The Symbot is a ruggedized, cube-shaped industrial computer that bolts onto an LHD or utility vehicle, but Symboticware president Kirk Petroski reaches for his smartphone to explain the role it plays in underground mining.

“It’s a standardized platform much like an iPhone that has the ability to integrate multiple applications onto one device,” said Petroski. An iPhone serves as a phone, a calendar, a camera, an alarm clock, an iPod, and a source of news, while the Symbot collects and transmits engine performance and exhaust emission data, bucket weight and production statistics. Adding to the functionality of a Symbot isn’t as easy as going to the App Store, but that day may come, too.

Just as you wouldn’t want to walk around with your pockets stuffed with a phone, an iPod, a camera, a calculator and an alarm clock, you don’t want to cram multiple devices on an LHD.

“You can buy point solutions to collect engine data or you can buy something to do location tracking or emission monitoring, but I believe we are uniquely positioned with our platform to handle the integration, which is the big part of trying to install a system,” said Petroski. “When you want to add another application, it’s just a matter of adding a piece of software.”

There are other systems on the market that serve as an integration hub, but most of them are geared to surface operations “where they have GPS, open transmission and it’s all real-time,” he said. Developing a system for the underground environment where you’re limited to Wi-Fi and you can lose your connection is much more challenging.

“That’s where the Symbot’s onboard intelligence comes into play,” said Petroski. “All of the data is time-stamped and synchs up as soon as there’s a Wi-Fi connection available. That’s where we have an advantage over other systems on the market.”

Sudbury-based Symboticware has worked closely with Vale and Xstrata Nickel on the development of the Symbot, and is poised for takeoff.

“It’s no longer a matter of doing one Symbot for a project,” said Petroski. “It’s how do we replicate that for 100 units or 150 units.”

Both mining companies have bought into the concept of a standardized platform and are deploying the technology at several of their mines in the Sudbury area.

The Symbot, explained Petroski, is OEM-agnostic, meaning it can collect engine performance data from Atlas Copco, Sandvik and MTI equipment, all of which use the standard J1939 communications and diagnostics protocol. Caterpillar was more of a challenge because of its proprietary MineStar system, but Symboticware and Toromont CAT are also working together to help miners such as Vale manage their multiple vendor fleets with a common data collection system.

Symboticware started with engine monitoring, but is also capturing equipment safety and maintenance reliability data from ruggedized touchpads mounted in operator cabs.

Until now, equipment operators filled out forms on a piece of paper, recording production data and safety-related information from circle checks.

“The operator would give the piece of paper to the shift boss, the shift boss would review it and give it to the general foreman, and he would give it to a data entry clerk, who would give it to a geologist,” said Petroski. “There were obvious accuracy and timeliness issues with such a system, so we developed an interface that sits inside the operator cab.”

The data is collected by the Symbot and transmitted to the data management system.

“Now, mine management is able to make decisions in a more timely manner based on more accurate information, positively impacting on productivity, safety and maintenance reliability,” said Petroski.

The Symbot also collects data from a Loadrite onboard weighing system, providing mine management with real-time information on the volume of material moved in a given shift.

The capture of load weight data also has implications for safety and equipment maintenance, said Petroski, because “overloads” can blow cylinders and hydraulics.

Last year, Symboticware worked with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation on a ventilation-on-demand research project to capture emission and air quality data from LHDs at Vale’s Coleman Mine and Xstrata’s Nickel Rim South Mine.

The company currently has 10 full-time staff and contractors, but plans to ramp up to 20 or 25 employees within the next two years. It recently opened an office in Toronto, hired a vice-president of product development, and has an advisory board chaired by technology entrepreneur Robert Lane.

Symboticware is also expanding its client base through partnerships with MTI, CAST Resource Equipment, Continental Mine and Industrial Supply in Saskatoon and U.S.-based TEC Systems Group.

Symboticware’s SymBot platform communicates well with others.

Via OEM Off-Highway
by Chad Elmore

A new device for data management enables the intelligent monitoring of mining equipment and other applications. Packaged in a rugged IP-65 rated enclosure, data collected by Symboticware’s SymBot platform is processed and standardized on-board and relayed out for maintenance scheduling, warning alarms or virtually anything else needed by an operator or foreman.

