WHAT: Cargo-screening robotic “ferret.”



WHY: Smugglers use cargo containers to hide drugs, weapons, and even other human beings. Detection is costly, slow, dangerous, and often ineffective, combining sniffer dogs, explosives scanners, carbon dioxide probes, and heartbeat monitors. By contrast, the University of Sheffield, England-designed robot quickly, safely, and comprehensively “ferrets” out illegal items, often without the need to even enter or unpack containers.



HOW: Combining new laser and fiber optic sensors for the first time, the foot-long ferret attaches magnetically to a container’s interior, then automatically explores its contents for contraband. While current scanners suggest only a shipment’s shape and density, the robot will identify specific substances—e.g., ordnance, explosives, and pharmaceuticals. Key to the technology are probes that are able to detect even minute “fingerprints” of illegal goods—including the carbon dioxide that naturally accompanies human trafficking. Funding comes from the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), a government agency for practical scientific research and training.



CAVEATS: Prototypes will take three years to complete and test. The first widespread deployment is not expected until 2014.



QUOTE: Project Leader Dr. Tony Dodd, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield: “It’s essential we develop something which is simple to operate and which border agents can have total confidence in.”



MORE INFORMATION: EPSRC

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/PressReleases/robotferret.htm