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Normet Xrock, a global pioneer in rock-breaking systems with over 30 years of in-house OEM expertise, today announced the launch of the world’s first autonomous rock-breaking solution. The Xrock Autobreaker eliminates the need for human presence at one of the most hazardous intervention points in underground mining while ensuring continuous, reliable rock flow.
Multiplying productivity and eliminating exposure to the hazardous zone in mining
Secondary rock-breaking is one of the most critical ore flow control stages in mining. Material imbalances, such as large boulders or excessive fines, can halt the entire ore stream, causing unplanned downtime, production losses, and major financial impact. Traditionally, clearing these blockages has required operators to manually intervene near the crusher or grizzly in one of the highest-risk areas of mine.
With Xrock’s new autonomous module Autobreaker, the system identifies, targets, and breaks oversized rock without requiring any person near the grizzly area, allowing operators to supervise several breaker systems safely and remotely from a protected control room.
“Autobreaker does not remove people from mining, it removes them from danger,” said Vesa Marttila, Global Sales Director and Breaker Booms Product Line Director at Normet Xrock. “By enabling rock breaking to be supervised safely from an office environment, we not only multiply the output of every operator, but also open opportunities to a wider group of people who may not previously have been able to access operator or operational roles in the underground mining industry. Moving operators away from direct exposure at the crusher or grizzly sites fundamentally improves both safety and productivity.”
Autonomous execution built on real-time vision and intelligent control
The Xrock Autobreaker uses real-time camera vision and sensor fusion to generate a dynamic point cloud of the ore mass. The system automatically identifies oversized boulders, plans strike positions and executes breakage sequences autonomously, while dynamically adjusting its model to reflect the changes in the ore mass.
The system plans and controls its own boom movements, recognizes the current phase of the breaking process in real time, and communicates seamlessly with the mine’s control infrastructure, allowing full supervision and intervention from an office location far from the hazard zone.
The Autobreaker can optionally be paired with the Xquick quick coupler, enabling automatic tool changes for different conditions and needs. With Xquick, a single boom can seamlessly switch between multiple tools such as breakers, grapples, and magnets, maximizing flexibility and extending productivity without human presence on site.
A strategic breakthrough for mine productivity and safety
The autonomous rock-breaking system is now commercially available, starting with grizzly applications, and integrates seamlessly into Xrock breaker boom installations.
“This is no longer a step toward autonomy, this is autonomy,” added Mika Hyysti, Head of R&D at Normet Xrock. “Rock-breaking has long been one of the last unavoidable human-exposed interventions in mining. Normet Xrock has now removed it.”