In situations where real-time data collection is critical, the SymBot platform can be used for monitoring engines (using CAN bus), production, maintenance, emissions and air quality and maintenance. Using the Wi-Fi-based communication systems that are becoming prevalent in underground mines, SymBot has bi-directionality and remote configuration capabilities, opening up the possibility for future dispatch systems in an underground environment.

An idea in search of a market

Symboticware Inc. is a 2008 startup located in Sudbury, the heart of Ontario, Canada’s hardrock mining production. From the beginning, the firm focused on creating a ruggedized platform that would standardize and manage remote data collected from a number of different systems.

“We took that initial concept and went into the industry to find applications that could build on the platform,” says Kirk Petroski, president and CEO, Symboticware. In the middle of a deep recession, one of Sudbury’s largest mining companies was mired in a long strike. “The company’s process automation group was looking for technology to standardize data and increase their efficiency.” The firm has since become a partner in the development of the technology, helping to define the requirements.

Symboticware has also developed relationships with Sudbury-based OEMs, equipment dealers, and distributors that individually provide equipment information as well as a way to market SymBot.

Symboticware’s goal is to get the platform accepted mine wide. From there, end-users, maintenance, production, and health and safety departments can start building on the platform. For mobile equipment, Petroski feels underground loaders (load-haul-dump, or LHD) make the most sense, followed by drills and utility vehicles. An OEM can sell it as an option and program it for a specific machine.

Like the iPhone, SymBot is a platform onto which specific functions—apps—can be easily installed. Customers will not have to discard any business programs that had been used above ground; any software that is unique to the Symbot is contained within the mine-hardened enclosure.

Symboticware has several test units underground now and anticipates being ready for full commercialization by Q1 of 2011. Where possible, SymBot is built with MilSpec and extended commercial off-the-shelf components with design, assembly and QA in Sudbury. “The most important part is our supplier relationships—we know where to source the components when large orders come in,” says Petroski.

In addition to the operating system and software, Symboticware has also developed the human-machine interface (HMI), an in-cab touch screen for inputting data. Many mines still use a paper system for the required pre-operation checklist. Using the SymBot, data is standardized and can be sent to the foreman in real time.

SymBot supports an industry-wide initiative called IREDES, (International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard), which is working to standardize data between mining equipment and office computer systems. SymBot can send information in an IREDES-based format. Through its projects, Symboticware continues to actively advance this industry-lead data standard.

Big R&D help

Symboticware has benefitted from its relationship with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI). Located on Sudbury’s Laurentian University campus, CEMI’s R&D efforts focus on research initiatives important to the mining industry.

“We are computer science engineers. The difficulty as a technology company is not having a deep knowledge base in a particular market vertical,” says Petroski. “CEMI helps us bridge between the gap in what we are doing and what the industry needs. Having access to the network of mining experts in Sudbury has been invaluable. We see ourselves as the technology enabler, and CEMI helps us bridge from idea to commercialization.” It also helps with funding, which is important to any chasm-crossing start-up.

Petroski believes large-scale implementation of the SymBot platform will happen in tandem with an organizational change. As local mining firms become part of global giants, such platforms will be key to creating standardized data applications for specific operational needs. The SymBot platform enables mass customization, and customer/OEM co-creation, allowing for customized data applications, while still taking advantage of economies of scale within a single on-board device.

Applied Research Lies at the Heart of a New Partnership Between Symboticware and Collège Boréal

Via Boréal News Release
by B. Clément

At a press conference this morning on Collège Boréal’s main campus in Sudbury, Symboticware unveiled a new applied research partnership that is destined to improve practices in the area of productivity, maintenance and mineworker safety through the use of the latest innovations in wireless technology. This research project, initiated by Symboticware, will partner with renowned specialists in the mining industry such as the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), Laurentian University, Gareth Kennedy at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and, representing the college sector, Collège Boréal.

