Sandvik has started the research of the autonomous mining methods already back
in the 1980’s and the first customer application for automated loaders was commissioned
2004 in the Codelco El Teniente Pipa Norte mine. In very short time Sandvik
has proven that the technologies behind the AutoMine® system really works in the
mine environment and today there are AutoMine® and AutoMine-Lite™ systems
working in five continents
Currently all major loader manufacturers have some automation capabilities available
for at least some loader applications. The trend at the moment is develop
semi-autonomous loader automation systems, where most of the cycle is done
autonomously but operator still operates part of the cycle via tele-remote controls.
This article is focusing on Sandvik’s loader automation and especially into the new
generation of single loader automation in the offering. In this presentation the system
and the development path is described in brief and first customer projects are
introduced to the reader