Video: Combining a mongoose and robot could be a cheap and effective way of finding landmines
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CAN a partnership between a cheap robot and a carnivore with an exquisite sense of smell aid the hunt for buried landmines?
Robots capable of detecting landmines are expensive, so detection is largely performed by people with metal detectors. However, the process is dangerous, not to mention time-consuming, as workers need to scan every inch of ground and proceed slowly so as not to set off a mine. Time can also be wasted on false alarms, as metal detectors cannot distinguish landmines from other metallic objects.
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Now engineer and colleagues at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka have come up with an unusual solution: . Remotely controlled, the robot leads the mongoose along like a dog on a leash and ensures it scans an area systematically. Whenever the mongoose signals that it smells explosive, the human controller marks the spot on a map.
The robot carries a small video camera trained on the mongoose, allowing the controller to spot when the mongoose thinks it has found something, even if it is out of sight. The camera may also provide visual clues which an experienced deminer can take advantage of, such as views of grass growing in a characteristic way over a concealed mine.
The Sri Lankan team says that the mongoose-robot duo should have a number of advantages over human deminers. For a start, a well-trained mongoose should turn up fewer false positives than a metal detector. Nanayakkara adds that with a combined weight of 10 kilograms, the robot and mongoose are unlikely to set off a mine. This makes them faster than a human, as they don’t need to tread carefully.
The team trained mongooses to stand up on their hind legs and raise their noses in the air when they smelled explosive. To test their abilities, the team tethered one of the animals to a two-legged metal robot using an elastic leash (see Picture). The robot-mongoose duo took 30 seconds to find explosives buried just beneath the surface, starting from a few metres away.
Nanayakkara says the robot will cost less than $3000 – a fraction of what mine-detection robots cost – as the mongoose does away with the need for mine-detecting radar which other robots use, in addition to metal detectors. While keeping costs down, Nanayakkara has been able to equip his robot with obstacle-avoidance technology, such as sensors to detect reflected pulses of sound.
Demining specialist Andy Smith, based in Monmouth, UK, is sceptical of the whole idea. “Animals are not 100 per cent reliable,” he says. The animal rights organisation PETA, which opposes the use of animals to carry out dangerous work, is also unimpressed. Nanayakkara says that because his system is so light, the mongooses will “never” be killed.
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