There is provided a material categorisation and transportation system including a plurality of mine vehicles for transporting material within a mine site from a first location in the form of a blast site to a second location. The system includes a sensing device for actively sensing chemical property characteristics of raw blasted mined material such that the raw material can be categorised into a plurality of material categories based on the sensed characteristics. The system further includes a loading device located at blast site for loading the raw material into a predefined one of the mine vehicles based on material category for transportation to the second location. The system is such that each of the mine vehicles only carries raw material of a predetermined one of the material categories.

A work vehicle including a control unit configured to control traveling of the work vehicle such that the work vehicle and an oncoming vehicle are able to pass each other in a vehicle passage, wherein the control unit controls the traveling of the work vehicle such that the work vehicle travels in a first region when the work vehicle and the oncoming vehicle pass each other, and controls the traveling of the work vehicle such that the work vehicle is retreated to a third region to which the work vehicle is capable of being retreated from a second region in a case where the work vehicle is incapable of traveling in the first region when the work vehicle and the oncoming vehicle pass each other.

The invention relates to a context-sensitive control system, comprising a work machine controllable by remote control, a remote control unit with an operator interface which enables an operator walking next to the work machine to control the work machine via operator commands, a projection means enabling projection of information for the operator; a communicator configured to receive context-sensitive information in response to signal data from transducers and sensors of the work machine and to communicate the information to the projection means configured to project context-sensitive information onto a projection surface in such a way that the information becomes visually visible to the operator.

To keep tracking performance of a hauling vehicle to a target trajectory while suppressing a decrease in vehicle speed, the travel system 200 for a hauling vehicle 20 includes: a position sensor 273 that measures a vehicle position of the hauling vehicle 20; a storage device 210 that stores a curvature of a target trajectory 11 for the hauling vehicle 20, which is calculated for each node 12 making up the target trajectory 11; and a control device 220 that controls travel of the hauling vehicle 20 based on the vehicle position and the curvature. The control device 220 includes: a target point setting section 230 configured to set a target point, which is a point through which the hauling vehicle 20 passes, on the target trajectory 11 ahead of the vehicle position; and a vehicle control section 250 configured to control the travel of the hauling vehicle 20 so that the hauling vehicle 20 travels from the vehicle position to the target point. When the curvature at a node 12 ahead of the vehicle position is less than a threshold value, the target point calculation section 230 sets the target point at a location farther from the vehicle position than when the curvature is equal to or greater than the threshold value.

A system for communicating slippage experienced by at least one traction device of a work machine, to a remote operator interface for controlling the work machine through the remote operator interface is described. The system includes a controller configured to receive data associated with a speed of the at least one traction device of the work machine and determine a slippage condition of the at least one traction device based on the data. The controller is further configured to activate a visual overlay over a virtual image, of the at least one traction device, displayed in a video feed to represent the slippage condition on the remote operator interface. The video feed is a real-time video feed, indicating one or more operations of the work machine, displayed on the remote operator interface.

A system for autonomous or semi-autonomous operation of a vehicle is disclosed. The system includes a machine automation portal (MAP) application configured to enable a computing device to (a) display a map of a work site and (b) provide a graphical user interface that enables a user to (i) define a boundary of an autonomous operating zone on the map and (ii) define a boundary of one or more exclusion zones. The system also includes a robotics processing unit configured to (a) receive the boundary of the autonomous operating zone and the boundary of each exclusion zone from the computing device, (b) generate a planned command path that the vehicle will travel to perform a task within the autonomous operating zone while avoiding each exclusion zone, and (c) control operation of the vehicle so that the vehicle travels the planned command path to perform the task.

An area isolation system (AIS) is provided. The AIS may include a barrier adjacent to a work area, a barrier control panel (BCP) operatively connected to and disposed proximate the barrier, the BCP including a BCP controller in communication with a BCP short-range transceiver, the BCP controller configured to control the barrier, and a machine configured to autonomously operate within the work area. The machine may include a remote shutdown module (RSM) having an RSM controller in communication with an RSM short-range transceiver, and an RSM unique identifier preprogrammed into a memory associated with the RSM controller. The RSM short-range transceiver may be configured to send signals indicative of the RSM unique identifier to the BCP short-range transceiver when a machine radio zone associated with the RSM short-range transceiver intercepts with a BCP radio zone associated with the BCP short-range transceiver.

A method performed by a control unit for operating an autonomous vehicle is provided. The control unit is arranged to communicate via at least one antenna. The control unit obtains, based on a signal from the at least one antenna, information relating to at least one geographical zone associated with a transponder as the autonomous vehicle moves in proximity of the transponder. Also, the control unit determines an autonomous operating mode of the autonomous vehicle based on the obtained information relating to the at least one geographical zone associated with the transponder. The control unit further operates the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the determined autonomous operating mode.

An intelligent obstacle detection system for an unmanned mine vehicle is provided to solve the problem of existing intelligent obstacle detection systems for unmanned mine vehicles cannot compare and analyze the actual driving data with the preset data and includes an intelligent detection platform, a route planning device, an obstacle detection device, a planning management device, an operation monitoring device, and a storage device. The route planning device is configured to perform route planning analysis for the unmanned mine vehicle to obtain a planned route of the unmanned mine vehicle. The planned route is sent to the obstacle detection device. The intelligent obstacle detection system can plan and analyze the travel route. By locking onto starting and target positions of the unmanned mine vehicles, and then obtaining point cloud data through the detection terminals and calculating with algorithms, the optimal planned route can be determined.

A localization system comprises: a device; a master unit which wirelessly transmits a first localization signal; a plurality of lateration units distributed about the area within which the device is being localized, wherein each lateration unit of the plurality independently starts its own timer upon its receipt of the first localization signal; and a localization unit. The device receives the first localization signal and responsively wirelessly transmits a second localization signal. Each of the lateration units: independently receives the second localization signal; stops its respective timer responsive to receipt of the second localization signal; and wirelessly transmits a timer count signal to a localization unit. The timer count signal identifies the transmitting lateration unit and a count of its respective timer. The localization unit utilizes the plurality of timer along with respective distances between the master unit and the lateration units to localize the first device via time-of-flight lateration.