Student-designed Thai robot makes bomb disarming safer

By Chalinee Thirasupa

The Nation

 

 

The inspection and disposal of suspected bombs will soon be safer, and the risk to officers disarming explosives reduced, thanks to a Thai robotic innovation.

 

Several prototypes of the “explosive ordnance disposal man portable intelligent robot” were handed over to the Defence Technology Institute (DTI) on Friday during a Bangkok event showcasing defence innovations to mark the DTI’s 10th anniversary. 

 

The prototypes were presented to DTI director-general Air Chief Marshal Preecha Pradabmook by Udomkiat Nontakaew, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB).

 

They were developed from a rescue robot by a KMUTNB student team, which had won the First Place and the Best in Class Mobility awards from the World Robocup Rescue 2016 held in Leipzig, Germany, for real use in industry and country defence as per the Thailand 4.0 policy.

 

The “EOD Man Portable Intelligent Robot”, with parts made in Thailand, is 48 centimetres long, 43cm wide (including track wheels) and 20cm high. It can travel on flat ground at a top speed of 1 metre per second, climb a slope with a 45-degree angle and pull a 15-kilogram object.

 

Its wireless remote control radius is 150 metres and it is equipped for better object inspection with a front camera, a back camera and a high-angle camera as well as those attached to its “gripper” robotic arms, which can lift up to a 5kg weight. It can perform a task continuously at one hour before requiring recharging. 

 

The robot is set to inspect a suspected bomb and then shoot a high-pressure water gun to dispose of the explosive.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30337241

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-1-26

So if the bomb is in a motocycle (like the bomb in Yala market this week) what can this robot do with it? It can't pull the motocy since it's too heavy and i don't understand how the watergun can dispose the bomb.

 

Also 150 meter is not a very safe distance to play with a bomb me thinks.

 

So what's the scoop about this robot? I don't get it.

46 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

with parts made in Thailand,

Screws, nuts n bolts, washers....................

The universities are always cranking out these kinds of prototypes: bomb robots, tuk tuks run on used palm oil, bulletproof vests made of silk, solar chickens, bamboo arms and legs, clothes and furniture crafted from recycled plastic, sap of the mandrake, phosphorescent shrimp, and a fleet of motorcycles  modified to welcome the one-legged driver, or the two-legged but one-armed, or the legless, the supine, the obese, the dwarfish. 

Looks like the Thais have another invention.

 

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bomb+disarming+robot&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy-8e82vXYAhUeS48KHfZKBOkQ_AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=719

As seen in the west for a few decades 

2 hours ago, Thian said:

 i don't understand how the watergun can dispose the bomb.

defuses these home-made bombs by neutralizing the detonator with a blast of water strong enough to punch through steel. Problem solved.

https://gizmodo.com/5827341/the-aquaram-out-bombs-car-bombs-with-water-that-cuts-through-steel

Edited January 26, 20188 yr by Basil B

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

for real use in industry and country defence as per the Thailand 4.0 policy

 

Here's the Thailand 3.0 version in action -

 

 

 

i seem to remember the british army using something similar in northern ireland in the 1970s...

43 minutes ago, Basil B said:

defuses these home-made bombs by neutralizing the detonator with a blast of water strong enough to punch through steel. Problem solved.

https://gizmodo.com/5827341/the-aquaram-out-bombs-car-bombs-with-water-that-cuts-through-steel

But the robot is very small:  is 48 centimetres long, 43cm wide (including track wheels) and 20cm high

 

So that very high power watercompressor must be very small and it also needs a watertank i assume.

 

Would like to see that in action and cutting steel..i don't believe it untill i see it...mind you i want to see that small robot do it, not a big truck...

 

Is this another case of a Thai "inventing" or "re-inventing" something that has existed in another country for a long time as has happened so many times in this country.  Many of their "inventions" seem to disappear very quickly after they are exposed even though the Thai media makes great deals of them when they are first announced.  In Canada, we already have devices that are better than this product.   All it requires is some research and all will be exposed.

