Remote Control

Ordnance disposal robots are being deployed against deadly concealed explosives in Iraq, Afghanistan

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

The Navy is designing faster, lighter robots to help locate and neutralize the kinds of concealed bombs responsible for 40 percent of all U.S. military combat casualties since October 2001. Meanwhile, the service is increasing its purchases of existing robots for dispatch to Iraq and Afghanistan.

These include expendable robots based on radio-controlled toy cars that are being developed as a cheap, rapid way to deliver an explosive countercharge to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) — concealed bombs made from artillery shells or other explosives and rigged to detonate on command. The robots are getting results on the streets of Iraq while enabling explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel to stay safely out of range.

The compact BomBot, equipped with a camera, timer and an explosive charge — such as C4 — can be launched from a vehicle on short notice and controlled remotely as it speeds 30-35 miles per hour to a suspected IED site, where it can detonate on command. C4, an inexpensive plastic explosive with the consistency of modeling clay, is a favorite of insurgents in Iraq.

The BomBot — prototyped in 90 days by the Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and now under development by the Navy’s EOD Technology Division at Indian Head, Md., working closely with the West Virginia High-Technology Consortium — was “originally intended to be disposable,” said Cmdr. Scott Stuart, EOD program manager for the Navy’s program executive office for Littoral & Mine Warfare.

“It’s controlled just like a radio-controlled car. The idea was that it would be a camera sent down-range very quickly. You could immediately get out of the [vehicle] and throw it on the ground and run it,” he said.

Stuart said the BomBot’s initial operators “liked it so much they didn’t want to make them disposable.”

At a unit cost of approximately $3,000, the BomBot is inexpensive compared to the six-figure cost of the robots currently in use.

“The trend is going to be quick and small, particularly when we are operating in an environment like Iraq,” Stuart said. “We have to go a lot of places, be very flexible and mobile, and we have to keep our time to a minimum. Those are concepts that we are going to continue to focus on.”

The emphasis on robotics is part of an intense Department of Defense (DoD) effort to develop countermeasures to IEDs. As of Aug. 6, explosive devices had accounted for 691 of 1,714 deaths and 6,641 of 14,414 wounded from hostile action since combat operations began on Oct. 7, 2001, according to DoD.

“In the spring of 2004, our EOD forces were getting hit pretty hard [by IEDs],” Stuart said. “The need for robots increased dramatically” as Marines and soldiers began to rely on them for reconnaissance and as a means to keep EOD personnel away from the explosive devices.

“Before the big IED offensive in Iraq in the spring of ’04, there was still a percentage of the joint service EOD community that was not using robots,” Stuart said. “There’s been a huge education written in blood, unfortunately, on the value of doing things remotely. That is a sweeping mindset change on the use of robotic systems that we are seeing. These really have been lifesavers.”

The trend to be small is advancing with the sponsorship of the Man-Transportable Robotics System (MTRS) by the Navy, which since 1971 has been designated the lead on all joint-service EOD technology and training programs. “We had a large robotic system [the Mk3 Remote Ordnance Neutralization System] that was very capable, but you couldn’t just pick it up and load it in the back of a truck,” Stuart said. “We need something that just two men could lift.”

Earlier this year, the Navy ordered 178 small modular EOD robots to meet the needs of U.S. forces in war zones. Two designs were chosen from five proposed: the PackBot EOD, built by iRobot of Burlington, Mass., and the Talon IIIB, built by Foster-Miller Inc. of Waltham, Mass. These relatively lightweight systems have been delivered to EOD teams in Iraq.

“There are differences, but they’re more at the operator preference level. Both of these robotic vehicles met all of [the] requirements. So we left it to the services to choose how many of each kind they wanted,” Stuart said.

