Not many of you (if any at all) would of heard of this, but Komatsu's FrontRunner Autonomous Haulage System is fully automated (no operator) and uses 930E-AT's to conduct mining operations. It is only the second instalment in the world (the 1st being at Codelco's Copper mines in Chile) The second deployment of the FrontRunner system is at Rio Tinto's West Angela's mine site in the Pilbara, WA, Australia. Here are some articles on it. http://www.komatsu.com.au/komatsuwo...s/FRONTRUNNERAUTONOMOUSHAULAGESYSTEMINWA.aspx http://www.komatsu.com/ce/currenttopics/v09212/index.html http://www.komatsu.com/CompanyInfo/press/2008011815580104227.html http://www.riotinto.com/media/5157_7039.asp From what I have heard (and read) it is a great success, Rio Tinto are very pleased with the operations and it was in their intentions that if the concept proved succesfull then they would expand the operation, not just at West Angela's but at the Tom Price mine also. Currently Rio Tinto are in negetiations with PC8000 backhoe's and more 930E-AT trucks. Here are some photos from West Angela's, the photos are not mine but belong to Dave from Picasa .
Wow! didn't know that existed
The excavator looks very much like a large Demag, which Komatsu bought several years ago.
Back in the day this would of been called a Demag H455, it is now called a Komatsu PC5500.
I can see the autonomous haulage working out very well in mines that have good underfoot conditions. I can also see it being an abysmal failure in soft conditions like we have here. It can be hard enough for human eyes to figure out the soft spots and get a truck through them, I can only imagine the nightmare with a computer trying to decide...lol.
I am curious as to why there are mufflers on the haul trucks. Everywhere I've been those are an expensive option. Are these units going to work near a populated area?
Never really put much thought into it John, always assumed they came as standard, come to think of it I havnt seen a truck without them in Australia. In regards to your second question, you couldnt be further from the truth! These particular machines are at West Angela's Iron Ore mine in the Pilbara, probably the most remote mining region in Australia, its pretty much a fly-in fly-out roster on the majority of mines there, some people do however live there. Here's some more pics!
Chris5500 Thanks for the reply. I learn something new all the time on this site. The mufflers must be something with your area of the world. I wrenche on a fleet of 773Bs years ago and we had mufflers installed because of the neighbors. It cost us a lot more than the noise though as the carry back got so bad we had to use and excavator to dig out the boxes every other day. Love the shots of the big machines. I'm glad someone else gets to fix them though
whats the large digital display on the front for?
It’s just the truck number but instead of being the usual stick-on, paint-on or cut out steel it’s an LED. Alot of places are going for the LED's these days because they are much more visible both at daytime and night-time not to mention in rain, dust etc. Plus they just look cool!
Have you ever driven a haul truck??? They are loud enough w/ mufflers. 12 hours is enough. A 16 cylinder engine like those with no muffler is deafening. I suspect OSHA regulates how many decibels the human ear can handle over great periods of time.
Im thinking what he ment was they are running the exhaust through the mufflers, insted of through the bed. I know the engine sound when dumping is horrible if the truck is using bed exhaust, insted of mufflers. Jason
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The pc8000's r in fact the Demag's.....
:nono Sorry, but in fact you are wrong. Demag changed their name to Komatsu Mining Germany GmbH in February 1999. No Demag excavators have been made post January 1996, at the time they were Demag Komatsu until February 1999 which is when they became Komatsu. Now, if you had said the "H655S, H485, H485S, H655 or H685SP r in fact the Demag's" or "Demag Komatsu PC8000-1" you would be correct. Even if you were right, then not only would the PC8000's be "in fact" the Demag's then so would the PC4000 (Demag H285S) and PC5500 (Demag H455S). In a nut shell, Demag excavators have been dead since December 1995 - 15 years ago, and the PC3000's (Demag H185/255S) are no longer built in Germany, they are built in Japan along with some PC4000's (Demag H285S).
Hi everybody! I am a student of Mining and Geology, highly interested in AHS cause I'm writing a thesis which includes autonomy in mining. Though there are loads of info on many websites there are few conatradictions and uncertainties in what I've found. Like: "The FrontRunner system is comprised solely of Komatsu mining equipment, specifically, five units of autonomous dump trucks that use the 930E electric drive dump truck as a base machine, as well as a super-large PC5500 hydraulic excavator, D475A bulldozer, WD900 wheel dozer and GD825 motor grader." Are those machines except trucks autonomous or not? Because over here ( http://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/article/rio_tintos_3_6b_bid_to_marry_mining_to_robotics ) they wrote: "Starting in 2008 and concluding in February of 2012, a vanguard of nine robots—an excavator, track dozer, wheel dozer motor grader and five 930E-AT haul trucks..." 2nd thing I was going to ask about the photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/ddixon007 Do you know the full name of the person who made them? I would like to use those photos but I need name of the full name of the author. Any help would be much appreciated, Best regards.