Trundling at a modest 6.5kph, these yellow robots have an important mission: bomb disposal. In September, the Ministry of Defence signed a £55 million contract with Florida-based Harris Robotics for 56 of its T7 robots. From autumn 2018, they will be stored on these shores, in Brighton, ready to be transported to wherever they are needed.
Until recently, most bomb-disposal robots operating in the UK were likely to be Wheelbarrows. These American-made models have dominated the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) market since 1972, but despite their sturdy efficiency, they were often slow and hard to handle. "Popular models like the Wheelbarrow Mark 8s were all made years ago and their technology is now obsolete," says Paul Bosscher, chief engineer at Harris Robotics. So, Harris designed the T7. Like most traditional bomb-disposal bots, the T7 is radio controlled. What makes it advanced, Bosscher says, is the sensitivity of its controller, which vibrates much more receptively. This means the operator can feel the movement of the robot as if they are unpicking the bomb's fuses themselves. "This style of control has been investigated in the past but it has never left the university laboratory," he says.
Harris constructed the T7 in a lab, but making it work in the field was a different challenge. "We had to make sure the interfaces we installed could survive the harsh environments the T7s would experience and ensure communication from the controller to the robot would be consistent," Bosscher says. Even a one-second delay in response could prove fatal. Now, the T7 can disarm a bomb 20 per cent faster than the previous bomb-disposal robots.
However, for the T7 to have the lifespan of the Wheelbarrow Mark 8, it has to be adaptable. "We needed to make sure that it stays cutting-edge ten years down the line, so we gave it open architecture," says Bosscher. To achieve this, new interfaces can be installed into the top of the machine without having to disassemble it, meaning the robots can work commercially to clean up hazardous waste or complete surveillance tasks for the secret services.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
