The Djedi Project was an exploration of the interior of the

Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. Built , over a period of about 26 years ...

. The project team was made up of international and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

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 (phara ...

, the ancient Egyptian magician consulted by Pharaoh Khufu when planning his famous pyramid. As Dr.

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass (; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptians, Egyptian archaeology, archaeologist, Egyptology, Egyptologist, and former Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt), Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, a position he held twice. He has ...

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 largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Built , over a period of about 26 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wond ...

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

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and supported by

Dassault Systèmes Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French Multinational corporation, multinational software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products. Founded in 1981, it is ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

with research lead Professor Rob Richardson. 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 Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

: *"

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

" 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 ...

*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 No ...

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 established in 1994, responsible for the conservation, protection, and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavations in Egypt. From 1994 to 2011, the SCA was a department of the Egyptia ...

, 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