Hong Kong dentist designs robots to detect and clear mines in Cambodia
After gaining fame for designing space exploration tools, Ng Tze-chuen sets his sights on helping Cambodia deal with an old scourge
A Hong Kong dentist famous for his designs of space exploration tools for international space agencies is now building robots to detect landmines for Cambodia.
A series of remote-controlled robotic devices being designed by Dr Ng Tze-chuen can both detect mines and trigger explosions.
“Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world,” he said. “Even today, its people still suffer heavy casualties from unexplored mines and ERW (Explosive Remnants of War)”.
Prototypes being developed include a drone that carries a carpet-like surface to detect mines using ultrasound.
Another is a multi-functional “robotic carousel”, with rotating arms that can detect mines, retrieve and collect them in a net, and detonate them on site.
Ng has designed and built exploration tools for space agencies in Russia and the European Union. His most famous designs were lost on the surface of Mars along with the British-built Beagle 2 carrying them on Christmas Day in 2003.
“Mines were scattered near the Cambodian-Thai border, a previous Pol Pot stronghold where communist guerrillas were chasing government troops in hit-and-run battles for territorial gains,” said Ng who visited the country last year.
“You had to visit the minefield near the ancient city of Batterbang to understand the problem. It was a five-hour drive from the capital with roads becoming progressively more bumpy, even riding in a Range Rover; the road terminated in uncharted muddy fields. Before entering the control zone, I was asked to unlock my seat belt and declare my blood type in the event of an accident.
“Paired teams of workers, laden with heavy metal rectangular detectors, connected to headphones, advanced slowly, scanning the ground foot by foot, just above grass level, and under a blistering sun.”
Mine-clearing robots will dispense with the need for human operators, Ng added.
The first significant use of landmines in Cambodia started with Vietnam’s military drive to oust the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Mining continued on and off until 1998. Minefields once extended along the 750km border between Cambodia and Thailand.
The Khmer Rouge and other opposition forces laid their own mines in turn.
International efforts led by the United Nations, Red Cross and the famous anti-mine campaign launched by Britain’s late Princess Diana have made substantial progress in clearing Cambodia of mines.
But as late as 2013, 22 people were killed and 89 injured by mines in the country.
