Abstract: Currently the thin coal seam output increases year by year and the mining technology lags behind. In this paper,a transparent adaptive and intelligent mining model for medium-thick to thin coal seams is proposed. Taking the Shendong Mining Area as an example,this paper summarizes the current intelligent mining technology for medium-thick to thin coal seams,and introduces the situation of intelligent mining for medium-thick to thin coal seams. The concept of classifying medium-thin coal seams as having a thickness of 1. 0-1. 7 m is put forward to meet the needs of intelligent mining and the priority development of coal mines. On the basis of comprehensive processing of multi-source and heterogeneous information,the three-dimensional initial geological model,laser scanning dynamic digitized working face,top and bottom coal thickness detection results and shearer attitude are digitized and submitted to intelligent min- ing system for planning in real time to generate dynamic and transparent four-dimensional geological model. Subse- quently,the dynamic real time four-dimensional geological model generated is used to acquire the top and bottom plate height data of each cutting position. This is combined with the shearer’s attitude parameters and the absolute position coordinates of the shearer,and the straightness requirements of the working face. The shearer height-adjustment strate- gy for the coal cutting cycle is planned in advance forming an intelligent coal cutting technology based on a dynamic and transparent working face. A “twelve-step” coal cutting process is proposed and the cable drag system of the shear- er established. Finally,using the technology of the dynamic four-dimensional geological model constructed,the authors have established a fully mechanized coal mining face for the intelligent coal cutting of the shearer, automatic face straightening,robot inspection,shearer cable dragging,hydraulic support automatic tracking and intelligent collabora- tive control. This includes the com-prehensive perception of the coal mining face,the remote centralized control of equipment,collaborative linkage,automatic control,multi-dimensional data fusion,the automatic identification of hid- den dangers,process data drive,and intelligent assisted decision-making. The result is the transformation of a visual re- mote intervention intelligent mining mode to a transparent intelligent adaptive intelligent mining mode. Practice shows that the construction of a dynamic four-dimensional geological model solves the identification of coal and rock bounda- ries in thin coal seam mining. The height adjustment strategy for the next 10 cycles of coal cutting can be provided with the position deviation between the preset coal cutting trajectory and the actual coal cutting trajectory trend curves being less than 0. 3 m. Application of this strategy at the 43101 working face of Yujialiang Coal Mine realized the daily 15 cuttings and annual output of 2. 216 million tons representing an increased production efficiency of 15. 08% without an operator at the working face and with only one person patrolling the operation.