Speaker: Dr. Pushparaj Mani Pathak

Title: Drone Technology Development for Open Cast Mines

Meeting link: https://tinyurl.com/havf4zc8

Abstract: Opencast mining operations involve the removal of topsoil for the excavation of coal/minerals. This impacts soil erosion due to excavation depth, angle, drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling. Weather Conditions further affect soil stability, leading to landslides and collapses with devastating consequences. Real-time knowledge of the mined area’s topography is crucial for safety and economic viability in modern mining operations. Traditional methods include manual inspections, visual checks for instability, and the installation of instrumentation on cracks.

Satellite remote sensing provides a high-level overview but lacks detail. Drones are a feasible alternative for closer inspection. Drone technology can be used to measure overburden and coal stocks in open-cast coal mines. It can provide economic benefits. Slope monitoring and blasting monitoring can improve the safety aspects of mines. Similarly, production and productivity can be increased by using drones for logistics support. The team of IIT Roorkee has started the work of developing drone technology to overcome the problems related to open-cast mines. The work is supported by IHFC.

Bio: Dr. Pushparaj Mani Pathak is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, India. He graduated from the National Institute of Technology Calicut, India in 1988 in Mechanical Engineering. He completed his M. Tech in Solid Mechanics and Design from IIT, Kanpur, in 1998. Later he was awarded a PhD degree from IIT, Kharagpur, in 2005. His areas of research are Robotics, Dynamics, Control, and Bond Graph Modelling. He has been in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, IIT, Roorkee, since 2006. He has co-authored a book on Intelligent Mechatronic Systems: Modeling, Control and Diagnosis, published by Springer, London, in the year 2012. His two MOOC courses through the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), on Mechatronics and Modelling and Simulation of Dynamic Systems, are very popular. He is the founder of a start-up RoboLife Private Limited. The start-up works in taking robotics products developed in the robotics lab to market. He is a Member of ASME, RSI, AMM and the IFToMM Technical Committee for Multi-Body Dynamics.