International Journal of Unmanned Systems Engineering

ISSN: 2052-112X

 
    Research Article
IJUSEng - 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1-6
http://dx.doi.org/10.14323/ijuseng.2013.6
 
Design of a Robotic Control Vehicle
for Landmine and IED Detection and Marking

John Cunningham
ARGUS Robotics, USA.

Abstract: Cunningham J. (2013). Design of a robotic control vehicle for landmine and IED detection and marking. International Journal of Unmanned Systems Engineering. 1(2): 1-6. The removal of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from abandoned war zones is termed “Humanitarian Demining”. Several techniques have been developed to detect explosive devices that range from state of the art technology to the most simplistic methods. This paper presents the design and operation of a practical and inexpensive robotic control vehicle for the detection and marking of explosive devices. A standard commercial vehicle has been converted into a fully robotic control vehicle. With a dual set of controls, manual and robotic, the vehicle can be used as a true construction device to help with the general needs of the region, and then quickly adapted to assist technicians to find, mark and remove buried explosives or similar devices. The vehicle is small compared to a bulldozer, it can be easily transported to remote geographical regions, and with the ease of operation and repair it requires no specialized technicians. This capability increases the amount of land that can be cleared of landmines per day. © Marques Aviation Ltd – Press.

Keywords: Humanitarian Demining, IED detection, Landmine clearance, Robotic control vehicle.