RadioShack Replaced: America’s Full-Size Robots to Travel With Troops

MTRS: TALON IV(click to view full) In 2005 children’s toys were being used by American soldiers on the front lines, to help them look for roadside bombs. It would appear that someone took notice, because there has since been a flurry of activity on the robotic explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) front. The Man Transportable Robotic System program took off, and its military ground robots began making a difference long before protected MRAP vehicles began to arrive in numbers. The Academy-award winning movie “The Hurt Locker” made bomb disposal famous, but the reality of it involves far more robots, and far fewer wearable bomb suits. MTRS robots are the larger, heavy duty options for Explosives Ordnance Disposal technicians, though smaller options are also in service. So, what exactly is the MTRS program? MTRS: Why Send a Man to Do a Robot’s Job? TALON & IED(click to view full) The Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) is a modified commercial, 2-man portable system consisting of a robotic vehicle with a manipulator, imaging sensors, and a control station. In the field, MTRS units are equipped with a variety of sensors and tools to perform reconnaissance of danger areas and suspected IED land mines. Robots […]