Mexico City - A robot will soon begin exploring the last stretch of a tunnel found at the archaeological site of Teotihuacan near Mexico City, the third time anywhere in the world that such an automaton has been used to design excavation strategies.

The tunnel, discovered under the Temple of the Plumed Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl, is believed to lead to a chamber almost 2,000 years old, probably a place where dignitaries of the pre-Columbian city received their investiture or were buried, according to the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH.

The Tlaloc II-TC robot, which will be the first to travel the remaining 100 to 115 feet of the tunnel, is composed of three independent mechanisms, the first being the transport vehicle that reaches a length of over 3 1/4 feet once its arms are stretched out. The robotic arms serve to deal with any obstacles in the vehicle's path.

With the exploration of these areas, the INAH looks forward to making some of the most important archaeological discoveries at Teotihuacan, one of the largest cities of Mesoamerica in pre-Columbian times.