The iRobot Warrior 710 ("Warrior"), just introduced by iRobot Corporation, is track-mounted, weighs 200 kg, and has a pliers arm
So, iRobot continues to develop related specialties; after the creation of robotic sanitary, its management probably thought about the need to expand the demand for medical services. Indeed, Warrior is able to help his iron brother … by supplying him with new clients.
A well-known company from Bedford (Mass., USA), following the sapper PackBot, has taken quite a combat step in designing robots for the US Army. The rookie is five times heavier than its combat predecessor. Its mechanical arm is versatile. In one of the equipment options, it can be used to launch a detonation charge to clear minefields (see video).
At the same time, he is a wide-profile specialist. Tim Trainer, vice president of military and industrial development at iRobot, notes: "With small robots, you just have to create them specialized for specific purposes." But with Warrior, it's a sin not to take on a wide range of tasks.
And they are taken. A wide variety of weapons have already been installed on the car, from multi-barreled 40-mm grenade launchers to the Taser X26.
If PackBot, as the name implies, "lived" in a soldier's knapsack, which undoubtedly added enthusiasm to an infantryman forced to carry a 40-kg object under the scorching Iraqi or Afghan sun, then Warrior is too big for that. He moves his two centners himself. The electric motor that rotates the tracks provides a top speed of 8 km / h, which is even more than the authorized running speed of an American infantryman. The two front tracks can tilt at significant angles and allow the meter-long robot to climb stairs and overcome uneven terrain. The two-meter folding "arm" can open objects on which a stretcher is suspected, open locked doors and windows. She lifts up to 68 kg.
Robot software - iRobot's Aware 2. Remote control, like other ground robots of the corporation, is carried out through the Xbox controller. The operator sees on his screen images from cameras mounted in the chassis, arm and clamp. Their total number can be up to six pieces.
Two such robot prototypes have already worked in the area of the Fukushima nuclear power plant after last year's March disaster. However, their full-scale tests were completed only at the beginning of 2012. They are now ready for serial production.
Promotional video:
According to Mr. Trainer, the Warrior can be used for a variety of operations, including finding survivors among ruins or opening the doors of a bomb car and then scrutinizing the contents. Moreover, replaceable modules - "nozzles" can be extremely diverse: for example, X-ray equipment or equipment for fire extinguishing.
Photo: science.compulenta.ru
In Fukushima, rescuers, even without special equipment, used a robot for the initial decontamination of the premises, after which people could enter. “The guys tied a vacuum cleaner to the manipulator and removed the radioactive dust with it,” said Tim Trainer.