Over the last two years, Symboticware has developed the SymBot intelligent real time monitoring system that provides a bi-directional platform for the collection, storage and re-transmission of standardized data. The platform enables optimal remote monitoring of various applications for which continuously updated information is crucial to informed decision-making (equipment, production, maintenance, environment, etc.) The applied research performed at Collège Boréal will include testing, quality assurance process documentation and refinement that will, at a later date, enable manufacturing to be automated.

Collège Boréal President Denis Hubert underlined the growing role of Ontario colleges in the field of applied research: “With their hands-on approach, postsecondary college-level studies are a natural fit for applied research initiatives that are aimed at resolving well-defined technical challenges encountered by small and medium-sized companies. This new partnership with Symboticware reinforces the positioning of Collège Boréal as a leading and innovative institution that is capable of responding to the present and future needs of industry.”

It should also be noted that Collège Boréal is a member of the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII). The resources of this 20-college Ontario network include many experts in a variety of fields, working towards a central goal of helping small and medium-size companies develop their products and become more competitive in the dynamic and constantly evolving global economy.

Symboticware President and CEO Kirk Petroski stated the reasons that led to the company partnering with Collège Boréal: “Symboticware is a company built on excellence and innovation, and we wanted to grow a relationship with a college institution that is both recognized by our high-tech mining partners and peers and shares these values. We visited the Collège Boréal campus, saw its ultramodern equipment and were extremely impressed by the expertise of the professors with whom we met. After visiting with the Boréal team, it reinforced the need to have them as an important partner.”

Collège Boréal Academic Vice-President, Daniel Giroux, confirmed that the teaching component is an important part of the new applied research initiative: “The partnership with Symboticware provides an excellent opportunity to involve our students in learning activities that have tangible academic and community benefits. Moreover, Collège Boréal sees as prerequisite the involvement of qualified teaching staff in this type of project, while offering its students the option of actively participating in each step of the research process. This procedure is also aimed at significantly enriching our student’s education by offering them an authentic and valuable learning experience.”

About Symboticware:
Symboticware Incorporated, located in Sudbury, Ontario, is a communication and information technology company that offers a real-time intelligent monitoring system. Its downtown office has a full time staff of eight, with a technology team including engineers handling hardware development supported by software developers.  With a PhD leading the research, Symboticware also engage researchers and domain experts for specific industry applications. The executive team focuses on applying its core competencies to meet current industry needs. Over the last two years, this company has been collaborating with industry and research institutions to address industry-specific needs, through the development of enabling technologies. Symboticware intends to build on the success of this approach for years to come.

“Promoting knowledge and a vibrant culture”
This is Collège Boréal’s vision, a French-language institution of postsecondary and skills training, established in 1995, which contributes to the growth and development of communities in Northern and Central-Southwestern Ontario. Having attained the highest graduation rate for the last 8 years and, for the 7th time in 11 years, the highest graduate satisfaction rate among the 24 community colleges in Ontario, Collège Boréal encourages the values of humanism, excellence and inclusion as well as an active awareness of environmental issues that affect our society. Collège Boréal is the first education sector representative officially designated by the government of Ontario under the French Language Services Act.

The SymBot platform, designed to comply with open standards for industrial automation and systems interoperability, is a durable, energy-efficient hardware/software device that can be applied to monitor equipment information such as location, pay load data and emissions or operating environments.

The device hails back to 2008 when its parent company, Symboticware, received grants from the Ontario and federal governments to develop what was an R&D project into a full-fledged commercial product.

Above ground, a partnership was formed between Symboticware, junior mining firm Baffinland Iron Mines, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) and Laurentian University. The project centred on a weather monitoring system on north Baffin Island. The challenge was not just extreme weather; the company’s co-founder and president, Kirk Petroski, explains that the monitoring stations are accessible by helicopter only, which makes in-person site visits difficult, costly, and subject to the vagaries of the local weather.

Hands on/hands free

To make site visits as infrequent as possible, Symboticware managed to cut power consumption on the SymBots down to as little as 10W, and used solar panels to keep the batteries topped up, making the unit almost completely self-sufficient. Also, SymBots’ satellite uplink means that the customers no longer have to visit the station to retrieve the collected data. But most important is that the satellite connection provides two-way communications and the SymBots’ operational parameters can be remotely controlled.

