Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year
Integration of Robotics into the construction works of the Chuquicamata underground mining site
Since November 2021, Acciona has been testing the SPOT quadruped robot (Boston Dynamics´Spot) in the Chuquicamata mining site in Chile, with the main goal of reducing risks for human personnel while increasing process control and productivity.
The objective of the field trials was to automate the following five tasks:
- High precision scanning before applying shotcrete
- High precision scanning after applying shotcrete to perform quality control & estimate shotcrete thickness
- Thermal monitoring of the shotcrete to estimate setting level and mechanical resistance
- Image acquisition of the tunnel face, that allows generating a geologic report.
- Image acquisition of the tunnel after the blasting process, to identify misfired explosives.