Abstract:
Acquiring detailed knowledge of any area or structure can be of immense importance for understanding and navigating through it. In the case of any incident, knowing about the structure can help the rescue team in search and rescue operations. That can be done using Unmanned Aerial Devices (UAVs), drones, quad-copters ,etc but for incidents occurring inside caves and mines, UAVs and drones cannot be used. Caves and mines have unique and anomalous structures and are loaded with unwelcoming deformities such as stalactites, stalagmites, water dripping from the roof of the caves, uneven floor, rocky surface and extremely narrow passages to name a few. Same goes for mines along with the incompetence of the rocks to hold the roof leading to debris falling and cave-in’s. UAV’s and drones have been used in the past to survey the structures of caves and mines but due to numerous reasons these are not considered fit for the job. This project aims to find a replacement for UAVs and to overcome the obstacles inside the structure. An unmanned ground based remotely controlled robotic system is introduced for structure scanning of caves and mines using Kindest. The proposed project is a prototype and is aimed to be economical. It will be remotely controlled and send inside of cave or mine, the range of the platform is extended to a few kilometers using a transceiver which also provides real time feed for ease in navigation. The Kindest is used for structure scanning of the cave, it scans the structure and stores the 3 Dimensional data onto a single board computer, that is attached to Kinect and placed inside the structure. The entire structure is covered, well-balanced and slightly elevated to counter several obstacles that it might face inside the infrastructures of caves and mines. It is designed to aid ’Search and Rescue Teams’ and to speed up the rescue operations
