- Number 289 |
- June 22, 2009
Smart robots help navigate smugglers' tunnels
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]