Mining robot built in Sudbury tested in Chilean mine

A man from Sudbury is in Chile testing a $3 million mining robot he helped design and build.

The robot, which can accurately determine dimensions of excavations underground, has the potential to improve the quality of mining work, said Greg Baiden, the CEO of Penguin Automated Systems. With the robot's help, workers can see exact locations of drill holes and tunnels underground without physically travelling there.

Baiden noted the project has captured attention beyond the copper mining company in Chile. The teacher of robotics and mine automation at Laurentian University said he is starting to get calls from around the world.

"I got a call from South Africa, from a big mining company there, that wants us to bring them [there]," he said. "We have some other test areas in Canada as well. So, there's another set of robots being built at our research centre in Sudbury."

Can help make mining safer

In a previous interview with CBC News, Baiden said the robot was also designed with recent mining disasters in mind.

"In the states, particularly in the coal mines, the problem they had was that they couldn't re-establish the mine quickly enough to get to the people," he said.

"To do it safely, you have to make sure the ventilation is in the right place … you [have to] build your way back in."

Baiden called his machine "a reconnaissance robot" that can go in and give and survey "what the falls of ground look like."

"We have the ability to put ventilation sensors on it, so we can tell the condition of the air," he said. "And it'll cover such difficult terrain that it can go into situations where maybe even people can't go, and it's got the ability to carry a load."