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Mine Robots to Make Mines Safer Robotic MOLE Could Aid Rescuers and Recovery in Old Mines Text by Ronald Bachman Concepts by Capt. Bob Mitchell and Rolando Gutierrez A 40 pound robot that can recon out the underground mazes in abandoned mines after a fatality and send crucial information aboveground to safety and rescue personnel is planned to be put through difficult trials in Arizona, MCSOTRP’s abandoned mine rescue and recovery specialist, Bob Mitchell said. Bob Mitchell said Discovery Miner Program is planning and developing a new, low cost prototype robotic work companion that is man cartable and will either operate under direct human control or else be "teleoperated" by a mine rescuer, in all cases from a deep, remote location in the mine or safely on the surface. "Removing mine recovery units out of dangerous environments is the main goal." he says. Robots will be doing jobs like probing for explosives, going underground after collapses to inspect a mine tunnel or mapping and searching mines where it is impossible for humans to search or even survive. Costing at $3,000 and looking much like three connected pipes, ‘MOLE’ (short for Mine Observational Locomotion Experimenter) is small enough to fit down a 1 ft portal leading into a mine. The robot can be sent into underground areas in collapses or winzes, dragging its cable behind on an automatic retracting spool to manage tangle free operation while sending video information and gas detection data back to emergency personnel aboveground. Traction drive is provided by two thickly treaded cylinder "wheels" and is designed to be upright in any pose, giving an advantage over regular wheeled or treaded units, which can tip over and become incapacitated in the chaotic dynamics of an abandoned mine. MOLE is a second generation design of Angelus Research’s Intruder Model, a wireless long range recon and remote operations robot, refitted with wire tethers for operator control and no onboard computers and built to be as low cost as possible. Angelus and Discovery Miner are considering the problem of developing ultra low cost platforms for regular use by abandoned mine crews. Discovery Miner has set up a testing program to create the robot's performance characteristics in an actual underground hard rock mine environment. MOLE initially will be equipped with a digital low light camera and a standard gas monitoring package, which will be able to detect carbon dioxide and methane in the mine atmosphere. These two gases are indicative of the safety status of an unventilated underground mine. Examples how robotics can aid mine rescue are:
Capt. Bob Mitchell, trained team leader with MSCOTRP's Mine Recovery and Rescue says that efficiency is also imperative if rescue personnel are to survive and automation can play a large role in this. True Dangers of an Abandoned Mine Rescuers face the same dangers when entering an abandoned mine even when training for upcoming rescues. They must be highly specialized and able to operate an important variety of machines and instruments, that when in the unpredictable depths of tunnels and shafts, their skill determines life or death. Even these professionals are concerned for the risks of passing that portal-that sends a clear message to the casual spelunker. The problems of rescuing a person from a mine accident are usually difficult and dangerous for both the rescued and the rescuer. Searching mazes of tunnels is difficult. A rescuer must avoid dislodging any lumber or rock that might fall on the victim - and this is an almost impossible job. The only rule in mine rescue is to avoid all unnecessary risk. It makes no sense to kill one man to rescue another, particularly when the victim is already dead. Death or injury faces any professional rescue team that takes chances and these teams are trained to know the odds. However it is mathematically certain that in making a given number of rescues, rescuers face the inevitable unknown factor that results in serious injury or death. There are more than 500,000 abandoned mines and nearly 14,000 active mines in the United States. As cities and towns spread out into the surrounding countryside, the possibility of contact with an active or abandoned mine site increases. The men who work in our nation's mine recovery united are highly trained to enter in a safe manner. For the uninvited hiker, spelunker or rock hound enjoying club outings, the high hazards are not always evident. Future of Abandoned Mine Rescue and Recovery Robotics During the Tonapah-Belmont tragedy in 2002, representatives of the Arizona State Mine Inspector’s office were aware from mine rescue technicians about the difficulties of recovering the children’s bodies near Wickenburg, in which two children were killed 10 years apart while exploring the dangerous mine by falling down the same internal 500 