U.S Army To Test Small Robots

The U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems has begun testing of the first Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGVs) to arrive at Fort Bliss, Texas.

The SUGV is a 30-pound tactical robot designed to search for bombs, clear caves and buildings and give soldiers eyes around corners in combat.

In a $6 million deal with FCS lead systems integrator Boeing, iRobot will deliver 25 SUGVs for testing at Fort Bliss by May.

Three SUGVs have been delivered and 22 more will be produced to deliver till mid-May. This is a system that was originally supposed to be delivered in 2013 or 2010.

Once testing with the 25 robots is complete, TRADOC and FCS program officials will make a recommendation to Army leaders. As of yet, there is no set date specifying when the SUGVs will be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. However, Army officials were impressed with industry's ability to produce a large number of robots with numerous sensors in a short time.

The robot goes in there first, where there are adversaries, tripwires or bombs.The SUGV can pass imagery onto the network and has multispectral, electro-optical infrared sensors.Emerging compression technologies allow the robot to move large amounts of video instantly.Compression algorithms allow the robot to transfer the information in smaller sizes to maintain high resolution.

In the months ahead, iRobot may add to the SUGV chemical, biological and radiation sensors such as the company's ICX FIDO kit, which examines the air for explosive residue.

The Army Research Night Vision Lab is also working on through-the-wall X-ray technology and ground-penetrating radar so that robots can detect buried explosives.