“SymBots allow the researchers or industry personnel to check the status and conditions around the station in real time and to change the parameters as needed,” explains Symboticware’s marketing and sales manager Bora Ugurgel. “So, if you’re sampling every five seconds, you can change that to every two hours in the winter months.”

The utility of up-to-the-minute information provided by these weather stations is clear, says Baffinland Iron Mines’ manager of sustainable development Matthew Pickard. “The data is important to us because it can tell us if we are expecting weather up there, but it can also be useful from the operational side. We have proposed mine infrastructure across a 250 kilometre strike width, so you don’t want a helicopter taking off and then turning around and coming back because it ran into bad weather. That can amount to thousands of dollars in costs to no useful end. Once we confirm the SymBots can work independently in the long, dark, cold winters of North Baffin Island, we hope to expand their use into other remote monitoring functions such as water quality monitoring.”

The Baffin Island project — which has since expanded to include Peregrine Diamonds, another advanced-stage exploration company — is going to be revisited this summer with a second phase. This time, Symboticware will be introducing a hybrid solar-wind power generation system to keep the SymBots charged up, but the software side will also see enhancements.

“We’re trying to reduce costs for our customers,” says Ugurgel. “Satellite data transmission costs are about $2 per kilobyte. With our in-house data compression system, we’d be able to compress the data by 70 to 80 per cent, significantly reducing airtime costs.”
In its underground projects, Symboticware sought out what Petroski describes as early adopters — mines in which a wireless communications infrastructure has been set up.

“The timing was paramount to the success of where we are today,” he adds. “Given that there was a decline in the economy and mining really took a hit, there was a period when a lot of the automation guys, for example the automation superintendent at Vale Inco, were looking for ways to do business better and to bring in a lot of new technologies.”

The SymBots are currently being used by both Vale Inco and Xstrata Nickel to monitor mobile equipment — most notably the two companies’ load-haul-dump (LHD) vehicles. Since the SymBots can draw power directly from the LHD machines they are monitoring, power management is not as much of an issue in this context, says Petroski. On the other hand, connectivity and constant vibration were a concern. There were also more direct threats to effective operation — being hit by large rocks, for instance.

“When you’re placing the SymBot on an LHD, you have to look in hard spots to keep your sensors safe and lasting as long as you can,” explains Ugurgel.

Enhanced information exchange

The need for mobile equipment monitoring is not new, and Symboticware had to contend with a wide range of existing solutions and devices already in place, which, in fact, was an advantage for the SymBot. As operator needs for data collection grew over the years, so did the number of specialized solutions in the driver’s cab — each with its own display, control system, and proprietary data standard. The growing trend for crowded cabs led to a push for open standards — common data formats that would allow for greater interoperability between all the disparate systems. When Symboticware approached them, both Vale Inco and Xstrata were already moving towards greater use of IREDES — the International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard designed to smooth the transfer of information between mining machines and office computers. It is no coincidence that the SymBots supported IREDES, along with OPC UA — a complementary, communication interface.

The idea is not to replace existing, proprietary systems, says Petroski, but to step in where these systems have gaps. Two projects currently being worked on at Symboticware are being demonstrated on Caterpillar 1700G LHD machines, “based on Caterpillar’s proprietary data system,” says Petroski. “In the context of these projects, we’re developing a protocol translator — taking Caterpillar data, running it through a translator and pushing it up to the surface in the format that the clients wanted; in this case an IREDES-based format.”

An open-platform solution

Look inside the SymBot enclosure and you are not going to see much in the way of custom parts. Symboticware tries to use as many commercial off-the-shelf parts as it can, says Petroski. In a marked contrast to the proprietary trend, Symboticware’s software OPIS(TM) (Open Platform for Intelligent Systems) facilitates an open platform environment, meaning anyone with the skill and desire can alter the programming, or write their own application for the platform.

