Robot Mine Smasher 199
A reader writes "
Robotsotre had a link to a Japanese story about a new landmine-hunting robot that covers the mine with a protective dome and then smashes it with a high-velocity hydraulic piston. The company's called Cos Co, the robot is 3.5m long, and the cost about $75K (USD).
Robot mine hunter does job quietly
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020213wo71.htm
Not that I know much about landmines, but does this mean the detonator cap is smashed without detonating? Or separated from the explosives before it can?" As this article also points out, this will help remove mines in Afghanistan, which after 20 years of war has more then a few around.
Cos Company Ltd's Webpage (Score:3, Informative)
The company has a webpage here [cos.co.jp] but they don't have an article/photos (at least in the engrish [engrish.com] section of their site). Anyone read Japanese?
Tech is not the answer (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a tech guy myself and a /. reader to prove it, but when it comes to disarming mines one must turn to other means. Reason:
1. The machine will very likely get stuck in the not-so-ideal terrain mines are dug into.
2a. There are no good logistics for things like spare parts, fuel etc in third-world, mine-ridden countries.
2b. A techy machine is very valuable as, exactly, spare parts. Therefore, it will be looted rather than used as intended. example A large European aluminium manufacturer made studies of using aluminium beams in Catastrophe Shelter Housing. It became obvious that the alum would create riots, and therefore, one had to use bamboo. Good for India, bad for Big Industry.
3. Third-world labour is M-U-C-H cheaper than industrialised-world labour. To design, manufacture, deploy, operate, service and even protect an anti-mine machine, whatever the kind, requires tenfold the resources than paying unemployed, higly motivated locals to do the job. The job is ACTUALLY not very dangerous if education and overseeing is done properly.
4. Auto-mine-cleaners remove a smaller percentage of the mines than human workers. Therefore, it is NOT SAFE to enter an area that has been "cleaned" by machines.
What REALLY PISSES ME OFF is that industrialised countries makes easily-digestable "foreign aid budgets" by giving domestic industry R&D money that can never be translated into a better situation for the ones that really need it. Check out the way your Foreign Aid is distributed, Americans. It sucks, big time, and sadly, that makes the rule rather than the exeption.
Re:silly way.... (Score:5, Informative)
As far as destroying the mines with a hydrolic piston, there are plenty of types of land mines that I know of where this would be a great solution. Lots of land mines aren't created to take a lot of shock, and one way the army can dispose of them is by setting our own explosive charges. If you could hit the land mine fast enough and in the right spot this could be a great way to do it.
Lastly, I can also think of a few types of landmines where this isn't going to work at all. And unless it uses a density sensor instead of a metal detector it might not even pick up a wider range of mines. There are more wooden and plastic landmines with no metal in them than people would think. So overall I think it's a good idea, but shooting it with a burning bullet is asking for trouble.
More than just mines, I hope (Score:5, Informative)
Some factoids from the Gruaniad [guardian.co.uk]:
I hope this will be useful for all unexploded ordnance (UXO), not just mines. Iraq and Kuwait are still full of US UXO from the Gulf, and in a karmic twist, this report for the US army [brtrc.com] actually focuses on US troop casualties (based on Gulf data) as a prime consideration of US UXO, with civilian casualties as an "Oh yeah" afterthought. When even the military starts getting worried about the amount of explosives they're scattering everywhere, it's time to take stock.
From a soldier (Score:2, Informative)
No, not all mines have probes or trips above the ground - there are both anti-personnel and anti-armor mines that are completely buried with no above ground protrusions.
"Not that I know much about landmines, but does this mean the detonator cap is smashed without detonating? Or separated from the explosives before it can?"
No, this would blow the whole thing.
for those who do not know (Score:2, Informative)
Re:powerfull countrys stop producing mines (Score:4, Informative)
1. A tactical liability to remove the mines
2. An expensive and time consuming prospect in a potentionally hostile area.
The Anti-Missile Shield isn't meant to defend against airplanes or Ryder trucks with explosives, it's to defend against North Korean and Chinese missiles, both nations are working on or have ICBMs that can hit the US, but are in such small numbers that the ABM system would be a good defense. I think the US plan is to get into a spending race with China and bankrupt them like the US did to the Soviets. Having the ABM system will let the US start to pair down the number of ICBMs and SLBMs as well. And it'll advance the science of small, G resistant rocket systems.
