Development of a self-propelled robot
Chinese researchers have developed a self-propelled tracked robot capable of navigating over sand and separating magnetic iron particles from it, in a project aimed at exploring new methods for utilizing mineral resources in desert areas, where the difficulty of collecting scattered deposits poses a challenge to their exploitation.
Dry magnetic separation technology
The Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post reported the day before yesterday that researchers from Tarim University are testing the robot in the Taklamakan Desert. It operates using dry magnetic separation technology to separate iron materials from sand without using water. The robot uses a magnetic separation unit comprising a ring of permanent magnets made from a neodymium-iron-boron alloy, which allows capturing magnetic particles from the sand, thereby helping to collect iron-bearing materials in desert environments.
Preliminary test results
According to the report, estimates indicate that the iron content in the area's sand is about six percent, but the dispersion of iron-bearing materials and the difficulty of collecting them limit the possibility of utilizing them on a large scale. The research team conducted tests on a prototype of the robot to evaluate its mobility over sand and its energy consumption. Analysis of two samples of the extracted magnetic materials showed their total iron content reached approximately 24 percent and 32 percent, respectively.
Future prospects
Tests are still ongoing to evaluate the robot's performance and its potential for collecting mineral materials from desert environments, which may pave the way for developing automated mining technologies and improving the utilization of resources that are difficult to extract by traditional means.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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