By Roland Piquepaille
"Mr T" is the nickname of the $600,000, 380-kilogram tEODor robot manufactured by telerob GmbH, a German company. Its goal is to find and dispose of bombs.After deployments of this robot by police and air forces in several countries, three more are now in action in Sydney, Australia, reveals the Sydney Morning Herald in "NSW Police's new high-tech, bomb-busting robot."
The radio-controlled devices are the latest weapon in removing, disabling or detonating bombs that might be planted at major inner-city locations.
Equipped with four cameras, the robot can be armed with a 12-gauge shotgun or a high-powered water cannon and fitted with drills, grinders, cutting shears, a window breaker and a tearing hook.
It also features a cryogenics pack enabling the robot to freeze explosive devices and a gadget that fires fragmenting projectiles that break up before impact to foil a targeted bomb.
Here is a small photograph of tEODor, which stands for "telerob Explosive Ordnance and observation robot" (Credit: telerob GmbH). A larger picture and more details can be found on this telerob page -- in German.
"This unit can travel anywhere, climb up stairs and over rough terrain, operate in extreme temperatures, and carry 500 kilograms on top of its own weight," NSW Police Minister John Watkins said.
"It has an amazing array of on-board weaponry - which can be used to prod or probe objects, or blow them apart if required."
Mr T can also be used to carry food to hostages in a siege situation. And it can be operated from up to 250 meters. All in all, quite an interesting tool.
Source: Alex Mitchell, Sydney Morning Herald, August 17, 2003
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