Georeferencing System for Maneuvering of Autonomous Truck in Mining Environment

Mining automation began in the 1960s to increase safety in underground mines. Today, robotic and autonomous systems perform specific mining activities, creating new oppor-tunities and a more efficient and safe industry. This paper proposes a novel solution for instrumentation for autonomous trucks working in open-pit mines, specifically during the parking maneuver to load ore. In this case, new hardware and firmware are developed to compute the future coordinates of the excavator bucket using two Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers. In this approach, employing the concept of geometry and information from the GPS receivers, the future coordinates of the excavator bucket are calculated and made available to control the system, parking the autonomous truck in the desired position. The results demonstrate the accurate positioning of the off-highway truck during the ore-loading process, allowing for the correct execution of the truck's autonomous positioning maneuver.