In the US, I mentored a group of high school kids for 5 years in the FIRST Robotics program.  It was amazing what the various teams came up with in about 8 weeks to meet the annual challenge. One fellow from a local team went on to get a PhD in engineering and pursue a career in robotics.  He was instrumental in the design of a pole climbing robot that won an international competition in 2008.

 

There are a lot of tracked and articulated robotic vehicles out there.  I always liked watching BattleBots for entertainment.  Here's a classic battle (first one): 

 

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The robot is set to inspect a suspected bomb and then shoot a high-pressure water gun to dispose of the explosive.

Anything has to be an improvement on asking the spirits to sort it

I was using the EOD robot, affectionately known as a wheelbarrow back in the 1970's in Northern Ireland, a most effective piece of equipment indeed, it was fitted with a telescopic boom ,video camera, 2 pigsticks (see below) a sawn off 5 shot semi automatic shotgun, it could also be fitted with a pair of hydraulic arms capable of lifting quite heavy objects (like beer barrels filled with ANFO - Ammonium Nitrate & Fuel Oil - explosive) and all sorts of marvelous gadgets,  for dealing with car bombs etc.

 

The disruptors shown below were electrically operated, an explosive charge similar to a shotgun cartridge inserted into the rear, the end cap screwed on, the device was filled with water and a thin plastic cap inserted into the front end to keep the water inside, when fired the water left the pigstick at incredible speed and destroyed (hopefully) the electrical circuitry of the bomb preventing detonation, but also leaving plenty of evidence for forensics to deal with.

 

Next week the Thai's will invent the wheel.  

 

http://www.sdms.co.uk/product/pigstick-eod-disruptor

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

for real use in industry and country defence as per the Thailand 4.0 policy.

 

16 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

Looks like the Thais have another invention.

 

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bomb+disarming+robot&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy-8e82vXYAhUeS48KHfZKBOkQ_AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=719

???.... Sowww.... thailand 4.0 is all about copying other people’s inventions, then.

 

“made in Thailand”.... just quietly, I think I’d prefer to rely on “made anywhere else” products

 

the one on GI Jill’s back, being carried around like a backpack is pretty cool... (link)

Edited January 27, 20188 yr by farcanell

Why do they keep trying to invent things that have been around for decades?  They can't seem to copy them efficiently

19 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Screws, nuts n bolts, washers....................

Nut screws washers n bolts..

3 hours ago, Redline said:

Why do they keep trying to invent things that have been around for decades?  They can't seem to copy them efficiently

Because it's cheaper to copy instead of buying the real tested machine.

 

I'll stay far away from those robots if they have weapons onboard.

I was using the EOD robot, affectionately known as a wheelbarrow back in the 1970's in Northern Ireland, a most effective piece of equipment indeed, it was fitted with a telescopic boom ,video camera, 2 pigsticks (see below) a sawn off 5 shot semi automatic shotgun, it could also be fitted with a pair of hydraulic arms capable of lifting quite heavy objects (like beer barrels filled with ANFO - Ammonium Nitrate & Fuel Oil - explosive) and all sorts of marvelous gadgets, [emoji2] for dealing with car bombs etc.
 
The disruptors shown below were electrically operated, an explosive charge similar to a shotgun cartridge inserted into the rear, the end cap screwed on, the device was filled with water and a thin plastic cap inserted into the front end to keep the water inside, when fired the water left the pigstick at incredible speed and destroyed (hopefully) the electrical circuitry of the bomb preventing detonation, but also leaving plenty of evidence for forensics to deal with.
 
Next week the Thai's will invent the wheel. [emoji3] 
 
http://www.sdms.co.uk/product/pigstick-eod-disruptor

Well said Felix!

Sent from my KENNY using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

2 hours ago, JAG said:

Well said Felix!

Sent from my KENNY using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Thanks JAG, Tigercat team, based in Belfast, I'll get my hard drive out and see if I have some postable pics