JennyBond
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 Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:17 pm Post subject: Researchers equip robot with sniper-detecting capability |
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BOSTON — A Massachusetts company best known for its robotic vacuum cleaners is teaming up with Boston University to develop a robot that can locate the source of sniper gunfire.
BU researcher Glenn Thoren said the partnership with Burlington-based iRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba vacuum, aims to protect soldiers in places like Iraq by quickly locating snipers so they can either steer clear or fire back.
"These systems are primarily made for gathering and understanding the nature of the threat," said Thoren, director of Project REDOWL, or Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers.
But the mobile robot's use of infrared light and lasers to fix on a target also raises the possibility that robots may eventually be armed to use weapons themselves, either autonomously or under human control.
In field tests last month at a firing range, the system was successful 94% of the time in locating the source of more than 150 rounds from 9 mm pistols and M-16 and AK-47 rifles fired from more than 100 meters away, its developers say.
The sensors are designed to ignore background noise and focus on the unique acoustic signature of gunfire, using algorithms to determine the source of shots and differentiate among different types of weapons. After the source is located, the system turns its camera that way, illuminates the source, and uses a laser to determine the range.
Cambridge-based BBN Technologies produces a sniper-detecting system called the Boomerang that is already deployed in Iraq and Kuwait. That system uses acoustic sensors that can be attached to a military vehicle, such as a Humvee.
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