Treasure hunting drones?

[Dave Rishar]

Keep it simple.

Make it an electric ground vehicle, either tracked or wheeled. The metal detector is on board. Mount a big old coil out in front of it on a spring-loaded arm with a ramp on the leading edge to allow it to slide over obstructions. Have it running on a simple program (like a Roomba or something) so that it follows a straight line until it hits a hard obstacle, then turns ninety degrees, moves one coil width forward, turns another ninety degrees, and comes back the other way. (You could of course make this more sophisticated by integrating GPS.) When the robot hits a target, it drops an appropriate, brightly-colored, biodegradable marker - say, one for good high conductors, one for good mid conductors, etc. If you wanted to get really fancy, it could instead simply mark the target locations via GPS and store them to memory. It's not an aerial vehicle so the FAA has no say in how you use it; nor would it be prohibited in parks that don't allow remote control aircraft, as nearly all the ones around here do.

Sit back and relax while your robot grids the park for you, then go out and verify (and dig, if appropriate) the targets. Your own gridding would be restricted to the areas that the robot couldn't get in to for whatever reason.

Completely doable with today's technology and no worries about government interference. Also, such a machine wouldn't complain about hauling a Minelab around, unlike most of us Minelab owners.

 

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[Limitool]

Dave... Reckon that would work in my woods along with all the hollers and ridges around? But I would like to have it in my cave and send in with live video feed.

 

[Frankn]

Keep it simple.

Make it an electric ground vehicle, either tracked or wheeled. The metal detector is on board. Mount a big old coil out in front of it on a spring-loaded arm with a ramp on the leading edge to allow it to slide over obstructions. Have it running on a simple program (like a Roomba or something) so that it follows a straight line until it hits a hard obstacle, then turns ninety degrees, moves one coil width forward, turns another ninety degrees, and comes back the other way. (You could of course make this more sophisticated by integrating GPS.) When the robot hits a target, it drops an appropriate, brightly-colored, biodegradable marker - say, one for good high conductors, one for good mid conductors, etc. If you wanted to get really fancy, it could instead simply mark the target locations via GPS and store them to memory. It's not an aerial vehicle so the FAA has no say in how you use it; nor would it be prohibited in parks that don't allow remote control aircraft, as nearly all the ones around here do.

Sit back and relax while your robot grids the park for you, then go out and verify (and dig, if appropriate) the targets. Your own gridding would be restricted to the areas that the robot couldn't get in to for whatever reason.

Completely doable with today's technology and no worries about government interference. Also, such a machine wouldn't complain about hauling a Minelab around, unlike most of us Minelab owners.

Why drop markers if you have the GPS locations?
The blanket coil should be at the rear of the atv.
This system exists in manual form. Check out Accurate locators to see it. Frank...-

 

[Red James Cash]

I worked for the government lol (army) probably shouldn't tell you this Frank but sure I'm on some gov watchlist lol.

Everybody in Tnet is on a list,watch list,in some form or anotherDont think so?Think again

 

[Limitool]

Everybody in Tnet is on a list,watch list,in some form or anotherDont think so?Think again

I know I should be... and I mean EVERYTHING I post outside of humor being inserted.

 

[mikeraydj]

I see drones being used by law enforcement and civil servants to patrol city parks and public land to harass detectorists first.

 

[Bitpusher]

I have several quadcopters that I've been using to scout detecting locations.

I'm working on better sensing capabilities as time goes on. I'm trying to get my hands on a surplus LIDAR unit - it's really heavy though, so I'll probably end up having to mount it on a balloon.

 

[grantler]

Hi Bidpusher ,
How much would a surplus LIDAR cost and how heavy they are ? (just roughly )
Thanks for answering :-))

 

[Bitpusher]

Hi Bidpusher ,
How much would a surplus LIDAR cost and how heavy they are ? (just roughly )
Thanks for answering :-))

The one I have a lead on would be free if I can swing it - it's currently owned by a private company that specializes in scrapping military equipment. It's about 100 pounds, but a lot of that is in the mounts and such - I figure it would be 75 pounds by the time I trimmed down all the mounting brackets and junk I wouldn't need. That wouldn't be doable on a quadcopter, but it's conceivable for a fixed-wing if I were to put the money in it. I'd probably need to write software to deal with the output too, since I doubt there's anything out there for some esoteric military sensor platform.

Commercial units more suited to quadcopter use can be had for around $20k. The Velodyne HDL32E looks promising in that respect - it's about 2 kg, the size of an index card, and only has a range of 60m or so.

I won't be dropping $20k on a sensor any time soon, but you'd be surprised what a nerd can get his hands on when he's persistent!

 

[voodoo]

drones hmm......for me right now? no thanks. not interested.

 

[redbeardrelics]

Lots of applications for these things if you can get away with it. Quad copters can be fitted with controllable arm grips to pick up small items off the surface of the ground. Pretty useful if you want to hover a few feet over the surface of a plowed field, or gravelly river bank, and pick up indian artifacts, fossils, etc. They can get you over wet and muddy sites that you would not wish to trample through. You can send one up the steep slope of a mountain to look for minerals, potential veins, or whatever else might be up there, and help you retrieve them then and there, or plan a safe path to get to them in person. Lots of potential for fun, as well as danger, and loss of Liberty.

 

[xrunndonex]

Have one equipped with q MD and once it has a hit it shoots a flag down in the area of the hit.

 

[skeeter86]

IF I CATCH ONE I'M KEEPPING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[piegrande]

Government watch list? I worry about the Mexican Federal government seeing my postings on the treasure of Moctezuma. Not that I care about them getting the treasure, because by the law it's theirs anyway. But, the Uncles would be pretty upset with me if they came out and dug in their property.

 

[Tulsa Clovis]

Interesting topic you have brought up here. I have been thinking about this idea myself for some time now. Imagine a small solar powered aerial drone that scans the surface of the ground in grid pattern for a bank of programmed shapes/objects. When one is sighted it takes a picture with GPS coordinates and emails the file to me.

 

[Realmsman]

Ive used my Phantom 2 with my gopro to search some cliffs but nothing really effective yet.