The World's Largest Robot Is In Australia, And It's A 1,700 Km-Long Automated Rail Network

In Pilbara, thinly populated region of Western Australia, history is taking place. The region just last week became host to the "largest robot" in the world, a fully-automated rail network.

It's been set up by a local mining giant and cost $1.3 billion.

Rio Tinto

Iron ore giant Rio Tinto completed the rollout of the entire network in just eight months, after it got approval from the national rail safety regulator to test their automated train system in May and completed its first test journey in July.

The network now has more than 1,700 kilometres of track, navigated by about 200 heavy-haul locomotives.

And all of the more than a million kilometres travelled so far has been autonomous.

The trains serve as transport vehicles, dragging iron ore from 16 mines to one of four terminals where they can be offloaded. They're monitored and, if needed, controlled by a remote operations centre in Perth.

Image for representational purposes only

The trains are the result of almost a decade of research into automation, after Rio TInto realised it could drastically improve profit margins by doing away with the need for train drivers.

Unfortunately, that also means some over 400 drivers now being out of a job, which is exactly why experts believe that most workers today in various professions will need to upscale their skills to not become redundant.