ABB’s Innovative Mining Robot Automates Explosive Charge Handling for Safety and Efficiency

A groundbreaking ABB robot capable of automatically loading explosives into mining blast holes has recently completed successful trials in Sweden.

The ABB Robot Charger integrates machine vision, automation, and precise robotics to detect boreholes in rock faces and subsequently prepare them with explosive charges and detonators. ABB highlights its adaptability, indicating the system’s potential to be retrofitted onto any truck, enabling the robot to service multiple blasting locations within a single day.

Blasting schedules within mining operations widely vary, with some mines conducting up to 15 blasts per day. The manual charging of explosives remains one of the few remaining entirely manual processes in mining, often performed by miners on unsupported rock surfaces. ABB positions the Robot Charger as a significant leap in mine safety, effectively automating this potentially hazardous task.

Vedrana Spudic, ABB’s Business Line Mining Technology Head, noted the technological significance and its alignment with broader ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments within the industry. The robot’s vision system accurately locates drilled holes on the rock face, as confirmed during recent tests where all holes were successfully accessed and charged in a fully automated cycle, eliminating the need for human operators in precarious, unsupported areas.

The Robot Charger comprises four synchronized systems: a camera scanning for boreholes, a hydraulic crane reaching the entire height of the space, a small industrial robot managing detonators and primers, and a larger industrial robot placing explosives in the drilled holes.

This initiative has been carried out in collaboration with mine operators Boliden and LKAB at Boliden Garpenberg, claimed to be the world’s most productive underground zinc mine, located 180km northwest of Stockholm. ABB is now entering the final stage of development, aiming to oversee the entire blasting sequence in the mine, transferring full control of the robot to the customer.