Designing Autonomous Systems That Eliminate Human Risk in Hazardous Environments
Published in IEEE Communications Society, UET Taxila, 2026
Invited webinar delivered to 35 live participants.
Mining remains one of the most dangerous industrial environments: ICMM member companies recorded 42 fatalities in 2024, and powered haulage caused 39 % of US mining deaths in 2025. Personal protective equipment protects workers inside the hazard zone but cannot remove them from it. This talk made the case for autonomy as a way to take people out of the most dangerous roles, using two industrial systems:
- Komatsu FrontRunner: autonomous haulage at surface mines since 2008, now over 1,000 trucks.
- Sandvik AutoMine: autonomous loading and hauling underground, where there is no GPS.
It also covered the safety standards for autonomous mining machines (ISO 17757, ISO 21815), adoption so far, and the gaps that remain: people still working inside automated zones, artisanal mining and cost. It closed with future directions in mechatronics, robotics and teleoperation.
Slide content © 2026 Mary Kuru Sam, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Third-party images, videos and trademarks belong to their owners. The speaker works for Sandvik; views are her own.