Australia: Giant Robotic Mining Trucks Haul Iron Ore
August 24th, 2013😯
Via: Medium:
In the dusty red earth of Western Australia, robot trucks haul iron ore.
The trucks themselves weigh about 500 tons when loaded—they are truly massive. They operate more or less on their own, navigating mining roads connecting the sprawling Pilbara iron mines with a guidance system provided by global positioning satellites, radars and lasers. It’s part of $13 billion mining operation by Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining firms.
The robots are proliferating. Meanwhile, it’s the kind of technology the Pentagon has been seeking for supply trucks and convoys on the battlefield. This could be a test case.
