14 DAY TRIAL // Do you like minesweeper? Many people do, which is ironic given how morbid the game actually is. After all, it makes your derive amusement from avoiding blowing up mines, or getting blown up by them.
Obviously, sweeping for mines in real life is in no way awesome or fun, and definitely not exactly safe either.
Fortunately, a team from the Institute of Systems and Robotics at Portugal's University of Coimbra is on the case.
The team has created a robot that can scan for mines, a true minesweeper. It is based on the Husky Unmanned Ground Vehicle.
The robot has navigation and localization sensors, a ground penetration radar, and an attached metal detector.
It should be able to perceive terrain characteristics, navigate across the terrain and detect and localize land mines.
It's not the first minesweeping robot, but it won't really compete with the others out there either (MineWolf, DIGGER DTR D-3). There's always room for more humanitarian help after all.
"Minesweeping is an extremely dangerous and time-intensive process," said Lino Marques, senior lecturer at the University of Coimbra and academic liaison for the project.
"Robots do not get tired; they can be extremely thorough performing their jobs, and their cost is infinitely smaller than that of a human life. For these reasons, robots are a perfect solution for the minesweeping problem."
Minefields are a relic of the world wars, and definitely not something that inspires safety anymore. There are no more front lines behind which to hunker down and feel “safe” in the thought that if the enemy does charge, at least some of them will get blown up on the way.
Demining is an ongoing humanitarian task, so the invention of a new robot capable of doing it and, thus, sparing the risk of human injuries and life, is always welcome.