A method for positioning a mobile object in an underground tunnel includes the steps of determining horizontal progression of a mobile object in an underground tunnel from a preceding position estimate or an initial position of the mobile object; determining horizontal position of the mobile object on the basis of a floor model of the tunnel and the estimated horizontal progression of the mobile object; and generating a three-dimensional position indicator on the basis of the horizontal position of the mobile object and a three-dimensional model of the tunnel.

A retrofittable remote control system is provided for enabling remote controlling of an on-board component of machine that is inherently incapable of being remote controlled. An interface control module is retrofitted on machine and is configured to communicate with off-board remote control over wireless communication channel. The interface control module detects presence of an on-board control module that communicates with the on-board component over a digital communication channel. The interface control module is configured to then establish either a digital communication link with the on-board control module or a direct Input/Output (I/O) communication link with the on-board component of the machine based on the detection. The interface control module is configured to send a control signal over either the direct I/O communication link or the digital communication channel via the detected on-board control module, for controlling the on-board component.

A controller obtains topographical data indicative of the topography of a work site. The controller obtains material data indicative of the position of a material. The controller computes an evaluation function based on the material data for each of a plurality of candidates of the travel path to be decided from the topographical data. The evaluation function includes a material function pertaining to an amount of the material. The controller decides a candidate having a smallest evaluation function of the plurality of candidates as the travel path.

The present disclosure relates to a method for autonomously controlling a vehicle performed by a vehicle control system, the vehicle control system comprising a zone control system, a collision prediction system and a braking control system, the method comprising the steps of: defining in the zone control system at least a first zone and a second zone relative to a vehicle position, predicting a collision with an obstacle with the prediction system, autonomously braking the vehicle with the braking control system in a first braking mode if the collision is predicted to occur in the first zone and braking the vehicle with the braking control system in a second braking mode if the collision is predicted to occur in the second zone.

This disclosure relates to an underground mining vehicle comprising a three-axis MEMS gyroscope rotatable about a rotation axis and a gyroscope interface that calculates a first rotation rate bias with respect to a first axis different to the rotation axis, a second rotation rate bias with respect to a second axis different to the first axis and different to the rotation axis, a rotation rate about the rotation axis based on the Earth rotation rate vector by correcting the rotational measurement data using the first rotation rate bias and the second rotation rate bias and a third rotation rate bias with respect to the rotation axis based on the calculated rotation rate about the rotation axis. A navigation unit receives the first rotation rate bias, the second rotation rate bias and the third rotation rate bias and calculates a pose of the vehicle.

The specification discloses a driverless haulage vehicle (10,32,43,44,45) for use within an underground mining operation including a unitary support chassis (11) having a first end section (15), a second end section (16) and a central section (50) located between said first and said second end sections (15,16), haulage vehicle transport means (51) including a first wheel assembly (52), associated with and supporting the first end section (15), a second wheel assembly (53) associated with and supporting said second end section (16) of the unitary support chassis (11), and a third wheel assembly (54) associated with and supporting the central section (50) of the unitary support chassis (11), steerage means (55) carried on said driverless haulage vehicle (10,32,43,44,45) for directing said vehicle along a transport path with an underground mine, the steerage means (55) including said first wheel assembly (52) and said second wheel assembly (53), said steerage means (55) further including a sensor set from which sensor data is generated representing internal status of the driverless haulage vehicle (10,32,43,44,45), and/or environmental status within which the driverless haulage vehicle (10,32,43,44,45) is operating, and controllable activators (27) to control steering movements of said first wheel assembly (52) and said second wheel assembly (53) whereby driving steering, wheels (13) of the first wheel assembly (52) are directed oppositely to wheels (13) of the second wheel assembly (53).

A method for assigning a set of tasks to a plurality of mining machines, said machines being arranged to be driven between positions for performing tasks is provided. The method includes defining a first set of constraints to be fulfilled finding an overall solution fulfilling the first set of constraints by solving each constraint as a sub-problem, a solution to at least one sub-problem being dependent on the solution of at least one other sub-problem; the overall solution fulfilling the first set of constraints being an overall solution where a first of said sub-problems is validated by solutions of others of the sub-problems, and assigning tasks to the machines according to the determined validated overall solution, wherein tasks are arranged to be carried out at least partially overlapping in time by the mining machines.

A system and method for driver guidance are presented. A position sensor is mounted to a vehicle. The position sensor is configured to identify a position of the vehicle and a heading of the vehicle. A device is configured to generate a plurality of outputs. A controller is connected to the position sensor and the display device. The controller is configured to access, via a wireless communications network, a database to identify a target loading location for the vehicle, determine a location and a heading of the target loading location for the vehicle, and modify at least one of the plurality of outputs of the display device based upon at least one of the location and the heading of the target loading location.

A method for controlling the positioning of a vehicle at a worksite including an underground tunnel system includes the steps of defining first confidence level information for position information by a satellite based first positioning source of the vehicle, defining second confidence level information for position information by a second positioning source configured to position the vehicle based on environment scanning, selecting a positioning correction source for the vehicle on the basis of the first confidence level information and the second confidence level information, and applying the selected positioning correction source for correcting dead-reckoning based positioning for the vehicle.

A measurement sensor that measures, as three-dimensional point cloud information having a plurality of vertically-adjacent layers, a surface position of an object around the work machine; and an object sensor that senses an object around the work machine on a basis of information from the measurement sensor are included, and the object sensor acquires three-dimensional point cloud information by measurement by the measurement sensor; senses, as point data, a point where microparticles are measured, based on a relation between distances, from the measurement sensor, of point data of vertically-adjacent layers and variations of distance differences, regarding a plurality of pieces of point data included in the three-dimensional point cloud information; deletes the point data of the point sensed as the point where the microparticles are measured, from the three-dimensional point cloud information; and senses an object around the work machine on a basis of the three-dimensional point cloud information.