Solution · Mining
Haulage on fixed underground routes, face and long-hole drilling, inspection of shafts, ventilation raises and conveyor drifts, and access to workings nobody can enter any more. werob integrates real mining automation so the routine work stops requiring a person at the face.
2.700
aggregates works in Germany
Solution · Mining
German hard coal mining ended in 2018, and the public image of the industry stopped there. The reality is that around 2,700 works in roughly 1,600 companies extract just under 500 million tonnes of aggregates a year in Germany, on the industry association MIRO figures, and that is only sand, gravel and natural stone, before counting lignite, potash and salt. On top of that sits an obligation that never ends: RAG states that it pumps around 110 million cubic metres of mine water a year at 12 sites across the Ruhr, the Saar and Ibbenbueren, to keep it from mixing with groundwater. Extraction, aftercare and inspection all share the same problem. The places that most need looking at are the ones it is least safe to send somebody into.
Autonomous and tele-remote load-haul-dump machines and trucks on fixed underground routes, operated from a surface control room. The point is not speed. It is that the re-entry window after a blast stops being the thing that dictates the shift.
Autonomous face and long-hole drill rigs work a pattern to plan and log what they actually drilled, so the deviation between planned and executed hole is a record rather than an argument.
Legged and tracked robots plus SLAM mapping payloads survey shafts, ventilation raises, conveyor drifts and old workings, including places that are unsupported, flooded or simply not enterable any more.
Closed mines do not stop needing attention. Water management infrastructure, shaft integrity and subsidence monitoring are permanent tasks, and much of the relevant volume is under water, which is where the subsea side comes in.
Hardware match
Connectors
Standards
| What the operator described | Hardware match | Cadence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Tele-remote loader works the muck pile from a surface control room, so the re-entry window after a blast no longer decides when the shift restarts.” | Sandvik AutoMine · Epiroc | Per shift | Available |
| “SLAM mapping payload flies or walks a ventilation raise and old workings, producing a point cloud of ground nobody can safely enter.” | Exyn · Emesent Hovermap | Per campaign | Available |
| “Legged robot walks a fixed inspection route along the conveyor drift and pump station, capturing the same waypoints visually and thermally on every pass.” | ANYbotics ANYmal · Boston Dynamics Spot | Weekly | Available |
Mining is a newly available werob solution. Hardware and cadence are representative; per-site scope is set in your spec. The figure above is an industry association figure (MIRO, Bundesverband Mineralische Rohstoffe, retrieved July 2026) describing the addressable market in Germany for aggregates alone, not live deployments. Anything operating in a firedamp environment must carry ATEX Group I equipment, which narrows the hardware choice sharply and is settled before selection. Statutory mine surveying stays with the Markscheider.
Start
Describe the drift, the atmosphere and the task in plain language. First spec in 48 hours, first deployment in eight weeks.