The inspection robot DROMADER was awarded a silver medal in the EUREKA competition, carried out in the margins of the 2012 INNOVA Brussels World Exhibition on inventions, research and new technologies.
The robotic vehicle had been developed by the Polish Military University (MUT) in Warsaw under the EDA project “Intelligent Control of Adversary Radio (ICAR). This project is part of a series of collaborative research activities improving the protection of EU Member States' armed forces during their missions (Joint Investment Programme on Force Protection – JIP FP, with a total budget of more than 70 M€ over the last 3 years).
ICAR is tackling the ubiquitous threat of Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (RC-IED). While a ground or airborne sensor unit is constantly capturing radio emissions, for example around a convoy or a camp, feeding them into a complex system of algorithms to identify suspicious elements, the DROMADER robot is used to suppress radio activity of such elements and inspect them in a safe distance for the soldier.
The ICAR system has successfully passed its proof of concept during a live demonstration in Großmittel, Austria (19 July 2012).
Its basic features have been published recently in the “Counter IED Report”.
More information:
- An overview of the live demonstration in Austria can be found here.
- Pictures from the live demonstration are available here.