IRobot’s Battlefield robot can detect military snipers
IRobot Corp.’s joint project with Boston University’s Photonics Center could protect soldiers by helping them quickly locate snipers and either steer clear of them or fire back. Sounds like the robot works as it was found to be 94 percent effective in first firing range tests
In field tests last month at a firing range, the system located the source of gunfire from over 100 meters away 94 percent of the time, its developers say.
The system pairs optical equipment from Insight Technology Inc. with acoustic sensors from BioMimetic Systems. The devices are built into in a book-sized metal box weighing about 5 pounds and mounted atop an arm extending from a PackBot. While the system isn’t yet ready for deployment, Cambridge-based BBN Technologies produces a sniper detector called Boomerang that already is deployed in Iraq. That system uses acoustic sensors attached to a Humvee vehicle or at a site such as a guard post to track sources of sniper fire.
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