Design and Analysis Towards Successful Development of a Tele-Operated Mobile Robot for Underground Coal Mines

The demand of coal is increasing day-by-day with the growth of civilization. In spite of enhancement of coal production, a huge amount of foreign currency has to be spent to import coal from outside to meet the demand-supply gap. The existing coal reserve cannot be extracted fully due to unavailability of proper technology in Indian coal mines. Suitable remote operation technology can be introduced either for extraction of coal from deeper seams or monitoring the mine environment for safety. A robotic system has been developed to remotely monitor the environment of a hazardous mine tunnel from the mine manager’s desk before starting any extraction. The system is equipped with a set of navigational sensors (IR sensors, compass, laser range finder and camera) and operational sensors (CO, CO₂, CH₄, temperature and humidity sensor). The robot can be controlled either manually or autonomously based on the need. In both the cases, the data can be transferred to the over ground station for monitoring. Approximate mathematical modeling of the system has been performed and its working has been analysed through simulation in MSC ADAMS. Some of the critical components have been evaluated for stress-deflection behavior in static condition before manufacturing. The performance of the system has been demonstrated in laboratory successfully.