Dentist to probe 'cavities' inside Great Pyramid - and unlock the Pharaoh's last secret chambers, unseen for 4,500 years

A Hong Kong dentist is wielding forceps to help solve the last mystery of  the Great Pyramid of Giza.    

He is part of a team that hopes to to solve the mystery surrounding the doors blocking two narrow shafts in the pyramid, which is the tomb of the Pharaoh Cheops, also known as Khufu. 

The shafts have puzzled archaeologists since they were found in 1872 - with some speculating that Khufu's burial chamber lies beyond, with fabulous treasure possibly within. 

Ng Tze-chuen, 59 has designed a tiny 'gripper' for an insect-sized robot which will finally reach beyond the doors inside the pyramid. 

The robot will travel up the shafts, which are so narrow only a small robot could fit, to eventually drill through the two doors. It carries a camera to record what it finds.             

The international team, which will take the name Djedi - after the magician with whom Khufu is thought to have consulted for the pyramid layout - plans to use the robot this spring, depending on when the license to do so will be issued, Ng said.                

‘The Chinese have more experience with chopsticks. And a dentist has more experience in gripping with forceps,’ said Ng.               

‘Why Egypt is so interesting, it’s because of the hieroglyphics. It’s like a detective story. It’s all waiting for me to use my grippers.’            

Inspired by dental forceps - he has designed 70 of his own to properly grip the tricky crevices of patients’ teeth - Ng said his team will mount tiny grippers on an insect-sized robot expected to gently trek the winding shafts of the pyramid without causing damage to the walls.    

The Great Pyramid, the largest and oldest of the three pyramids at Giza, stands 482 ft) and was completed around 2,500 BC.             

The two shafts, which rise from a chamber in the pyramid, and their doors have puzzled archaeologists since they were first discovered in 1872.

The secret gates Great Pyramid of Khufu could open for the first time next year, as Leicester robot company Scoutek UK hopes to conclude their exploration of the legendary inner chamber in 2012

The expansive Giza plateau is a far cry from Ng’s office in a high rise amidst the concrete jungle of Hong Kong, where he said dentists prefer to talk about money and expensive cars rather than ancient Egypt or Mars, another of his passions.                

‘I want to test my grippers in the most secretive places,’ said Ng. ‘I want to see my tools used on sea, land and space.’ 

He already has an impressive record and says he was behind the concept to use a rock sampling tool on board the Beagle 2 mission to Mars in 2003.               

A self-described maverick as a child, with an adamant allergy to schoolwork, Ng said he was an avid daydreamer who imagined playing marbles on Mars and feels he lived on Mars in a previous incarnation.

‘I always think that I was a Martian crab in my past life,’ added Ng, whose home is stacked with cat drawings, volumes on ancient Egypt, and books by Carl Sagan. On the walls are plaques and newspaper clippings recognising his contribution to a number of projects.      

Mystery markings: A close up view of the red figures on the floor behind the first blocking stone in the tomb

Dr. Zahi Hawass, former Antiquities minister, who is collaborating with Ng. Hawass is inside the Grand Gallery before the King's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu

The Sphinx and Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt - one of the Seven Wonders of the World

The Great Pyramid is only one of 10 missions Ng plans to finish before the age of 65. Future plans include a German rover to sample soil on the moon, a submarine rescue cutter, and a search for Cleopatra’s tomb - all scrawled in marker pen on the inside of his mobile phone cover so he is constantly reminded of his dreams.             

‘Egypt is one of the testing grounds for my toys,’ he said.            

Even talk of the apocryphal ‘Curse of the Pharaohs’ said to cause the illness or death of anybody who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian doesn’t faze him - much.               

‘No matter, curse or no curse, I just want to take a peek. That’s it,’ he said. ‘And then I will run

 The 'Micro-Snake' robot which will explore the interior of the Great Pyramid once the 'Djedi' 

expedition resumes

 The shafts are just eight inches across - and thus can't be explored by human explorers. Many experts believe that the shaft was designed to provide an 'exit' for the Pharaoh's spirit into. 

The pyramid is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and is thought to have been built as a tomb for Pharoah Khufu, who ruled in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty and died in 2566 BC.
Khufu had the Great Pyramid of Giza built as a monumental tomb, inside of which are tomb chambers, ante-rooms, chambers, ventilation shafts and access tunnels.
There are three main chambers: The King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber and the Grand Gallery.
The King's Chamber has two shafts connected to outside, but two tunnels from the Queen's Chamber deep inside the widest part of the pyramid have two stone doors.
Some experts now believe this may indicate a secret chamber, further still within the pyramid

Inside the chamber: The limestone ceiling of the Queens Chamber inside the Great Pyramid can be seen, but what lies beyond has puzzled Egyptologists
It is not the first time robots have been used within the pyramid to gather evidence about the inner depths of the structure.
In 1993 a robot discovered a small door set with metal pins, the first time any metal had been found inside the pyramid, igniting speculation that the pins were keys or door handles.
In 2002 a different robot filmed a small chamber blocked by a stone after managing to drill through the first stone block.
The latest robot, built by UK company Scoutek, is a 'micro-snake' armed with a camera, designed to explore small spaces.
Designer Whitehead also worked on sensors for the Beagle 2 Mars exploration craft.

The door which still puzzles experts can be seen to be polished, thanks to the bendy camera, marking it out as an important part of the structure rather than simply as something to stop debris entering the chamber, says camera designer Shaun Whitehead.
Egyptologist Kate Spence of Cambridge University says the tunnels may purely be symbolic and relate to the stars.
Although she is not involved directly in the study of the Giza pyramid, Spence does not believe there is a further, hidden chamber behind the door, suggesting instead that the shafts could have been built to allow the Pharoah's spirit to cross to the afterlife.

Pyramid of Egypt

 Still one of the largest pieces of architecture ever constructed, the Great Pyramid has long been the subject of wonder as to when it was built, by whom, and most importantly, why. The conventional explanation is that it was built during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu by skilled Egyptian laborers as a funerary monument. In the 19th century, in the absence of hard information other than detailed studies of its dimensions, a whole class of speculation grew up which has been called 'pyramidology.' The pyramidologists came to believe that the Great Pyramid encoded advanced knowledge of the physical universe, and the course of human history. This book is one of the primary texts of pyramidology.
In addition to pyramidology, Joseph Seiss was a Christian dispensationalist, a 19th century millennialist school of thought. The dispensationalists viewed human history as a series of covenants with God. They were certain that the end of days could be pinpointed using Biblical prophecy. This was the origin of a set of beliefs widely accepted by contemporary evangelical Christians.
Seiss advances many dubious assertions, such as his statement that there were no predecessors to the Great Pyramid. Egypt is dotted with dozens of prior examples, including several that collapsed because the Egyptians were still experimenting with the correct proportions. He makes a whole range of claims that specific dimensions of the Great Pyramid, when multiplied by some other number, can be associated with the size of the axis of the Earth, its density, and so on (a staple of the pyramidologist literature). He matches details of the interior passages to the dispensationalist timeline. And he somehow concludes that the Egyptians did not build the pyramid, but some other hitherto obscure race of Philistines, led by an individual named Melchisedec, who was identical to the Biblical Job!
Seiss and the other 19th century pyramidologists have abundant modern successors. Their answer to 'when' goes as far back as the last ice age; their answer to 'who' includes space aliens and Atlanteans, and their 'why' includes 'as a huge electrical generator.' Time will tell whether their theories will appear as spurious as Seiss a hundred years from now, or lead to some radical new understanding of the 'Miracle in Stone.'