Rosatom's Mining Division and OOO "Virsign Innovations" have agreed to implement a Russian remote crane control system. The Solikamsk Magnesium Plant will be the first site, Rosatom's press service reported.

The crane operator will no longer need to be in the cab above the production site. The specialist will control operations remotely from a console chair. Cameras and a computer vision system will transmit images from the technological site to them.

This approach enhances safety and comfort at work. In addition, one operator gains the ability to control several cranes in sequence — this changes the organization of labor at the enterprise.

Where cranes without operators in cabs are already working

Such systems are already operating at Russian enterprises. In Novosibirsk, at the TLC "Sibirsky" terminal, three gantry cranes are controlled remotely: the operator is in the office in front of monitors, and the Solvo.TOS system itself issues tasks to the equipment. One crane operator serves three cranes at once, switching between them alternately. At Kuntsevo-II, "Virsign Innovations" went further: the crane is not just controlled remotely, but performs a full loading and unloading cycle automatically — lidars and machine vision determine the position of containers, the system itself builds the trajectory and gives commands to the mechanisms. At the Tambov enterprise "Metall Service", one operator controls 6–8 cranes, and a neural network blocks operation if people appear in the danger zone. According to a 2024 study, the share of partially or fully automated terminals in the world is still only 8.3% — but it is precisely such projects that are changing the situation.