The development of an intelligent haulage truck simulator for improving the safety of operation in surface mines

Abstract

Surface mines are in operation world-wide, the vast majority employ large haul trucks for the transfer of material both to the outside world and around the site. The sheer size of these trucks and the operating conditions means there is a high level of risk. Allied to this, the commercial nature of the operation means that down time is extremely costly and driver training expensive. The AIMS Research Unit has developed a PC based system to improve driver training which is currently being developed into a commercial application. Scenarios are created by importing site specific data through industrial CAD systems, road systems are then added through an editor to create good replicas of the environment facing drivers on a day to day basis. The world is further enhanced by allowing the user to specify a number of intelligent objects including haulage trucks, excavators with load points and various static objects. Once scenarios have been created training is carried out on a full screen real time simulation which allows trainees to drive or be driven by computer through the world. At any given point the trainee is able to stop the simulation and identify potential hazards, their associated risk, and take possible corrective action.