Patent ID: 7477967

Claim:
A method for automatically guiding a mining machine, comprising the steps of: determining a route for a mining machine that is to perform a task, the route being determined in a coordinate system fixedly determined in relation to the mine, whereby the route is determined in the coordinate system as interconnected segments representing the route, each segment is determined as successive points located at a distance from one another, at least the location of each segment with a specific identifier code is determined and stored by a control system of the mine; storing in the memory of the mining machine data about the segments and the associated route points; supplying the data about the route to the mining machine by giving the identifier codes of the segments belonging to the route; transmitting list of identifier codes of the segments relating to the route from the control system of the mine to control equipment of the mining machine; storing the information of the segments to control equipment of the mining machine; determining the route of the mining machine on the basis of the identifier codes and the route point data stored in its memory; guiding the machine to complete the route determined by the segments; and controlling the mining machine with the control system of the mining machine by adjusting the mining machine according to data associated with the next route point or segment.