Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — A small drone was let loose to explore the nearly 2,000-year-old abandoned ruins of Teotihuacan, and it resurfaced with a plethora of information archaeologists weren't expecting.
The 77-pound robot is named Tlaloc II-TC, after Mexico's ancient god of rain. The lead robot consists of three parts, according to BLDGBLOG: the main vehicle to get through rough terrain, a smaller "bug" equipped with an infrared camera, and a third component made with propellers that can stay suspended in the air while taking photos.
The abandoned, ancient civilization is believed to have been established around 100 B.C. and populated with 125,000 people during its peak, making it one of the largest cities in the world during its time.
The family of robots plunged into the crevices under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan, also called Temple of Quetzalcoatl. While archaeologists expected to find a single burial chamber at the end of the tunnel, the robot discovered three.
Weight: 77 pounds
Size: 3 feet long
Parts: main vehicle to drive through terrain, small "bug" with infrared camera, a third component with propellers to take photos in the air
However, this isn't the first discovery in the area. In 2011, archaeologists found a tunnel under the temple. Experts believed they had found a "representation of the underworld."
"At the end, there are several chambers which could hold the remains of that Mesoamerican civilization," said archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez in an interview with phys.org at the time of the discovery. "If confirmed, it will be one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 21st century on a global scale."
The 3-foot-long robot went were no human could, through deep mud and tight spaces, while calculating detailed maps with its camera and scanner. The excursion wasn't without its difficulties. Tlaloc II-T2 got stuck in deep mud along the way.
"In some sections, the depth of the sludge was 20 to 30 centimeters," said Hugo Armando Guerra, an engineer with HA Robotics company, in a translated statement. The drone allowed for 76 meters of discovery of the expected 120 meters of tunnel.
"The next step will take appropriate action to remove sediments and padding that was placed by Teotihuacan, to block this last stretch of the tunnel," read the statement.
Other archaeologists have paired up with unmanned devices to explore sites around the world. In 2012, the Skate drone was used to fly into an abandoned Peruvian city to gather images for 3D maps.
Photo credit: Alma Rodríguez for El Universal.
