Mining Goes Digital – Mueller et al. (Eds)
© 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-367-33604-2
678
The concept of walking robot for mining industry
B. Dębogórski, P. Sperzyński, M. Fiedeń, T. Ursel & A. Muraszkowski
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw,
Lower Silesia, Poland
ABSTRACT: The article describes briefly actual state of the art of unmanned vehicle for
mining industry, from inspection robot to automatic train for ore transport. Concept of
unconventional walking robot for inspection is presented and comparison with standard
wheel and track solutions is shown with theirs advantages and disadvantages as well. Main
advantages of author’s solution are limiting the number of motors to two, simplifying control algorithms and increasing durability through displacing sensitive systems like motors,
electronic, from legs to the body of the robot. Several results with different optimization
parameters for geometric synthesis of used leg mechanism in different environmental condition are shown. The authors heuristic method of geometric synthesis is briefly presented, that
can be used not only for walking mechanisms.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the mining industry, the reliability and dependability of the applied solutions acts a special role. Due to the difficult conditions under the surface of the ground, most activities are
performed by man. A few major threats to people’s health and life can be distinguished:
climatic, methane explosion, seismicity or rock burst. Underground, air temperatures often
reach over 30°C, with high relative humidity ranging from 70% to even 100% (Drenda, 2012).
Another important risk factor underground is the atmosphere itself. While ore in a coal mine
is extracted, a methane deposits can be released, hence the risk of an explosion is created.
Accordingly, even spark-ignition engines are not used underground. Respectively suitable
protection of the workplace of people, throughout securing of the heavy equipment or the
mine passageway have to be prepared, due to seismic or rock burst hazards. Therefore, the
research of the possibility of replacing human work by autonomous or remote controlled
machines has begun.
Recently, Robotic solutions replacing human work, were built as a prototypes for the
needs of scientific research, which were highly defective. Increasingly, however, these solutions become implemented as ready to market products. On Figure 1, examples of mobile
robots constructed for research purposes, intended mainly for inspection has been presented.
The consortium of Emag-Piap Institutes (Poland) has constructed the MPI mobile platform
(Figure 1a). The robot is intended for help in a mine rescue station. For this purpose, the
robot, with special instrumentation has been equipped, allowing to work in potentially explosive conditions, where humans cannot be present at. MPI weights of approx. 1100 kg and
reaches a maximum speed of 0,7 m/s (Kasprzyczak, 2016). Another example is the second
prototype of the OmniBot II inspection robot (Figure 1b). The robot has a caterpillar track
drive, which allows to move at a speed of 0,5 m/s. Additional arms, equipped with caterpillars
as well, increase robot mobility, when overcoming obstacles. The robot is controlled via teleoperation, using a fiber optic spool, placed on the platform (Wang, 2014). Following example
is TeleRescuer (Novák 2018) inspection robot. The Robot (Figure 1c) consists of the main
chassis with four independent tracked arms, main components are placed in a flameproof
© 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-367-33604-2
678
The concept of walking robot for mining industry
B. Dębogórski, P. Sperzyński, M. Fiedeń, T. Ursel & A. Muraszkowski
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw,
Lower Silesia, Poland
ABSTRACT: The article describes briefly actual state of the art of unmanned vehicle for
mining industry, from inspection robot to automatic train for ore transport. Concept of
unconventional walking robot for inspection is presented and comparison with standard
wheel and track solutions is shown with theirs advantages and disadvantages as well. Main
advantages of author’s solution are limiting the number of motors to two, simplifying control algorithms and increasing durability through displacing sensitive systems like motors,
electronic, from legs to the body of the robot. Several results with different optimization
parameters for geometric synthesis of used leg mechanism in different environmental condition are shown. The authors heuristic method of geometric synthesis is briefly presented, that
can be used not only for walking mechanisms.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the mining industry, the reliability and dependability of the applied solutions acts a special role. Due to the difficult conditions under the surface of the ground, most activities are
performed by man. A few major threats to people’s health and life can be distinguished:
climatic, methane explosion, seismicity or rock burst. Underground, air temperatures often
reach over 30°C, with high relative humidity ranging from 70% to even 100% (Drenda, 2012).
Another important risk factor underground is the atmosphere itself. While ore in a coal mine
is extracted, a methane deposits can be released, hence the risk of an explosion is created.
Accordingly, even spark-ignition engines are not used underground. Respectively suitable
protection of the workplace of people, throughout securing of the heavy equipment or the
mine passageway have to be prepared, due to seismic or rock burst hazards. Therefore, the
research of the possibility of replacing human work by autonomous or remote controlled
machines has begun.
Recently, Robotic solutions replacing human work, were built as a prototypes for the
needs of scientific research, which were highly defective. Increasingly, however, these solutions become implemented as ready to market products. On Figure 1, examples of mobile
robots constructed for research purposes, intended mainly for inspection has been presented.
The consortium of Emag-Piap Institutes (Poland) has constructed the MPI mobile platform
(Figure 1a). The robot is intended for help in a mine rescue station. For this purpose, the
robot, with special instrumentation has been equipped, allowing to work in potentially explosive conditions, where humans cannot be present at. MPI weights of approx. 1100 kg and
reaches a maximum speed of 0,7 m/s (Kasprzyczak, 2016). Another example is the second
prototype of the OmniBot II inspection robot (Figure 1b). The robot has a caterpillar track
drive, which allows to move at a speed of 0,5 m/s. Additional arms, equipped with caterpillars
as well, increase robot mobility, when overcoming obstacles. The robot is controlled via teleoperation, using a fiber optic spool, placed on the platform (Wang, 2014). Following example
is TeleRescuer (Novák 2018) inspection robot. The Robot (Figure 1c) consists of the main
chassis with four independent tracked arms, main components are placed in a flameproof