UNDERGROUND

Robodog to sniff out gas hazards

Robodog can be operated on a mine-site to detect hazardous gasses

 Photo: Christian Holzinger

Photo: Christian Holzinger

Pan-African mining technology platform Dwyka Mining Services plans to showcase a Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot equipped with Maestro's IIoT gas sensor at an upcoming trade show.

Dwyka Mining Services said the robot, often referred to as a "robodog", can be operated on a mine-site to detect hazardous gasses, like carbon monoxide.

Using the Spot Enterprise on-board processing the data is shared wirelessly over WiFi and gas and temperature sensor readings are captured while the robot is in operation and displayed in real-time via the MaestroLink application.

Ventilation and mining teams will easily be able to add different gas sensors onto the connected Zephyr Air Quality Station, capturing critical environmental data to proactively identify gas or temperature challenges.

With the addition of a SLAM scanning unit sensor, like the Emesent Hovermap, readings can be saved with precise coordinates in a high-fidelity point cloud that can be exported and examined in a variety of mining software packages.

"We're very excited about this integration with Maestro Digital Mine as a future partner payload for Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise solution and look forward to continually improving worker safety for whole-of-mine deployment with our new best friend Spot," said Jamie van Schoor, managing director of Dwyka Mining Services.

"We are excited to share our new best friend Spot and its amazing capabilities with the delegates of Mining Indaba and the global mining industry. In the spirit of technology collaboration, we have assembled the world's best mining technologies to be on the stand with us to share and conceptualise end-to-end solutions for maximum impact for our mining clients," states van Schoor.

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