations

Until recently, the prospect of automating surface mine excavation tasks has been hampered by the lack of structure in the environment, the lack of sensors for imposing structure on low-level tasks (freeing the operator to concentrate on achieving high-level goals), and the lack of situational awareness for a remote operator to perform high-level tasks. A telerobotic excavator has been developed that can perform complex excavation tasks with little or no operator intervention. Enabling technologies have included microprocessor-based machine controllers, laser range scanners, real-time collision avoidance algorithms, rf modems, and affordable graphics workstations. The excavator has joy-stick controls to electrohydraulic valves both on the machine and at the remote workstation; low-level computer control prevents accidental collisions during both tele-operation and autonomous tasks. Performance rest results are described.