5G+Robots help accelerate the intelligent development of coal mines!

Recently, the Intelligent Coal Mine and Work Safety Forum was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Companies offered suggestions on the intelligent construction of coal mines and the improvement of safety levels. Intelligent technologies and equipment such as 5G and robots have become a broad consensus for development. The industry generally believes that relying on 5G robots, my country's green, intelligent, and safe large-scale coal mines will become the main body of coal production in the future, and the intelligent development of my country's coal mines will accelerate.

Intelligent coal mines are an inevitable trend

At present, although the development of solar energy, wind energy, chemical energy, etc. is accelerating, coal, as the main energy source for power generation, industrial power energy, civilian commodity energy and chemical raw material, still has a high status in people's production and life. Since 2002, my country has ushered in the "black gold era" of coal, and the development of domestic coal has entered a state of rapid development, and even once led to the rapid rise of many provinces and cities. The importance of coal in my country is increasing day by day.

However, the booming industry is inevitably accompanied by risks. Since 2009, large and small mining accidents have sounded the alarm for the industry. At the same time, with the disappearance of the demographic dividend and the increase in labor costs, the labor advantage of coal production has gradually declined, and problems such as difficulty in recruiting, employing and retaining workers have become increasingly prominent. The transformation of production technology and models is urgent. In this context, smart coal mines have become the only way for industrial development.

In short, the so-called smart coal mine is to use artificial intelligence, robots, the Internet of Things, big data and other technologies to promote the intelligent transformation of coal industry technology and industrial development. Smart coal mines mean that coal mine production has moved from manual and mechanized to automated, information-based, digital and safe. The continuous development of smart coal mines can effectively break through the shortcomings of the traditional mining industry and promote the industry to keep up with the needs of the times and embark on the road of high-quality development.

5G+Robots bring help

So, how to realize the construction and development of smart coal mines? On January 9, 2019, the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety announced the "Key Research and Development Catalogue of Coal Mine Robots", which put forward research and development and application requirements for 5 categories and 38 types of coal mine robots for tunneling, coal mining, coal transportation, safety control and rescue. At the same time, the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Intelligent Coal Mines" jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Energy Bureau and other eight departments also placed 5G, robots and other intelligent technologies in a key position.

The combination of 5G and robots can play an important role in the intelligentization of coal mines. First, in terms of production operations, 5G robots can be used in coal mine tunneling, coal mining and transportation, etc., to ensure production safety and improve operation efficiency through "machine replacement". Second, in terms of mine rescue, 5G robots can also assist in the efficient, convenient and timely implementation of rescue and follow-up work through comprehensive and accurate detection of the accident site.

In addition, 5G robots can also perform daily monitoring and maintenance work. With the advantages of 5G's high speed, low latency, and large connection, robots can be used to monitor the underground environment, equipment, and personnel, and assist in pipeline desilting and other tasks, which can not only ensure the normal progress of mining projects, but also protect the safety of workers and ensure daily operation efficiency. It is precisely based on these powerful functions that 5G robots are favored by the industry.

Future development needs to eliminate drawbacks

In short, facing the frequent disasters and low efficiency of traditional coal mines, the combined application of 5G and coal mine robots can reduce the number of underground workers, reduce related safety risks, improve industrial production efficiency, and reduce the labor intensity of miners, thereby promoting the rapid transformation of coal mines towards intelligence, digitization, and informatization, which is of great value. However, due to the late start of research and development in my country and many restrictions, there are also problems with 5G robots at present, and their application is still difficult.

In view of this, if 5G robots want to achieve large-scale popularization and commercial use in the future and truly unleash their full potential, they need to solve the following two problems. The first is the problem of robot energy and power. There are three main types of energy supply for coal mine robots in my country: limited power supply for low power, underground power supply for high power, and battery power supply. Each of the three has its own shortcomings, such as easy interference, limited operating distance, poor endurance, etc. In the future, my country still needs to find new energy and power supply methods.

The second is the 5G navigation and communication problem. The underground mine environment is dark and complex, which places high demands on the adaptability and mobility of coal mine robots. Therefore, the stability, distance and efficiency of communication are very much tested. At present, although the emergence of 5G can guarantee these needs, its network coverage is still not perfect and there is not enough application experience. This needs to be solved step by step in the future, requiring us to strengthen the commercial development of 5G while accelerating the construction of 5G networks.