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Underground Mining Operator Assist
Heads: Anthony (Tony) Stentz and John Bares
Contact: Herman Herman (h.herman@cs.cmu.edu)
Mailing address:
National Robotics Engineering Center
10 40th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Associated center: NREC
For more information, see this project's homepage.
Coal is mined using an ensemble of machines. A continuous mining machine uses a spinning cutter head with "teeth" to break coal away from the face. The coal is deposited in shuttle cars for haulage to a permanent conveyor system and out of the mine. A roof bolting machine drills holes in the roof and inserts bolts to stabilize the roof and minimize the risk of collapse. Sometimes the miner and bolter are combined into a single machine. This program concentrates on automating the functions of a continuous mining machine and roof bolting units.
Note: This list may not be comprehensive. It contains only those publications in the RI publications database. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order.