Exyn Advances Aerial Autonomy to Overcome Dust in Underground Mines

MINEXPO BOOTH 12765 — Exyn Technologies, a pioneer in autonomous robotics, today announced advancements in its proprietary autonomy technology — ExynAI — that accurately detects and filters out dust particles while maintaining small wire and obstacle detect-and-avoid capabilities. Dust is traditionally challenging for field robotics and can confuse perception and autonomy algorithms, causing robotic systems to lose state or become stuck in place. With this more robust filtration, Nexys can navigate further and complete more missions in dusty and dirty environments, driving increased efficiency, fewer crashes, and less downtime. 

The advanced dust filtering feature is included with every autonomous Nexys platform, greatly increasing the robustness and reliability of autonomous robots navigating in dusty and dangerous environments. This new feature enables a higher level of autonomous capabilities where the robot reasons and makes decisions about its environment in real time. During an autonomous mission, Nexys can identify a dust cloud created by prop wash or other factors and make decisions to fly through or around it, without a need for GPS, WiFi or other communications infrastructure. 

Through a multi-stage process that happens thousands of times per second in real-time while the robot is navigating, ExynAI analyzes and classifies each individual point into an occupancy mapping pipeline that, coupled with Exyn’s motion planning pipeline, defines safe navigation corridors used for robust navigation in unknown and challenging environments. 

“This potent combination of an online-SLAM dust filter equipped with our machine learning model is what elevates Nexys to Level 4B autonomy, capable of identifying an environmental element like dust and taking autonomous actions to intelligently avoid or fly through as a result. Operators can enjoy a reliable and robust mapping experience with Nexys in even more challenging environments, like underground mines, where dust is a common factor,” says Raffi Jabrayan, VP Business Development – Mining. 

Previously, Exyn’s proprietary autonomy, ExynAI, enabled Level 4A Autonomy, which is defined as free-flight exploration of complex spaces, with complete determination of flight path. Unlike previous industry standards of aerial autonomy that use waypoints and multiple flights to obtain adequate intelligence, ExynAI allows robots to be completely self-reliant for open-ended exploration and does not require any human interaction during flight.

Visit Exyn at MinExpo booth 12765 to see the Nexys in action.

About Exyn Technologies

Exyn Technologies is at the forefront of autonomous aerial robot systems development. Renowned for its commitment to innovation, Exyn focuses on crafting solutions that elevate safety and efficiency in challenging operational environments. Its commitment to delivering superior products and services continually shapes the future of autonomous exploration.