Autonomous Metal Detector Lets You Sit Back, Get Rich

thunderbird7-autonomous-metal-detector

As a kid, metal detectors seemed like great fun. Every commercial I saw beckoned with tales of buried treasure “right in my own back yard” – a bounty hard for any kid to pass up. In reality, the process was both time consuming and tedious, with little reward to be had. [Gareth] liked the idea of scouring the Earth with a metal detector, but he liked sitting and relaxing even more. He decided he could easily partake in both activities if he built himself an autonomous metal detecting robot.

He stripped down a hand held metal detector, and installed the important bits on to the front of an R/C chassis. An Arduino controls the entire rig via a motor shield, allowing it to drive and steer the vehicle while simultaneously sweeping the metal detector over the ground. He fitted the top of the rover with a camera for remotely watching the action from the comfort of his patio, along with a laser which lets him pinpoint the location of his new found goods.

Continue reading to see a short video of the robot in action, and be sure to check out his site for more build details.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inlc9sgDoH8&feature=player_embedded&w=470]

34 thoughts on “Autonomous Metal Detector Lets You Sit Back, Get Rich

  1. In reality, the process was both time consuming and tedious, with little reward to be had.

    I’ve been metal detecting with my dad now for 4 or 5 years and it’s a TON of fun. The hunt can be hard on the body at times, but the desire to find the next old coin, relic or piece of jewelery keeps you going! Not to mention you are up off your ass getting some exercise.

    As for the bot, nice build. Since it has a fairly limited depth range, you might as well add a recovery device. How about a turret on top that holds the metal detector wand on one side, and an excavator bucket with 5/8″ holes (just smaller than a US dime) on the other side? GPS, stepper motor wheels, and then you could REALLY kick back and relax.

  2. I think it’d be cool if it had a flag dropper that stabs out those cheap surveying flags. I don’t know how tricky that’s be, but it’d be a fair bit more visible than a bunch of scattered LEDs. Or, hook it up with a gps and twitter account and have it tweet coordinates whenever it finds something.

    1. GPS accuracy is approximately 1 meter, which is a huge area to be digging up looking for one coin. Even if you could get GPS more accurate (it would need to put a 3″ diameter radius on the target so you are not wasting your time poking around), your handheld GPS device would surely not bring you to each target very easily. GPS is out ;-)

      If you put down flags, and sat back and waited… let’s say you were on a beach. You better be doing this at night or the kiddies will be pulling up your flags, coins and running off whilst laughing their asses off.

      Better for the BOT to just retrieve the target right then and there… besides, it’s right under the surface with this design. A simple scoop will do it. I’m sure the FIRST robotics students would love to meet this challenge ;-)

  3. Or you could add a small spray can marker so when it finds an object it tags the spot (or near it), then moves on to keep searching leaving you to just pick up your new found glory :)

    1. GPS accuracy is approximately 1 meter, which is a huge area to be digging up looking for one coin. Even if you could get GPS more accurate (it would need to put a 3″ diameter radius on the target so you are not wasting your time poking around), your handheld GPS device would surely not bring you to each target very easily. GPS is out ;-)

      Better for the BOT to just retrieve the target right then and there… besides, it’s right under the surface with this design. A simple scoop will do it. I’m sure the FIRST robotics students would love to meet this challenge ;-)

    1. This is why I suggested GPS… more for mapping approx. where the BOT has been, and general patterns with where the finds were… and keeping it from going back over the same spot in the same direction too soon. However, if the BOT found a concentration of targets… it could be programmed to return to that area griding it in multiple directions until all targets were recovered.

  4. if you’ve watched The Gadget Geeks on uk’s satellite channel Sky1 you’ll see they did this too. Old wheelchair, arduino guts and a DifferentialGPS station so it could report finds back. It spraypainted tge floor too!

  5. Hi there. I have a couple of questions:
    Does your bot follow a specified scanning pattern?
    What depth can the sensor scan to?
    Can it determine between ferrous and non-ferrous metals?

    I only ask because I want to build a tracked offroad version!
    I liked the flag plant idea and I thought that writing some code that zeros in on the strongest signal (interupting the scan the scan pattern) would make sifting through loads of dirt a lot easier!

  6. I have few questions:
    1- is it for sale and for how much ?
    2- how easy is to build it for a beginner ?
    3- what is the approximate cost if it is built ?
    4- how deep can it find stuff. Can it work for land mines ?
    Thanks
    Walid

  7. I’m still trying to make up my mind weather to get this or a normal metal detector. This seems pretty convenient but is it worth it? Also our grounds are hard and really rough so the little car probably can’t handle the rough terrains.

  8. It would be cool if you could create a program to have the AMD automatically search a pre-established grid. It could either drop a token on the spot or have it make an electronic marker on a digital map of the grid as it finds hits so you could go back and dig the premium targets.

  9. I think that the main advantage of autonomous metal detectors is that they can be used to scan an area for metal objects without human intervention. This makes them ideal for use in situations where it would be difficult or impossible for a human operator to be present, such as in search-and-rescue operations or detecting landmines.

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