The Underground Robotics Workshop took place on Thursday right in the tunnel and its surroundings. For example, drones are being developed here, with which operators can fly in the pipeline and monitor its condition, or excavators that can work in dangerous tunnels or mines instead of people.
“When robots and drones are operated in the open air, a GPS system is used. There is no signal underground, we have to use local systems, which is an area that has not been fully explored,” said Petr Konvalinka, dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
According to him, similar workplaces are available to students at the University of Mining and Technology in Ostrava, for example, but there are vertical shafts and they dig 600 meters deep. “The advantage here is that they don’t have to dig to such a depth,” added the dean.
The tunnel belongs to the state and the school has had it at its disposal for 19 years. “We have the opportunity to help the state, for example, we are doing experiments here that we are preparing for the storage of radioactive waste. We cooperate with the State Office for Nuclear Safety and the Radioactive Waste Repositories Administration and we are doing experiments that the repository administration finances,” the dean mentioned one of the many topics that scientists are working on here.
Robotics in the underground can be used to manipulate hazardous materials, programmed machines can pour concrete or dredge themselves. Currently, an excavator is being tested here, for example, which is able to move independently in dusty mines in Chile, where people would not be able to work for a long time.
At the next station, a robo-dog was introduced. “We call it Dupák. It can autonomously map space underground without any human intervention,” introduced one of the technicians, Bohumil Michalík, of the dog robot, this time equipped with wheels.
The adit near Chotilsko is associated with gold mining, the first mentions date back to the 2nd century BC. Mining then spread especially in the Middle Ages. The total length of even modern corridors reaches almost 8 kilometers.
Part of the underground spaces is a huge cavern about 40 meters high. "It was created in the 1980s during the exploration of local deposits, when it was verified whether gold could be mined here," described Jiří Šťástka, head of the Center for Experimental Geotechnics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University.
At that time, according to him, the miners extracted 20 thousand cubic meters of rock, but there were only 20 kilograms of gold in it and it turned out that the costs would significantly exceed the revenues, and in addition, the extraction and processing of the rock would have a very negative impact on the environment. Therefore, the state withdrew from industrial use and further gold mining is not being considered here.
The underground laboratory was opened here in 2007. The academic workplace focuses on professional and practical education of students and on the implementation of research projects. An advantage is, for example, the natural ventilation of the tunnels, there is no need to pump water from there or use an elevator. The public can also arrange a tour of the tunnel with CTU.