Robot beetle detects killers beneath the soil

Lying on a patch of rocky earth, in Chiba, just north of Tokyo, is a large machine about the size of a dinner table; it could be a small tank if it wasn't for the six legs aligned, insect-like along two sides of its rectangular body. Slowly, the machine rises up onto its feet and walks forward like a giant, silver beetle. This is not a creature from the latest Godzilla movie but a robot being developed by a group at Chiba University. If all goes according to plan, their test ground could soon be exchanged for the deserts of Afghanistan and Comet III could be working to help solve one of the country's biggest problems. Afghanistan is plagued by land mines.