Klara van den Burg

Robotics technology in Fixed Plant project Delivery.

Autonomous Inspection Rover Revolutionises Conveyor Maintenance at Gudai-Darri.

Rio Tinto, in collaboration with Drone Deploy and Trossen Robotics, is testing an innovative pilot project to enhance conveyor belt maintenance at Gudai-Darri.

Using an autonomous inspection rover equipped with GPS, sensors, and a FLIR thermal camera, the robot scans hundreds of conveyor rollers daily, identifying potential failures and alerting teams for timely intervention. This advanced technology improves safety, minimises downtime, and reduces operational costs.

The project highlights the team’s resilience and commitment, overcoming challenges such as weather unpredictability and logistical delays. Guided by the core values of care, curiosity, and courage, they implemented solutions swiftly and conducted safe, precise trials in real-world conditions. The success of the trials demonstrates the potential of autonomous systems to revolutionise maintenance practices, prevent failures, and optimize efficiency.

As the trials progresses, future enhancements aim to integrate additional autonomous capabilities, such as operating around machinery and road traffic. With promising results so far, this initiative marks a significant step toward safer, smarter, and more efficient industrial operations

A quote from Western Australia Rio tinto Contribution report

"How to train a robot dog"

As well as her passion for people, Klara’s out-of-the-box thinking has led to innovative solutions that save money, time and improve safety, but also make work fun. Inspired by her leader’s call to action to embrace technology, and hearing colleagues talk about issues in their work areas, Klara and her colleagues helped introduce robots for essential but mundane tasks. The team’s first foray into robotics was a robotic dog named Spot, programmed to find faults in conveyor belts. “People are very scared of technology. Spot was a way to introduce it in a friendly way,” Klara said. After a 6-month trial of field tests using Spot, the trial has been extended with a new robot, Rover. Enlisted for its onboard technology, Rover is designed to scan conveyor rollers to identify potential failures and allow for timely repairs. “Robotics is not just for technical teams, we have operators on site learning new skills to use Rover to collect data,” Klara said. “New technologies are the answer to so many of the mechanical and technical issues in mining, and I am so excited that I got to help introduce innovation and collaborate with people to bring these projects to life.”

Read the full report