Operating system of KIOST pilot mining robot in inshore test

Abstract

This paper describes the operating system of KIOST pilot mining robot in an inshore test of 2012. The pilot mining robot mainly consists of two unit modules having an identical functions, mechanical structure and hydraulic system. The operating system consists of subsystems on surface vessel such as A-frame, umbilical cable and traction winch, power generator and remote control system. This paper focuses on the remote control system composed of three VANs and operating S/W of the mining robot for the inshore test. In order to supply high-voltage into each module of the robot, two electric power VANs are constructed. For control and monitoring the robot under water, one control VAN is set up on board. A computer system in the control VAN is composed of two PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) controllers of National Instruments and several industrial PCs. The two PXIs are charged on the control of the robot, i.e. the operator commands and treatment of the transferred data from the mining robot, respectively. The remote control S/W is based on LabVIEW with FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) module and real-time module. Particularly, for the efficient observation of the working of mining robot, the monitoring function on board is drastically departmentalized. Copyright ？ 2013 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).