When mines extract oil or ore from different supplies, they typically generate liquid waste referred to as tailings. This waste is saved in tailings ponds, which should be constantly monitored – and that is the place the omnidirectional, amphibious Helix Neptune robotic is designed to come back in.

Manufactured by Canadian robotics firm Copperstone Applied sciences, the battery-powered Neptune does not have wheels or treads, however as an alternative strikes alongside in all instructions on 4 screw-shaped pontoons. As these pontoons independently rotate, they transfer the robotic throughout dry soil, mud, and the floor of the water in tailings ponds.

Whereas such a screw-drive system is not a standard sight, it is definitely additionally not unprecedented. Through the years, we have seen it utilized to every little thing from land-going yachts to hill-climbing snowboards to Titan-exploring rovers.

Because the Neptune travels onto and throughout the ponds – both autonomously or by distant management – it makes use of onboard sensors to assemble water information equivalent to chemical and oxygen content material, together with turbidity and salinity. If it is decided that sufficient of the pollution have settled to the underside of the pond (forming a sludge), a number of the remaining water might be reclaimed for reuse within the mine.

Copperstone Applied sciences

Moreover, the robotic measures the depth of the water. This is a crucial piece of knowledge, because the water varieties a “cap” that covers the poisonous sludge beneath. Evidently, that cap needs to be saved at a given minimal depth, to maintain the sludge out of contact with the encircling surroundings.

The Neptune also can acquire water/sludge samples, each on the floor and at a wide range of depths, utilizing a powered winch … however could not people carry out all these duties?

“In some ponds, it’s doable to ship an individual in a ship. It is an enormous operation, as a result of you must have a backup boat, and there are all these security considerations,” Copperstone co-founder Nicolas Olmedo informed us. “When one thing occurs and any individual will get damage, it is not allowed anymore, in order that they should search for different options – and that is the place we might are available in.”

That stated, the robotic does produce other purposes. Geared up with an ice drill, as an illustration, it may be used to test the thickness of doubtless treacherous ice roads on frozen lakes. It may be used to carry out surveillance or reconnaissance in difficult-to-reach places.

Copperstone Applied sciences

The Neptune was first launched a yr in the past, and has since been utilized by numerous shoppers in numerous nations. Copperstone is at the moment providing the expertise in robot-as-a-service kind, whereby operators will are available in and carry out duties for shoppers, as an alternative of getting them purchase a robotic of their very own.

This Thursday within the metropolis of Montreal, the corporate acquired a Mitacs Excellent Entrepreneur Award in recognition of its robotics system. Mitacs is a government-funded non-profit group, which seeks to foster technical innovation in Canada.

You possibly can see the Helix Neptune in motion, within the video under.

Sources: Mitacs, Copperstone Applied sciences