Complete land mine information (Score:5, Informative)
You might be surprised to know that while land mines are normally used to fight dirty little wars in third world countries, they are usually manufactured in the first world. A small list of manufacturers of mines are: Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (yes, really), Chile, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and Yugoslavia. Even Switzerland sells five different models. The US sells 37 different types, and is the world's leader, closely followed by Italy (36), Russia (31), then Sweden (21) and China (21).
Believe it or not, there are international regulations as to how land mines are supposed to be laid out, including having mine fields clearly labeled so your random stray farmer doesn't go getting his leg blown off. These are more suggestions than anything else, since the most effective method of distributing mines over a large area is to drop cluster bombs that can contain almost 250 mines per pod.
Mines are generally not as difficult to disarm as many would think. While we might have the impression of the complex booby-traps laid during the Vietnam war, the reality is thankfully a lot less harrowing. Bombs work by detonating an explosive material that creates a wall of air that expands outwards at about 7,000 meters per second. Different mines also offer different packaging, so if you add small ball-bearings or nails to that mixture you can see how dangerous (even at a distance) they can be.
Here are the major bomb types used around the world:
Scatter Mines
Scatter mines are designed primarily by Russia and were used primarily in Afghanistan. They are specifically designed not to kill their victims, but instead injure them, thus slowing down a larger party. It has the added effect ofd emoralizing the country and creating a strain on its economy to keep them alive. The PFM-1 butterfly bomb is dropped from airplanes or helicopters and their shape helps them to burrow slightly into the ground. They are easy to disarm, which is why the most common victims are now children not yet educated in their harm. The PFM-1 can be modified to detonate with light pressure after being armed (once it hits the ground), or self-detonate after a specified period.
Small Antipersonnel
These are usually manufactured out of plastic, which makes them very difficult to pick up when scanning. They have feather-light contacts and normally have to be hand-set, usually buried in the mud or under a bush. They are also designed to incapacitate rather than kill. The big models are the Chinese Type 72, Italian TS-50 and United States M14.
Large Antipersonnel
Larger mines are generally packed with about 5 times the amount of explosives of their smaller counterparts. They are designed to take out larger parties of people, or even entire platoons, and are the most popular land mine in existance. They are triggered by pressure plate, and normally buried under high-traffic areas. Because of their larger size and higher amount of metal parts, they are easier to find (but much more dangerous to disarm). These mines cost about $3 to make.
Frag Mines
Fragmentation mines are designed to explode with a large payload of high-velocity metal parts. In the United State's Claymore mine, it's ball bearings. The Russian POMZ-2 uses small, sharp metal pieces. These mines are usually designed like glorified grenades, and have pins that can be connected to strings or wires and used as booby traps. There are also Bouncing Betty style frag grenades that, when triggered, project upwards about 5 feet to maximize the kill-zone. The Italian Valmara-69 is the most famous of this design, and can contain 1000 individual pieces of shrapnel. Because of the blast radius, survival rates are usually very low.
Road Mines
These mines have the highest casualty rates of any type. They are very large plate-trigger designs that are easily disarmed (when found), but when they go off, they can take out entire tanks, their occupants, and any soldiers close by. The British L9 and Italian VS-22 were popular models used in the Gulf War. There are two strategies to planting these mines. One is to plant them in the well-worn treads on a mud road (if a vehicle has been over them, it must be safe, right?). The other method takes the opposite approach, and places them in the areas just to the side of major roads (kinda' like reverse psychology.)
The most daunting task to clearing the land mines is the sheer number of them still active around the world. Egypt has the most, at 23 million, but Iran, Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, China and Iraq all have more than 10 million buried in them. About two million new land mines are planted each year (more than 15 million are manufactured). Since only about 100,000 land mines are removed each year, you can easily see that they will be with us for a very, very long time.
Much of this information was gathered at HALO Trust's website (www.halotrust.org). HALO is an agency dedicated to the elimination of land mines. Also, information on land mines was obtained from The World's Most Dangerous Places by Robert Pelton. Pick up a copy if you're a travel buff.
How a minefield is cleared by humans. (Score:5, Informative)
There seems to be a lot of misinformation here about the removal process of landmines. As a combat engineer for the US Army I have been trained on such procedures (though never having done them, thank god!). I'd like to explain how the process of breaching a minefield works.
Your basic tools are the ANPSS-12 Minedetector (basically a metal detector), and a ceramic rod. The detectors are sent out in groups of 3 (there are 4 more people in the group for command and control purposes, but they aren't the ones doing the detecting) and they move forward in a diagonal formation and they sweep in a circular arc around them searching for the mines. When one of those people finds a mine, the other two go back to the rear of the formation while the other lies down in the prone (face first) and starts poking the mine with his ceramic rod(having checked for trip wires and things of that nature of course).
