Copyright © I FAC Autolllation in ~ I ining ,

Mineral and \Iel a l Proces,ill g. Tokyo.

Japan 1986

DESIGN OF AUTOMATED JUMBO DRILLING

ROBOT MANIPULATOR
c. Y. Ho* and Yao Jianchi**
*Compllter Science Departml'llt and Rock Alechanics and Explosives RefJearch Cmtel',
Unil'ersity of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO 65401, USA
** Minillg Department, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO 65401 USA
Th e Depllty Chief Engineer at Yallgzlmang Coal Mine,
Hlleibei Coal Mining Bureau, PRC

Abstract: This pr ogram invo lves the stud y of
the technique of using a micro-computer to
control a rock drillin g ma chine. This research
has successfully anal yzed the motion of an
existing jumbo machine. The kinematic control
equations are established for an y given
geometrical con f iguration. The computer
software has been written to demonstrate its
feasibility. The needs of hardware
implementa~ion are also discussed.
Key words: Mining ma chiner y , mining automation,
robot application.
Introduction
During the last twent y five years,
percussion rock drilling has been highly
developed into mechanization_ The common
practices are placing a mobile jumbo drilling
machine on the site to drill blasting holes on
the rock surface, embedding the holes with
explosives, and then driving away the jumbo
machine off the site. After the blast dies
down, the ore removing or rock mucking follows,
thereby it advances the excavation by repeating
the same procedures. The procedures are rather
antiquated, and outmoded to the current
technology, moreover, during the drilling
stage, it may encounter the possible
underground catastrophes such as roof falling,
gas burst or water gusher. Ironically, the
further step of development in automated drill
rig remains unnoticeable among the world
leading mining machinery producers . Ten years
ago engineers of Atlas-Copco (Berghahl, 1976)
reported that due to economical justification,
technological complexity, maintenance
difficulty, lack of qualified operator, and
complication from the labor resi s tance, the
Swedish mining research was prevented from
investing in automated rock drilling. The
technological advancements have been
unprecedently surpassin g during the last
decade. Micro-electronics, computers, sensories
and robotics have become readily available at
very modest cost . The control equipment built
by these modern technologies is nearly
trouble-free. The fears of complexity and
maintenance difficult y are no longer critical .
Moreover, the current glut of mineral products
and steep competition from developing
countries have already put the mining industry
into the severe depression. The future
survival of the mining industry has to join
other manufacturing industries under the
condition "automate or perish".
into the robotic development . Applicabilities
of robots into the mining industry are
enormous, namel y , the jumbo drilling robot may
be converted into roof-bolting machine and
other mining equipment by simply changing its
end-effector. As classified by Copco engineers
(Berghahl, 1976), the tasks of automated
percussion drilling are: feed control, stop
and return, positioning, collaring and tool bit
changing, etc . All these tasks re - grouped
into robotic jargon are: manipulation,
sensing, and control.
In this study, we have analyzed the
motion of an existing jumbo drilling machine.
The kinematic control equations are developed.
The control variables are solved for any given
geometrical configuration. The computer
software implementation has been written to
demonstrate its feasibility. The needs of
hardware implementation are also discussed. It
is also the author ' s hope that this research
may lead mining machinery industries to
contempla t e the construction of the pro t otype.
Position and Orientation of Drill Head
The position and orientation of a drill
head exactly follows the intended blasting hole
on the rock surface. Initially, it is
necessary to define the hole position and
orientation . Fig . 1 shows the three
dimensional picture of a tunnel with holes. For
the convenience of entering the numerical
values which represent the hole's location, the
X- Y- Z coordinate is established as illustrated
in the figure . On the rock surface, Z=O, the
position of hole i is: (Xi' Yi' 0), i =
1,2, . . • n . Each hole's orientation is decided
by the blasting pattern designed for the
tunneling face . The inclination of the hole
can be represented by two angles, i . e. the yaw
/
/"
II , Y )

The Rock Mechanics and Explosives

Research Laborator y of the University of
Missouri-Rolla has actively engaged in the
research in mining automation. Among all the
projects we are participating, we find that
jumbo drilling manipulator leads itself well Fig 1. BLASTING H<U'S POSITION AND OR I£NTATlON

