Westbury engineer systems and build control panels to help Halo Trust save lives

Westbury recently attended the handover of a special anti-personnel landmine clearance rig donated from its client, MMD (Mining Machinery Developments), to the HALO Trust at Hillhead 2018 in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Five years in development, Westbury were approached by MMD to develop, engineer and build a control system for the rig, which is now destined for deployment in Zibabawe. Peter Tongue, Westbury’s Technical Director commented: “Having worked with MMD for sometime now, we felt that it was the right thing to do, by offering our support to such a worthwhile cause, and by doing so saving life and limb.”

Lead Engineer for Westbury, Josh Parsons enthused: “Working from an FDS operating spec, I was responsible for the hardware and software design which led to working out solutions including CoDSys, CAN interface, radio, screen and remote control. As every aspect was new, we had to prototype and test, using our R&D facilities.”

James Cowan, CEO of The HALO Trust, said: “Once this machine is set to work, it will increase the area of contaminated land we clear each day in heavily mined countries such as Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. In the places where we work, cleared land simply means more food for farming families and safer routes to school for children. MMD’s Sizer technology will make a real difference to tens of thousands of people.”