Robotics For Mission Critical Data

Go Where You Need To Be™

What are HELIX Robots?
Autonomous Industrial Service Robots | Robots for tailings management

The HELIX family of robots is named for its unique mobility and designed for environmental monitoring. Helical, screw-shaped pontoons allow HELIX to float on water or scroll across any terrain, including mud, snow, ice, and rocks.

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HELIX Neptune – Amphibious Robot

HELIX Neptune is a 400 kg amphibious robot that excels at water characterization. It normally carries a sonar head on a retractable mount for bathymetric surveys, as well as the ability to deploy in situ characterization tools on a flexible line to a depth of 200 m.

When it comes to maneuverability and accessing difficult locations, HELIX Neptune excels at entering & exiting steep pit lakes, beachheads and thick mud.

HELIX AR2 – Amphibious Robot

HELIX AR2 is an 800 kg amphibious robot with a central payload deployment tower consisting of a rack and pinion mechanism used to deploy instruments and samplers into the tailings or soil up to 4 m deep. A sample magazine is used to store several samples per trip.

With its array of payloads, customizable options it’s screw drive propulsion makes it possible to traverse even the harshest and most difficult terrains.

Download Bathymetry Whitepaper

The mining industry has a complex relationship with water. From environmental permitting and mine design, to extraction and operations closure, water touches every part of the mine lifecycle. It is essential in certain processes, particularly flotation, where it’s used to separate valuable metals and minerals from waste rock.

Although critical to operations, water is also a significant source of risk for mining companies. The amount of groundwater or surface water a mine receives, and the amount it is permitted to abstract from and discharge to local water sources depends highly upon its location which is determined by the orebody.

Today, around 70% of the mines operated by large mining companies are situated in countries where water is considered scarce, and water-stress hot spots are expected to worsen in the coming decades. According to a 2020 report by McKinsey & Co, in Chile, the world’s primary copper producer, 80% of production is already located in extremely water-stressed areas. By 2040, it will be 100%.

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Do you have a hard-to-access area in need of monitoring? We can help!

Copperstone helps industrial clients manage liabilities and safety costs associated with hazardous sites, particularly water and mine tailings facilities. We do this by building field robots that can access hazardous environments in a way never before possible.

Copperstone Technologies is a leading robotics engineering company, located in Canada, that designs and manufactures robots to support the clean tech revolution. What sets us apart? Our technical professionals excel at problem solving and applying our cutting edge technology to your unique challenges and presenting solutions that work for you.

Benefits of using HELIX

Inspired by designs of the past, we have modernized the screw-drive concept and developed HELIX, a patented combination of screw-propulsion and four-wheel drive vehicle capable of remote and autonomous operations.

Goes anywhere

HELIX amphibious autonomous ground vehicles can successfully traverse hard ground, mud, tailings, snow, ice, and water. Part Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and part Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) with 4-screw, skid-steer capabilities, HELIX can manoeuver specialized payloads into the most inaccessible of terrains.

Ability for heavy payloads

HELIX is designed to float on water or saturated soils and muds. Its large deck platform and high buoyancy allow heavy work such as water and mud sampling or geotechnical measurements, and add-on tanks allow for high push and pull forces.

Health and safety

Robots do the dull, dirty, and dangerous work. This is not only good practice, but a significant cost savings as well. HELIX can even be used to tow a stranded boat and/or be modified to act as a rescue vehicle.

Remote Operations

HELIX Dash software enables the coordination of both autonomous and remote operational capabilities without placing humans at risk. Giving the user ultimate control over the rover.

Green solution

Our electrically-operated cleantech robots have no emissions and can be made intrinsically safe to help industrial operations become more sustainable.

Cost savings

Robots require fewer labour and equipment hours and are less expensive than conventional equipment, allowing more timely information to be gathered at lower cost. Robots can be used with fewer safety planning hours and be operational more quickly.

HELIX Dash

HELIX Dash is a modular application comprised of various plugins used to monitor, control, and visualize various aspects of the rover and its payloads. Dash plugin layouts can be customized by docking them in any configuration over multiple screens; these layouts can be saved and later restored. Dash ships with plugins specific to each HELIX configuration with features including but not limited to autopilot control, driving via Dash, rover monitoring and payload control. Dash also records all rover data for offline analysis.