A scientist has designed a remote-operated robotic vehicle which can detect and defuse explosives simultaneously.

Pune-based Defence Research and Development Organisation's Dilip J Makwana has developed the device which has already passed the first trial and will be incorporated for use by the Indian Army after a second trial, the scientist said.

"The robot will help stop bomb explosions at public and religious places which are frequently targeted by miltants," Makwana, who was here to attend a seminar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, said.

The robot, fitted with a camera and an X-ray film, could carry and defuse a bomb weighing up to 20 kg from a distance of 500 metres, he said.

The scientist also claimed that the device could also deactivate explosives kept at higher places. The robot's other features include a digital mine detector to check land mines, besides nuclear radiation monitoring and chemical gas detection.