High School students build Florida police a robot
In Rockledge, Florida, the local police department just purchased a new remote controlled robot that is equipped with a video camera, night vision, a gas canister launcher; rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the robot from a defense company, the Rockledge police department turned to local high school students; the robot can handle any terrain, launch grenades, and is strong enough to drag a person; it is also outfitted with a speaker and a microphone to enable two way communications in addition to a police throw phone that can be deployed during hostage negotiations; the robot cost $6,000 whereas similar professionally made robot would have cost more than $100,000
In Rockledge, Florida, the local police department just purchased a new remote controlled robot that is equipped with a video camera, night vision, and a gas canister launcher. But rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the robot from a defense company, the Rockledge police department turned to local high school students.
The robotics teams at Rockledge and Cocoa Beach High pSchools spent eighteen months designing and building the robot, called PDbot.
Jason Schuler, a NASA engineer and an adviser to the PDbot build team, said, “It’s now in the realm of possibility for a high school team with a mentor to build a robot that’s as high a quality that’s available in industry.”
The robot was completed two weeks ago and presented to the local police department where officers were amazed by the results.
Detective Chris Cochie, said, “Just blown away…it’s more than I ever expected it to be. It’s incredible.”
The robot is compact weighing in at about one hundred pounds and standing at about two feet. It can handle any terrain, launch grenades, and is strong enough to drag a person.
It is also outfitted with a speaker and a microphone to enable two way communications in addition to a police throw phone that can be deployed during hostage negotiations.
The device can be remotely operated from as far as 500 feet away.
PDbot cost $6,000 whereas a similar professionally made robot would have cost more than $100,000.
Members of the robotics teams have high hopes for PDbot, as they see it as only a prototype. Eventually they would like to build kits for other robotics teams to use across the country to build robots for their local police department.