This was the factor that compelled CEMI to partner with Symboticware, explains Allan Akerman CEMI’s R&D program director: “With closed systems you are tied in with one supplier; with open systems you can use the best of any supplier.” Added to that, he says there is also a cost advantage to meeting the single IREDES requirements rather than multiple standards. “The majority of mining equipment manufacturers are now on board with IREDES,” he says, and more and more mining companies are committing to the single standard as well.

“If I could use the analogy, we’ve developed the iPhone for the mining industry, and you’re loading applications onto this device,” says Petroski. “The money is in the applications. So we’re developing our own applications, but we’re also integrating third-party applications into our system and providing that to our users as per their needs.”

With five SymBots operating “in the wild” and 16 already on order for this summer’s projects, Symboticware is still a young, but clearly growing, company. Petroski says he expects the company’s eight-person roster to grow to 12 within a year, mostly adding technical sales and support staff. Capitalizing on the platform’s flexibility, the company has a number of new applications planned for the SymBot, ranging from an open WiFi-RFID (radio-frequency identification) reader and tracking system to a portable environmental monitoring station, which can be moved from spot to spot as needed, without requiring costly installation of fixed equipment.

For the time being, Symboticware is not looking to expand into other industries, although Petroski readily acknowledges that there are many other promising areas for the SymBot. “We want to succeed and excel in these two markets before we tackle others,” he says

Mining and other operations in Canada’s far north must deal with not just extreme weather but a climate in flux because of global processes. Weather monitoring is especially important for day-to-day operations, for seasonal planning, and for evaluating weather-related risks. However, in such an extreme and remote habitat, collecting environmental data is a daunting task.

Automated sensors are an ideal solution as they can survive and operate under extreme conditions. However, existing monitoring equipment has not kept up with modern needs for on-site, intelligent decision making, interoperability of components from different sources, the ability to create multi-habitat monitoring hubs, and the need for bi-directional satellite communication. In the summer of 2009 Symboticware addressed a number of these needs by installing new technology which greatly enhanced the functionality of existing “traditional” monitoring equipment. Specifically, Symboticware installed “SymSats” at three existing weather stations located in a north-south transect across north Baffin Island, at the sites of operation of Baffinland Iron Mines, Inc. The SymSats enabled data retrieval via satellite and set up the cyber-infrastructure that will allow researchers and industry to now build a broad-ranging environmental monitoring network.

The so-called Pando Project will allow for the near real-time collection of mobile equipment data via a mine’s Wi-Fi network. A hardware device called a SymBot, a low power, high performance micro industrial computer built to withstand the harsh operating conditions of an underground mine, captures data from proprietary mobile equipment systems, processes it for decision support and transmits it through the network when the equipment is within range of a Wi-Fi access point.

The technology captures data on engine performance, fluid temperature, LHD payloads and equipment location to improve productivity, optimize equipment utilization and enhance worker safety.

The Pando platform is designed in compliance with the OPC Unified Architecture specification and makes use of the IREDES standard for mine equipment communication.

Most equipment manufacturers currently provide access to engine performance data, but it has to be manually downloaded, said Symboticware product manager Bikash Agarwal. “In most cases, the data is not being used in the way that we want to use it – to predict failure and for decision support.”

The SymBots feature a software platform called OPIS, short for Open Platform for Intelligent Systems. Described as a modular software framework for implementing intelligent monitoring and control of industrial automation applications, OPIS applies rules to the raw data, refines it for decision support purposes and transmits alarms to operators and other selected personnel in the event of an equipment performance issue.

Symboticware president Kirk Petroski likens it to General Motors’ OnStar technology. Prompt notification of dangerously high fluid temperatures, for example, can avoid a major equipment breakdown, along with the resulting downtime and loss of productivity.

“If it’s only the raw data that you’re looking at,” said Symboticware research and development manager Lorrie Fava, “you could miss it.” If you have a decision support system in place with rules hard coded into the system, you’re much more likely to take action.”

Alerting maintenance staff and supervisory personnel to a potential problem is important because equipment operators focused on production in a dark and noisy environment may not notice a flashing light on their dashboard.