59
60 C. Y. Ho a nd Yao Jianch i

angle a and the pitch angle S which rotate to Gardener-Denver Corp . of West Virginia
about Y-axis and X-axis respectively. For easy for providing the blue print of its MOIOS Jumbo
comprehension to the drilling operators, facing Machine as shown in Fig. 3, which enables us to
the rock surface, the horizontal inclination conduct this research in a realistic manner.
angle U is positive when it turns rightward and
negative when leftward, and the vertical Six coordinate systems are assigned to
inclination angle S is positive when it turns links to this six degrees-of-freedom machine
upward and negative when downward . It is noted according to robotics theory. Fig . 4 shows the
that five dimensional quantities are needed to assignment of coordinate frames of joints at
represent hole's position and orientation . their home positions where all the control
variables have zero values.
During the drilling operation, in order
to suppress the vibrations coming from the Fvr the visual clarity, the dimensions
drill bit, and to make the boom stable and keep are out of the proportionality. The robotic
the drill bit advancing along correct parameters can be tabulated as Table 1: (Ranky
direction, it is necessary to push a stinger and Ho, 1985).
firmly against the rock surface by a hydraulic
cylinder, and to let the drill bit advance 2. Kinematic control equation
along its track. Fig. 2 shows a jumbo drill
machine with a stinger and a drill bit. The Each link is defined by its own
drill bit may rotate about the stinger rod with body-attached coordinate system . The link
angle y . This swivel angle Y , as shown in frame i is related to the link frame i-I by the
Fig . 2, is given to determine the position transformation matrix Ai which can be written
relationship between the drill bit and the as an 4x4 homogeneous matrix and is:
stinger and is measured counter- clockwise as
positive and clockwise as negative when
~OS8i -sin8.cosQ. sine i Sinai

[':"
rotating about the approach vector of the 1 1
COS8 Sina a Sin8
~ "OOO' J
drill. cos8icosa i i i i (1)
Ai i
sina. cosa. d
Further noted that it must need five 1 1 i
dimensional quantities to define the hole's 0 0 1
location and orientation, and another Y angle
to determine the angular relationship between
stinger rod and drill bit. It is therefore
that a six degrees-of-freedom jumbo drilling
manipulator is needed to accomplish the task
of hole drilling .

Analysis of Robot Drilling ManipulaLor and

Solution of the Control Variables w

1. Link relation

In analyzing the manipulation of a drill

machine, it is advisable to demonstrate on a
proven working machine, therefore we have
&;;·~.~r
,- , 12 - .- -,-'
J"

chosen a commercial equipment which is widely l'-a-

employed throughout mining industries in hole
drilling operation . Our deep appreciation is Fig 1. MODEl OF GARD[NER'O[NVE' MD UlS800M

..

,
/
/
/I',/Zb

_____ .lIL _______ y /

Fig 1. COORDINATE SYSTIMS AND ANGLE BETWEEN STlNC[A AND DRill F.,.. JOINT COORDINATE ASSIGNMENTS AND HOME POSITION Of LINKS

Table 1 Parameters of Drilling Manipulator

Link Variable ui ai (ft. ) di (ft . ) cos ui sinGf.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 81 +90 a = 9.125 0 0 1
2 82 -90 0 0 0 -1
3 d3 +90 0 d3 0 1
4 84 -90 a4-0.6458 0 0 -1
5 85 +90 0 0 0 1
6 86 0 a6-1. 8463 d6-8.0 1 0
 Automated Jumbo Drilling Robot Manipulator
61
Substituting parameter values from Table 1 into
Eq. (1), it results The transformation for the wrist is:

aT
w = AS ' AS

(Z)

'6'5'6 " 6'~

-C 5 5
S 6 S
[ S5'66
5 C -S 5
S 6 -cS a65Sc6-d6cS
(" )
56 c 0 a 5
0
6
0 0
6 6
,
It is unnecessary to obtain the
individual elements of OT6 in terms of the
product of all the trigonometrical c~mpone~ts.
The variable of each link from the k1nemat1c
equation can be readily obtained through
segmented equation of the arm and wrist. The
(4 ) method was presented by (Ho and Copeland,
1982) •