This summer, the Navy recommended full-rate production of the MTRS, which will encompass the Talon IV, an improved version of the Talon IIIB, and the PackBot EOD. A total of 960 robots will be procured for the Navy, Marines, Army and Air Force.

iRobot recently delivered 152 PackBot EODs under an $18.4 million Navy contract, bringing the number built to more than 200. The PackBot, at approximately $115,000 per unit, depending on its configuration, was first fielded in 2002 as a reconnaissance system for the caves in Afghanistan, according to Tom Ryden, director of sales and marketing for iRobot’s government and industrial robots division.

The PackBot EOD version, first fielded in the summer of 2003, has an arm payload that reaches up about 6 feet off the platform and has a gripper, Ryden said. It weighs “about 50 pounds, including the armament, the batteries and fiber-optics spooler,” which allows control though a fiber-optic line, he said. The entire system, including the control set, weighs about 80 pounds.

“Normally, you drive it by remote control and see everything the robot sees,” Ryden said. In some scenarios, operators can use a fiber-optic tether rather than a radio to control the robot.

The PackBot has multiple cameras, including a wide-angle, to help the operator see the road or terrain to drive the vehicle, and a high-performance 300x zoom camera that allows close inspection, Ryden said. “We provide two channels of [real-time video] data back to the operator.”

The larger Talon was first fielded by the Army in Bosnia in 1998, according to Bob Quinn, general manager for Talon operations at Foster-Miller.

Foster-Miller received a $5.2 million contract to deliver 26 Talon IIIBs, which cost up to $125,000 per unit. The Talon IIIB also is equipped with an arm and gripper, and four to seven cameras. The operator can view up to four cameras simultaneously.

Both robots are guided by remote-control units using fiber-optic cables or radio transmitters. The fiber-optic is immune from jamming, Stuart said. A disadvantage of fiber-optic cables is the hassle of using them, according to Quinn.

“Some operators like the PackBot; some like the Talon,” said Quinn. “A lot of times IEDs are cumbersome. Covered with debris, they make it difficult to grab. Having a heavier unit that can pull more and tow more is desirable.”

Byron Brezina, robotics director for the Naval EOD Technology Division at Indian Head, Md., has operated all three robots and finds them easy to use.

“The Talon is a more of a traditional robot, with a joystick to drive it. It has a shorter learning curve,” he said. “The Packbot has a lot of menu-driven commands and has a longer learning curve but once [operators] spend a few hours with it they’re comfortable with it. The Bombot — a different class of robot — is a lot harder to operate. It’s faster, easier to flip over, but it serves its purpose.”

Placing C4 countercharges next to an IED is the preferred method of neutralization. However, the robots are able to deploy disrupters, weapons that do not detonate the IED but neutralize its firing mechanism.

“A small-caliber disrupter takes a projectile like a .22 round or a 9mm round and uses that round to do a precision disruption of the ordnance,” Stuart said. “It might disrupt the firing train. We have other disrupters that we can put on this robot. One is called a percussion-actuated neutralization device that shoots a shotgun-based projectile.”

“It really depends on what they are trying to accomplish and how quickly they have to do the mission and what kind of device they run into,” Ryden said.

The robots “seem to be performing quite well out there,” Stuart said. “The EOD technicians are very pleased with these robots, both kinds.”

The robots also appear able to handle the extreme heat of Iraq.

The robots are designed to be repaired in the field. In the case of the Talon IIIB, Quinn said, “We didn’t try to make this robot the most beautiful. We made the harnesses and wiring outside of the tubes so that things could be quickly replaced. After all, these robots are meant to sustain explosions. When explosions take place, you often have to replace the camera, the gripper, the arm. So we have quick release pins installed in the equipment.”

The whole idea is to design a robot that is simple to operate and easy to maintain, he said. “The longest repair was four hours after an IED went off right in front of the robot. Interestingly, they were able to drive the robot back, with cameras still functioning.”

iRobot is working on a next-generation EOD platform, a larger version of the PackBot called Neomover. “It goes extremely fast, about 15 mph, and can carry significantly larger payload,” Ryden said.