ROBOMINERS has developed several key technologies for a bio-inspired, modular and reconfigurable robot-miner for small and difficult to access deposits. A prototype robot has been designed and developed that is capable of mining underground, underwater in a flooded environment as a proof of concept modular robot that can be delivered in modules to the deposit via a large diameter borehole drilled from the surface to the mineral deposit.
ROBOMINERS has delivered a proof of concept for the feasibility of this technology line at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4. The technology could enable the EU to access mineral raw materials from domestic sources that are otherwise inaccessible or uneconomic. Our technology aims at performing mining in a more sustainable and environmental friendly way, with an indirect benefit to social acceptance of mining.
The high-tech vision of ROBOMINERS aims at having a transformational effect on the mining industry: mining as a high-tech industry
Our concrete objectives are as follows:
(1) Construct a fully functional modular robot miner prototype capable of performing selective mining
(2) Validate all key functions of the robot-miner to a level of TRL-4.
(3) Design a mining ecosystem of expected future upstream/downstream raw materials processes via simulations, modelling and virtual prototyping
(4) Study and develop selective mining instruments: mineralogy and geophysical sensors, and production tools
(5) Use the prototypes to study and advance future research challenges on scalability, resilience, re-configurability, self-repair, collective behavior, operation in harsh environments, selective mining, as well as for the necessary converging technologies on an overall mining ecosystem level.
