A novel smart prodder with sensor feedback for material recognition in Humanitarian Demining applications

Abstract

In this work a smart prodder, capable to give information about the material of a touched unknown object, is presented. The recognition process is based on the analysis of the interaction between a sensing unit and the object. The surface of the object is excited by a piezoelectric actuator and its response measured with another piezoelectric sensor. A prototype has been designed and built and experimental trials have been performed.