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Smart robots help navigate smugglers' tunnels

U.S. Border Patrol managers are testing whether robots equipped with an INL intelligence system can help with reconnaissance of drug-smuggling tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Border
Patrol managers
are testing
whether robots
equipped with
an INL intelligence
system can help
with econnaissance
of drug- smuggling
tunnels under the
U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Border Patrol agents are finding a new use for intelligence systems that help robots operate autonomously. Robots equipped with the Robotic Intelligence Kernel (RIK) developed at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory have been aiding reconnaissance of underground tunnels, including a smuggler's route 50 feet below the U.S./Mexico border. Tunnels present challenges for robots by confounding communication with surface controllers. But INL's robot recently mapped and handled tunnel hazards independently, transmitting findings about the tunnel's innards as soon it regained contact. The U.S. Border Patrol has requested a second demonstration in a seized smuggler's tunnel in Arizona. RIK-equipped robots could help the Border Patrol and the military, which regularly contends with hazardous tunnels in Iraq and other conflict areas.

[Kortny Rolston, 208.526.0962,
kortny.rolston@inl.gov]