A.I. enhanced Machine Vision System for Automated Flange Bolting Robot “Boltron” for Mining and Minerals Processing Infrastructure

The Challenge

The rapidly evolving safety, commercial and cultural trends that affect the execution of manual work activities in mining/minerals industries necessitates an urgent response in the delivery of automated solutions to assist with these activities.

Industrial bolted flanges are extensively utilised across mining and minerals infrastructure including heat exchangers, piping, tanks, pressure vessels and process equipment. Currently, there is no automated solution for necessary and regular bolting activities that occur on this infrastructure. Manual bolting utilises heavy equipment, at height, in dangerous and stressful conditions. HSEQ incidents regularly include physical injuries, falls from heights, chemical burns, heat stroke and exhaustion. Workforce costs associated with injuries and long-term compensation are very high. Productivity costs associated with these manual processes are also very high with plant down-time representing the highest total cost.

The scale of the problem is enormous, with over 20,000 mines, refineries, process mills, power plants and industrial plants globally that all use very similar large bolted flanges. TMT’s proposed bolting robot will deliver a universal, automated, high speed bolting machine that can be operated safely by a diverse workforce, to dramatically improve productivity, HSEQ and workforce challenges experienced by operators and producers both locally and internationally.

Proposed Solution

This project aims to develop bolted flange specific A.I. machine vision technology for an existing Autonomous Bolting Robot. The proposed research project will ensure reliable engagement of nuts by the machine and increase the safety, speed and performance of bolting activities. This will allow “Boltron” to be reliably sold to international mineral and mining sectors for autonomous flange bolting operations. The proposed R&D will deliver key machine vision technologies that facilitate the Autonomous operation of a bolting robot including;

• Specialized machine vision software, suitable for use on sites with a wide variety of challenging variables in the visual appearance of the bolted flanges, affected by lighting, rust, paint, coatings, weather and nut designs.
• Specialized A.I. software to assist machine vision in the learning processes required to identify nuts, human hands/fingers, obstructions etc,
• Cameras and lights required for reliable visual images to be gathered during operations,
• Development of safety protocols and HMI to allow the system to operate unmanned,
• Critically, an automated bolting robot will support employee diversity regulatory requirements.

Proposed Benefits to WA

Funded under MRIWA’s METS Innovation Program, this industry-led research supports the creation of new products, companies, and markets for WA’s mining sector.
The benefits for Western Australia under this project will be realized in three main ways:

1. Direct benefit to Mining and Mineral Processing facility Operators
2. Benefit to WA Employment, Industry Viability, Workforce diversity and Safety.
3. Benefits to WA Technology based institutions, companies and manufacturers.

Operators will benefit from the project with access to new locally built automated robotic equipment as well as other machine vision technologies detailed within this proposal. Direct benefits to operators are financial, HSEQ, staffing and productivity related. Companies such as Alcoa of Australia for example have 7 sites in WA and another 10 internationally that utilize bolted flanges in some form. Just within WA, Alcoa have approximately 300 large diameter (1000-2000mm) bolted flanges, with an average of three flanges per day that are unbolted and/or bolted.

The combined organizational costs associated with flange bolting activities in WA alone exceeds $2.0M+ per annum, with a large team of staff managing the manual activity and staff support processes. As with many technology industries, local WA industry will benefit from this project as it will contribute to “local hub knowledge”. It will support local component suppliers such as circuit board manufacturers and machine shops. The effect of new WA based technology jobs is cumulative and supports WA becoming a prominent technology hub. In a high wage environment such as WA, the viability of mining and minerals will be dependent on automation to reduce direct costs, improve safety/quality and increase productivity.

Financial Assistance DOI:

10.71342/019988489570