The technology is co-developed by Shendong Coal Group Ltd, affiliated to China Energy Investment Corporation and Tiandi-Marco Electro-Hydraulic Control System Company Ltd.

During the expo, technicians of Shendong Coal Group sitting in the front of a console monitored a coal mining operation site 800 km away.

Zhao Yunfei, a technician with group, said that it has solved the long-term problem of mining coal rock identification.

Featuring independent coal cutting and remote control, the technology has been put into use for coal mining in Yujialiang coal mine for more than one year, said Zhao Yunfei, who is in charge of the electro-mechanic operation of a mining team in Yujialiang coal mine.

According to the technician, by comparing the 3D geological model of the mining surface with measured scanning model and comprehensively analysing big data of coal seam trend and flatness of the mining surface, the coal mining system equipped with the technology can develop an optimisation algorithm and adjust knife curve of the coal cutter so as to realise independent intelligent coal cutting.

With the adoption of intelligent coal cutting technology, the number of mining workers required has been reduced from 63 to 49, and the monthly coal output of a coal mining surface increased approximately 30% to 150 000 t, said Zhao.

Shendong Group has built a 10 Gigabit ring ethernet network with 5G interface reserved; the remote console will be moved from the mine to the ground.