10/06/2026
🦺 Safeguarding operators with UFR Haulage’s barrier control system 🛑
It’s critical to separate people from autonomous zones on mine sites. That’s why Universal Field Robots has a barrier control system that can trip autonomous trucks in case someone enters the zone.
The system consists of a light curtain or a laser barrier that must be armed by the charger operators when they finish their shift. They need to ensure that the tagboard is clear so that the trucks can run autonomously over shift change. Once this area has been armed, if the zone is tripped, the trucks stop immediately. The area then needs to be cleared again and rearmed.
The barriers also act as a geofence to ensure that the trucks are always inside the zones. We can’t run the risk of having a truck run either autonomously or teleremotely when it’s not in an expected location. Upon starting up the trucks, the operators are required to localise the trucks by giving them the exact location that they’re parked in, so that we can ensure they’re not operating outside of the area they’re expected.
GOLD FIELDS’ Granny Smith mine has achieved an excellent level of buy-in with this system. There is a lot of discipline around how people arm the barriers and ensure the trucks are ready to roll at the end of the shift.
Our sincere thanks to the team at Gold Fields and Granny Smith mine for their hospitality and generosity during filming earlier this year, sharing their valuable time to discuss project milestones achieved to date and what the future holds.
