Cutting edge technology allowing for safe inspection of inaccessible underground mine areas will soon be accessible by resources and energy industry employers.
It comes after Emesent, a drone autonomy spin-out from CSIRO, the technology arm of Australia’s national science agency, has raised $3.5 million in venture capital to commercialise its first product, Hovermap.
Hovermap is installed on drones to automate data collection in underground areas too dangerous or difficult for people to survey, such as in mines, making underground mines safer and more productive.
It can be deployed in GPS-denied environments without a human controller to create 3D maps, and record gas readings, videos and images.
Hovermap draws on a decade of research by CSIRO’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems group into drone autonomy and 3D LiDAR-based simultaneous localisation and mapping (3D SLAM) techniques.
“Hovermap enables the mining industry to safely inspect inaccessible areas of underground mines, while improving the type and quality of data collected to unlock new insights,” Dr Stefan Hrabar, co-founder and CEO of Emesent said.
“This includes comparing the stope design to the actual post-blast shape to detect over-break and under-break, identification of geotechnical structures and accurate post-blast volume reconciliations.
“The data we gather improves a mine’s productivity and provides a better understanding of conditions underground, all without sending surveyors and miners into potentially hazardous areas.”
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews praised the Emesent featured world-leading drone technology, developed by former researchers from CSIRO’s Data61 and supported by the Federal Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda.
“Emesent has developed game-changing technology with the potential to boost the global mining industry. This is a prime example of how investment in Australian research can create new opportunities and value for our economy, including our mining sector,” Minister Andrews said.
“This could help improve the productivity of mines and the safety of workers. The data collected provides a better understanding of underground mine conditions, without placing miners in hazardous situations,” she said.
Last year, Hovermap enabled the world’s first fully autonomous beyond line-of-sight drone flight in an underground mine, 600 metres below the surface of Western Australia.
The Hovermap system is already being used commercially for a variety of applications by early adopters in Australia, the US, Canada, China and Japan.
