Two-Robot, Bomb-Defusing, Riot-Controlling, Firefighting Team
April 20th, 2009
Segway presented two robots at Robobusiness 2009 that can handle a variety of dirty jobs like defusing dirty bombs, handle riots and fight fires, allowing their operators to stay far away from dangerous situations.
One of the bots is a collaboration between Segway Robotics and SRI International, that allows a remote operator to defuse a bomb with surgical precision. It’s a wheeled platform for SRI’s M7 telesurgery system, which surgeons have used to suture simulated flesh even in microgravity. Surgical arms are mounted on Segway’s RMP 50 Omni, a unique mobility platform that uses mecanum wheels to slide around the target.
The other robot is based on the company’s existing four-wheeled, 240-pound RMP 400 robotic platform, the prototype can travel at 18 mph, and is armed with a water cannon capable of firing 10 gallons of liquid per second. That makes the robot a natural for fighting forest fires, but it can also “knock down a whole line of people,”
