Epiroc LinkOA Wins Engineering Product of the Year 2026

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Epiroc's LinkOA open autonomy platform has been named Engineering Product of the Year at the 2026 Digital Engineering Awards. The award recognizes a practical, scalable approach to automating mixed fleets without locking mines into a single equipment manufacturer.

What Is Epiroc LinkOA? The Award-Winning Automation Platform

LinkOA is Epiroc's open automation platform designed to unify drilling, blasting, and haulage operations under a single control system — regardless of the equipment manufacturer. Unlike proprietary automation solutions, LinkOA is modular and retrofit-ready: mining operations can integrate machines from multiple manufacturers and generations into one autonomous ecosystem without replacing their entire fleet.

The Digital Engineering Awards recognise breakthrough products that redefine industry standards through innovation in concept, design, scalability, user experience, and speed to market. LinkOA was selected for its ability to deliver high-impact automation at scale — including powering the world's largest autonomous mixed haulage fleet.

OEM-Agnostic Mining Automation: What It Means in Practice

For years, mining companies have faced a difficult trade-off: automation delivers significant productivity and safety benefits, but proprietary systems lock operations into a single vendor's ecosystem. Upgrading or expanding meant either staying within that ecosystem or undertaking costly migration projects.

LinkOA resolves this by providing a centralised command-and-control interface that works with equipment from any manufacturer. A centralised situational awareness layer removes personnel from hazardous environments and enables real-time, data-driven decision-making across mixed fleets. The result: mining operations gain the benefits of automation without sacrificing fleet flexibility.

"Building an open, scalable platform gives customers long-term flexibility and a clear pathway to expand autonomy as their operations evolve."

— Chris Blignaut, Automation Manager, Surface Division, Epiroc

LinkOA at Scale: Autonomous Haulage and Drilling in Operation

LinkOA is already deployed at active mine sites. At Roy Hill in Australia, Epiroc and Hancock Iron Ore have converted 78 haul trucks to autonomous operation; Epiroc reported more than 350 million tonnes moved autonomously there in June 2026. LinkOA also supports drilling and blasting, allowing automation to be introduced by operational area and expanded over time.

"The recognition reflects years of resilience, creativity, and engineering effort. Our team has worked through technical complexity and industry challenges to deliver a platform that performs reliably at scale."

— Diederik Lugtigheid, General Manager AHS Business, Epiroc

Mining Automation in Armenia: What LinkOA Means for the Region

Armenia's mining sector — including major copper and molybdenum operations — operates fleets of mixed equipment from multiple manufacturers. LinkOA's OEM-agnostic architecture means that Armenian mining enterprises can begin the path toward automation without being locked into a single vendor or having to replace existing equipment prematurely.

Wayland Armenia, as the official authorised dealer of Epiroc in Armenia, is your point of contact for information on LinkOA and Epiroc's full range of automation solutions.