Autonomous control of underground mining vehicles using reactive navigation

Abstract

This paper describes how many of the navigation techniques developed by the robotics research community over the last decade may be applied to a class of underground mining vehicles (local haul dump (LHD) and haul trucks). We review the current state of the art in this area and conclude that there are essentially two basic methods of navigation applicable. We describe an implementation of a reactive navigation system on a 30 tonne LHD which has achieved full-speed operation at a production mine.