China’s work safety boss dreams of ‘robots’ replacing miners to cut pit deaths
Yang Dongliang says the government is pushing mines to introduce robotic mining equipment to reduce accidents
China’s work safety boss says he dreams of replacing most of the nation’s coal miners with robots to cut the number of deaths in accidents in the industry.
“I had a dream one night,” Yang Dongliang, director of the State Administration of Work Safety told a press conference at the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
“All the workers in coal mines had been replaced by robots.”
Yang said his dream was rooted in a form of reality as the government is attempting to increase the use of robotic machinery in mining.
Yang said coal-digging machines with artificial intelligence were the “fundamental cure” to coal mine fatalities, but it would require tremendous effort and investment.
About 95 per cent of the large coal mines in China use robotic mining equipment, but most medium and small-sized pits still rely on manual labor.