Robots to Make Mines Safer

and HR’s Role

By
YUBEN JOSEPH
MBA -IB
Human resources management trends and influences

In organizations, it is important to determine both current and future

organisational requirements for both core employees and the
contingent workforce in terms of their skills/technical abilities,
competencies, flexibility etc. The analysis requires consideration of the
internal and external factors that can have an effect on the resourcing,
development, motivation and retention of employees and other
workers. The external factors are those largely out-with the control of
the organization and include issues such as the economic climate,
current and future trends of the labor market e.g. skills, education level,
government investment into industries etc.

Robots in Mine Fields:

A 40 pound robot that can recon out the underground mazes in

abandoned mines after a fatality and send crucial information
aboveground to safety and rescue personnel is planned to be put
through difficult trials in Arizona, MCSOTRP’s abandoned mine rescue
and recovery specialist, Bob Mitchell said.

Bob Mitchell said Discovery Miner Program is planning and developing a

new, low cost prototype robotic work companion that is man cartable
and will either operate under direct human control or else be
"teleoperated" by a mine rescuer, in all cases from a deep, remote
location in the mine or safely on the surface.

"Removing mine recovery units out of dangerous environments is the

main goal." he says. Robots will be doing jobs like probing for
explosives, going underground after collapses to inspect a mine tunnel
or mapping and searching mines where it is impossible for humans to
search or even survive.

Costing at $3,000 and looking much like three connected pipes, ‘MOLE’
(short for Mine Observational Locomotion Experimenter) is small
enough to fit down a 1 ft portal leading into a mine. The robot can be
sent into underground areas in collapses or winzes, dragging its cable
behind on an automatic retracting spool to manage tangle free
operation while sending video information and gas detection data back
to emergency personnel aboveground. Traction drive is provided by two
thickly treaded cylinder "wheels" and is designed to be upright in any
pose, giving an advantage over regular wheeled or treaded units, which
can tip over and become incapacitated in the chaotic dynamics of an
abandoned mine.

MOLE is a second generation design of Angelus Research’s Intruder

Model, a wireless long range recon and remote operations robot,
refitted with wire tethers for operator control and no onboard
computers and built to be as low cost as possible. Angelus and
Discovery Miner are considering the problem of developing ultra low
cost platforms for regular use by abandoned mine crews.

Discovery Miner has set up a testing program to create the robot's

performance characteristics in an actual underground hard rock mine
environment. MOLE initially will be equipped with a digital low light
camera and a standard gas monitoring package, which will be able to
detect carbon dioxide and methane in the mine atmosphere. These two
gases are indicative of the safety status of an unventilated underground
mine.

Examples how robotics can aid mine rescue are:

Atmospheric sampling (could be as simple as an O2 monitor being

attached and the video feed also having an audio signal in which to
hear the alarm).
Video survey of obvious hazards (very few hazards are readily apparent
in remote video). The types of hazards that video does not readily show
are timber conditions, air movement, explosives, other types of
hazardous wastes.
Any remote unit put into constant service would also need to be
capable of working under water. Most mines are at least partially
flooded and water is one of the primary hazards.
Distance from portal is also a problem with remote units. Rescuers view
live video from the surface up to 600' vertically of a mine with good
success, but just one corner makes it impossible. Trying to drive in a
remote unit can have big problems with wire management etc.
Small, man carried ‘drop video cameras’ with tilt and pan motors, for
small winzes, decomposed drifts and stopes, could be designed to be
used with either expandable cables or poles to recon while the rescuer
uses them as an "extension" of his views.
Capt. Bob Mitchell, trained team leader with MSCOTRP's Mine Recovery
and Rescue says that efficiency is also imperative if rescue personnel
are to survive and automation can play a large role in this.

True Dangers of an Abandoned Mine

Rescuers face the same dangers when entering an abandoned mine

even when training for upcoming rescues. They must be highly
specialized and able to operate an important variety of machines and
instruments, that when in the unpredictable depths of tunnels and
shafts, their skill determines life or death. Even these professionals are
concerned for the risks of passing that portal-that sends a clear
message to the casual spelunker.

The problems of rescuing a person from a mine accident are usually

difficult and dangerous for both the rescued and the rescuer. Searching
mazes of tunnels is difficult. A rescuer must avoid dislodging any
lumber or rock that might fall on the victim - and this is an almost
impossible job.

The only rule in mine rescue is to avoid all unnecessary risk. It makes
no sense to kill one man to rescue another, particularly when the victim
is already dead. Death or injury faces any professional rescue team that
takes chances and these teams are trained to know the odds. However
it is mathematically certain that in making a given number of rescues,
rescuers face the inevitable unknown factor that results in serious injury
or death.

There are more than 500,000 abandoned mines and nearly 14,000
active mines in the United States. As cities and towns spread out into
the surrounding countryside, the possibility of contact with an active or
abandoned mine site increases. The men who work in our nation's mine
recovery united are highly trained to enter in a safe manner. For the
uninvited hiker, spelunker or rock hound enjoying club outings, the high
hazards are not always evident.

Future of Abandoned Mine Rescue and Recovery Robotics

During the Tonapah-Belmont tragedy in 2002, representatives of the

Arizona State Mine Inspector’s office were aware from mine rescue
technicians about the difficulties of recovering the children’s bodies
near Wickenburg, in which two children were killed 10 years apart while
exploring the dangerous mine by falling down the same internal 500
foot winze, unseen in the darkened tunnel floor. Rescue teams were
required to repel down the 500 foot winze to the shaft’s bottom. They
told the Mine Inspector that dropping into deep 1000 foot shafts in bad
air with tethered air supply and surrounded with decomposing tunnels
was very dangerous for human rescuers.

