automation in primary sector

carlowplayer

is it possible for work in both mining and forestry to be fully automated?with regards to forestry can the planting of wood,chopping dwon of the trees and then collection of wood onto transportation seems to be the main problem.Can these be automated.
Furthermore are there replacements for wood ie creating artificial wood from ligin from bacteria and cellulose from plants?

petethedrummer

How automated are we talking here? Absolutely no human involvement?


I'm pretty sure there's a limit to the size of tree these bad boys can fell. And you would always need an operator to be able to navigate the forest and decide which trees are to be cut down. Far too complex an environment for a machine to navigate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVAeWmODoj8

I worked on a job right next to one of these AGVs and they are pretty impressive. I was sure it was going to crash through the doors and walls but it never did. Its route is mapped out for it, the floors have to be very even and there are reflectors set up all over the place so it knows where it is. You couldn't let one loose in a forest with big tyres a cutting blade on the end.:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhe6M255zcM

gctest50

>500t ~ 3500 horsepower ......

http://video.mining.com/videos/1293c0/komatsu_autonomous_haulage_%28english_version%29.aspx


Old :

"Annandale explains that within a mechanised operating system, damage costs usually contribute 10% to 30% of total maintenance costs. The automated system reduces this and subsequently downtime is reduced substantially, with damage costs being virtually nonexistent."

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/fullyautomated-system-2006-03-31

.......

http://mining.leica-geosystems.com/products/J3autonomous/

http://www.im-mining.com/2012/01/01/automation-remote-mining/

petethedrummer

A couple of mates of mine have automated in the mining industry I can ask them what they did/saw. In the meantime.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlord7pt3U

@2:40 he says Gobsite. ho ho!

gctest50

petethedrummer wrote: »

A couple of mates of mine have automated in the mining industry I can ask them what they did/saw. In the meantime.....

They're flat out trying to stop the trucks collaborating with the tumble dryers and taking over the place

petethedrummer

gctest50 wrote: »

They're flat out trying to stop the trucks collaborating with the tumble dryers and taking over the place

The problem there is that the power to those machines was being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, now it's produced by the modial interaction of magneto reluctance and capacitive duractance. What sort of a base plate is on them?

gctest50

Ah its all going virtual nowadays ...

carlowplayer

petethedrummer wrote: »

How automated are we talking here? Absolutely no human involvement?

Preferably.I know that hydroponics can allow land to be reforested(and algea can theorectically replace the need for wood pulp in paper production) since virtually any crop can be grown indoors in controlled conditions allowing for farm land to be reforested.Could these lands be used for agroforestary since they are level grounded and the space between trees can be controlled allowing for easier automation with contraption you showed in your post earlier with trees grown in an argricultural fashion next to the factory where furniture or indeed building materials are constructed to improve efficiency
The machine could be transported automatically in a set line in between lined trees(which are then cut) but could the picking up of the chopped wood onto the the back of the transporting vehicle be possible?
Could indoor hydroponic tree forestary be possible and be automated too?

Its that and the planting of trees that needs to be automated left or is there more that has to be done

either that or does anyone know how effective are synthetic woods as a substitute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR-HKgTx0Zc

i know agriculture can be automated with algea replacing cotton and other textiles and gm bacteria producing sugar,rubber and other stuff as well as hydro/aeroponics being automated and fishing being automated via recirculating aquaculture systems, just forestary seems to be a problem

petethedrummer

carlowplayer wrote: »

Could these lands be used for agroforestary since they are level grounded and the space between trees can be controlled allowing for easier automation with contraption you showed in your post earlier with trees grown in an argricultural fashion next to the factory where furniture or indeed building materials are constructed to improve efficiency
The machine could be transported automatically in a set line in between lined trees(which are then cut) but could the picking up of the chopped wood onto the the back of the transporting vehicle be possible?

I don't know! You'd have to balance the cost of levelling the field, growing the trees perfectly uniformly, keeping space between the trees vegetation free, the potential cost of a malfuntion, programming this wonder cutting machine and developing an automated gathering machine....

Vs

.....The cost of employing a few drivers.


Companies naturally push for more and more automation until costs become a problem. So I doubt any huge automation gains can be made at this moment in time. Farmers can plow large fields with GPS (see video below), so it's not like they are not trying to automate this kind of thing. At the moment though I think you still need a driver to turn the tractor and do the hard bits. I was talking to a lad who did some plowing with GPS in Australia. He fell asleep half way down and the tractor crossed the road into the next field!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJG_ReAHAqU