Research on path planning of autonomous manganese nodule mining vehicle based on lifting mining system

Abstract

Deep-sea manganese nodules are abundant in the ocean, with high exploitation potential and commercial value, and have become mineral resources that coastal countries compete to develop. The pipeline-lifting mining system is the most promising deep-sea mining system at present. A deep-sea mining vehicle is the core equipment of this system. Mining quality and efficiency rely on mining vehicles to a great extent. According to the topographic and geomorphic environmental characteristics of deep-sea manganese nodules at the bottom of the ocean, a new deep-sea mining system based on an autonomous manganese nodule mining vehicle is proposed in this paper. According to the operating environment and functional requirements of the seabed, a new mining method is proposed, and the global traverse path planning research of the autonomous manganese nodule mining vehicle based on this mining method is carried out. The arc round-trip acquisition path planning method is put forward, and the simulation verification shows that the method effectively solves the problems of low efficiency of mining vehicle traversing acquisition and obstacle avoidance.

The Wide-Area Coverage Path Planning Strategy for Deep-Sea Mining Vehicle Cluster Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

“…Most of the mineral resources in the deep sea are in the form of nodules dispersed over wide environments. In deep-sea mining missions, mining vehicle clusters need to accomplish complete coverage of wide areas to collect mineral resources in seafloor sediments [25]. Therefore, the study of cluster-coverage path planning technology can help mining vehicles achieve efficient path planning for full coverage of the mining area and improve the comprehensive efficiency of the deep-sea mining system.…”