Center for Autonomous Mining

Our first-in-the-nation Center for Autonomous mining, a.k.a. the VT Mock Mine trains the mining engineers of the future to use automous technology, data analytics, and machine learning to extract critical natural resources in environmentally and economically sustainable ways. And it's a lot of fun!

This first-floor Holden Hall laboratory and second floor classroom allows students to build and operate autonomous mining equipment and drones as part of class learning, to prepare for design competitions, such as the NASA Robotic Mining Competition and Elon Musk’s Not-A-Boring Competition. 

Research opportunities and partnerships are also available.