Autonomous underground tramming for center-articulated vehicles

This paper describes the design, implementation, and field testing of an infrastructureless system for autonomous tramming (or hauling) of a center-articulated underground mining vehicle. Such vehicles are ubiquitous in underground mining, and effective automation of their tramming function has been a sought-after technology for more than a decade. This paper reports on the successful development of a fast, reliable, and robust “autotramming” technology that does not require the installation of fixed infrastructure. Included are descriptions of the chosen control architecture, map-based localization technique, and the results of integration and field testing. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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