The SymBots will also be used to capture and transmit LHD load weight data via a mine’s Wi-Fi system. Currently, said Bishant, operators determine the load weight by raising the bucket to a certain height and measuring the hydraulic pressure. The process takes 10 to 15 seconds per load and detracts from the operator’s productivity.

Symboticware is looking at inertial measurement unit technology used in iPhones and Nintendo Wii controllers to eliminate distortions of the weight data caused by bucket vibration.

“The main reason the LHDs need to stop now to do the bucket weighing is because the roadbeds are pretty rough,” said Agarwal.

“There’s a lot of vibration, a lot of bouncing and that interferes with the measurement. Our thinking is to have sensors on the equipment to measure the vibration and the bumps in the road. Then we can eliminate that from the final measurement. By doing it on the go, you save about 10 to 15 seconds per truck, which adds up over a period of time.”

Symboticware also plans to use its technology to automate equipment activity data collection and monitoring, freeing operators from manually documenting circle checks and diagnostic information.

Instead, the operator would use a touch screen and that data, too, would be transmitted through the Wi-Fi network.

RFID controller

The SymBot can also be used as an RFID controller.

“If a mine has a lot of Cisco access points already installed, it can use the SymBot both to read RFID tags and, at the same time, control and manage the routing in the network,” explained Agarwal. “One option is to go to Cisco and buy a location controller, but that would require them to upgrade every access point.”

The SymBot would serve as a network controller and an RFID tag reader at the same time, relieving the mine of the need to upgrade its Wi-Fi network.

The Pando project will be deployed at Coleman Mine’s 153 Orebody as soon as the current strike is settled.

Underground mines aren’t the only harsh environments in which there is a need for near real-time data.

The northern tip of Baffin Island, where Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation is proposing to develop an 18 million tonne per year open pit mine, is 1,000 kilometres northwest of Iqualuit in Canada’s Arctic.

The Toronto-based junior mining company operates three weather stations logging data required for environmental baseline studies.

Using Symboticware technology, the company is able to access the data in Toronto via satellite. A two-way satellite transceiver runs on very low power drawn from a solar collector, allowing Baffinland staff to collect data and reconfigure the instruments without an expensive site visit. Dr. Charles Ramcharan of Laurentian University’s Living with Lakes Centre is also able to access data from the weather stations for climate change research.

“The project started with a product we call a SymSat, a telemetry system adding satellite connectivity to what used to be just a data logger,” said Symboticware president Kirk Petroski. “There were weather stations in place and we just made it more real-time.”

In the next phase of the project, the Sudbury company will deploy SymBots with 16 MB of storage and processing capacity.

“Satellite transmission is expensive so the reason we have the processing power is to do some data reduction and data management on site,” said Symboticware product manager Bishant Agarwal. “If the customer decides the cost of transmission is too high, he can shut the device off for three months while it’s still recording data. After three months, he can turn it on and ask for reports for the past three months. He can ask for all the data, as well as averages, or highs and lows.”

The Symbots will also be capable of compressing photographs taken by motion-sensing cameras so they can be transmitted more efficiently.

Solar power is effective from May to August when the region experiences 24 hours of sunlight, but from November to January, the stations rely on battery power.

Wireless sensors are being considered for the next phase, said Petroski, because polar bears like to chew on the wires.

Symboticware also hopes to work with other companies in Canada’s Far North, including Peregrine Diamonds, a Vancouver-based junior mining company with six exploration targets on Baffin Island, as well as other properties in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

From the biting, frozen winds of Baffin Island to the grit of Sudbury’s underground, Symboticware Inc. is no stranger to some of the harshest climates inflicted on Canadian mining operations.

It’s this kind of environment that led the five-year-old Sudbury company to develop the Symbot, an “intelligent monitoring” modular hardware device consisting of a small industrial computer in a rugged casing.

Interest in the product has been such that it’s currently being adapted for use in large-scale Canadian mining projects such as the two year Pando Project in Sudbury and the Baffin Island mineral initiative.

With some late summer funding from FedNor and the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, the company has moved into a new office on Durham Street while adding even more staff to the current crew of seven.

The Symboticware team implements their SymSat telemetry and storage system at a Baffinland Iron Mines site at Steensby Inlet, on north Baffin Island.

