Hitachi Construction Machinery says it has signed a “charter agreement” with a subsidiary of Rio Tinto for a program of work directed to development of remote operation technologies for ultra-large hydraulic excavators.
The pact, signed with Technological Resources Pty Limited, will see Hitachi Construction Machinery and Rio Tinto advance their collaboration over the next five years to continue to develop technologies to support the next generation of mining operations which include operator assist, remote operation and partial autonomy of digging and loading for ultra-large hydraulic excavators.
At mine sites where continuous operation is required 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, prioritising safety and productivity is essential. In this context, the adoption of remote operation technologies for ultra-large hydraulic excavators represents a significant step toward both goals, Hitachi Construction Machinery says.
In this collaboration, Hitachi Construction Machinery will develop remote operation technologies while Rio Tinto deploy ultra-large hydraulic excavators equipped with various technologies to excavate, provide operational data and provide feedback at its mining sites located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Partial autonomy functions will enable operators to instruct the system on the initial digging position and the dump truck loading position to automatically repeat a series of subsequent operations.
By 2030, Hitachi Construction Machinery aims to build an interoperable platform capable of operating multiple ultra-large hydraulic excavators with partial autonomy across mine sites.
To date, Hitachi Construction Machinery has collaborated with Rio Tinto on a number of strategic priorities, including verifying the durability of booms and arms for ultra-large hydraulic excavators and evaluating operator-assist technologies. This expands those efforts to realise the practical application of autonomous operation technologies for ultra-large hydraulic excavators in line with the medium to long-term roadmap. The two companies will continue to partner to establish highly versatile technologies through tests under diverse site conditions.
Hiroshi Kanezawa, Executive Officer, Vice President of Mining Business Unit, said: “Since entering the mining machinery business in the late 1970s, the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group has driven technology innovation for ultra-large hydraulic excavators in the industry. Our new concept “LANDCROS” embodies our desires for “Customer”, “Reliable”, “Open” and “Solutions” – reliable and open solutions for our customers – and expresses the direction that the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group wish to take. Under this concept, we are confident that open collaboration with Rio Tinto, which has extensive expertise in mining operations, will accelerate the development of highly versatile autonomous operation technologies for the benefit of the whole mining industry.”
