Mining
NASA has announced the Lunabotics Junior Contest, looking for young engineers to help design a new robot concept for an excavation mission on the Moon. The contest is open to K-12 students in U.S. public and private schools, as well as home-schoolers.
Nabors Industries Ltd., which provides advanced technology for the global energy industry, has announced that its PACE-R801 automated land drilling rig has reached total depth on its first well, a horizontal well for ExxonMobil in the Permian Basin.
Read more: Automated Land Rig Successfully Drills First Well
Tritium, a global developer and manufacturer of DC fast chargers for electric vehicles, and Miller Technology, which supplies mobile mining equipment, have announced they are providing innovative fast chargers and light duty battery EVs for the mining industry. The inaugural project at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance mine in Queensland, Australia, is a milestone that supports the BHP Group’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Sarcos Robotics, which develops robotic systems that augment humans for productivity and safety tasks, has announced a successful demonstration of its SenSuit controller garment. As part of its technologies designed for enhanced teleoperation of the Guardian XT mobile robotic system, the demonstration leveraged Sarcos’ proprietary motion caption controller to enable enhanced teleoperation of the robot’s dexterous arms.
Robotic Research, which develops automated driving systems, has teamed up with Canadian non-profit research and development center FPInnovations to develop an off-road truck platnooning system for the forest industry. The project will combine Robotic Research’s expertise in self-driving technology with FPInnovations’ knowledge of forestry and transportation to adapt the technology for off-highway environments.
RedZone Robotics, which provides wastewater asset management solutions and inspection automation, has launched Vertue, a multi-sensor inspection (MSI) tool for manhole inspections. The company is offering Vertue as a stand-alone product and service, or part of its Accelerated System Assessment Program (ASAP).
Exyn Technologies, which develops autonomous aerial robot systems for complex, GPS-denied industrial environments, has announced it achieved the highest documented level of aerial autonomy. At Level 4A Autonomy, Exyn’s drones are capable of free-flight exploration of complex spaces, with the complete determination of flight path at 2+ meter/second flight speeds, and with higher data collection in larger volumes.
Read more: Exyn Announces Its Drones Have Achieved Level 4...
Waytous, one of the leading unmanned mining solution providers in China, has announced selecting Ouster’s lidar sensors for its fleet of autonomous mining vehicles. The company’s self-developed “YUGONG” system has been deployed in multiple high-production open-pit mines.
Exyn Technologies, which develops autonomous aerial robot systems for GPS-denied industrial environments, has announced the expansion of its strategic partnership with Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. The partnership integrates Exyn’s data into Sandvik’s analytics and processing suite, OptiMine, to help with real-time visualizations of mining excursions.
Read more: Exyn, Sandvik Expand Partnership to Provide Mine...
U.S. drone manufacturer Skydio has announced it raised $170 million in Series D funding, bringing the total amount raised to more than $340 million (with a $1 billion valuation). The company said it will further accelerate product development and global sales expansion to support rapidly growing demand for its autonomous drone solutions.
Hyundai Motor Group has revealed its uncrewed ultimate mobility vehicle (UMV), which it has dubbed TIGER (Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot). This is the company’s second UMV and the first designed to be uncrewed. The robot aims to carry various types of payloads while traveling over challenging terrain, either as a four-wheel drive vehicle or a four-legged walking machine.
Read more: Video: Watch Hyundai’s Uncrewed Mobility Vehicle...
Neya Systems has announced contributing a new capability to the U.S. Army’s ROS-M registry, an RTK compatible off-road planning software suite. The Robotic Technology Kernel (RTK) is a ROS-based modular autonomy software library aimed at science and technology development that provides a set of common robotic capabilities across several platforms and efforts. AM3P, Neya’s Adaptive and Modular Multi-Terrain Mobility Planner, is a full-stack, off-road autonomy planning software suite developed to allow Department of Defense vehicles to navigate autonomously through congested, unpredictable environments.
Read more: Neya Systems Contributes to Army RTK for ROS-M...
Doosan Bobcat North America announced a strategic equity investment with Ainstein AI, a radar technologies company, to help develop next-generation radar sensor systems for Bobcat equipment.