A quadruped robot that looks like a puppy swiftly enters rescue sites, navigates through narrow crevices, and steadily traverses rubble-strewn paths. This is the mine exploration robot designed by Rezayiden Rehemjan, a young man from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, he brought his design to a business-starting program for college students around the world, "Gold Rush 2025," aired on Hunan TV.

Photo shows Rezayiden Rehemjan and the "Houtu" robot designed by himself. (Photo courtesy of Rezayiden Rehmjan)

Rezayiden Rehemjan, a 21-year-old sophomore majoring in Resource Exploration Engineering at the School of Earth Sciences and Information Physics at Central South University. On the afternoon of February 7, 2025, he shared that his inspiration for the design came from conversations with miners.

Rezayiden Rehemjan is from Huocheng County, Xinjiang's Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture. His family's involvement in the geology and mining industry made him aware from a young age that this job is not only arduous but also dangerous. As a result, he resolutely chose a related major in the college entrance examination.

"Xinjiang is rich in mineral resources and is an important base for the country's energy and mineral supply. After graduation, I want to go back to my hometown," said Rezayiden Rehemjan. He often pays attention to relevant information and communicates with practitioners online.

During his freshman year, he became an online friend with a coal miner from northwest China's Shaanxi. Through conversations, he learned that the working conditions in mines are quite harsh. Miners often have to work 500 meters underground, and the blasting operations, as well as the subsequent smoke, dust, and gases, are particularly dangerous.

Thus, he came up with an idea—whether robots could replace workers in going down the mines.

Coincidentally, the university held an entrepreneurship project competition, so he signed up, hoping to turn this idea into reality.

Making a mine dog robot for mine exploration is not an easy task. In addition to mastering geological knowledge, it also requires support from fields such as mechanical design, software development, automation, and others. Therefore, Rezayiden immediately posted a recruitment notice on the university's online platform, calling for like-minded students to join him.

"The most dangerous part of mine operations is blasting and excavation," said Rezayiden. In the past, after blasting in mines, it relied on tracked vehicles and inspectors to enter the site to check ventilation, gas, and coal dust conditions. However, if a mine robot dog is used to replace surveyors, it can not only eliminate the risks associated with human entry but also improve work efficiency.

The team members each had their own responsibilities. They assembled various sensor systems and modules and wrote code to make the robot act according to instructions. Finally, they succeeded in creating the mine exploration robot. With the help of sensor technology and an automatic navigation system, workers can dispatch the robot into the testing area from outside the work zone. It can draw a three-dimensional digital map, and monitor and analyze the mine environment in real time. The gas detection module it carries can comprehensively and completely detect the levels of various gases in the mine, and it also has functions for emergency rescue and threshold alarms.

"The environment inside a mine is complex," said Huang Sheng, a student majoring in Detection, Guidance, and Control Technology at the School of Automation at Central South University and a member of the team responsible for software development and scripting. "During the design process, we have to fully consider the environment and conduct simulation experiments." He wrote an SLAM program and radar operation script, which enables the robot to plan routes, explore autonomously, and use a laser radar to perform 3D scanning to form a spatial point cloud map. After repeated testing, the robot can also transport rescue supplies and replace or assist security personnel in carrying out their duties.

Named "Houtu" after the Chinese term "Huangtian Houtu" (meaning heaven and earth in Chinese), the robot has not yet completed field tests. Technical issues such as electrostatic discharge and explosion-proof certification still need to be perfected, so it has not yet been specifically applied to underground work.

However, in order to let more people know about their design, they actively participated in various entrepreneurship competitions and won awards.

"The 'Houtu' mine exploration robot project has passed the screening of an entrepreneurship fund for college students in Hunan Province, and will receive an investment of 500,000 yuan (about 68.415 U.S. dollars)," said Tan Jingqiang, deputy dean of the School of Earth Sciences and Information Physics at Central South University. They have also gained a lot of attention through the show "Gold Rush 2025." The next step for the team is to perfect the equipment as soon as possible, complete the field tests, and enable the "Houtu" robot to achieve more functions. In the future, it aims to help the intelligent transformation of the mining industry and create a safer and more efficient working environment.

(Source: Urumqi Evening News, Reporter: Zhang Mengting)