The Djedi Project was an exploration of the interior of the

Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...

. The project team was made up of international and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian experts. The name derived from

Djedi Djedi (also Dedi or Djedi of Djed-Sneferu) is the name of a fictional ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the fourth chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. He is said to have worked wonders during the reign of king (pha ...

, the ancient Egyptian magician consulted by

Pharaoh Khufu Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu a ...

when planning his famous pyramid. As Dr.

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...

announced on his blog: "The purpose of this project is to send a robotic tunnel explorer into the two "air shafts" that lead from the Queen's Chamber of the

Great Pyramid of Khufu The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ...

to gather evidence to determine the purpose of the shafts." The team was managed by

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

and supported by

Dassault Systemes Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Se ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. A detailed report of the project can be found on the web.

Team members

The team included: *Ng Tze Chuen (Hong Kong), independent researcher *Shaun Whitehead (UK), independent researcher, Scoutek *Robert Richardson (UK), Professor of Robotics, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, UK *Ron Grieve (Canada), from Tekron Services, Canada *Other key team members are Andrew Pickering, Stephen Rhodes, Adrian Hildred, Jason Liu, William Mayfield and Andrew Smyth. The team made preliminary studies of the airshafts in July and December 2009, and continued its work in 2011.

Equipment

Details of the Djedi Team

Robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

: *"

Pinhole camera A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture (the so-called ''pinhole'')—effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image o ...

" that can fit through small spaces and see around corners like an

endoscope An endoscope is an inspection instrument composed of image sensor, optical lens, light source and mechanical device, which is used to look deep into the body by way of openings such as the mouth or anus. A typical endoscope applies several modern t ...

*A miniaturised ultrasonic device that can tap on walls and listen to the response to help determine the thickness and condition of the stone *A miniature "beetle" robot that can fit through a hole of 20mm diameter for further exploration in confined spaces *Precision

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

and

inclinometer An inclinometer or clinometer is an measuring instrument, instrument used for measuring angles of slope, elevation, or depression (geology), depression of an object with respect to gravity's direction. It is also known as a ''tilt indicator'', ' ...

to measure the orientation of the shafts *A

core drill A modern core drill is a drill specifically designed to remove a cylinder of material, much like a hole saw. The material left inside the drill bit is referred to as the ''core''. Core drills used in metal are called annular cutters. Core dr ...

that can penetrate the second blocking stone (if necessary and feasible) while removing the minimum amount of material necessary

Results

Small red markings were found inside the second-door small shaft space. The back of the door was filmed which showed the rest of two ornate metal handles. Development of the project and photographic findings were published in the ''Journal of Field Robotics''.

References

External links

*{{cite web , title=The Djedi Team Robot , url=http://www.drhawass.com/blog/djedi-team-robot , author=Blog of

, Secretary General of the

Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...

, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103122844/http://www.drhawass.com/blog/djedi-team-robot , archive-date=3 November 2014 , accessdate=22 February 2016 Great Pyramid of Giza Climbing robots 2009 robots Rolling robots Dassault Group University of Leeds Palenque

Team members

Equipment

Results

See also

References

External links