COMBINING TELEOPERATION WITH VEHICLE GUIDANCE FOR IMPROVING LHD PRODUCTIVITY AT INCO-LIMITED

This paper discusses the application of Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) machine t eleoperation in combination with a guidance system for single operator control of multiple LHDs A system accomplishing these goals has been tested at Copper Cliff North Mine of Inco Limited. This development us es a high-speed, high-capacity production network to teleoperate an LH D during loading and dumping by using 3D video and radio remote contro l. Following loading, the operator dispatches the LHD using an automat ic guidance system to traverse the drifts to the orepass. Remote dumpi ng is done at the orepass and then the machine returns to repeat the p rocedure. This has significant productivity gains and improvements in safety Productivity is improved because operators are involved only in the loading and dumping part of the process. This frees the operators to utilize their time more effectively, loading or dumping a particul ar machine, while other machines with guidance systems continue to wor k travelling and/or automatically dumping ore in the orepasses. Safety is improved as the operator is located on a remote control station. A utomatic dumping will be incorporated as a future development.