Drone and rover tag teams could help solve the world’s deadly land mine problem

SUMMARY: Roughly 20,000 people are maimed or killed each year due to land mines; the vast majority being civilians in parts of the world subject to ongoing conflict. Could a tag team of autonomous robots help solve the problem? That’s certainly what a team of roboticists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts are hoping. They have spent the past half-decade developing an autonomous robot and sandbag-dropping drone which work together to seek and destroy potentially deadly land mines. And they’re almost ready for prime time.