But while these victims were reached, in separate incidents around the
nation’s abandoned mines, others had to be left because while being
seen with dropped cameras 500-1000 feet below, recovery units could
not reach them due to the state of the shaft and risk to human crews.
Instead, concrete slabs were placed over the openings, sealing them in
permanent tombs.

The use of simple robots for this task becomes foreseeable. The robots
are impervious to human dangers, so a teleoperated robot could be
able to be lowered and perform recovery operations in unstable
abandoned mines for strapped rescuers by preparing the body for
transfer in a net or establish communications with trapped victims.

RecoverBot, a one hundred and fifty pound tethered rectangular unit,

has two maneuverable arms with grippers and four wheels that support
an open box frame with power units, controllers and video cameras
separately built with their own individual metal armor. Lowered down
the target shaft to prepare a recovery, the telerobotic eyes "see" for the
surface controller and the arms move the body into a second lowered
net by lifting and dragging. An "aero shell" protects the robot during the
lowering operation from a winch to protect from falling debris, and then
removed when bottom is reached. Then RecoverBot performs it’s
mission, observed from two points of view-the overhead camera used
by current mine rescue to image deep shafts-and the robot, who’s video
are the mine rescuer’s second view. When the mission is completed the
robot is then raised to the surface after the victim and overhead
camera is withdrawn.
"Robotic electronic costs have been falling for decades due to advances
in technology. If mine rescue robotics is unable to become cost
effective, it could not be utilized by cash strapped agencies." said
Gutierrez.

There are high costs in navigating a mine safely and ensuring it is

habitable for humans to survive in. MOLEs and RecoverBots can operate
with zero requirements, reducing the need for expensive infrastructure
and be able to negotiate the chaotic terrains of an abandoned mine
environment. Another method mine robotics can advance is by reducing
the huge operational costs that exist largely because recovery
operations employ huge amounts of people into the hazardous
environments.

MOLEs and RecoverBots must operate simply and reliably to enhance

cost. The most recent mine robot demonstrators from Carnegie Mellon
University's Robotic Institute- Terragator, Groundhog and Ferret- have
proven the technology using mostly available industry technology
costing around $500,000 for research and testing new mapping
techniques. Major programs of their robots are always planned for
testing when funds are implemented.

Not like their cousins regularly found in the technical industries, mine
rescue robots do not have to be autonomous. Robots can be mobile
platforms, like an extension of the rescue technician.

"Mine rescue robotics need sensors to measure the three dimensional

horizons of everything surrounding them. As well as sight, robots must
know where they are placed geographically within the mine site in real
time and online, something CMU has already done with a program
called SLAM [Simultaneous Localization and Mapping]," Gutierrez noted.

"Discovery Miner is using of the shelf systems for robots using cameras
and gas measuring devices to make maps of everything around the
machine quickly and accurately, as it maneuvers and works in its ever-
changing surroundings." he said.

Rolando Gutierrez ensures that the use of robots will not eliminate
human mine rescuers, but will be used to aid operations in dangerous
situations. Any opportunity to remove the human factor in hazardous
environments is welcomed since robots can be easily be replaced for a
few dollars, and not humans.

"Instead of placing themselves in hazardous areas to do repetitive and

hazardous tasks people will manage the operation of the robots. Mine
robots will also need teleoperators, repairmen and crew people." he
said.

"Mine rescue is a very dangerous endeavour. Enlisting robots to aid the

job will make mine rescue safer and ensure the survival of the human
specialist."New Role:

HR Roles:
HR role would be rather easier in selecting the worker as the technical
skills and the work experience needed for the recruitment can be
simply avoided.
Besides in case of accident or blast in Mine fields the compensation and
other allowances needn’t be given to employees. However the initial
cost arised for these non human workers would be significantly high.
Different Areas where HR roles are reduce:
In the areas like transfer or promotion they needn’t do anything as the
robots are pre-programmed and as they are being instructed the work
done is monotonous which they don’t get bored.
Training is not required for them only the instructions need to be fed,
which can be done at once and needn’t be done again.
Salary or wages needn’t be considered but being robots it would require
money for its maintenance, which is the only expense that could be
incurred for them.
Quality would be consistent and could be made to operate for longer
hours and the need for break and other factors would be required only
in case of failure of hardware or the power source.
Cases of Grievance handling, HR would have no role to be played for
robots, handling would be required only for the operators.

But as time passes, as we see in other electronics related components

getting their price reduced the manufactures would surely find a way to
reduce its making cost and also in by making the bulk manufacturing of
these devices would surely bring down its price.

Conclusion:

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her
changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more
adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction, and customer-centered.
Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered
necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee
sponsor or advocate and a change mentor. At the same time, especially
the HR Generalist, still has responsibility for employee benefits
administration, often payroll, and employee paperwork, especially in
the absence of an HR Assistant.

HRM is seen by practitioners in the field as a more innovative view of

workplace management than the traditional approach. Its techniques
express their goals with specificity so that they can be understood and
undertaken by the workforce, and to provide the resources needed for
them to successfully accomplish their assignments. As such, HRM
techniques, when properly practiced, are expressive of the goals and
operating practices of the enterprise overall. HRM is also seen by many
to have a key role in risk reduction within organizations in the advent of
robots.