“All the factors, from the macro to the micro level, have been lining up for us,””” says Kirk Petroski, president of Symboticware.

“We seem to be on the right path and everything’s going fairly well.

Much of the team’s current efforts are focused in Sudbury in collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, Cast Resource Equipment, and Vale Inco.

Together they are working on the Pando Project. It is in the development phase with plans to eventually test the company’s new, more flexible Symbot system at Coleman Mine’s 153 level, mounted on a load-haul-dump (LHD) machine.

The research will result in five separate applications, including condition monitoring of such factors as hydraulic pressures and fluid temperatures.

While many loaders have these scanners in place already, the Symbot allows for wireless transmission of information in real-time. This allows for trends to be analyzed, meaning staff will be able to predict failures before they happen, says Bikash Agarwal, product manager.

By installing an inertial measurement unit onto a LHD, the Symbot will also act as a mobile weighing system. Typically, measuring the content of LHDs requires the operator to stop and lift the bucket, and the hydraulic pressure will indicate the weight of the ore.

By filtering out the “noise” of the LHD travelling over uneven and rough terrain, the inertial measurement unit will allow the system to weigh the ore on the fly. This will shave off the 30-second weigh-period required per load of ore under the current system, benefiting the production cycle as a whole, says Petroski.

The project will also include the unit as part of the ongoing Ventilation On Demand project already underway by Vale Inco at the Coleman Mine as well as Xstrata’s Nickel Rim. It will help monitor engine condition and data so the management system will know where to activate or deactivate ventilation processes.

Although the goal is to provide much of this information in real time, there are complications as underground mining often involves so-called “dead zone” areas where no wireless transmission is possible. To ensure the communication remains relatively consistent, the desired data is stored within the Symbot, and then forwarded once the unit returns to an area with wireless capability.

The flexible, modular nature of the unit means that specific uses can be swapped in, depending on demand. This was also demonstrated at the $4.6-billion Baffin Island mineral project, where advanced stage exploration is ongoing by the Toronto-based Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation.

Previously, Baffinland staff would travel to the site once a year to collect the environmental data being logged by the on-location units. With the use of Symboticware’s satellite-enabled technology, however, the information is relayed on a real-time basis.

Other advantages of this new technology use over the older style of systems used throughout the industry is the ability for Symboticware to develop artificial intelligence to handle the raw data. Rather than require client staff to have in-depth training to interpret reams of information, the artificial intelligence can drive down specifically what decision-makers need, says Lorrie Fava, manager of research and development.

These same high-level managerial types have started to pay more attention to technological developments like those at Symboticware now that the recession has led to a focus on improvement, says Petroski.

“There’s a real interest from industry right now to stop and pay attention to the innovations that are advancing right now. A year ago, this would not have happened, as you would not have got their attention because everybody was too busy with production when nickel was sitting at $20 a pound.”

Greater Sudbury – The McGuinty government is helping Symboticware Incorporated develop its unique monitoring technology by investing $50,000 through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation’s (NOHFC) Emerging Technology program, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci announced today.

“I am very pleased that the McGuinty government’s support is helping Symboticware undertake this innovative research and development in our community,” said Bartolucci. “This important step will help this company position itself as a future leader in specialized technology.”

Symboticware Incorporated is developing hardware and software specifically designed for monitoring climate, air and water qualities in arctic and remote Northern Ontario. The monitoring devices collect real time data and provide a cost-effective way for users to obtain information and help make better-informed decisions.

“Sudbury is an excellent gateway for Far North monitoring projects which makes it an ideal location to grow Symboticware.  We are very pleased to receive assistance from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to support the development of our innovative monitoring products,” said Kirk Petroski, President of Symboticware Incorporated.

“Our government is committed to investing in emerging technologies that will help diversify the northern economy and create jobs,” concluded Bartolucci. “We have an array of talented and innovative people here in Sudbury and I am happy to see them benefitting from these types of commitments.”

QUICK FACTS

• This investment is part of Ontario’s five point economic plan which includes a $1-billion commitment to support innovation across the province.

