Robot Explorer Set to Reveal Secrets of Great Pyramid of Giza

Archaeologists attempting to unlock the secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza have a new helper: a drill- and camera-toting robot designed to peer into the magnificent structure's unexplored nooks and crannies. It's hoped that this high-tech explorer -- built by researchers at England's Leeds University, together with France's Dassault Systemes and U.K. robotics firm Scoutek -- will aid Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in their decades-long attempt to unravel one of the pyramid's most enduring mysteries. ...

The first serious attempt to resolve this pyramid puzzle came in 1993, when a German-sponsored robo-camera traveled almost 200 feet into the southern shaft. At this point, the 'bot found its path blocked by a limestone slab fitted with two copper handles. (The robot could only drive about 60 feet along the northern shaft before hitting an impassable 45-degree bend to the left.)

Then in 2002, a National Geographic-sponsored robot -- called Pyramid Rover II -- was sent back up the southern shaft. It drilled a hole through the limestone door, poked a camera through and discovered ... yet another limestone slab located 7.5-inches farther down the passageway.

Viewers who tuned in to watch that discovery broadcast live on the National Geographic channel might have been a little disappointed, but Zahi Hawass -- head of the Antiquities Council -- was thrilled. "We can see another sealed door!" he shouted as he watched the footage. "It looks to me like it is sealing something. It seems that something important is hidden there."

Now eight years later, a new robot is ready to try to discover what that special "something" might be. Dubbed the Djedi Rover-- after the sorcerer who helped Khufu design his resting place -- this 'bot boasts a toolbox of cutting-edge gizmos. Mission manager Shaun Whitehead told AOL News that the machine is fitted with a flexible "snake camera" that will allow it to peer through the existing hole in the first slab and carry out a more detailed survey of this ancient mini-chamber. ...

Some have speculated that untold treasures, builders' tools, a statue of Khufu, yet another slab or maybe nothing at all might lie on the other side of the second door.

via Robot Explorer Set to Reveal Secrets of Great Pyramid of Giza.

Exciting! What do you suppose they will find behind that second door?

I'd like them to find some old immortal guy with a long white beard who has been trying to communicate with us. This guy, whose full name is Yeshua Mithras Odin Osirius Methuselah Zalmoxis, has been using the ancient remote controlled UFO drones to draw crop circles, and he has been making the Bigfoot and alien type creatures appear with a quantum projector.