One of my first drafts of this project. Having done quite a few projects in robotics, it was time to tackle a larger problem that robotics could solve. An application that can detect life threatening landmines emerged to be an ideal operation for a robot. Wars might be over, but their consequences are still prevalent. With constant risk of terror attacks, technologies that can help detect and defuse explosive devices would be life saving. My project is a small step towards achieving this goal.

My first plan was to have a small prototype robot that would be equipped with a relatively smaller metal detection sensor. The small sensor would swivel around the front of the robot detecting the encountered metallic objects such as land mines. It would be actuated using 2 servo motor mechanisms; one for the swivel and the other for the height adjustment. The robot would be driven with a 4 wheel drive system actuated by smaller motors.

The first thing I started working on was the inductive metal detector. It was the crucial part. As I started progressing with it I realised that the detector coil size was too small to detect anything beyond a certain range. As a thumb rule, I discovered that the range of the sensor was a function of the radius of the coil. Thus it was evident that I had to enlarge the coil and recreate the design. This led to the creation of version 2.

This design had a larger detection coil. The coil was to be static as there was no swivel or elevation adjustment. The drive system was upgraded to a 6 wheel drive to account for the added weight of the coil and the overall increase in the size of the robot.