Eventually Optimal and Scalable Multi-Agent Planning for Block Cave Mining
Organizations: University of Southern California Los Angeles, California, USA · Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden
Abstract
Automation in underground mining has the potential to significantly enhance safety, operational efficiency, and sustainability. However, effectively coordinating fleets of autonomous vehicles in dynamic mine environments introduces substantial challenges in both optimization and motion planning. To address these challenges, we introduce and formalize the Block Cave Mining (BCM) problem, which focuses on computing a transport plan that maximizes ore throughput while satisfying draw ratio constraints. To solve this problem, we propose SAMM, an eventually optimal anytime solver that jointly integrates task assignment, scheduling, and path planning via a mixed-integer linear programming formulation. To improve scalability, we also introduce SAMMS, a variant of SAMM that trades optimality guarantees for efficiency by decomposing the problem into shorter planning subcycles. Experimental evaluations using realistic industrial mine scenarios demonstrate that SAMMS achieves near-optimal throughput and scales effectively to larger fleets and mine layouts.
Figures & tables
| Scenario | Drawbells | Crushers | SAMM Throughput | SAMM Runtime (s) | SAMMS Throughput | SAMMS Runtime (s) |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | 0.89 | 11.0 | 0.56 | 0.96 |
| 2 | 14 | 7 | 1.56 | 49.1 | 0.92 | 1.69 |
| 3 | 16 | 8 | 1.78 | 57.8 | 1.10 | 2.92 |
| 4 | 18 | 4 | N/A | 60 | 0.40 | 11.28 |
| 5 | 24 | 4 | N/A | 60 | 0.34 | 55.8 |
| 6 | 36 | 6 | N/A | 60 | 0.59 | 13.9 |
Multi-Agent Planning
Multi-Agent Planning coordinates multiple decision-makers to assign tasks, plan actions and paths, and resolve conflicts under shared constraints.
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