One of the nice things about being editor of Defense Tech is that people occasionally show up at your apartment with military robots. Take last Friday, for example, when Bradley DeRoos and Alex Gizis dragged one of their brand-new BomBots into my dining room.
600 of the machines have already shipped to troops in Iraq. Another 1800 are being built. And if the BomBots look more like toy trucks than military-grade hardware well, there’s a reason for that. That’s exactly what the things are.
Gizis spent several years designing bad-ass digital controllers for RC cars — the fastest of their kind, working in the 2.4 GHz band. They transmit drivers’ orders in a hurry. And the controllers send all kinds of telemetry data back, like engine temperature and battery strength.
It all worked so well, Gizis figured the military might be interested in some cheap, remote-controlled bomb-spotters. The current crop of ordinance-disposal robots cost $100,000 or more, he knew. Even the smaller, dumbed-down Marcbots, used on route patrol, can run about $15,000 each. Maybe, Gizis thought, he could come up with something cheaper.
So Gizis started playing around with Traxxas E-maxx RC trucks, to see if they could do the job. At the same time, some Air Force Research Laboratory engineers (working with the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division) were also fiddling with E-maxxes, to handle the same duties. But they couldn’t get the radios to work.
Eventually, everyone was brought together by the National Center for Defense Robotics. And within a couple of months, the first BomBots were being sent off to Iraq for testing.
At 15 pounds, 22 inches high, the miniature truck isn’t exactly bomb-proof. It doesn’t have to be be. At $5,000 a pop — dirt cheap, by military standards — the bot becomes a sound investment even if it’s blown sky-high after the fourth or fifth use. You could even imagine the BomBots keeping up with Humvees on route patrol, since the machines have a top speed of 35 miles per hour and a range of 1500 feet.
Now, Gizis claims the trucks are also going to be used for bomb disposal, as well as bomb spotting. And that’s a little harder to imagine — despite the nifty, six-inch loading bay, big enough to dump off a C4 brick. EOD techs tend to be pretty particular about where they place their bang. The BomBots don’t have the dexterity to pull off much precision. But for a souped-up RC truck, the machines are pretty cool.
Who’s that at the door now, I wonder?
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Enter the BomBotLeave a Reply |
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cute photo! i picked that up for our place.
Uh, MARCbots cost $7k each, not $15k. And they run on standard military radio batteries for over six continuous hours of runtime, not proprietary hobby batteries. And they don’t have the plastic bombot drivetrain that breaks in temps above 115F… like all of the first ones that are currently sitting broken in Baghdad. While I’m certainly a bit biased, I’m not as biased as this article.
Actually, the new upgraded MarcBots cost $45,000
You can see the contract listing at the bottom of this post on my blog:
http://robotstocknews.blogspot.com/2006/05/irobot-wins-64-million-navy-contract.html
I am a retired AF EOD tech, retiring in 1978. We didn’t have robots back then, we used an airman as a remote bomb detector (just joking). It is great seeing all these improvements on equipment over the years. So many EOD techs from all branches are being maimed and killed in Iraq and Afganistan. You guys are my hereos.
Not surprising that a heat tolerance problem never crossed the minds of these geeks. Since they spend their entire lives in air conditioned comfort.
The bots are an answer to grandmas’ prayers. Hoorah!
this thing rocks!!!!!!!!i cant wait to be in the air force!!!! thank you military.com
air force guys are my heros!!!!!!!!!!!the air force rocks and so do the tecks!ty foryour souport in iraq,my dad is there so plz pray for him.he works in the department of def. thank you.
So aside from retrofitting the plas drivetrain to exceed 130F temp this works! Wonder how it holds-up to 45mph crosswinds on station? Better still at 1500′ in the dark a sound emitter with cone might Play a Recorded 5ton truck racing along (especially with own battery pack). Telemetry controls for volume output. Hey,what if Go– Karts were better muffled to serve as stealth launch-mobiles? Why sound? Diversity of bot use to attract IED Triggerman.
