FINGER ON THE PULSE monitored from an office suite in a cosmopolitan city , whilst the majority of the miners have moved on to other jobs , ashrams or the dole queue .
The reality , at least for the foreseeable future , is that this a purely Utopian vision and that the Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) required to make it a reality is still only on the drawing board . Whilst there is obviously substantial investment taking place in this space particularly from Google and the US Military ( and to a lesser extent mining companies such as Rio Tinto ), what is currently available at the leading edge is very much in its infancy … for instance look to the obvious real-world limitations of the autonomous robotic technology recently showcased by DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) and Boston Dynamics .
As is the case on our roads and in modern warfare , the status quo is that whilst there is currently a place for remote-controlled equipment and equipment with semi-autonomous capabilities such as proximity detection / sensing and remote monitoring , full automation is a long way off . Automating equipment is relatively easy , however effective automation of process is hard , particularly as in most cases no process is completely isolated , but exists as a subset of a group of linked processes , which at various points require some kind of intervention in the form of decision-making .
Two areas where automation is perhaps making more of an immediate impact than others ( such as production efficiency ) are safety and plant maintenance . Given the high costs associated with accident , injury and equipment failure it isn ’ t surprising that automation of shut-down and harm minimisation processes via proximity and other sensors are becoming widespread . Vast amounts of data are now available from many sources , which usually don ’ t effectively communicate with one another , hence there is a continuing need for operators to oversee complex systems and provide input based on human senses , experience , training and instinct .
With many of the old hands , who often relied on ‘ gut feel ’ to make operational decisions , having left the industry there is now an increasing level of acceptance of the use of data and technology to support
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