3. Solution of kinematic equation

The total tran sforma tion oT6 matrix, the

arm mo tion °Ta matrix and the wrist motion aTw
matrix can all be partitioned into the
(S) orientation submatrix and the translation
vector as:

pxl
,I, p
( '2)
I Y =
Ip
(6)
.+-3
, 1

A
ax aX ax

(7)
°T
a
N
N
[ ' ay
az
- 0 - -0-
0
Cay
0
az
A
A
ay
az
-0-
;'JP
ay
az
1
and

~
0 A

["'
wx wx . wx
where Si and Ci represent sin 0 i and cos 0 i aT 0 A I P
respectively. wy wy wy . wy
W 1" P
N 0 A
wz wz wz 1 WZ
In this jumbo machine, the total motion - O- 0- - 0- ~ -1"
comprises the arm motion and the wrist motion.
The general equation can be written in the
form: Eq. (8) can be written into partition
matrices
[Total MotionJ [ Arm Motion][Wri5t Moti o n]
[OT ] (8)
6

(9)

where oT6 describes the drill head position and

orientation with respect to the fixed ba8e
coordinate frame Xo - Yo-Z o ' and the superscripts
denote the referenced coordinate frame.
t OR a aR w I: 0pa +oR a apjw
- - 0- - - I -

I
- - T -
( 'S)

Let's first investigate the tran sla tion

vector of Eq.(1 5) .
The transformation for the arm is:

°T a A,A ZA A4 a-p
3
w
op + op
-s, -C,5 Z4
3 a w ( 16)
r , CZ4
,."".-6 """"'1
l5~4
5,C Z4 c, -S,5 Z4 a4c,cZ4 - d3s,5z+a,s, Eq. (16) indicates that the t o tal vect or
( '0 ) from the origin of the base frame to the bit
0 a 45 Z4 +d 3C Z
,
C
Z4 tip is the sum of the arm vector and the wrist
0 0 , vector all with respect to the base frame. It
-l
is 5hown in Fig. 5.
 62 C. Y. Ho and Yao Jianchi

OR
a
[',',.
5,c 24
5
24
-5,
c,
0
-""~
-5,5 24
C
24
(25)

"l
x6

a
Rw -
_ [',',
5 C
5 6
56
-C 8
5 6
-5 5
5 6
c
6
~:] (26)

riq s. RElATI(WS B£TW(£N P,. Pw' and P The orthogonality of orientation matrices
gives R-1 = RT, it results:
_ From the figure, it is also seen that the
°Pw vector is composed of a d6 vector and a a6
vector . The d6 vector is along the direction
of approach vector of the drill head, i.e . the
-,
oR! .R
[,,::, s , c 24
c,
':~
ox
oy
direction of (Ax ' Ay, Az ), and the a6 vector is -c,5 24 -s,s24 c
24
oz
along the direction of normal vector, i.e. the
direction (N~. Ny . Nz). It is therefore to
obtain the °Pw vector components with respect
to the fixed base frame as:
[,I: fPl)

f 2(N) f 2(0')
f,(A)l

"(~J (21)

f 3(N) f 3(0') f (A)

3
(17 )
where

Since all the vectors are measured with

respect to the fixed base frame, the
superscripts may be eliminated. Eq. (16) can
be written as: -s , Vx +C , Vy

p p - p
a w ( ,8)

Equating the element (3,3) of two

matrices in Eqs. (26) and (27) it gives:
From Eq. (10), Pa is written in terms of Therefore, it results:
the variable components as:

('9 ) (28)

(20)
tan
-, A
z
(29)
(21)
Eq. (29) provides the extra rel ationship
along with Eqs. (19) , (20) and (21) to
completely determine the variables 81, 82, d3
These three Eqs. (19), (20) and (21)
and 84' Again further examing the ma trices in
contain four unknown variables 81, 82' d3 and
Eqs. (26) and (27), a nd equating elements (1,3)
84' One more equation is needed in order to
and (2,3) the y give
obtain the solution. However the 81 is readily
obtained from Eqs. (19) and (20). ~'C 24A x'S' C24Ay'524A2,s5

tan
-, p
-p-
ax
6, (22)
ax

thus
Let's look into the orientation relation
between the arm and the wrist. Eq. (15) shows: -, c'C24Ax'5,s24A y,s24Az (30)
6 ' tan
5 s,A x - ClAy
(23)
R Equating elemen ts (3 ,1 ) and (3,2) the y
give:

