Development of a Mobile Robot for Mine Exploration

• Main Authors: Fedorov, D. (Author), Plaksina, I. (Author), Shaburov, P. (Author), Topolskaya, I. (Author), Topolsky, D. (Author), Yumagulov, N. (Author), Zvereva, E. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: explorer robot; LiDAR technology; local navigation; mapping; mining; mobile robot; robot designs; vision system
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 This study focuses on aspects specific to adaptive mobile robotic systems. These include providing flexibility, high performance, the use of widely available element bases and others. The science intensity and technical level of the development of mobile robots are constantly growing. The element base of robots is constantly updated. In the presented article, the direction of research is related to the problems specific to mining robots. The use of research robots makes it possible to ensure safety of work in hard-to-reach places, monitor the status of active and idle mines, and find new minerals in idle mines, the processing of which was previously impossible. The article discusses the issues of ensuring the versatility of the design, the need to miniaturize robots, reducing the cost of the robot while maintaining high performance, achieving the required level of protection from environmental influences in mines, and compatibility with control systems. Various ways of navigating robots in a limited space are analyzed. The results of the development and testing of a mobile robot prototype are presented. When looking for ways to implement a robot, the emphasis is on an effective combination of hardware and software. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.