"We are committed to empowering a transformation to autonomy in underground mining," said Patrick Murphy, president of Rock Drills & Technologies, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology. "This partnership will open up unique benefits, build on our industry-leading automation offering and drive faster decision-making in mining processes to seize new opportunities for improving production performance."

Through this partnership, the businesses are working together to provide efficient solutions for mapping and visioning underground mines, which will make a substantial difference when it comes to mine locations that are hazardous, hard to reach or conventionally time-consuming to survey and inspect.

Sandvik's OptiMine combined with data collected by Exyn's aerial robots creates progressive visualization and information of the mine's actual environment to increase overall transparency of the mining process.

The collaboration between Sandvik and Exyn will entail research on how to apply and generate 3D views and perceptions of underground spaces autonomously while leveraging the full potential of Sandvik's AutoMine system.

"We are excited about this new partnership with Sandvik as they are recognised as an innovator in the industry and have revolutionised underground mining," said Nader Elm, CEO and co-founder of Exyn Technologies. "For the first time, customers will be able to map the entirety of their underground operations, even in dangerous GPS denied environments, while making mining safer and improving productivity. Through this partnership, we hope to empower efficient decision-making for customers and drive towards the vision of fully autonomous mining operations."