It is therefore
(3' )
aR ' °R-'R (24)
w a
Eqs. (10) and (ll) gives the orientation Rearranging Eqs. (19) and (21), it
matrices as: results:
 Automated Jumbo Drilling Robot Manipulator 63

Band Y respectively, the transformation with

respect to the X-Y-Z system is:
(32)

X Y O)Rot(X S)Rot(y ·,800-0)Rot(Z ,-Y)

Trans ( -n ' h ' '
d 3c 2 = Paz-a4s24
(33)

~ ~
It is readily to obtain

[;
0 0 0 0
P cS -sS
ax 0 Yh
-, c, sS cS

'J
tan 0 I 0
0 0 I 0 0

t,( '80"-. ) 0 s(I,300-", )

[d-" -s (-,-;
"
(35)
o
-s( 180 °-0) 0
o
1

0
0
c(1300-u)
0 !1
s( -)
0
0
c( -':) 0
0
0
1
0
1]
-cosY so
<36 )

4. Summary of solution of kinematic control

equation
i-"" -cSsY+sosScY
~ -SS Sy-~o -CSCY
cScY+sosSsY
sScY-sacSsY
0
casS
-cacS
0
Yh

"J
0
1
(37)

Rewriting all the solutions:

The X-Y-Z system can be written in terms of the
Xo-Yo-Zo system as
6, = tan
-, P
ax
-P- and 6, 6,+'80 0
ax

Z~ [~I O~ ~O ~ _~~
o o 0
6 6 +6 tan
-, A
z
0
24 2 4 C,Ax+S,A y o Xb 0 \ 0 0, 0 0' 0 0
o -Y
b
0 0 0' 0 0 ,

P o o o
6 tan
-, a 4c 24 +a , - ax
2 cl

l
Paz -a s
4 24 ~~ ~ -~ :~I
o 0 -y
(38)
b
6 6 -6 o 0 0 I
4 24 2

Paz-a s Therefore, the position and orie ntation of

4 24 the hole can be written into Xo - Yo-Zo system
d
3 c as:
2

0
-I
0
0
-I
0 Xb
,,]
0 0 -Y
b
and 0 0 0 I

-I CIS24NX -SIS 24Ny +C2 4NZ -COl S)' SIX

66 = t a n
c,s24 0 x SIS 24 0y +c 24 0 2 l oO
-'''':;3Y · Sn.S~:CY cScY +sos&S-( casB
Relation between Fixed Base Coordinate of
Drilling Robot Manipulator and Location of the
-.:;gSY-3c.-'"'BcY
0
sScY-socSs)' -cocS >1
'h
0
0 0 1 _~
Holes

There exist two distinc t coordina te socBsY-sScY c ocs

i
l'""""'"
Zb
frames, the fixed
manipulator which
(Xo-Yo-Zo) of the
base frame of the drilling
is the coordina te system
first join t, and the
cocY
sosBcY-cSsY
cosY
sosSs': +cBcY
- so Xb -X h
c osY -Y +Y
r 39)
b :l
coordinate system of the tunnel (X-Y-Z) where 0 0 0 1 ...-
Numerical Example and Computer Program
all the hole's position and orientation are
measured upon. Fig. 2 shows the relation All the physical dimensions were supplied
between these two systems . In order to by Gardener-Denver. We choose their jumbo
determine the control variables of the drill MD 105 as our specific example and
manipulator, it is necessary to transform the demonstrate that computer program is readily to
hole's position and orien tation in terms of the obtain solution of the con trol variables for
fixed base frame of the jumbo machine. Given any conceivable hole's posi tion and
the position of the hole on the tunnel face orientation . IBM-PC is used and BASIC language
(Xh, Yh, 0), and the three orientation angles a, program was written to solve the kinematic
64 c. y, Ho and Yao Jianchi

