Recent advances in remote coal mining machine sensing, guidance, and teleoperation

This paper presents some recent applications of sensing, guidance and teler obotic technology in the coal mining industry. Of special interest is the d evelopment of semi or fully autonomous systems to provide remote guidance a nd communications for coal mining equipment. We consider the use of radar a nd inertial based sensors in an attempt to solve the horizontal and lateral guidance problems associated with mining equipment automation. We also des cribe a novel teleoperated robot vehicle with unique communications capabil ities, called the Numbat, which is used in underground mine safety and reco nnaissance missions.