Sandvik, A Pioneer In Safe Self-Driving

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This Sandvik self-driving loader is capable of successfully navigating a maze of glass, without disturbing a single pane. (Image courtesy of Sandvik.)

Sandvik, a Stockholm, Sweden,-based manufacturer of drilling and aggregate equipment and off-highway trucks for the mining, excavation, and metal-cutting industries, has been at the forefront of self-driving vehicle development for more than two decades. In that time, Sandvik’s automated loaders and trucks have racked up over 2 million operating hours underground in functioning commercial mines, and not a single accident involving a human has occurred.

The Next Step In Automation

Despite the company’s impressive safety record, Sandvik isn’t about to stand still. In an effort improve the productivity and mining efficiency of its loaders, the company has introduced automated bucket filling, for the first time. Bucket filling was the last piece of the puzzle, and now Sandvik’s machines can operate 100% autonomously, from loading, to hauling and dumping.

According to Jouni Koppanen, Senior Systems Engineer for Automation at Sandvik, there are a lot of factors that go into programming a sophisticated autoload function in harsh mining environments that need to be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “It’s a challenge to get this complex system of components to work together,” he says. “It needs different specialists from different areas. But we work as a good team and are able to build a picture of the whole system. And that’s why we’re at the forefront.”

The Smartest Mouse

We’ve all seen how quickly a well-trained mouse can find the cheese in a maze, but Sandvik’s automated machines are on a whole different level. The company’s automated loaders and trucks are capable of learning routes through a dark mine the first time they cross the threshold. With the help of a system of lasers, sensors, gyroscopes, and Sandvik’s sophisticated algorithms, these machines are capable of mapping and recording paths to get where they need to go without the use of GPS. Sandvik’s technology makes a big difference in a mine’s capacity and uptime, but the applications of the company’s innovation go well beyond just what’s underground.

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Source: Sandvik