foot winze, unseen in the darkened tunnel floor. Rescue teams were required to repel down the 500 foot winze to the shaft’s bottom. They told the Mine Inspector that dropping into deep 1000 foot shafts in bad air with tethered air supply and surrounded with decomposing tunnels was very dangerous for human rescuers. But while these victims were reached, in separate incidents around the nation’s abandoned mines, others had to be left because while being seen with dropped cameras 500-1000 feet below, recovery units could not reach them due to the state of the shaft and risk to human crews. Instead, concrete slabs were placed over the openings, sealing them in permanent tombs. The use of simple robots for this task becomes foreseeable. The robots are impervious to human dangers, so a teleoperated robot could be able to be lowered and perform recovery operations in unstable abandoned mines for strapped rescuers by preparing the body for transfer in a net or establish communications with trapped victims. RecoverBot, a one hundred and fifty pound tethered rectangular unit, has two maneuverable arms with grippers and four wheels that support an open box frame with power units, controllers and video cameras separately built with their own individual metal armor. Lowered down the target shaft to prepare a recovery, the telerobotic eyes "see" for the surface controller and the arms move the body into a second lowered net by lifting and dragging. An "aero shell" protects the robot during the lowering operation from a winch to protect from falling debris, and then removed when bottom is reached. Then RecoverBot performs it’s mission, observed from two points of view-the overhead camera used by current mine rescue to image deep shafts-and the robot, who’s video are the mine rescuer’s second view. When the mission is completed the robot is then raised to the surface after the victim and overhead camera is withdrawn. "Robotic electronic costs have been falling for decades due to advances in technology. If mine rescue robotics is unable to become cost effective, it could not be utilized by cash strapped agencies." said Gutierrez. There are high costs in navigating a mine safely and ensuring it is habitable for humans to survive in. MOLEs and RecoverBots can operate with zero requirements, reducing the need for expensive infrastructure and be able to negotiate the chaotic terrains of an abandoned mine environment. Another method mine robotics can advance is by reducing the huge operational costs that exist largely because recovery operations employ huge amounts of people into the hazardous environments. MOLEs and RecoverBots must operate simply and reliably to enhance cost. The most recent mine robot demonstrators from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute- Terragator, Groundhog and Ferret- have proven the technology using mostly available industry technology costing around $500,000 for research and testing new mapping techniques. Major programs of their robots are always planned for testing when funds are implemented. Not like their cousins regularly found in the technical industries, mine rescue robots do not have to be autonomous. Robots can be mobile platforms, like an extension of the rescue technician. "Mine rescue robotics need sensors to measure the three dimensional horizons of everything surrounding them. As well as sight, robots must know where they are placed geographically within the mine site in real time and online, something CMU has already done with a program called SLAM [Simultaneous Localization and Mapping]," Gutierrez noted. "Discovery Miner is using of the shelf systems for robots using cameras and gas measuring devices to make maps of everything around the machine quickly and accurately, as it maneuvers and works in its ever-changing surroundings." he said. Rolando Gutierrez ensures that the use of robots will not eliminate human mine rescuers, but will be used to aid operations in dangerous situations. Any opportunity to remove the human factor in hazardous environments is welcomed since robots can be easily be replaced for a few dollars, and not humans. "Instead of placing themselves in hazardous areas to do repetitive and hazardous tasks people will manage the operation of the robots. Mine robots will also need teleoperators, repairmen and crew people." he said. "Mine rescue is a very dangerous endeavor. Enlisting robots to aid the job will make mine rescue safer and ensure the survival of the human specialist." For information on the contributors please see the following sites or email: MOLE Robotic Images http://www.discoveryminer.com http://www.angelusresearch.com Emails of contributors: Rolando Gutierrez, developer of program research Capt. Bob Mitchell, Abandoned Mine Rescue Specialist All Text Copyright 2004 Discovery Miner Program. All Rights Reserved.
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