iRobot at KASOTC Warrior Competition

Amman Jordan 2011

David E. Tashji - Director

United States Central Command AOR

The Tower Run Twenty three special forces teams from Afghanistan to Tanzania competed in the grueling five-day Warrior

competition across numerous team and individual events. The Tower Run (pictured above) combined

endurance running, precision marksmanship and rappelling to test team planning, strength and endurance.

Pre-Flight Inspection 320 SUGV and 510 Packbot unmanned ground vehicles use their sensors and cameras to inspect and detect

the presence of explosives in the wheel wells, engines and under fuselage locations of the KASOTC Air Bus

Wide Body Jetliner.

CT Par Course This five man team event combined entry breaching, obstacle course negotiating and target shooting. Pictured

are soldiers at the halfway point in the obstacle portion working as a team to scale a stepped wall with full kit

including weapons and body armor.

Yes They Do That Too United States Marine Corps 13th MEU BLT 1/1 “Red Death” soldiers take a break from the competition to

spend some time with the robots at the KASOTC Pro Shop.

The Rifle Run Soldiers of the elite Austria Cobra team sprint for their sniper rifles during the rifle run – an event that

combines running a 1,000 meter marathon in full body armor, and then making precision shots. The Cobras

beat all 22 other teams and took home the top prize for the rifle run in an amazing display of endurance and

breath control.

Robots On Point 510 Packbot and 310 SUGV robots strike a pose while using on-board cameras with optical zooming to allow

the iRobot teams to watch the competitive events from a safe standoff distance (also in the shade).

Congratulations to all the winners!

Afghanistan National Army Special Operations Command

Australia 2nd Commando Regiment

Austria MOI – EKO Cobra

Brunei Special Forces Regiment

Iraq Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force

Jordan General Intelligence Directorate

Jordan Public Gendarmerie Unit 14

Jordan Royal Guards – HM Private Security Group

Jordan Khaled Bin Al-Waleed Battalion 15

Jordan Military Security Directorate

Jordan Special Forces Group 101

Jordan 71st Counter Terrorism Battalion

Jordan Special Mission Team

Jordan Public Security Directorate – VIP Protection Unit

Lebanon MOI – Black Panthers

Lebanon Armed Forces Team 1

Lebanon Armed Forces Team 2

Saudi Arabia Army Special Forces

Tanzania Unit 92

USA Marine Corps 13th MEU BLT 1/1 “Red Death”

USA/Jordan Joint Team (US Army 5th SFG & Jordan SFG 101

USA/Jordan Joint Team (US Army 5th SFG & Jordan SFG 101

iRobot in Beirut Lebanon – August 2011

David E. Tashji – Director

United States Central Command AOR

Take Out Pizza 510 PackBot moves into position with a 20mm disruptor tethered to a switch at the stand off position operated

by the EOD Team. The single serve pepperoni pizza is a actually a bomb which was completely destroyed.

Explosive Vapor After bashing through a car window, the 510 PackBot uses it’s side mounted explosive trace detector to

search for explosives. Heat and time had allowed enough vapor pressure to build up inside the vehicle for the

sensor to trip a detection audio alarm to the EOD team (without any swab testing). Aware 2 Software and the

FLIR FIDO XT system are integrated and offer the OCU operator detection warnings and on-screen data.

Stick Time 310 SUGV Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles are operated by soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces

Engineers. The soldier at center receives instruction from iRobot Engineer Jesse while the soldier at left is

already off operating a robot using the heads up display glasses and game style controller. The Soldiers

remarked how quickly they were able to perform robot tasks with the familiar man-machine interface design.

X Marks The Spot 510 PackBot delivers X-ray inspection equipment with precise placement on both sides of a suspected IED

(blue box at center). After X-rays showed location of the battery, a second 510 PackBot was deployed fitted

with a recoilless disruptor with laser rangefinder to target and destroy the battery within the box. The

X-Ray system was supplied and operated by the LAF Engineers working in cooperation with iRobot Teams.

