[Tyler]

Will Your Next Robot be a Bobcat Loader?
     


Engineering TV has
posted
some
interesting
video
of a new kit developed by QinetiQ, the company that makes
the Talon
robots. It's called the ROCK Kit and includes everything you need to
turn
a Bobcat skid-steer loader into a
teleoperated robot. The
target customer is the military, who could save a lot of money by
getting cheap, mass produced Bobcats and turning them into IED robots.
According to Dr. William Ribich:
Other companies have roboticized individual pieces of
earth-moving equipment, but until now, no one has created a universal
kit that can quickly remotely control any Bobcat SJC-equipped loader
used in the rough manner the military requires

Sure, it's great for creating instant, low-cost telerobotics for
handling oversized IEDs but we can think of all sorts of cool uses for a
full sized robot like this. We're guessing they aren't planning to send
us a review unit any time soon though. For more details on the QinetiQ
press release.
   

http://robots.net/article/2912.html