Supporting tele-assistance and tele-monitoring in safety-critical environments

Underground mines are hazardous environments. With more and more high-tech machines being introduced in mines, mine operators are under pressure of keeping machinery running smoothly as well as maintaining safety. To address this issue we have developed a remote guiding system called ReMoTe to allow an offsite expert to guide and monitor real time an onsite mining operator. This system brings offsite expertise to operators when and where it is needed (and in doing so supporting on-the- job training) and in the same time providing operators with the ability to monitor their level of stress (self monitoring) as well as allowing shift supervisor to remotely monitor their staff stress level. In our view the combination of these two services is key to increasing the productivity of the mines while supporting operators’ safety. This paper describes ReMoTe and discusses how safety concerns are addressed in the design and evaluation of it.