Epiroc Pit Viper 271 (Autonomous)

Rotary blasthole drill rig converted to fully autonomous operation: single-pass holes to 59 ft (18 m) at up to 270 mm diameter with 81,000 lb bit load, running the complete drill cycle — AutoLevel, AutoDrill, tramming between holes — without an operator on board, supervised from a remote operations center. Epiroc's autonomous drills passed 7 million autonomous drilling hours and nearly 6 million meters by 2020. BHP has run 20 autonomous PV-271s across five Pilbara sites since 2017, reporting a 16% productivity increase; CITIC's Sino Iron runs a fleet of automation-ready rigs. Electric Pit Viper 271 XC E variant launched January 2024. The maker targets use cases including mining — autonomous blasthole drilling. One of 2 entries from Epiroc in this index — compare the sibling models before shortlisting.

Epiroc blog 2020; Australian Mining BHP profile; Sino Iron order 2022