Named Groundhog, the robot was developed by Carnegie Mellon University students in the Robotics Institute Mobile Robot Development class. It is armed with cameras, gas, tilt and sinkage sensors, laser scanners and a gyroscope to help it deal with typical hazards in an abandoned coal mine including roof fall, abandoned equipment and ponded water.

 

Groundhog was planned to make its way to a coal preparation plant more than 800m away. The robot travels at a speed of 15cm a second. It was equipped with a wireless video system to send images back.

 

The robot uses perception technology to build maps from sensor data. It makes its own decisions about where to go, how to get there and how to return.

 

"Groundhog has to be ultra reliable because we don't have the option of taking control of it to correct its mistakes," Robotics Institute systems scientist Scott Thayer said.

 

"The key is our state of the art autonomous exploration and mapping software technology. The robot creates the map, makes its own plan, explores and comes back with useful information."

 

Groundhog was developed in response to the Quecreek incident last year when nine miners were trapped in a coal mine because of inaccurate maps.

 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has given the Carnegie Mellon University researchers a grant to develop another robot called Ferret. Ferret is a cylindrical device designed to be dropped through boreholes into a void. It uses a laser rangefinder to build 3D maps of an otherwise inaccessible space.

 

"These are areas out of reach to those of us on the surface, but if we can use robotic technology to chart these workings, then we will have gained an invaluable tool in out efforts to protect mines from facing another tragedy such as the Quecreek Mine accident," DEP acting secretary Kathleen McGinty said.