Homework? LAF Engineers receive their detailed evaluation sheets that are then completed by all who observed and

participated in the crisis missions presented to the iRobot EOD team to complete successfully. These

evaluation reports from the engineers provide important data to support acquisition methodologies.

Shukran - Thank You

iRobot in Arab Republic of Egypt

Cairo Egypt

David E. Tashji - Director

United States Central Command AOR

Multi-Mission Mayhem 510 PackBot Applications Engineer Warren Peters is assaulted by the “Roboteratzi”, 61 attendees seeking to

understand the seemingly endless array of mission specific accessories the iRobot team set up for display.

Have A Blast The 510 Packbot was fitted with a Civil Defense Authority supplied Proparms 20 mm recoilless disruptor using

the mount the team brought from Boston resulting from successful pre-planning and coordination with Sherif

and his team at EGMCO.

Look What I Can Do . . . The 710 Warrior shows his friends pictured at left how to lift large irregular objects at full extension.

Outta Here 710 Warrior pulls a VBIED laden Jeep Liberty with a tow cable after explosive materials were detected by the

510 PackBot with FIDO sensor.

iRobot in The State of Kuwait

December 2011

David E. Tashji - Director

United States Central Command AOR

Kul She Tamam The Kuwait Fire Service Directorate teams up with the 710 Warrior robot to demonstrate the safe rescue of

disabled persons from hazardous sites. The robot operator is capable of locating the victim with infrared

camera vision, communicating by listening and speaking instructions, and then towing the victim to safety.

This mission capability is also valuable for extracting battlefield casualties for delivery to the aide station.

Where Do You Want It? A 155 millimeter unexploded ordnance (UXO) is grasped by the 710 Warrior arm for safe removal from critical

infrastructure . The 200 kilo robot is capable of lifting 100 kilo objects with no loss of mobility profile.

Robot Invasion Applications Engineer Seth Gilbertson discusses the fleet of Robots available for many missions at the MoI

Special Forces Explosive Department Compound. From Left to right; 510 PackBot, 710 Warrior, 110 FirstLook,

510 PackBot & 310 SUGV.

Armed & Ready Explosive handling specialists rig the 310 SUGV robot with an electrical initiation water disruptor in

preparation for destroying an improvised explosive device - IED (see report cover). The disruptor mount

features a dual laser aiming system allowing the robot operator to perform a very high precision explosive

triggered water shot.

iRobot in United Arab Emirates – September 2011

David E. Tashji - Director

United States Central Command AOR

We Can Fix It Together The 510 PackBot 3-link arm moves into position to grasp an 81mm UXO while at the same time the 310

SUGV just beyond approaches an expended 40mm grenade launcher round. Other battlefield debris and

improvised explosives are visible such as the road side bomb created from a fire extinguisher (extreme right).

Who’s Watching Who? Soldiers and security forces of the United Arab Emirates receive real-time Aware2 robot controller software

orientation from applications engineer Warren Peters. Through the use of the pre-set poses feature, semi-

autonomous robot behaviors were shown that reduce operator work load and provide a 90% solution to many

common robot tasks such as looking under vehicles and pre-positioning to grasp objects.

I Dig You Using the tool bar mounted on the 510 PackBot front flippers to probe the sand, an insurgent command wire

(pictured at right center) was discovered and unearthed. This led the robot directly to an enormous pipe bomb

that was buried in the ground. Shown here, the finger grippers located on the robot arm are used to grasp and

remove the heavy improvised explosive device (IED).

Turn Up The Heat To provide relief from the scorching heat and humidity, a gigantic tent was erected to provide a more

comfortable environment for military and security forces. Meanwhile multiple 310 SUGV and 510 PackBot

robots demonstrate their capability by performing the dangerous and dirty work of maneuvering in soft sand

and retrieving objects from the battlefield.

Shukran - Thank You!