Autonomous Probing Robots for the Detection of Abandoned Landmines

This paper presents a new approach to the detection of anti-personnel landmines which is based on the physical detection of landmines using a sharpened probe in a fashion similar to that employed by human deminers. The axial force applied to the probe is sensed as the probe is driven into the ground (at 30 degrees to the horizontal in order to avoid initiating the landmine), and the force information together with absolute position information is used to determine the presence of buried objects. Reviews of current techniques, proposed new sensor technologies, and current uses of robotic devices within landmine detection are presented. This is followed by a description of our proposed solution, a robot capable of performing the probing task, together with the results of the initial experiments, and details of the intended development route. 1 Background: The landmine problem It has been estimated that more than 100 million active mines are scattered throughout over 60 countries in the world, and that more than 2,000 people are maimed or killed by mines every month 1, 2]. Many anti-personnel mines are designed speciically to maim rather than kill as signiicant resources are required to care for people who are injured by such mines, and there is a signiicant psychological impact on fellow soliders. Landmines have also been used as a weapon against local populations although such use is contrary to international humanitarian law 3]. Landmines persist as a signiicant problem for civilians long after a connict has nished and have a major impact on post-connict reconstruction. They are invisible (as they are often buried or camouuaged) and indiscriminate, and as a result cause terror in the civilian population. Even with international eeorts to ban landmines 4] (and landmine production) the situation continues to deteriorate with landmines being laid around 20 times faster than they are currently being cleared 1, 2]. 2 Current techniques for landmine detection and clearance The detection of buried landmines is traditionally performed through exhaustive searching by humans using some combination of metal detectors and manual probing. Generally, potential mines are located using a metal detector to locate metal fragments (such as the ring pin of the landmine) and/or by feeling for mounds or depressions which are caused by the laying of the mines or by subsequent settling of the ground. These potential mines are then investigated further through manual probing, although deminers actually probe the entire ground …