When mines extract oil or ore from different supplies, they usually generate liquid waste referred to as tailings. This waste is saved in tailings ponds, which need to be repeatedly monitored – and that is the place the omnidirectional, amphibious Helix Neptune robotic is designed to come back in.
Manufactured by Canadian robotics firm Copperstone Applied sciences, the battery-powered Neptune does not have wheels or treads, however as an alternative strikes alongside in all instructions on 4 screw-shaped pontoons. As these pontoons independently rotate, they transfer the robotic throughout dry soil, mud, and the floor of the water in tailings ponds.
Whereas such a screw-drive system is not a typical sight, it is actually additionally not unprecedented. Through the years, we have seen it utilized to every thing from land-going yachts to hill-climbing snowboards to Titan-exploring rovers.
Because the Neptune travels onto and throughout the ponds – both autonomously or by distant management – it makes use of onboard sensors to assemble water information corresponding to chemical and oxygen content material, together with turbidity and salinity. If it is decided that sufficient of the pollution have settled to the underside of the pond (forming a sludge), a number of the remaining water might be reclaimed for reuse within the mine.
Copperstone Applied sciences
Moreover, the robotic measures the depth of the water. This is a vital piece of knowledge, because the water varieties a “cap” that covers the poisonous sludge beneath. Evidently, that cap needs to be saved at a given minimal depth, to maintain the sludge out of contact with the encompassing setting.
The Neptune may also accumulate water/sludge samples, each on the floor and at quite a lot of depths, utilizing a powered winch … however could not people carry out all these duties?
“In some ponds, it’s attainable to ship an individual in a ship. It is an enormous operation, as a result of it’s a must to have a backup boat, and there are all these security issues,” Copperstone co-founder Nicolas Olmedo instructed us. “When one thing occurs and anyone will get damage, it is not allowed anymore, in order that they need to search for different options – and that is the place we might are available.”
That stated, the robotic does produce other functions. Geared up with an ice drill, as an example, it may be used to verify the thickness of probably treacherous ice roads on frozen lakes. It is also used to carry out surveillance or reconnaissance in difficult-to-reach areas.
Copperstone Applied sciences
The Neptune was first launched a 12 months in the past, and has since been utilized by quite a lot of shoppers in numerous nations. Copperstone is at the moment providing the expertise in robot-as-a-service type, whereby operators will are available and carry out duties for shoppers, as an alternative of getting them purchase a robotic of their very own.
This Thursday within the metropolis of Montreal, the corporate obtained a Mitacs Excellent Entrepreneur Award in recognition of its robotics system. Mitacs is a government-funded non-profit group, which seeks to foster technical innovation in Canada.
You’ll be able to see the Helix Neptune in motion, within the video beneath.
HELIX Neptune Amphibious Robots Screw-propelled car
Sources: Mitacs, Copperstone Applied sciences
