AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Roof Bolters, Mining?

Task-level automation exposure for Roof Bolters, Mining: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

10% weighted task index

14 of 14 tasks scored

Median Salary

$78,540 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

2,160 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-18.9% employment change

100 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 7 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$67,020 – $116,570

Highest medians

Wyoming $116,570

Illinois $81,860

Colorado $81,270

West Virginia $79,400

Virginia $78,260

Lowest medians

Alabama $67,020

Kentucky $72,510

Virginia $78,260

West Virginia $79,400

Colorado $81,270

State figures come from the 47-5043 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 10%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 78%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 41/100 Moderate

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

14 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 0%

0 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 100%

14 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 07/2017 · Incumbent

Check roof or ribs for hazardous conditions.
New 07/2017 · Incumbent

Clean equipment, such as dust collectors.

Constituent Tasks

#4889 · Core · 10% automatable

Drill bolt holes into roofs at specified distances from ribs or adjacent bolts.

physical manipulation — Earth drilling requires operating heavy equipment by hand

Drill holes in earth or rock.

#21017 · Core · 8% automatable

Pull down loose rock that cannot be supported.

physical manipulation — Breaking rock and concrete is physical labor

Break up rock, asphalt, or concrete.

#4894 · Core · 7% automatable

Position bolting machines, and insert drill bits into chucks.

physical manipulation — Hands-on positioning of heavy construction equipment

Position construction or extraction equipment. Install equipment attachments or components.

#21018 · Core · 18% automatable

Perform safety checks on equipment before operating.

visual inspection — Construction equipment inspection is physical, hands-on

Inspect equipment or tools to be used in construction or excavation.

#21019 · Core · 25% automatable

Perform tests to determine if methane gas is present.

physical manipulation — Air sampling requires on-site instrument operation

Test air quality at work sites.

#4890 · Core · 4% automatable

Force bolts into holes, using hydraulic mechanisms of self-propelled bolting machines.

physical manipulation — Installing safety equipment requires hands-on work

Install safety or support equipment.

#21020 · Core · 4% automatable

Perform ventilation tasks, such as hanging ventilation curtains and tubes.

physical manipulation — Installing safety equipment requires hands-on work

Install safety or support equipment.

#21021 · Core · 8% automatable

Dust rocks after bolting.

physical manipulation — Mining equipment operated in unstructured environment

Operate mining equipment.

#21022 · Core · 3% automatable

Install various types of bolts, including truss, glue, and resin bolts, traversing entire ceiling spans.

physical manipulation — Metal structural installation is hands-on

Install metal structural components.

#21023 · Core · 20% automatable

Drill test holes and test bolts for specified tension, using torque wrenches.

visual inspection — Installation inspection requires on-site physical check

Inspect completed work to ensure proper installation.

#4893 · Core · 10% automatable

Position safety jacks to support underground mine roofs until bolts can be installed.

physical manipulation — Hands-on positioning of safety equipment in field

Position safety or support equipment.

#4895 · Core · 4% automatable

Rotate chucks to turn bolts and open expansion heads against rock formations.

physical manipulation — Installing safety equipment requires hands-on work

Install safety or support equipment.

#4891 · Core · 5% automatable

Remove drill bits from chucks after drilling holes, and insert bolts into chucks.

physical manipulation — Hands-on equipment attachment

Install equipment attachments or components.

#4897 · Core · 10% automatable

Tighten ends of anchored truss bolts, using turnbuckles.

physical manipulation — Erecting temporary structures requires physical assembly

Assemble temporary equipment or structures.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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