Keep in mind that it takes only a few pounds of force to detonate an antipersonel mine. Something easily achieved with a little stick!
When the mine is found, if it's buried(not all are, I'll cover that in a minute) then the soldier uncovers the top of the mine and goes about checking for Anti-Handling Devices(booby traps). If the soldier finds one, he(I say he becuase women are not allowed to be combat engineers) must disarm because he's already handled the mine. Yes they can be that sensitive! If he screws up, he has several pounds of explosives blow up in his face.
Not all mines are triggered by pressure. There is another type of fuse used to trigger a mine called a tilt rod. It stands on top of the mine and when tilted a few degrees, which for US tilt rod fuses requires only 10 lbs of force, detonates the mine. These are used exclusively in anti-tank mines, the theory being that the vehicle rolls over the mine causing the mine to detonate under the belly of the vehicle. These add something else to the mix. Now first you have to disarm the tilt rod fuse before defusing the rest of the mine.
Is this job dangerous? VERY!!!
In fact, combat engineer is one of the most dangerous jobs in the military (for a variety of other reasons too :) )
All traditional US Mines have metal in them to make them easier to find by our guys once the war is over. Other countries don't play so nice. They use wood and plastic. So our little mine detectors won't find them, but our feet will! Also some of them have magnetic fuses, which operate similarly to the sensors for traffic lights. When our metal detectors go over them they go "boom!"
Having explained all this I'm sure you can see why the army (and other services I'd imagine) continually look for better and safer ways to disarm mines. There have been several items that have been tested and are being tested right now. We tested a South African device only to discover that it performed horribly :) They're now testing a minedetector that uses radar instead of just a regualr metal detector and I remember seeing on CNN that there is a European company that has a remote controlled mine remover.
This japanese robot is a great device that deserves a serious look. For those critics who think that the detector will get caught up on terrain, they've never seen what a tracked vehicle can do. Wheeled vehicles can be very reliable too (remember the mars rover?)
Now before you start flaming me about misinformation, this is as I remember it, so there is no warranty :) If you'd like to check out more about mines and such you can refer to: FM20-32 [army.mil]
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Sigh, Diana could never figure it out... (Score:3, Informative)
US Army doctrine is *very* anal about landmines. You don't just turn one on and chuck it down with a chuckle.
For one, mines fields are generally surface laid. That's right, just sitting there in the open. Why, because US doctrine always covers minefields with a second method of fire (artillary, snipers, etc). When the war is over, you go out and collect up your mines.
Secondly, most modern mines are self detonating. That means in a set amount of time -- usually 4 hours to 2 weeks -- they go away. They're also surface laid (usually by aircraft). Don't stand near these mines.
Fianlly, if you do hide your mines that need to be completly mapped and documented. Why? Because YOU may be the one to remove them.
Remove them? Yes, all US mines are designed to be removed. Not so for the Soviet ones, oh dear.
Look at were there are mine problems, Cambodia, Afganistan, Kuwait, Korea. Only one of those is the fault of the US and guess what, those mine in those old-style "standard pattern" minefields are completly mapped.
In Cambodia and Afganistan, you can blame those poor starving peasants who, rather that wanting peace, would rather torture and mame each other. Plant random mines in a farm field, yeah, good idea. (um, not).
Finally, Kuwait. Kuwait doesn't have a much of a mine problem (relative to the others), why? They have money. But who do you blame for what mines they have? The Iraqis, duh. That finely tuned military machine that couldn't fight there way out of a paper bag laid crap loads of mines all over the place with no care as to where they were.
So this BS about the US not wanting to follow Diana's dream is a little misplaced.
Re:HUH?! (Score:3, Informative)
Ironically, landmines are no longer very effective other than at maiming and killing civilians. If your goal is to harass the civilian population, they're a great weapon -- cheap, easy to make, hard to detect. If you're fighting a military campaign, they're of limited usefulness. Even Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf signed an open letter to the president urging the ban of anti-personnel mines, an action "not only humane but militarily responsible".
And it's not just Afghanistan and our current enemies affected, either. Places like Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia, etc. are littered with them.
Learn more about landmines, where they are, military alternatives to them, and more at Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation [vvaf.org] through their Campaign for a Landmine Free World.