Sandvik has unveiled a fully autonomous, battery-electric surface drilling concept that combines artificial intelligence, robotics, electrification and digital connectivity to demonstrate how the next generation of surface mining could operate.
The concept machine, named "Sami":, was unveiled at Sandvik’s Future of Mining 2026 event in Tampere, Finland. The company said the machine is designed to demonstrate how autonomous equipment can be integrated into an intelligent, mine-wide operating system rather than functioning as an isolated automated asset.
Built on a boom-drill platform, Sami has no operator cabin and is designed to operate fully autonomously. The machine carries its own drill bits, collar pipes and down-the-hole hammers, while an integrated robotic manipulator performs tasks including changing drill bits, installing collar pipes and replacing hammers.
Sandvik said the concept can also measure hole depth and deviation after drilling and navigate autonomously through the mine environment.
Its perception systems allow the machine to identify, track and classify people, equipment and other objects around it. Sami can distinguish between dynamic and stationary obstacles and adjust its behaviour accordingly.
LED matrix displays provide information about the machine's operational status to personnel working nearby.
AI-managed drilling
A key feature of Sami is its integration with Sandvik's broader digital mining ecosystem.
The machine is connected to a continuously updated digital twin of the mining environment and is managed through Sandi, Sandvik's AI agent.
Sandi assigns drilling tasks and coordinates activities across the wider mining fleet, while Sami autonomously plans and executes its work cycle. The machine can adapt its activities to nearby equipment and changing conditions at the mine.
Operators interact with Sandi through natural language and can intervene when human judgement is required.
Sandvik said the approach moves beyond automating individual pieces of equipment towards coordinating machines, tasks and decisions across an entire mining operation.
Riku Pulli, president of Digital Mining Technologies at Sandvik, said the integration of the technologies represented the most significant innovation behind the concept.
“By combining AI, autonomy and a continuously updated digital twin, we move from optimizing individual assets to optimizing the entire mining operation,” Pulli said. “That’s where the next step change in productivity and decision-making will come from.”
From underground to surface
Patrick Murphy, president of mining at Sandvik, said the concept extended the company's experience in automation, electrification and digital technologies in underground mining to surface operations.
“For years, Sandvik has helped define the future of underground mining through automation, electrification and digital technologies that have fundamentally changed how mines operate,” Murphy said. “Our latest concept brings that same ambition to surface operations.”
Murphy said the company was challenging conventional approaches to equipment design to help develop mines that are safer, more productive, more reliable and increasingly autonomous.
The concept builds on Sandvik's previous technology demonstrations, including its AutoMine Concept Loader, introduced in 2020.
The company has used concept platforms as proving grounds for emerging technologies before their potential incorporation into commercial equipment.
Sandvik said these concepts are not intended to become production machines themselves. Instead, they are designed to accelerate the development of technologies that could eventually improve the safety, productivity and sustainability of its commercial mining equipment.
Potential across surface drilling
Although Sami was demonstrated using a boom-drill platform, Sandvik said the technologies incorporated into the concept are intended to be scalable across its wider surface drilling portfolio.
This includes rotary blasthole drills, potentially extending autonomous drilling capabilities to other types of surface mining equipment.
The concept brings together several technologies that Sandvik is developing across its portfolio, including autonomous operation, robotic tool handling, battery-electric power, AI and digital mine connectivity.
Rather than developing these capabilities separately, Sandvik said it used Sami to explore how they could operate together as a single system.
“The technologies behind it are very real,” Pulli said. “Many of the capabilities being demonstrated today will help shape the evolution of our offering and find their way into future solutions for surface mining customers.”
Sandvik said the concept is also intended to stimulate discussions and collaboration with mining companies and other industry stakeholders as it develops future commercial solutions.
The company said the broader objective is to determine how autonomous equipment and connected digital systems can contribute to safer operations, higher productivity and more effective decision-making across surface mines.