control equations , After the program loading,

it is necessary to enter the data of hole's y!leftl
loca t ion and orientation, which is provided I
11
acco r ding to the blasting hole pattern. The
values X, Y, Z, a and eare entered, then the 15
hole ' s location and orientation will be echoed
on the terminal in a pictorial form to verify
the intented positions as shown in Fig. 6.
10 .9
Table 2 tablates the numerical values which
were entered by the operator .
.1
The values of angle y were chosen in an \-
arbitrary fashion . However it requires the
stinger firmly held against the rock surface
and gives enough maneuver space of the drill
.'1 11
,
bit swiveling into the correct location. For o ..,~~'-'-r-.-""-""'-+""-'
" X !feet)
convenience, in this study we divide the tunnel 5 W 15
surface into four quadrants as shown in Fig. 7. Fi96 BLAS nllG PAfTTRN Ar~o LOCATION OF I-K)L[S
The y values are chosen as shown in the figure.
o holt 's Ioc:llion
The calculated results of the control
• stinqtr's Ioclllon
parameters are tabulated shown in Table 3 .

Hardware Consideration
I

The kinematic control equation have been

discussed in the previous paragraphs. However,
~ ! p-
'· ... 5° 11:' r· -mo
the implementation of control is fundamently I
-------.,---------
changed from the present design of jumbo r· 45° Ill: IV r-USo
drilling machine. It is a potpourri of I

! ~
subjects in designing a fully automated
dr illing rig . It is impossible to cover all L- I
the facets of design in a single presentation.
Never t heless, based on our experience in
designing other mining equipment, we present Fig 7, ASSICNED ANGLE r B£TWEEN STINGER AND HOU
the hardward implementation in a suggestible
manner .

The tunnel's dimension: Width is 16 feet

Heigth is 18 feet
The aspect ratio of the top arc is .6
The number of holes: N is 12

Hole X Y Alpha Bata

1 1 1 -15 - 15
2 8 1 0 -20
3 15 1 15 - 15
4 1 8 -15 0
5 7 8 15 0
6 9 8 -15 0
7 15 8 15 0
8 8 6 0 0
9 8 10 0 0
10 2 15.2 -5 15
11 8 17 0 20
12 14 15.2 5 15

Table 2. Position and Orientation of Given Blasting Holes

Hole 01 02 d3 0 4 05 06
(degree) (degree) (feet) (degree) (degree) (degree)

1 18.13507 - 109.4116 11.02674 94.91947 86.98206 - 40 . 37469

2 -6.812173 -106.2772 10.04242 86.14641 96.39958 - 47 . 33964
3 -18.13506 -109.4116 11. 02674 94 . 91949 93 . 01794 - 139.6253
4 19.07184 - 82.42736 9.906889 82 . 42736 85 . 10042 - 45
5 10.32256 -81. 45779 8 . 789391 81. 45779 66 . 77375 -45
6 -10.32 256 -81. 45779 8 . 789388 81. 45779 113.2263 - 135
7 -19 . 07184 -82.4273 7 9.906892 82.42737 94.89958 - 135
8 -7.438224 -94.57493 8 . 706328 94 . 57493 97.43823 -45
9 -7.438224 -85.42507 8 . 706364 85 . 42507 97.43823 45
10 20 . 42034 -69.69021 10.7565 85.15111 74.37794 39.64269
11 - 6.812173 -63.4597 10.7754 83.59051 96.39958 47.33964
12 -20.42034 -69.6902 10.7565 85.15111 105.6221 140.3574

Table 3. Results of Control Variables.

