Controlled Metal Detector Mounted on Mine Detection Robot

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO.                        TITLE                                PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION                                                                1

1.1        Background                                                                1

1.2 Research Problem                                                                2

1.3 Aim and Objectives                                                        3

1.4 Justification for this research                                                3

1.5 Organization of the rest of the chapters                                        4

1.6 Summary                                                                        4

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1. Background

Throughout history and the advancement of civilization, humans have always been known for their curiosity, which at some stage led them to the discovery, development and use of metals. Ever since then the study and knowledge of metallurgy has been fundamental to the development of the human civilizations around the world.  (Reardon, 2011)

The process of finding metals was never an easy task and it is tremendously time-consuming whether the method taken is mining, digging or even walking onto metals by accident. Nowadays, the mining of precious and non-precious metals is one of the most important businesses around the globe as it lands a revenue of over $1tn annually. (Lichtenstein, 2013)

Conventional metal detectors are not typically used by big mining companies to find the location of precious metals such as silver and gold, but rather some adventurers who dream of finding some hidden fortune by the coast or at some cave.

One of the main usages of metal detectors is for landmines contamination. According to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor report in 2014, the estimation of the total landmines around the world exceeds 110 million which are scattered in 68 countries. They cause a direct threat to the lives of millions of civilians as there are over 5,000 people who die of mines accident annually. (Cluster Munition Coalition, 2014). The detection and removal of these mines manually is a dangerous task. Therefore, in such situations robots aid in detecting the exact location of the land mines is highly needed.

Based on the idea of combining a remote-controlled robot car technology with the metal detection circuitry, this idea came to life. The idea of making a remote-controlled metal detecting robot that can not only save time but also save lives. There are multiple applications for such a device which made it an exciting robotic project. The remote-controlled metal detector can as mentioned help detecting location of some hidden precious metals, help identifying the locations of landmines in order to do minesweeping as well as identifying the possibility of having metals in concrete blocks to exclude the danger of cracking due to the expansion/contraction phenomena of metals.

The proposed system provides a solution that can perform all the mentioned applications through a motor-based robot car that is controlled through Radio Frequency remote controller with a metal detector circuit attached to it and a camera. The system promises to give a full control over the robot while being away by using a camera that provides a live feed on the surrounding of the robot.

1. Research Problems

The problem at hand is to design a functioning metal detector small enough to be placed upon a robot car which can move around using a remote-controller. It is true there are many sorts of metal detectors exist in the market today, yet, the need for a small robot car is definitive since it gives it the ability to go to places humans are not able to (due to size or danger). Therefore, the need for specially designed metal detector that have high detecting power and small size is ultimate.