Research and Innovation in Exploration and Mining of Raw Materials: The ROBOMINERS Project

Abstract

ROBOMINERS is a new project funded under the European Union’s Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020, which aims at employing a bio-inspired robot, focused on the prospect of mineral exploration and extraction within Europe. ROBOMINERS’ innovative approach combines the creation of a new mining ecosystem through the development of a bioinspired robotic miner prototype, able to explore and mine mineral deposits which are currently considered uneconomic due to their small size and difficulty of access. The main objectives of the project include the creation of a European database of potentially suitable locations for the deployment of this novel technology. The building of the pan-EU mineral deposits database is considered vital for the development of the project as it will provide essential information related to deposit type and commodities, spatial and temporal distribution, and location of exploration targets. Several deposits have been reviewed and examined in Greece as potential targets suitable for the ROBOMINERS technology, after considering the specific restrictions and requirements of the project. The main targets have been determined and arranged according to the different aspects required by the applicability of the ROBOMINERS innovative technology.

The Smallest “Miner” of the Animal Kingdom and Its Importance for Raw Materials Exploitation

“…It should be noted that the mining environment is multi-factorial and volatile, which raises many difficulties in full automation, and the human factor will always play a key role. Nevertheless, many research groups [70,[115][116][117][118]122] investigate the use of a robotic swarm of mining equipment, such as NASA [121] and ROBOMINERS, which is funded by the EU [30,31]. Also remarkable is the research on this topic by Linevich et al [87], in which they used the kinematic behavior of insects, specifically ants [26], for designing innovative digging equipment appropriate in confined environments.…”

“…In the current fourth Industrial Revolution and Mining 4.0, machines have been designed to operate autonomously, with the possibility of decision-making based on innovative technologies and big data handling [28,29]. An example of research on a technology inspired by nature is the project ROBOMINERS, funded by the European Union (EU), for future mineral exploration and extraction within Europe [30,31]. The ant is an excellent example of a natural miner that could be used for those purposes (see Figure 4).…”