Mining Company Partners with Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute
The immediate applications include robotic mining machinery, mine mapping, and automated inspections that will be utilized in Anglo American PLC's mining operations.
London-based Anglo American PLC has entered into a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, the university reported. The institute's National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) and Field Robotics Center will design, build, and deploy mining robots, robotic tools, and autonomous technologies in partnership with the mining company's Technology Development Group, then put the technologies to work in the company's mining operations.
Anglo American is one of the world’s largest producers of coal and also operates mines that produce iron ore, copper, nickel, diamonds, manganese, and platinum.
The university's news release said the Robotics Institute "will develop advanced perception, electromechanical and robotic systems for the company and partner with Anglo American engineers."
"We are excited that Anglo American selected CMU as its partner for developing innovative mining robotics," said Tony Stentz, NREC's director. "This agreement will break new ground in mining technology," said Dimi Apostolopoulos, principal investigator and senior systems scientist at NREC. "We will work hard to get production robotics in place as soon as possible."
According to the release, immediate applications include robotic mining machinery, mine mapping, and automated inspections.