Australia’s first autonomous tunnel boring machine (TBM) has been launched as part of the Sydney Metro West project.
TBM Betty will be used to carve the tunnel between Sydney Olympic Park and Westmead via the Clyde Stabling Maintenance Facility and Parramatta Metro Station. It is the third of six mega TBMs that will be used to build Sydney Metro West.
The machine is equipped with artificial intelligence software that automatically steers, operates and monitors the machine.
This autonomous algorithm completes the TBM’s repetitive tasks, leading to increased speed and greater accuracy. Meanwhile, a human operator will also remain in control of the TBM.
TBM Betty is 170 metres long and will tunnel approximately 180 metres of tunnel a week. On the first leg of its journey, it will dig the 4.5-kilometre tunnel from Clyde to Sydney Olympic Park.
At the Clyde launch site, approximately 138,000 tonnes of material has been removed from the 130-metre long, 20-metre wide and 28-metre-deep box to prepare for this launch.
An additional TBM will also be launched at Clyde in the coming months to excavate Betty’s twin tunnel.
Once the TBMs arrive at Sydney Olympic Park, they will be removed from the ground and returned to Clyde, before being relaunched in the opposite direction towards Westmead.
