Physicist Dr Lyle Roberts is Head of Photonics at Advanced Navigation where his team works at the nexus of photonics, signal processing, and laser interferometry to develop breakthrough technologies for navigation. Lyle joined Advanced Navigation in 2021 after Vai Photonics, the company he co-founded to commercialise his research at The Australian National University, was acquired. Prior to co-founding Vai Photonics in 2021, Lyle was a research fellow at the ANU’s Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics researching a range of technologies including instrumentation for satellite laser ranging systems such as NASA’s Mass Change (MC) and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) missions. Lyle now heads Advanced Navigation’s development of Navigation Doppler LiDAR for lunar and terrestrial exploration.

Dr. Philipp Hartlieb is a senior scientist at the Chair of Mining Engineering at Montanuniversitaet Leoben. His main research areas are dealing with sustainable and environmental mining technologies, reducing the energy consumption and environmental impact of mining operations, mainly in mechanical excavation and drilling& blasting. Amongst his activities are also projects in mine digitization, raw materials policy, education, and extra-terrestrial mining (in-situ resource utilization). A special focus of his research is set on alternative fragmentation methods (i.e. microwaves) in order to decreasing the specific energy consumption of mining operations.

I am a sensor application specialist with over a decade of experience in researching and developing ore sensing solutions for mining. After obtaining my PhD at Delft university of technology on this topic, I spent several years working for a start-up company developing real-time chemical analyzers for mining and recycling industries. I have worked on a variety of sensor applications including drill-core, drill chip, and conveyor belt scanning, as well as mine face mapping and ore sorting. My background in mining and geology along with my passion for physics, machine learning and technological innovation have given me a deep understanding of the possibilities and limitations of using sensors for a variety ore and mineral deposits. I have founded RockDataWorks because I believe that real-time material sensing can be used to significantly improve the resource efficiency and sustainability of any mining operation in the world. Through RockDataWorks I want to support development and integration of ore sensing applications into mining and contribute to a more responsible utilization of mineral resources.

Huili Zhang received the B.Sc. degree in energy and power engineering from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, China, in 2019, and the M.Sc. degree in renewable energy engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, in 2021. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Her research interests mainly focus on vibration energy harvesting and sensing for mine internet of things.

Armin is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the School of Mineral and Energy Resources at UNSW, with a focus on the standardisation of MineIoT. His research involves seeking a solution to develop an integrated framework that addresses the challenges in adopting smart devices in traditional mining scenarios. Additionally, he is working on a solution to create an integrated system within mining segments and IoT concepts to establish interoperability between these systems.