The Pemex-B autonomous demining robot: perception and navigation strategies

Landmines are easy to lay but difficult to find and destroy. They are blind killers that should be forbidden as soon as possible. Nevertheless, there are about 100 million mines to be removed, and as many ready to be dispersed by hand or helicopter. A population of lightweight, low-cost, semi-autonomous robots is a clear answer to the problem of demining vast condemned areas. They will work together under close supervision of a monitoring station. They are named Pemex for "PErsonal Mine EXplorers" and this paper focuses on the original design and navigation of the 2-wheel Pemex-B. The Pemex-B robot searches for mines as a dog would. Ground pressure is low enough not to make the mine explode. It has to scan a large area, covering every square foot. In order to accelerate the exploration and get the best efficiency from the surveillance team, several robots have to be used. There are three levels of control: local scan; navigation (GPS and odometry) and collective behaviour (radio coordination).