An implementation of a system that emulates the operation of a pipe positioning arm for Raise Boring application

The lack of an automated system for pipe positioning in Raise Boring mining works (RB) generates a longer working time and higher expenses for mining companies due to a greater number of usage errors produced by the operators. Therefore, reducing the intervention of the user in the RB tunneling and raising processes is expected to increase work efficiency. The objective of the project is to design and test, through the implementation of a scale model, a pipe positioning system that operates autonomously using direct and inverse kinematics to reduce the number of people involved in the working process to carry out the same job. The function of the system is to pick up a horizontal tube and place it at the required point in a vertical position or with up to a 45° inclination with a 4 degrees of freedom (DOFs) robotic arm. The implementation was made with servo motors, and the parts were printed in 3D using PLA. The coordinates of the arm positions were obtained through simulations carried out in Python code, which were compared with the resulting coordinates of the prototype implementation. After that, an accuracy of 96.29% and an average operation time of 16.21 seconds were obtained in the tests carried out with the prototype, demonstrating the effectiveness of the implemented system.