Applications of computer vision in the mining industry

n the last decade, there has been an active digitalization of industrial production based on rapidly developing information technologies, including artificial intelligence technologies. This is largely due to the development of deep learning methods and their applications in computer vision. Since the mid 2010s convolutional neural networks demonstrate exceptional efficiency in solving problems such as the detection, classification and segmentation of various objects. As a result, computer vision methods are beginning to be actively used in the problems of quality control of raw materials and finished products. All this applies to the mining industry. However, in the Russian scientific literature there are practically no systematic reviews of computer vision applications in this area. The present study aims to fill this gap. The paper provides a systematic review of the history of development and the current state of the methods and technologies of machine vision used in the mining industry for the analysis of solid materials, demonstrates the latest achievements in this area and examples of their application in the mining industry. The authors have analyzed 29 research papers in the field of application of computer vision in the mining industry and classified the stages of technology development from the mid-1980s, when computer vision was used without the use of machine learning, and ending with modern research based on the use of deep convolutional neural networks for solving problems of classification and segmentation. The effectiveness of the methods used is compared, their advantages and disadvantages are discussed, and forecasts are made for the development of computer vision methods in the mining industry in the near future. Examples are given showing that the use of convolutional neural networks made it possible to move to a qualitatively higher level of quality in solving problems of classification and segmentation as applied to the analysis of output volume, particle size distribution, including flakiness, angularity and roughness, dust and clay content, bulk density and emptiness, etc.