Procurement: Britain Buys American Bots

Archives

Lebanon August 12, 2006: Britain is buying 30 American built PackBot EOD (bomb disposal) robots. These 50 pound units are designed for checking out potential roadside bombs and booby traps. It has a robotic arm and cameras. It can leave a remote control explosive by a roadside bomb, to destroy it. The PackBot has built in computing power equal to a low end PC and is simple to learn how to use. The PackBots are controlled via a custom device that looks like a video game controller, except that it has a small 1024x768 pixel LCD display. The same company that builds PackBot also makes a civilian appliance; the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner. These sell for about $300 each, while the Packbot goes for about $50,000 each.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close