Robot bombs

The US is experimenting and will include explosive-sniffing robots, a special type of robot capable of helping US soldiers detect bombs and mines installed on the streets.

FIDO is the first robot with an explosive detection device built by iRobot Corp. based in Burlington, Massachusetts.

About the first 100 FIDO robots will be delivered to the Pentagon in the next few months. This is an upgraded version of PackBot, a robot with similar features that has been researched and manufactured before.

The FIDO robot has a sensor to ' sniff bomb ', the identification information will appear on the control unit along with the camera image.

This new robot has a machine arm that is longer than 2m mounted with a sensor, so it can be scanned into the car or under the vehicle chassis to find a bomb. Before this robot, American soldiers had to stand up from afar to hang suspicious vehicles, suspicious objects in the rubbish heaps to hopefully make it ineffective or detonate. The price for each FIDO robot, weighing 25kg is 165,000 USD.

FIDO robot with 2-meter arm made by iRobot Corp (Photo: iRobot Corp)

Currently the US military is using nearly 5,000 robots in the Iraq and Afghanistan battlefields compared to 2004 with only 150 robots. American soldiers used them to scour the caves and the building found rebels, bombs, mines and bombs installed in cars and roads.

When the Iraq war entered its fifth year, the United States spent more on military robots with more orders for two major manufacturers. Foster-Miller Inc, based in Waltham, Massachuseths, has delivered 1,000 new robots to the army.

iRobot produced 385 robots compared to 2005, producing 252 robots. The robot used in battlefields has many sizes, the smallest type weighs only 0.6kg and the heaviest type is about 50kg.

Currently the US military is using nearly 5,000 robots at the Iraq battlefield
and Afghanistan compared to 2004 only 150 robots. (Photo: AP