I have been wandering when someone would apply all of this video game experience and technology to something that is worth something. At $5000 a pop it is cheaper than some of the other units now in use, but I am sure they could be much cheaper than that and be truely a desposable unit. What ever happened to mass production. These things should be ubiquitous in the war zones, anywhere our young men and women are serving. This is the United States for God sakes we should have the newest and the best cutting edge gadets and tecnology for our fighting men and women.
Now lets program these bots to actively scan and map and follow a hummer convoy to record and track down the enemy for us. The video would be used to learn the enemy’s tactics for the next run. The software to run these 4x4’s would be little more than sophisticated vacuum bots available at WalMart. There are plenty of smart Marines who could program it, that is if Microsoft isnt interested in the contract.
Bryan D. Moszer
In Response to Mr? Smith’s comments regarding the air conditioned comfort of “us” geeks. If the shade of a plywood building in Iraq constitutes air conditioned comfort, then I would have to agree with your comment.
Actually we are not the first to come accross this idea. Early last year I was in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I was working as a contractor to the US Army for REF (Rapid Equipping Force). This is a small division that is responsible for engineering solutions, and introducing new technology to the battle field. One day a couple of gentlemen came in with these trucks. They introduced themselves as EOD (US, Canadian, and one other of our coalition forces Ukrainian — I think). They were really excited about these trucks. One of the vehicles the Canadians brought forth was even capable of firing a 308 catridge powered water cannon.
At the time this was still very experimental technology, and it was passed off as such (boys with toys). The REF was focused more on body armor antennas, FOB camera systems, personnel born IED full body X-Ray scanners (for which was my purpose in life) and other projects of the time. This did stick with me however; and I began testing/toyig with the idea more upon my return back to home last November. I have attained a lot of knowledge about these RC’s since then. Does anyone know who is now leading this project from the US side? I would like to get more involved as there is a lot of very serious potential with this technology.
My hat comes off to those who have continued to push this type of project forward since the end of 2005. Anything to assist in saving lives is a really good thing!!!
these are not “little rc trucks”. The proper term is Traxxas E-maxx. These truck are amazingly durable and will work wonders for the Army.
All great ideas…problem is if you have ever personally encountered an IED; the explosive blast is a threat EVEN to the operator of these RC vehicles. did you see the picture posted for the “BomBot” and the guy holding the remote control? Well IED will make all those disappear depending on the amount of explosives used in the device. Frequency jammers…might be more effective to explode the devices.
Forget about having someone remotely control it from the internet, program the buggers to drive themselves! They can do it much faster that way using software recognition functions and multiple cameras and sensors, a remote operator could never see or react like a properly programed drone. Nor would they work like a hive to map the area around the hummer/transport convoy. If you think the military is going to pay you to log in to xbox live and command a bot in Afganistan for an hour your on the wrong path. Last thing we need is for the military to recruit thousands of joystick jockys to secure the highways and byways of backwater jerkoffistan. To keep the military lean they need to automate it and record the data for later review. Humans would mess it up.
seems pretty cool. defiantly worth the investment.
weird thing is that right as i read the line “Who’s that at the door now, I wonder?” Someone knocked at my door.
The Bombot sounds like a great opportunity to bring technology to the battlefield. As in past conflicts the US soldier is creative and innovative. The Bombot and its roll will evolve as our troops work with it. Despite any shortcomings it needs to go out and work so that it can evolve to meet the challenges. Bombot: $5,000 Iraq Expedition: $Billions Soldiers coming home alive and well: PRICELESS!!!
i wondered when you guys would catch up!!, want more precision? email me backand I’ll send pics of some of my hardware, also you missed the point on the loading bay, why not put an eject mech in it and drop off some C-4 with a remote triger on it, pop the bombs BEFORE they pop YOU!! sounds like you need an old bot builder like me to help out. please, give me a chance, I’m ex-mil (US Army) and the less body bags we send home the better, they are my friends too,
ncc1776@comcast.net Thom Rutherford
besides, Dell is boring me to death at their company…
I do not know alot about these bombots,but what I could find out came from one of the partners
on this project, as my company manufactured the springs for this project.If anyone has a little more information about these that they could share without breeching any security I would appreciate it.
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confessioni-erotiche
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ficha-pelosa