24jun09robotFerret
A magnetic robot 'ferret' is to search cargo containers at UK ports, if a project at the University of Sheffield goes to plan.
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the requirement came out of the UK Boarder Agency (UKBA) which is looking for alternatives to unpacking suspect containers, at least for preliminary searches.
The 30cm-long 1.5kg machine will roll along under the steel container roof, lowering sensors into the load.
"Typically they are packed quite high with boxes, but typically they cannot be packed to the top," robot scientist Dr Tony Dodd told EW.
Currently, to cope with the heavily-corrugated metal used in container construction, the favoured mechanical structure is a six-wheeled machine with hinges that flex in two dimensions between each pair of wheels.
"It is quite specifically designed with the corrugations in mind," said Dodd. "Each wheel is independently driven and the hinges are effectively ball joints."
The pattern of magnetisation employed in the wheels has yet to be decided, said Dodds, with magnet makers recommending multiple small magnets instead of entirely magnetic wheels at this stage.
Dodd's is also responsible for the chassis electronics, which will make the ferret semi-autonomous.
"The UKBA wants something that can be put into a container, then retrieved later with no intervention," he said. "It will have to navigate its way around in a search pattern, avoid objects, and reliably find its way back to the starting point."
The sensor package, to be developed at Sheffield's physics department and City University, London, will use quantum cascade lasers and fibre-optics to detect selected vapours and gasses - for example exhaled CO[sub2].
"It will be equipped with a suite of sensors that are more comprehensive and more sensitive than any currently employed in conventional cargo scanners," said the EPSRC.
Working prototypes of the cargo-screening ferret are expected within two years, with potential deployment within around five years.
The University of Glasgow, Loughborough University, and Qinetiq are also involved with the project, which will receiving total EPSRC funding of nearly £732,000.