Mine Sweeper
Recommended for grades 6–12.
Introduction
Military service personnel use robots to do tasks that might be dangerous to humans. One common example is working with explosives such as landmines. A robot is used to venture out into a potential minefield and locate a landmine, allowing the soldier to disarm or detonate it from a safe distance. Landmine detection is becoming increasingly important because, sadly, we live in a world where there have been many wars and thousands of landmines have been hidden. Many of these mines remain long after the war is over. In this project, your challenge is to build a sensor-controlled robot to locate a hidden “landmine” as represented by a small magnet.
Objectives
In this project, you will design and build a mobile robot to replicate the behavior of a military device searching for landmines. You will use small disc magnets hidden under a cloth or large sheet of paper to represent the buried landmines. Your challenge is to locate and pinpoint the exact location of these "mines." Your robot should be capable of searching a wide area, in the neighborhood of a 4" wide and 3' long strip, with a Vernier Magnetic Field Sensor. Once the sensor detects a magnet, the robot should stop with the tip of the sensor directly above the hidden magnet (the white dot on the sensor should be facing downward) and the robot should sound an auditory indicator.
Sensors and Equipment
This project/activity requires each of the following Vernier sensors and equipment (unless otherwise noted):
Additional Requirements
You will also need NXT Sensor Adapter and a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics system.
Download Experiment Preview
The student-version preview includes:
- Step-by-step instructions for computer-based data collection
- List of materials and equipment
The preview does not include essential teacher information, safety tips, or sample data. We strongly recommend that you purchase the book for classroom use.
Standards Correlations
See all standards correlations for STEM 2 with Vernier and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT »
Included in the Lab Book
Vernier lab books include a CD with word-processing files of the student instructions, essential teacher information, suggested answers, sample data and graphs, and more.