The autonomous underground exploration robot conducts a ramp driving test. /Courtesy of Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources

As the importance of resource exploration and underground safety management rises globally, domestic researchers have developed a robot capable of exploring underground resources tailored to specific needs without being limited by exploration personnel and the environment.

Kang Woong, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), noted on the 15th that the research team has developed a new unmanned automated exploration robot, the ‘autonomous underground exploration robot,’ to address the personnel shortage in the field of resource exploration and enhance exploration efficiency.

The research team has applied Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology to the autonomous underground exploration robot. GPR is a survey technology used in various fields including the detection of underground facilities, investigation of transportation infrastructure, and exploration of archaeological sites. It has the advantage of visualizing or mapping underground structures, anomalies, and physical properties in high resolution without the need for excavation.

The autonomous underground exploration robot developed by the research team uses Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS to accurately measure its position, establishes a reference point, and generates two-dimensional (2D) coordinates based on this for route planning. The robot travels along the planned route and obtains exploration data synchronized with high-precision RTK GPS. After setting the robot's travel path in an outdoor environment, tests showed an average positional error of within 2.5 cm.

The research team is preparing to develop prototypes and establish research corporations for the commercialization of the autonomous GPR exploration robot, drawing on their experiences with existing outdoor prototypes and demo exploration robots.

Kang Woong said, “The autonomous underground exploration robot will address the personnel shortage issue and carry out tasks efficiently even in challenging environments, presenting a new paradigm in the fields of resource exploration and underground safety management. Moving forward, we will continuously develop exploration robot technology to provide practical assistance in various fields through the creation of more precise and reliable technologies.”