CAN-based robot system for Swedish final nuclear repository

Source: CAN Newsletter September 2011

In 2025, the Magne robot and unmanned deposition machine will take over the Swedish final nuclear repository, 400 m under the ground, according to plans from the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB).
Magne is probably the world’s largest fully automated robot for nuclear waste handling, made by HFH Herbst Spezialfahrzeugbau und Bergmaschinen (Germany). The machine’s control system consists of CAN-based modules and takes care of all the measurements and controls of the machine.

Magne is the first prototype robot for the emplacement of spent nuclear fuel. In the final repository for both operation of the tunnels and deposit of the capsules the four-wheeled 100-ton loaded unmanned Underground vehicle (UUGV) will be used to align the canister in vertical position and lower it into the bentonite (an absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate) covered deposition hole. Unlike its predecessor the new deposition machine is not on rails, but on rubber tires. The nuclear waste UUGV can be moved between different tunnels in the repository which is easier with rubber wheels than running on rails.

Navigation in the tunnels is of the same type of laser-based control systems used for different types of mining vehicles. The system reads the tunnel contour, learns the route and will be run independently of the tunnel. Navitec Systems (Finland) has developed the navigation system. It is based on the Infrafree navigation system developed for Sandvik Mining and Construction. At the top of the control system hierarchy there is a navigation system, which is responsible for driving the machine automatically onto the deposition hole for lowering the canister into it.