LEARN MORE

Learn more about the NOHFC’s programs

Bikash Agarwal, Product Manager (left) and Kirk Petroski, Directory of Business Development (right) hold up the new SymBot device.

A little more than a year ago, Symboticware Inc. was a fledgling Greater Sudbury company operating out of a basement.

Today, it’s got an office in downtown Greater Sudbury staffed by seven very busy people.

Symboticware Inc.’s goal is to develop unique monitoring technology that can operate in harsh environments such as underground mines and the Canadian Arctic, but also stand out from existing monitoring/communication systems.

“In Sudbury, there’s a great need for technology, whether it’s environmental applications or harsh mining conditions,” explained Kirk Petroski, Symboticware Inc.’s director of business development.

“We wanted to develop something that’s more robust and versatile.”

What came about was the SymSat data collection and transmission system. And the product is now getting its feet wet.

Symboticware Inc. currently has two projects underway. Its Baffin Island Monitoring Project, which involves partners Laurentian University’s Living with Lakes Centre, Laurentian’s Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), and Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., involves the collection of 21 types of meteorological data such as humidity, barometric pressure and rainfall.

Symboticware's Baffin Island Monitoring Project

The data is required for environmental impact purposes because the area where the monitoring project is located is being touted as the world’s richest iron ore deposit.

“They are at a stage where they are doing licensing and compliance,” said Petroski. “What they need to do is establish a baseline. (So) They have to do monitoring.”

A SymSat data recording and transmission site, which is solar powered and feeds its data to a satellite, was just set up in May. Three impact sites, including Steensby Inlet, will be monitored for one year.

The second — the Pando project — concerns an open information management platform for mobile underground mining systems and involves partners Vale Inco, CEMI and Cast Resource Equipment.

A two-year endeavour, Pando is just getting underway, with eight months of planning and preparation work scheduled before things start happening underground.

That project will use the “SymBot” system, a more-advanced data collection system now in the final stages of development.

“It’s remote and harsh, but it’s underground,” said Petroski.

What will happen with the Pando project, explained Petroski, is the collection of information from remote-controlled machines through wireless fidelity or WiFi. That information can then be analyzed by mine operators on the surface.

“As a piece of equipment passes an access point, we can read it,” said Petroski. “It can detect things. It’s an opportunity to rectify a situation. (And) You can study engine control unit data. (And) Now, we are getting into areas that were hard to get to.”

Petroski said the goal of the Pando project is to give a mine operating team a better picture of what’s going on underground.

“What makes us unique is we designed an open system as opposed to a closed system,” he said.

“The system can read other things. I think the idea is to have access to real-time data. That data gets right to supervisors and operation guys in real-time fashion.

“I think, in the future, where we are going with this is new mine optimization and scheduling.”

Symboticware Inc.’s slogan is Innovate, Integrate, Inspire.

In late August, Symboticware Inc. received a $114,300 loan from FedNor through FedNor’s Northern Development Program — Information and Communications Technology. The money will go toward the development and marketing of products for use in remote monitoring applications in Northern Ontario.

“It’s going to the development of OPIS — Open Platform for Intelligence Systems,” said Petroski. “It’s the software side of the system. SymBot is the hardware. OPIS is the software.”

Petroski is a big believer in research and development. Standing still in an ever-changing world, he says, is not healthy for any business.

“Companies need to invest in research and development for times like this,” he said.

“It’s planning ahead … We are not only competing locally, but nationally, as well. If we are going to start competing internationally, we have to be ready.”

One of the big advantages of Symboticware Inc.’s soon-to-be- introduced SymBot system is that it will have a 16-gigabyte data storage capacity. That’s 100 times the storage capacity of other systems, said Petroski.

“This is not just collecting data, but it has the ability to make decisions at the scene,” he said.

“It’s not just raw data.” Another advantage with the

SymSat and SymBot systems is that they can both be very easily updated.

“They are very modular,” said Petroski. “That’s one big advantage to it. We can swap computers (in them).”

Next summer, the plan is to return to the Baffin Island SymSat site and replace it with a SymBot system, added Petroski.