 Automated Jumbo Drilling Robot Manipulator
The machine is operated under a most rugged
and harsh environment. All t he join t s are
taken the severest stress punishment during t h e
drilling ope rati on . It takes tremendous t orque
Fig 8. RELATIONSHIP BET\\[[N 9 AND l
t o rotate any joint. Fig . 8 shows 't he levering
method t o rotate the joint. With the
geometrical arrangement of Fig. 8, the joint
angle 0 is function of the cylinder length L,
the simply trigonometrical relation of 0 in
terms of Lis:
6 (40)
The joint angular motion can be obtained
t hrough the linear motion of an actuator . The
hydraulic ac t ua tin g system is perfectly
suitable t o produce such motion.
Fiq 9. MT$ El[CTRO -HYORAULlC STEPPING CYLINDER
Among all t he commercially available
actuating sys t ems, we have found tha t MTS
Systems Corp. of Minneapolis manufactures the
electro-hydraulic stepping cylinder which is
very suitable to mee t our design objectives .
The principle of operation is simple. The
stepping motor controls the opening of a
servovalve, which results in the flow of
hydraulic fluid and consequently produces the
linear motion of the piston of the cylinder.
This piston motion is accompanied by a rotary
feedback motion of a ball screw which resides
inside the piston rod (as shown in Fig. 9) , and
resul t s in the closing of the servovalve. In
short words, the linear movement of the piston
can be proportional t o the stepping numbers of
t he mo t or, and the speed is proportional to the
pulse frequenc y of the electrical pulses. Fig.
9 shows a electro-h ydraulic sys t em cylinder
built by MTS System Corp .
Fig . 10 shows a proposed block diagram of
t he controller . The pulse control circuit
accep t s t he commands from the micro - computer
and ge nerates a variable frequency pulse stream
and direction signal . This circuit can be
economicall y built by the commercial integrated
circui t s. The stepping motor driver converting
control signals into an energizing sequence of
motor coils causes the s tepping motor to rota te
one s te p for each command pulse. The driver is
also commerciall y available . These hardwa re s
can be remotedl y interfaced with a dedicated
65
computer or a regular personal computer as
moni t oring unit as well as input terminal.
NI --- numbtrolpulu
Fi -'- freoutncy04 pulse
01 --. direction
Encodtl"
Fig 10. BLOCK DIAGRAM Of NAHIPULATOR CON TROCUR
The adoption of t his t ype of approach has a
few advan t ages: (Benson, 1985).
1. The charac ter istic allows the
micro-processor t o directly interface with the
hydraulic drive thus achieving the accuracy of
an electric s t epping motor with the power of
hyd raulics . The accuracy may reach t o 0.0025
inches of cylinder displacemen t per electric
pulse, and is precision enough for the
practical application of a drilling machine.
2 . Because of the inherent feed back
functi on of the electro-hydraulic cylinder, the
posi ti on feedback encoder is just optional or
not needed.
3 . The position rigidity or stiffness is
very good.
4 . It can be run in very harsh
environmen t.
Conclusion
Mining indus t ries seem relatively
bela t ed adop ti on of the modern technological
changes. The curren t economical pressure
certainly touches off the self -eva luation.
Traditional " ain 't break don't fix" a ttitude is
no longer applicable in this competi tive world.
The current mechanized percussion drills are
tedious, time-consuming and suscep tible t o
human errors. Automated percussion drill not
only improves human safety , raises efficiency,
but also increases the precision of the hole's
position and orienta ti on. It results
optimizing the blast pat t ern which maximizes
the tonnage of ore to be excava t ed . The
advantages of au t omation are not exhaustable to
be specified . Automation is the indispensable
means of improving the quality of life for all
the people . Automation is inevi table to all
the indus tri es .
References
1. Berghahl, S . G. , (1976) "Automatic
Control in Percussion Drilling" The proceedings
of the 2nd IFAC Symposium on Automa ti on in
Mining , Mineral and Metal processing ,
Johannesburg, Sou th Africa, PP. 627 -6 30.
2 . Ranky , P . G., and C. Y. Ho, (1985) Robot
modelling-Control and Applica t ion with
software, IFS, Springer- Verlag .
66 C. Y. Ho and Yao Jianchi

3. Ho, C.Y. and K.W. Copeland, (1982) 4. Benson, B., (1985) "Rotary and Linear
"Solution of Kinematic Equations for Robot Electrohydraulic Stepping Actuators" MTS
manipulators", Digital system for Industrial Systems Corporation, Minneapolis, MN . Company
Automation, Vol I, No.4 PP. 335-352. Monograph .