ReconRobotics Inc. yesterday said it has been awarded a series of contracts by the Army Rapid Equipping Force and the U.S. Special Operations Command for 385 of its Recon Scout® XT micro-robot kits.
The orders also include a large number of Recon Scout SearchStickTM devices, which can be used by warfighters to convert any Recon Scout Throwbot® into a pole camera.
Deliveries of the robot systems will be completed by Aug. 30.
“Nothing makes us more proud than designing and building products that help our U.S. Armed Forces safely and successfully complete their missions,” said Ernest Langdon, director of Military Programs for ReconRobotics. “Our military sees these durable, easy-to-deploy micro-robots as a critical piece of gear for dismounted troops, not unlike their ballistic vests and helmets. Not only do these robots provide immediate visual reconnaissance that saves lives, but they do so without substantially increasing the carry burden of our U.S. Special Forces and dismounted fire teams.”
This series of military orders signals an increasing emphasis on personal micro-robots that are deployed at the fire-team level—that is, one robot for each four- to six-man fire team.
Until now, the majority of deployed military robots have been Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGVs) that weigh 30 to 40 lbs and are typically deployed at the company level, some 80 to 200 soldiers, to assist in counter-IED missions.
Nearly 2,000 of the company’s Recon Scout® Throwbot® systems have been deployed by the U.S. military and international friendly forces, and by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, worldwide.
The company’s Recon Scout XT weighs just 1.2lbs, yet it can be deployed in five seconds and thrown up to 120 feet. Like the warfighter’s ballistic vest, the miniature Recon Scout XT is a personal device that protects soldiers–in this case by maximizing their situational awareness and standoff distance. During dismounted operations, warfighters often encounter armed personnel or IEDs. The Recon Scout system mitigates risk to the warfighter by revealing the internal layout of the enclosed spaces, identifying potential IEDs and the fixing the location of different personnel before making entry.