The autonomous SmartROC D65 MKII has been tested and evaluated with Epiroc’s partner Fortescue in Western Australia during the last year. Now it’s officially confirmed: The autonomous SmartROC D65 MKII outperforms manually operated drill rigs.
Epiroc said the surface drill rig has shown outstanding results during the testing phase, including increased productive utilisation – in autonomous mode, the drill rig has zero idling time during transitions between tramming, positioning and drilling – which provides consistent efficiency in every hole cycle and reduces the total time spent to complete a drill pattern.
The focus for the testing thus far has been targeting production drilling applications.
“Throughout testing, the autonomous SmartROC D65 MKII rig consistently achieved hole accuracy targets set beyond what was achievable with manual operations,” Epiroc surface division automation manager Christopher Blignaut said.
Epiroc surface division product manager automation Mayya Popova said the new rig would support Epiroc’s customers in transforming their businesses.
“In our conversations with the mining houses globally we see increasing interest in autonomous operations thanks to the numerous benefits it provides,” she said.
“We are ready to support our business partners in accelerating this transformation.”
The autonomous SmartROC D65 MKII for production drilling applications will be available commercially from June 2023.